How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?

[MyPillow]

janet88:

MyPillow:

js, i think red white invitations get more as one grow more senior :roll:

have to set aside more money for medical bills.

for me - no holidays (no travel bug), no maid, no tuition is considered savings. hdb mortgage should have completed.

ya medical bills - most aged bodies, fr 70 yo a lot of problems - eye, heart, blood pressure. knee problems , arthritis - one long list - sure can hit one illness - thus more $$$$ needed for maintenance of health n life span rather than quality life -

[hercules]

jetsetter:

hercules:


Why did you set aside $250 (as much as your monthly meal expenditure) for white/red packet? That's quite a lot.

Meals isn't = Entertainment I thought? Entertainment is like catching a movie or visiting an attraction, right?

You've budgeted quite a lot for Grooming & Massage

CNY ang po per year is at least $2,000.

haha, meals = entertainment to me. My kids dont go out watching movies with me anymore (I don't watch movies to begin with). Now they have to bring me visiting attractions and not I bring them (that's why different perspective at my age and their ages).

I looked at my budget and felt I have been 'under spending' on myself and so make an effort to spend a bit more on personal grooming.

[jetsetter]

MyPillow:

janet88:

[quote=\"MyPillow\"]js, i think red white invitations get more as one grow more senior :roll:

have to set aside more money for medical bills.

for me - no holidays (no travel bug), no maid, no tuition is considered savings. hdb mortgage should have completed.

ya medical bills - most aged bodies, fr 70 yo a lot of problems - eye, heart, blood pressure. knee problems , arthritis - one long list - sure can hit one illness - thus more $$$$ needed for maintenance of health n life span rather than quality life -[/quote]Oh yes, the mandatory 4-digit parents allowance depletes our savings too...

I agree with lee-yl that the older one gets, the more expensive taste buds one tends to have. My aged ILs really know how to pick the best ingredients and tonics to cook. Sometimes I wonder why they need to splurge so much on big ocean fish, abalones, sea cucumber, cordyceps, birdsnest, shiitake mushrooms, king prawns, 100% organic veggies/fruit/juice, smart rice...I usually buy my daily meals from the nearby kopitiam/hawkers ($3-5) but will splurge on food on selected special occasions at atas restaurants. Most of the time, my dh and I get to be \"treated\" at atas places by others so it's not too bad on our pockets.

My ILs just spent their kids' pocket money on a long haul holiday to EU this June. :moneyflies:

Fortunately, my ILs and parents have CPF and health insurance, so all medical bills are taken care of.

[zbear]

hercules:

zbear:

I noticed that you do not have any meal expenses, does it mean your 3 meals are home cooked n you don't eat out?

You don't need to pay for insurance apart from the health insurance?

Are your other family expenses taken care of by your DH?

Hope u don't mind me asking as I am making a comparison with my family/self expenses.

Hi zbear

Eating out expenses are under 'entertainment'. Ever since I become more health conscious since few months back, this expense reduced by about 50% as I find no point to pay and take in unwanted stuff into my stomach.

For life insurance charges, I put them under 'Assets' in my AceMoney and so they don't reflect as expenses. Anyway, I can stop continue paying for my life insurances if I want coz all of them are at least 25 years old (while all my endowment policies had matured and collected money).

My husband is stationed overseas and back only about 4 times per year. My oldest is on her own overseas and does not need family financial support anymore (I bought a small apartment and rented to her and she is paying me $1000/month as rental). In my house, there is still a son, a nephew, a 6 grand niece, and a helper (the 4+1).

There is no 'other expenses' (unless extraordinary). So my expenses listed are a true picture of my current monthly numbers that went out of my bank account (every month end I will do my bank reconciliation to make sure that the credits and debits matched).

I am above 50 yo and so the way I view and classify my money can be a bit different from those with younger children.

Hercules, thanks for sharing.

:thankyou:

[sharonkhoo]

jetsetter:

hercules:


Why did you set aside $250 (as much as your monthly meal expenditure) for white/red packet? That's quite a lot.

