Whats your net worth

My wife and I have a total combined annual income of $200K.

Our property, which is now worth $1.4m, is fully paid. Our combined cash and CPF is about $400K.

We are in our 40's. We felt we are doing ok by Singaporean standards. Our friends are doing much better though but we dont want to compare ourselves with them. W are contented. Coming from poor families, we feel blessed and think that we have made it good in Singapore.

This is an excellent idea. I heard the JB area nearest to our 2nd Link is much safer and full of singaporeans. But I'm not sure if $800 is sufficient. Please keep us updated on your "adventure"!

Originally Posted by I want to retire early

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.

Originally Posted by I want to retire early

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.

you sure hdb can rent for 3k?

Originally Posted by I want to retire early

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.

I'm like you except I own a small bungalow, which is too big for me now that the kids are gone. I reckon I can rent it out for at least S$12K/month. My wife and I should be OK to rent a 500sq ft shoebox condo near MRT for $2K/month as a base to store our things and then spend the remaining $120K/yr travelling around the world for the next few years. Thought of spending just 3 months in Singapore during the year and the rest all over visiting kids who are abroad etc. Budget would be about $30K airfares for two round the world business class ticket and economy tickets for regional travel and spend the remaining $90K on food an accomodation. That's about S$300+ per day, which should be more than enough for hotels and food even in Europe and US.

Originally Posted by Luckyentrepreneur

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.

This is probably bad advice for most Singaporeans. As you noted, you are a lucky entrepreneur, not necessarily smart or skillful. More than 90% of entrepreneurs fail and many fail several times causing hardship for their families and friends.

Given your considerable net worth and young age, you should consider some leverage outside of just your condo. Many private banks can arrange.

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by doing ok

My wife and I have a total combined annual income of $200K.

Our property, which is now worth $1.4m, is fully paid. Our combined cash and CPF is about $400K.

We are in our 40's. We felt we are doing ok by Singaporean standards. Our friends are doing much better though but we dont want to compare ourselves with them. W are contented. Coming from poor families, we feel blessed and think that we have made it good in Singapore.

You are doing ok. Contentment is key.

Yes we should count our blessings everyday.

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by Average guy

Age: 50

Property net worth = $1.2 mil

Cash and CPF = $200K

Danger of being retrenched

Very worried

AverageGuy... so what are you going to do?

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by Mr Middle

I may have inadvertantly offended some forumers here who said I was being insensitive in my postings here. I apologise. It was never my intention to offend anyone. I was in a way expressing some fear and frustration that as a thrifty middle income earner who scrimped for years aspiring to one day sit back and relax and enjoy the fruits until my last day will not see my dream turn out the way my wife and I have hoped for.

Many people who are still working may not have thought through their retirement planning. For me and wife, we are doing it now because we are reaching a critical milestone (55 yrs) and calculating if we could retire without down grading our already frugal lifestyle. In this climate it is getting difficult to have positive return of 3% (net of inflation of 5% or more), not to mention consistent return.

The other worry is the medical expenses. It was reported that in the US, many families were one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. Meaning they were not financially prepared for heavy medical expenses.

MrMiddle... don't worry. I think you made a valid projection based on what you see in your own crystal ball.

To everyone else who may disagree... it may be ok for you or it may not be. We are living a sort of the Singapore Dream right now. Like how the Americans and Brits did some time ago. But you if do a check in London or New York, you will see a lot of people living at a standard they did not expect to have. Their quality of life has gone down. So things can change and will change.

We will not all be selling tissue packs (although if the trade is lucrative some GLC or conglomerate will get into it for sure). But we will be not be living the way we dreamed we would.

So do over-compensate to be on the safe side.

Sometimes I look at how some of my friends and relatives spend their income and I feel sorry for them. One of them makes about $20k a month but spends most of it. It is very short-sighted living. One day the gravy train will stop.

Take good care of yourself and your loved ones.

me and wife just cross 40
combine annual package S$300k
condo fully paid $1m
car fully paid (7 year old)

stocks $300k
cash $100k
cpf $100k

hoping to retire by 55

Originally Posted by Unregistered

me and wife just cross 40
combine annual package S$300k
condo fully paid $1m
car fully paid (7 year old)

stocks $300k
cash $100k
cpf $100k

hoping to retire by 55

Seems to me that your savings are relatively low given your income level. What % of your income do you save per month or per year?