How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?

[hercules]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938343\" time=\"1569681212\" user_id=\"17023:

My family also practiced the 孔融让梨 . 1 drumstick will go into my mum's bowl and the other one always goes into my youngest brother's bowl.

Huh? You have $2mil-$3mil worth of annuity plans yet you don't have money to send the other one overseas? Actually, I thought you would ask your kids to take up CPF loan as one of your 12 commandments is, \"no tuition and cheap preschools\".

Aiya, the situation now is that the Brother wasn't keen to study so let the sis go mah. But what if you have 2 or 3 or 4 kids who all wish to go overseas at the same time, then who will you pick? From a very pragmatic perspective, for a fresh grad who just returned to SG after completing his overseas studies, can he really afford to sponsor his sibling for an overseas education immediately?

Said before my kids never know their parents' net worth (until today still don't know).

Who would I pick? I would follow what my parents did - pick the one with the most conscience and 'potential' and groom this one with the limited resources. This was what they did without hesitation from what I saw that they poured almost all the resources on me to groom me among their more than half a dozen of kids (though I don't think they ever expect me to repay). Not only that, they left all their whatever cash they had saved to ONLY ME, their richest child, after they final departure. They were right afterall coz I managed to multiply their 'investment' in tens of fold and now can take care of their kids, grand kids, and great grand kids (I take it as a responsibility to repay my parents).

PS: if all also assessed no conscience type, then I rather donate out the money than to give them.

[FantasyLandDreams]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938347\" time=\"1569681779\" user_id=\"17023:

Coolkidsrock2\" post_id=\"1938340\" time=\"1569680876\" user_id=\"48901:

I used to pray 文昌 and 孔子 now I pray 月老 This is how worried I am.

Thanks! Good suggestion! Hubby says Toa Payoh 双林寺 has them all.
Then we can proceed to 拜送子娘娘 for many grandchildren.

:lol: Good idea indeed.

[lee_yl]

Iluvmygals\" post_id=\"1938156\" time=\"1569637285\" user_id=\"26453:

499,800 with a 4.75% return gives u 23,740/annum which is 1,978/mth. With the policy, it only gives 1,470/mth. The missing bits is probably the management fee paid.

A direct investment into DBS, UOB also gives a dividend yield of 4.8%, with no management fee needed and shares are deposited into CDP account and can be inherited by children. Would that not be a better choice?

No doubt there will be argument about share price fluctuations. If focus is on monthly income, then price fluctuation shouldn't matter...not to forget there could be price upside too....

Just sharing an alternative view....

Thanks for sharing. At home, DH is the one more familiar with annuity plans, equities and dividends. He also shared the same view. End of the day, you can call it whatever you want, like legacy, endowment etc, it simply boils down to the tenure and annualized returns. He said agent tried to sell him the endowment type then, using SRS, to cough out $700K for a $50k/year return, policy terminate upon our death. He finds the policy tooooo expensive.

For the example of the Manulife legacy annuity, the illustration uses projected returns of 4.75% per annum. And for lower projected returns (in the fine print), the payouts and legacy drop quite significantly. In reality, since 1997, it is unlikely for investment policies to reach such lofty heights. Even GIC could only manage an annualized return of 3.4% over a 20-year period ending 31 Mar 2019.

Another concern is, payout spread over 3 generations, can’t be sure if the insurance companies entrusted with the funds would still be there. Back in 2007, AIG nearly collapsed. So far, I cannot see so far until my grandchildren’s generation. I can only plan for myself and if there’s any leftover, then could be passed down to my children. Even if I want to leave something for my nieces/nephews/grandchildren, maybe the moment I pass on, my beneficiaries (especially their spouses) may insist to cash out the lump sum rather than collect tiny bits every month.

[ngl2010]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938419\" time=\"1569731750\" user_id=\"17023:

...

If I accumulate sufficient funds, maybe I will just go for a FH landed property.

Does FH landed property give better return than FH condo?

[lee_yl]

ngl2010\" post_id=\"1938457\" time=\"1569743815\" user_id=\"40978:

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938419\" time=\"1569731750\" user_id=\"17023:

...

If I accumulate sufficient funds, maybe I will just go for a FH landed property.

Does FH landed property give better return than FH condo?

Haha, that’s my dream house but must have a granny’s room and enough space for my wheelchair to maneuver.

Capital appreciation for FH landed definitely higher than FH condo in the long term. But in terms of recurrent income, rental income from FH condo should be more stable and predictable.

During one of the property seminars I attended, the speaker said if got money, buy FH landed, and landed doesn’t include those strata kind of cluster landed housing.