I can answer this one! When you are at that age (which is around mine too), there are an increasing no. of weddings (friends' kids) and funerals (friends' parents). We have several of each a year! We generally don't attend wedding banquets these days as the ang pow expenditure is getting really high. We will attend only if there is no church wedding.

[sharonkhoo]

jetsetter:

Another thing I notice is if no one is at home during the day (5x/wk), your utilities bill can be fairly low.

Yes, we realised that ours has dropped these last few months as all 4 of us are out most of day. The last bill was $70+ per month!

[ptb7476]

slmkhoo:

jetsetter:

Another thing I notice is if no one is at home during the day (5x/wk), your utilities bill can be fairly low.

Yes, we realised that ours has dropped these last few months as all 4 of us are out most of day. The last bill was $70+ per month!

so low

my U bill .. still almost 200 even though 5x /wk we not at home during day time
so i blame the aircon and the wM ..almost everyday one load

[sharonkhoo]

ptb7476:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"jetsetter\"]Another thing I notice is if no one is at home during the day (5x/wk), your utilities bill can be fairly low.

Yes, we realised that ours has dropped these last few months as all 4 of us are out most of day. The last bill was $70+ per month!

so low

my U bill .. still almost 200 even though 5x /wk we not at home during day time
so i blame the aircon and the wM ..almost everyday one load[/quote]We rarely use aircon. I use the washing machine daily, but on the economy cycle (short, no heat).

[lee_yl]

hercules:

lee_yl:

Wow, your household expenses for 5pax seem to be on the low side. I can't get by with a $100 transport budget and definitely spend more than $10 for my haircut.

Assuming that you want to maintain such a lifestyle, less the helper and facial, you still need to prepare around $850K for retirement.

By the way, as to a helper, it's hard to predict whether we need one or not. My maternal grandma was wheelchair bound and needed a helper for her last couple of years. Fortunately, financial support was forthcoming from the family otherwise she wouldn't have quality care.

Hi lee_yl

I am almost retired and only provide ad hoc consultation work and so I dont need to travel everyday. Even now if I have to go out, I tend to walk to or from Shenton Way office or meet friends in town so as to achieve my 10,000 steps/day target, and that 'save' even more (the purpose is not so much of saving money but to exercise).

My hair is of a 'maintenance free' style - all same length. Per cut is about $20 and I cut it max twice a year (the $10/month is I just rounded up on paper). I don't need to perm it or colour it. I am fine with the few strands of white hair here and there as I accept aging (and also I dont really need to see clients that sort of thing that may require someone to be 'more presentable'.)

I take your number of $850K for a spin in my excel. If only with this $850K and my CPF life income and no other things else, it can only last me till 77 yo. (I made a few assumptions below that inflation and saving return is 3% (except for these 3 years economy so bad inflation I set at zero), I get away from helper 3 years later and re-employ one at 75):


http://i64.tinypic.com/20l1ovq.png\">

Base on these assumptions, I will need

$1,000,000 to last til 80
$1,200,000 to last til 85
$1,500,000 to last til 91

Add on:
I dont proclaim to be a financial expert. My sharing is based on my 'common sense' only.

Hi Hercules,

Thanks for your sharing.

The $850K was computed based on a retirement age of 55 and living till 80. So if you plan to retire at 52 (that's early!), then $850K probably can only last you till age 77.

What I learnt from your sharing is that we can probably estimate how much we need at age 5X by removing all the children-related expenses (esp cost of tuition/enrichment).

Other pointers I find useful are the 10,000 steps a day exercise regime and keeping a maintenance free hairstyle. As well as the idea of doing without a helper and only re-employing one at age 75 and beyond.

[grimm]

ptb7476:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"jetsetter\"]Another thing I notice is if no one is at home during the day (5x/wk), your utilities bill can be fairly low.

Yes, we realised that ours has dropped these last few months as all 4 of us are out most of day. The last bill was $70+ per month!

so low

my U bill .. still almost 200 even though 5x /wk we not at home during day time
so i blame the aircon and the wM ..almost everyday one load[/quote]Same here - Our utilities bills are around $200 - we use air-con every night for weekdays (more on weekends - I will have 24/7 if I could afford it) and 1 load per day in the washing machine