Married graduate couple, 43/45, 2 kids
Combined CPF (OA+SA+MA) $460k
Cash savings $40k
Condo home $1.5m (no more loan)
Debt free
Savings $30k pa
Total combined net worth $2m

Are we below average for our age group?

You are among the top 2% of Singaporeans since you own and live in a fully paid condo and has a total net worth of $2m. You're a millionaire couple.

I'm a middle income earner making $60k pa. My spouse makes $55k pa. We are both 40 yo. Our shared home is a beautifully renovated 4 room flat worth $500k. We own a small old car to ferry around the family. My net worth is $400k and my spouse net worth is $350k. We are debt free.

How do we stand in the social status ranking? Anyone can comment? Thank you.

Both your income is above the median and both your net worth is around average. So your social standing should be in the top 40%.

You will be just fine. Focus on clearing your mortgage and saving your CPF min sum.

When you reach 65, you can retire by getting your CPF life, renting your spare rooms and allowance from children. Don't gamble, drink or womanize.

Married graduate couple, 43/39, 2 teenage kids
Wife is stay at home mum for past 6 yrs
Combined CPF (OA+SA+MA) $300k
Cash savings $900k (savings from 6 yrs overseas posting)
EC home $1.1m (no more loan)
Stocks currently worth $500k
HH expenditure <$100kpa
Debt free
Total combined net worth ~$2.5m excl CPF

Thinking to do some crazy things: quit my good paying but stressful job & take a year off. Any advice?

Mid life crisis? It is a normal affliction for most people. I went through a few. But I held on to my job throughout somehow.

Here are some suggestions as to how to psyche yourself out of this phase:

1. Take a sabbatical. If your company doesn't have such a scheme, be the first to introduce / initiate it. Present to them the benefits of such a scheme, and what you intend to do during the sabbatical. (Lucky for me, my company supports sabbaticals)

2. Ask for a different posting, or take on a different project. I moved from a technical discipline to the corporate side after 13 years. After 3 years, I moved back to technical in a managerial capacity

3. Take no pay leave. Again my company has this scheme but only for valid reasons such as to accompany spouse on overseas posting, to pursue studies relevant to your work, to take care of ill parents etc.

4. Do a thorough / realism assessment on the marketability of your skillset. Will you be able to re-enter the job market if you quit for a year? If so, get same pay? If answer is no, then better not quit without a job.

5. Tell yourself, the $2.5m networth is insufficient to support a young and growing family for too long. Believe me, it isn't. It will be sufficient if both of you were now 55 and your kids already financially independent on you.

6. Tell yourself, tough times don't last, tough people do. Looking back at the various trials and tribulations I went through, I now see them as small ripples in the bigger scheme of life. But of course, when you are right in the midst of a turbulent period, it seem like we might not survive it.

Good luck

Mental health is as important as physical health, if not more important. If you are in a state of mental distress which makes you abnormal, then it is best to quit ypur job and retire. You can then go for some less stressful but more meaningful work such as volunteering in charities.

You can retire now. Here's how:

1. Sell your EC and buy a 5 bedroom HDB flat. Nowadays you can get a flat for only $350k.
2. Use the cash balance plus your savings to buy high dividend yield stocks giving you 6% pa dividends. Assuming you have in total $2m worth of stocks, that will give you $120k pa in dividends.
3. Since your expenses is less than $100k, you will have excess every year which you can reinvest to buy more stocks.

I was in your situation and my mental health was terrible. I quit my job and make adjustments in my life. My family was understanding as they love me very much. Instead of living in a big landed house, we downgraded to a smaller penthouse condo. We are very happy today. I am a more cheerful and positive person now.

All the best.

Thanks for the advice & encouragement.

Honestly, taking 1 year off is probably too crazy for me at this point. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing something (either business or finding another job) pretty soon if I quit as I can't rest still. The main thing for me right now is to find something that I could enjoy doing but not sacrifice too much monetarily. Definitely not looking at spending $100kpa if I quit cause there are many uncertainties & I still have a long way to go in terms of kid's education, but I won't do anything like downgrading my house either.

BTW, whenever you guys talk about 5-6% annual return, it feels like it only appear in dreams to me. I'm really really novice in investment. I'll need to talk to more experts as I do have close friends in finance industry.

My family is very understanding & will support whatever I want to do, so I hope I can be like you. Live a happy & fulfilling life.

Believe me, I've been through lots of up & downs myself :) & been with the same company for 19 years, moving up slowly through the ranks & different postings. Really looking something new, maybe better opportunities. Perhaps like what you said: Mid life crisis.

I fully understood 2.5m is not much, that's why my dilemma in this. Perhaps I just have to do it (quit & find other things) so that I don't regret of not trying something else...

wow. u got married /had kids rather early. not the norm for grad couple