My friend told me one couple sold off their landed for $2mil+ 15 years ago to downsize to a HDB flat so as to cash out the money for retirement. The couple is still alive today and they look back at their decision with regret as their landed is now worth almost $6mil.

[Coolkidsrock2]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938464\" time=\"1569745368\" user_id=\"17023:

ngl2010\" post_id=\"1938457\" time=\"1569743815\" user_id=\"40978:

[quote=lee_yl post_id=1938419 time=1569731750 user_id=17023]...

If I accumulate sufficient funds, maybe I will just go for a FH landed property.

Does FH landed property give better return than FH condo?

Haha, that’s my dream house but must have a granny’s room and enough space for my wheelchair to maneuver.

Capital appreciation for FH landed definitely higher than FH condo in the long term. But in terms of recurrent income, rental income from FH condo should be more stable and predictable.

During one of the property seminars I attended, the speaker said if got money, buy FH landed, and landed doesn’t include those strata kind of cluster landed housing.

My friend told me one couple sold off their landed for $2mil+ 15 years ago to downsize to a HDB flat so as to cash out the money for retirement. The couple is still alive today and they look back at their decision with regret as their landed is now worth almost $6mil.[/quote]They didn't buy another condo at that time? Would most likely have nearly doubled. In the meantime, earn rental.

[sharonkhoo]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938464\" time=\"1569745368\" user_id=\"17023:

My friend told me one couple sold off their landed for $2mil+ 15 years ago to downsize to a HDB flat so as to cash out the money for retirement. The couple is still alive today and they look back at their decision with regret as their landed is now worth almost $6mil.

You can only make decisions based on current info and your best guess about the future. If you made what you felt was the 'best' decision at that point, no point looking back and regretting. 30 years ago, we were offered a FH semi-D for about $600K, which 15 yrs ago was probably worth at least a couple of millions, and is worth even more millions now. We made a decision not to buy at the time, based on various considerations then. Who knows if Singapore's economy might have gone into a steep downturn at some point and never recovered? There are also people who had so much in their property that when they needed cash urgently during a time with weak property prices, had to sell at a loss because they couldn't get another mortgage. Then they would have regretted not selling earlier.

[tyeogh]

15 years ago property prices were at its doldrums. Everything was iffy. Nobody then knew the greatest secret. That Sg was to accommodate 6.9m people. Since then, property prices shot thru the roof. To accommodate real demand. Now, we are at an oversupply state. I dont think it’s reasonable to use the past 15 years to project capital appreciation for next 15 years.

[lee_yl]

tyeogh\" post_id=\"1938519\" time=\"1569810745\" user_id=\"94399:

15 years ago property prices were at its doldrums. Everything was iffy. Nobody then knew the greatest secret. That Sg was to accommodate 6.9m people. Since then, property prices shot thru the roof. To accommodate real demand. Now, we are at an oversupply state. I dont think it's reasonable to use the past 15 years to project capital appreciation for next 15 years.

True that the past does not always represent the future. Maybe we shouldn’t expect next 15years to see property prices continue to shoot up like they did in the past, but in the long run, property prices should be heading north for a highly cosmopolitan city like Singapore.

All the more so in land-scarce Singapore, a FH landed will always be highly sought after.

The price index showed landed property prices outdo condos in recent years.


https://postimg.cc/PCns9nRS

[lee_yl]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"1938506\" time=\"1569804621\" user_id=\"28674:

lee_yl\" post_id=\"1938464\" time=\"1569745368\" user_id=\"17023:

My friend told me one couple sold off their landed for $2mil+ 15 years ago to downsize to a HDB flat so as to cash out the money for retirement. The couple is still alive today and they look back at their decision with regret as their landed is now worth almost $6mil.

You can only make decisions based on current info and your best guess about the future. If you made what you felt was the 'best' decision at that point, no point looking back and regretting. 30 years ago, we were offered a FH semi-D for about $600K, which 15 yrs ago was probably worth at least a couple of millions, and is worth even more millions now. We made a decision not to buy at the time, based on various considerations then. Who knows if Singapore's economy might have gone into a steep downturn at some point and never recovered? There are also people who had so much in their property that when they needed cash urgently during a time with weak property prices, had to sell at a loss because they couldn't get another mortgage. Then they would have regretted not selling earlier.

Do you know why this friend told me the couple’s story? Because I told her I went to see this unit in 2017 but I didn’t buy. I saw similar units advertising, all asking at least $300k more today. Heart pain.

So friend told me if I feel heart pain, then this couple who went through the process to sell off their beloved house, heart pain will be 100 times worse than mine.