Whats your net worth

We are in the same age group, I'm 55. My wife is however 45. I was a corporate executive, very busy lifestyle, travelling the world for business. It was madness. Finally I just broke down 3 years ago, totally burnt out and left the corporate scene.

I sold my landed property and downgraded to a condo. Since then, I have been working for myself as a trader/ investor using my own capital. I manage to earn $100k pa from dividends and trading profits. My wife is still working, earning $90k pa. Since we are now debt free, our household spendings is only $80k.

My net worth currently is about $2m while my wife's net worth is $800k. We are expected to grow our net worth by about $150k pa from savings and capital appreciation of my investment portfolio.

I am very happy with what I am doing now as the stress level and work is manageable. I should be able to do this for another 10 years. After that, I no longer need to trade, just depend on dividend passive income.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My spouse and I are in our early 50s and earn a total of only $170k pa. Our combined income is actually very little, we have friends and relatives whose combined income are more than $350k, some more than $500k. We consider ourselves as in the lower middle income group.

Nevertheless, we are contented with what we have. We are lucky enough to buy a condo in 2006 for only $500k and now it is fully paid up and valued at $1.2m. Our purchase was perfect and we are happy indeed. Our investment in our condo has paid off well.

We also have some cash and CPF savings over the years and this amount to about $500k in total. Our current total net worth is about $1.7m, including our condo. We are debt free.

Our retirement plan is to sell our condo and buy a small HDB 3 room flat. We will our invest our cash balance in strong blue chips to get 5% dividends. If we invest $1.4m, we will get an annual dividend of $70k pa. We will also get from CPF Life about $24k pa ($12k pa each). Our children should give us $12k pa in total ($6k pa each). So we will have $106k pa, more than enough for a retired couple. We will get a flat near an MRT station so that we will not need a car to travel.

Came across this website wealth-o-meter that lets you compare your income and wealth with the rest of the world : Global Rich List

Singaporeans' income are high compared with the rest of the world. Even $100k pa income puts you at the top 0.5%. But wealth wise, you will need $5m to be in the top 0.2%. Even at that position, there are many millions of people ahead of you.

I was from a poor family and now I am a millionaire, I am now among the top 1% of the world's population, in wealth.

I am very grateful to our government for making me a successful and rich person.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Came across this website wealth-o-meter that lets you compare your income and wealth with the rest of the world : Global Rich List

Singaporeans' income are high compared with the rest of the world. Even $100k pa income puts you at the top 0.5%. But wealth wise, you will need $5m to be in the top 0.2%. Even at that position, there are many millions of people ahead of you.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was from a poor family and now I am a millionaire, I am now among the top 1% of the world's population, in wealth.

I am very grateful to our government for making me a successful and rich person.

Same sentiments here. I grew up in a small HDB flat. Our system allowed me to climb up the social ladder. I now live in a posh luxury condo, which is fully paid up. My European luxury car is also paid up. I am now retired, 45 years old. I'm a living proof that if you study hard, worked hard, and smart in managing your finances, you can accumulate enough wealth to retire young. Now I devote my time to charity and helping others succeed in life.

I think most baby boomers would have started from a low base. Pre 1965 and a few years post 1965 were difficult years for us as a nation trying to find its footing.

Thanks to the determination of the earlier generation, and a strong and skillful government we became a developed country and most of the citizens are wealthy.

But being in a wealthy nation has its own issues. Things are definitely costlier here. As long as you are working, it is fine. Once you stop working, you will have to contend with growing cost and inflation as the country powers ahead. Lower skill jobs and labour intensive industries will be moved out. This means that wages will rise and things will becom more and more costly.

I am a baby boomer, and I too benefited from the country's strong and continued growth in the last 30 odd years. But as I spread out my savings into various forms of investment - 2nd condo for rental income, shares for dividend income and other forms of income generating investment, I don't hold much cash on hand. Because of that I dont feel rich. I am just glad that annually I can look forward to about $100k+ of passive income should I decide to retire

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Same sentiments here. I grew up in a small HDB flat. Our system allowed me to climb up the social ladder. I now live in a posh luxury condo, which is fully paid up. My European luxury car is also paid up. I am now retired, 45 years old. I'm a living proof that if you study hard, worked hard, and smart in managing your finances, you can accumulate enough wealth to retire young. Now I devote my time to charity and helping others succeed in life.

