Whats your net worth

I think you should stop contemplating, be a man, just send your resignation letter this coming Monday morning. I resigned at the age of 45, ten years younger than you. I managed well since my condo's mortgage is already cleared, I have no debt at all and I lead a simple life. My family does not own a car and we eat simply. We don't need to go holiday because every day is a holiday in our resort-themed condo. Our annual expenditure is $60k while our passive income is $80k. Our net worth is $3m. In the worst case scenario, we will sell our condo and downgrade to a 3 room HDB flat.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There is no escaping that we all have to work till very old. The problem is what kind of job can we do, what would our health be like and is there job for us as we get older.

Because of the uncertainties, it is thus prudent to plan to reach financial sufficiency by age 55 or at most 60. So if there is job for us, and if we are still able to work after 60, all this will be bonus.

On the other hand, thinking and spending like as if we can work till 70 or older is foolish.

I am 55, already I feel tired and not sure if I can continue to handle the same level of stress. At the same time, I think the company prefers to give opportunities to younger staff. Older staff like myself have to make way. Luckily I am more than ready for retirement as least on the financial front. Children are grown up, no loan, passive income of $100k pa and net worth $5.5m

I consider each day I go to work a bonus. Each pay day a bonus. I don't plan a whole year, only a month at a time. It is more bearable that way. And time also passes faster that way.

You know, everyone needs to take stock of what makes his life meaningful. Work actually ranks quite high besides family and other achievements/contribution.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I think you should stop contemplating, be a man, just send your resignation letter this coming Monday morning. I resigned at the age of 45, ten years younger than you. I managed well since my condo's mortgage is already cleared, I have no debt at all and I lead a simple life. My family does not own a car and we eat simply. We don't need to go holiday because every day is a holiday in our resort-themed condo. Our annual expenditure is $60k while our passive income is $80k. Our net worth is $3m. In the worst case scenario, we will sell our condo and downgrade to a 3 room HDB flat.

Like 99.9% of people, you are afraid to let go. Just admit it. You can't let go of the notion of power and status. I was a senior executive before and I know how it felt. But I have overcome that need for power, wealth and status. I am now a more humble, caring and pleasant person. As long as I am happy with myself and I know I am successful, I am content. What matters most to me now is the afterlife. You won't bring to your grave all your wealth, power, status with you.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I consider each day I go to work a bonus. Each pay day a bonus. I don't plan a whole year, only a month at a time. It is more bearable that way. And time also passes faster that way.

You know, everyone needs to take stock of what makes his life meaningful. Work actually ranks quite high besides family and other achievements/contribution.

53,44 couple with middle incomes. Both of us met while working for the government at MAS. Total income 500K without bonus. Total expenses at 100K at most. Accommodation landed. Net worth 10M. I can say that some of our colleagues fair much better than us, especially the top scholars, with highly disproportionate pay scales. One wonders who the gov really takes care of.

Thinking back in my working life with the financial side of the government after one more quarter to go to retirement, all I can say is that a weary eye must be paid to our gov's intentions. The lower income figures and concerns that prop up in the stats department keeps getting brushed aside during meetings discussing the impact of inflation and targets for GDP and population growth.

Have you heard of the past allegation of our finance minister in relation to his alleged insider information abuse with GDP figs and the sing dollar? I suspect that there are people in the Sing dollar and quant departments who are profiting from knowledge of the sing dollar exchange rate policies. The basket currencies and equations for balancing the sing dollar are kept stochastic and algorithmic to prevent taking advantage of in the short term, but in the long term though, correlation relations and determinants give those who know a long advantage. Hearing upper level people discussing the correlation peg between USDCNY and USDSGD and how they can use it is simply repulsive. Don't trust our gov if they don't even look out for the lower income, and are instead looking to profit for themselves.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Like 99.9% of people, you are afraid to let go. Just admit it. You can't let go of the notion of power and status. I was a senior executive before and I know how it felt. But I have overcome that need for power, wealth and status. I am now a more humble, caring and pleasant person. As long as I am happy with myself and I know I am successful, I am content. What matters most to me now is the afterlife. You won't bring to your grave all your wealth, power, status with you.

I'm not the person you were responding to, but I think I can identify with what you said. Not so much the power and status but the salary. I don't really enjoy my job. I want to do something else but it will mean taking a pay cut. And I'm not willing to do that, even though I can as I've built up a certain level of passive income. I tell myself that I will give it a few more years. But sometimes I wonder if that few years are up and I've saved more, whether I would really take the plunge and quit.

