26 years old, graduate with no honours, worked for 3 years in banking industry
1st job 2.6K/mth + Bonus
Current job 4.5K/mth + Commission

Networth:
Shares and cash = $110K
CPF (OA only) = $40K
Some insurance, not sure what's the value

No debts - I take public transport and properties prices are too out of reach for me now.

Accumulated most of my wealth through good investments during the 2008/2009 stock crash, bonuses and commissions.

Not the best among my peers but I think I'm doing okay.

Commissions? So are you an RM or PFC?

rm

.......

Sometimes I wonder if I should be working at all. On Monday, my $6m portfolio of financial investments was down $500K at one point. The S&P downgrade wiped out more than an entire year's base salary in a few hours. Damn moody. Why the hell am I still working?

you're still working so that you can top up your portfolio with your salary.

Stocktake 1 mth later
Age: 30
Property: Condo (1M value now. Outstanding loan 455k)
Cash: 90k
Stocks: 5k (sold almost all, convert to cash)
CPF: 40k (OA & SA)
Income: 5.1k monthly

On top of market slide, the USD to SGD keeps dropping, holding to US stocks negatively affects net worth, double whammy. Decided to cut losses, sell stocks and sit on cash.

Am no market expert, but this feels similar to 2008. Is this the beginning of another recession? In SG, housing and car prices have increased at a dramatic rate in recent years. Whereas in US and UK, unemployment is high, housing and car prices have never recovered from 2008 and are still dropping. For how long the strong SG economy and positive sentiment last?

9m at mid 30s, 20m by age 40
 

Stocks 1m down 350k in recent crash
Cash 1.3m waiting to buy more when Sgx hit 2400, Dow 9000
Bonds 5m yielding 3% after forex losses
1 condo worth 3m loan of 2m
Owns side f&b businesses worth about 700k

Sold my core company last year. Will expect another 8-9m in payments over next 3 years.

Conclusion? Build your own business and sell it for the fastest way to retire young. Need loads of hard work and luck.

You mentioned "side" f&b businesses. Do you still need a day job? Or are you a full time investor now?

Age: 50

Property net worth = $1.2 mil

Cash and CPF = $200K

Danger of being retrenched

Very worried

Hello everyone,

I read with great interest the comments made by many here. Thank you for enlightening me.

I have been working for many years and feeling rather tired now. I'm only 55 but feel like so much older.

I'm planning to stop work. Here is my retirement plan.

1. Rent a house in JB for RM2K (S$800) per month.

2. Rent out my HDB flat (fully paid) for S$3K (RM7K) per month.

3. Live off from the difference i.e. RM5K. This is enough if you live simply with just your wife.

I also have about $300K in cash for emergencies.

Is this a stupid idea? Anyone here has done this? If so, which estate in JB do you recommend? I prefer if there are many Singaporeans living in the estate.