I copied this from the kiasuparents website. I share his sentiments totally.

seriously, $1M is not enough and $1 might be too much.

I know of a semi-retired businessman. He slipped on the wet floor at his condo pool, fell and hit his head on a metal bench and became comatose. While he was in a coma, he suffered a stroke. Despite having insurance, his family had to sell their condo and use up all their savings to treat him. Total expenses almost $1M AFTER INSURANCE. Guess what, he died 6 months after discharge.

My own grandmother is still around, 93 years old this year. She retired without a single cent in her pocket almost 40 years ago. (in the old days, people retire young lol) Now she's still around, hobbling around on her walking stick and scolding everyone. She really doesn't need money, all her 9 children, each contribute $50 monthly, enough for all her needs. She's healthy and doesn't require any medication, except calcium supplements.

All the "you need at least $1M to retire" is all part of a grand plan by "financial advisors" to make u feel worried all the time, and park your money with them, so u will be "secured" in old age. Pui. The financial institutions can't even secure their own future, want to secure yours/ours?

And "retirement" is really a 21st Century urban myth. In the old days, after people stopped their jobs, they were "employed" by their children to care for grandchildren, cook and what not. That was what kept my grandma healthy and fit, lots of manual labour, even into her 80s.

Everytime i see those overweight and lazy 60 year olds talking about retirement, i see a couple of pigs oinking away. The sooner society gets rid of the concept of "retirement", the better it is for everyone. Nobody will be in a rush to save up, people won't make risky investment decisions, people stop having so many frowns and furrows on their faces, society slows down and is happier.

For myself, the day i "retire" is the day i step into my coffin. At current life expectancy of 80+ years, to totally stop work and laze around for 15 years, is a crazy idea born out by lazy pigs.

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Originally Posted by Unregistered

I copied this from the kiasuparents website. I share his sentiments totally.

seriously, $1M is not enough and $1 might be too much.

I know of a semi-retired businessman. He slipped on the wet floor at his condo pool, fell and hit his head on a metal bench and became comatose. While he was in a coma, he suffered a stroke. Despite having insurance, his family had to sell their condo and use up all their savings to treat him. Total expenses almost $1M AFTER INSURANCE. Guess what, he died 6 months after discharge.

My own grandmother is still around, 93 years old this year. She retired without a single cent in her pocket almost 40 years ago. (in the old days, people retire young lol) Now she's still around, hobbling around on her walking stick and scolding everyone. She really doesn't need money, all her 9 children, each contribute $50 monthly, enough for all her needs. She's healthy and doesn't require any medication, except calcium supplements.

All the "you need at least $1M to retire" is all part of a grand plan by "financial advisors" to make u feel worried all the time, and park your money with them, so u will be "secured" in old age. Pui. The financial institutions can't even secure their own future, want to secure yours/ours?

And "retirement" is really a 21st Century urban myth. In the old days, after people stopped their jobs, they were "employed" by their children to care for grandchildren, cook and what not. That was what kept my grandma healthy and fit, lots of manual labour, even into her 80s.

Everytime i see those overweight and lazy 60 year olds talking about retirement, i see a couple of pigs oinking away. The sooner society gets rid of the concept of "retirement", the better it is for everyone. Nobody will be in a rush to save up, people won't make risky investment decisions, people stop having so many frowns and furrows on their faces, society slows down and is happier.

For myself, the day i "retire" is the day i step into my coffin. At current life expectancy of 80+ years, to totally stop work and laze around for 15 years, is a crazy idea born out by lazy pigs.

sounds like the family in the first anecdote went to a hospital with "Mount" in their name. Never go to the hospital with "Mount" in their name, even if you are bruniean royalty.

My net worth is not much, only $500k. My wife's net worth is only $300k. This include our flat. We are now 48, 41, years old. I plan to retire at 60 and then drive a taxi part time.

Couple age 48 & 53 (non grads), 3 kids age 15, 18, 22.

Both Small biz owners
average combined annual income $180k
Combined savings $1M (need $300K for kids local U expenses)
SG/US Stocks/unit trusts $450K
CPF $120K
Condo $1.1M fully paid upp
5-yr old MPV car value $90K, loan $40k, intend to pay up
soon

Our stocks are not giving us good dividends.
Intend to invest more on local blue chips and/or a 2nd
property - is it a good time? Or should we hold and
wait....?

Thank you for all experts' advice.