[whizzard]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm not the person you were responding to, but I think I can identify with what you said. Not so much the power and status but the salary. I don't really enjoy my job. I want to do something else but it will mean taking a pay cut. And I'm not willing to do that, even though I can as I've built up a certain level of passive income. I tell myself that I will give it a few more years. But sometimes I wonder if that few years are up and I've saved more, whether I would really take the plunge and quit.

I can also identify with this. The temptation to stop work and do something else (whatever it is) is always present but a difficult one to pull the trigger.

I don't really enjoy my work but I always remind myself that I get paid for it. As long as they are willing to pay me reasonably and the stress level is not always too high, it's good to have money automatically credited into your bank account at the end of each month. Unless it really gets up your nerves, it is not easy to give up the monthly paycheck (passive income notwithstanding), especially so when you are delivering or exceeding on your KPIs.

We are at this point probably earning our highest salary in our career, so we would want to stretch the run. At this stage of your life (50 - 60) where at any point you could just retire, you will also observe your net worth escalating because of the compounding effect of passive income returns. For my case, for every year that I steeled myself to work, I can save enough for 3 years of retirement. Meaning if I can endure 5 more years of work, I would increase my savings to last for another 15 years. And this is based on same level of expenses as now while I am still working, so when I do retire and cut back some items (like income taxes, drop 1 car), the money would stretch even longer.

Another thing I would miss is the colleagues if I should quit. Those who quitted early are already out of touch with us.

Originally Posted by whizzard

I can also identify with this. The temptation to stop work and do something else (whatever it is) is always present but a difficult one to pull the trigger.

I don't really enjoy my work but I always remind myself that I get paid for it. As long as they are willing to pay me reasonably and the stress level is not always too high, it's good to have money automatically credited into your bank account at the end of each month. Unless it really gets up your nerves, it is not easy to give up the monthly paycheck (passive income notwithstanding), especially so when you are delivering or exceeding on your KPIs.

I sold my terrace house last year for $3m and bought a brand new condo for $1m. I have $2m of investments, which gives me $100k pa of passive income. This enables me to retire at 50. My wife, 46, is still working, earning $120k pa. We have no debt and our annual expenses is $90k. I spend my time getting fit in the gym and pool, preparing for my next marathon. I also coach the kids to be "A" students and help out in the house work as we decided not to waste money on a maid. I still drive a European car which I use only occasionally as my condo in near an MRT station. It takes me only about 15 mins to town.

Big monthly expenses that I cleared - mortgage, car instalments, maid, kids' tuition, house maintenance (this is a big expense for those living in landed houses). Once these big monthly payments are cleared, my monthly household expenses dropped a lot and I have much more for savings. We save $130k per year now. Our net worth is now $3.5m. It should reach at least $7m in 20 years time.

Talking about doing good, I feel that actually the richer you are, the more you are able to do good. Many posters here claimed that they opted out of the rat race and started to live humbler / simpler lifestyles, but I don't see how this can contribute to the greater good and how this would help them get a better afterlife.

By not consuming, you are in fact depriving the next guy from making a living. People at the very core don't want charity, they want to work for their own keep. And why? Because work gives them dignity, and they feel useful.

I look at my current lifestyle now, we have 2 cars, a maid and eats out at restaurants often. I believe my lifestyle and others like us help keep a small segment of the economy humming along. When my last maid went back to Indonesia to get married after working 8 years with us, she worried about her future. I told her we would take her back if she needed money.

My condo employs cleaners, gardeners, guards and of course estate managers. Imagine if everyone downgrades to HDBs, where would all these people find jobs to feed their families?

In the final analysis, capable people earning more should spend more. They should not live like poor people and deprived less capable people from making a living and living with dignity.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Like 99.9% of people, you are afraid to let go. Just admit it. You can't let go of the notion of power and status. I was a senior executive before and I know how it felt. But I have overcome that need for power, wealth and status. I am now a more humble, caring and pleasant person. As long as I am happy with myself and I know I am successful, I am content. What matters most to me now is the afterlife. You won't bring to your grave all your wealth, power, status with you.

[whizzard]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are at this point probably earning our highest salary in our career, so we would want to stretch the run. At this stage of your life (50 - 60) where at any point you could just retire, you will also observe your net worth escalating because of the compounding effect of passive income returns.

Another thing I would miss is the colleagues if I should quit. Those who quitted early are already out of touch with us.

I still have some way to go before I hit the big 50 ..... my earnings peaked in my late thirties. I was regarded as a high performer in my previous organisation and they paid for performance. My current organisation doesn't really equip me with the enviroment to excel though I have been able to deliver/exceed on my revenue KPIs.

I won't really miss my colleagues should I quit, except maybe for a few from the other depts. Have always treated colleagues as colleagues and kept them separate from my friends. It's hard to develop genuine friendships with colleagues due to the competitive nature of the work environment.