Retirement at 60: No longer possible?
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By Elena Torrijos
About two weeks ago, Yahoo! Answers Singapore asked: “Do you think you will be able to retire by 60?” Majority of the 623 who posted replies were quite pessimistic about their prospects. No way, unless one marries rich or wins the Toto, was an oft-cited response.
A good number of posters pointed out that life in the city-state is all about debt – Singaporeans will have to work until they die to pay off their obligations. This perception might be exaggerated, but the argument that debt may hold back retirement at 60 is hard to discount, especially now that prices of HDB flats have risen, and wages haven’t exactly caught up.
“Singaporeans are all ‘paper rich.’ Almost everyone is in debt: Housing, Car, Study, etc…” said one poster that earned agreement from fellow posters. Another poster noted that Singaporeans incur debt starting from the time they study in university to the time they have to buy a house and car.
The increasing cost of living in Singapore is frequently mentioned as a major constraint to achieving retirement goals. “With exorbitant prices of HDB flats… I doubt Singaporeans can even think of retiring,” one poster said. Inflation is high and medical expenses are rising, observed another. A poster said that if Singaporeans went by current estimates of financial planners, he would need to have at least a million dollars to retire at 60.
A fair number thought that retirement at 60 might be possible – if they spend their post-job years in a lower-cost country. “If I take all my money and go abroad I can survive a long time,” asserted one user. Another poster believes Singaporeans with lower incomes will have to “migrate to a third world country” for their retirement. The popular view is that the average-income family cannot enjoy retirement by age 60, believing only the “only the rich can do that.”
Nevertheless, a significant minority said retirement by age 60 is doable, with some posters explaining how they managed to do it through frugal living or key investments.
“Trick is to make your money work hard and not you, work hard,” said one user. Downgrading to a smaller HDB flat will free up funds for retirement was another option mentioned.
Others underscored the importance of lifestyle choices: “I’ve retired at 40…. It’s a lifestyle choice.” “It’s a matter of whether you are disciplined or not.”
One user offered this formula: “Investing + saving + Start early = Retire early.”
Pessimism Or Preparation
Many Singaporeans, however, have not started to plan for retirement though they profess it is a goal. A recent survey of more than 500 fully-employed Singaporeans aged between 35 and 55 revealed that 60% of Singaporeans want to retire by the time they reach 60, but only 40% have made, or intend to make, a retirement plan.
More than half of the respondents fear they will retirement savings not last long enough and run out, and around 70% believe they are “very likely” to turn to part-time employment when they retire.
Simply being pessimistic about the future, however, will do nothing to change it. Ultimately, as some posters recognise, being able to retire at 60 (or when you want) will depend on how you handle your situation now. The higher your income and the lower your household and other expenses, then the more room to save. The earlier you start to prepare and plan, the earlier you can retire.
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long time already not possible to retire at 60.................for many people............
LKY want us S'poreans to be more hardworking..................we work till we drop.............dead.
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if you are a mini-star, you can retire anytime after a while..
but since it's easy money, they "pak si pun mai zhao" like lau lee... i think he's already dead and is a bleached zombie.. but still refuses to go
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any ideas on how to die die able to retirement @ 60?
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Originally posted by Moka:
any ideas on how to die die able to retirement @ 60?
strike toto -
the idea is to look at the retirement age as the day u commit suicide.
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For China it's still retirement at 60 y.o. for men and 55 y.o. for women.
If blue collared worker, men retire at 55 y.o. and women retire at 50 y.o.
Then they receive a steady source of pension from the government, which is typically about RMB 2,000 to RMB 3,000 a month. RMB 2,000 can afford the retiree a comfortable lifestyle in his/her old age.
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I don't think that's feasible. China cannot afford to support billions of people for retirement. Even Japan is facing huge problems from their pension schemes.
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:
I don't think that's feasible. China cannot afford to support billions of people for retirement. Even Japan is facing huge problems from their pension schemes.
Japanese has serious economic problems. -
Earn income not only from Singapore la!
Start some websites with google adsense. Can liao.
Or like my finance blog, just attained PR1, then got advertiser offer 42 usd for 1 year contract. Little little build and add up lor.Think wide, think big, think far!
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Can retire at 60.
Provided you have no kids.
Provided you prepare to go to the temple everyday for 3 meals.
Provided you win lottery every week. -
be prepared to work as a security guard or toilet cleaner in your 60s, 70s and 80s even.
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I want to enjoy the fruit of labour @ 60.
- Had adsense and blog. Guess it's time to invest my time on them again.
- No intention to start a family.
- Plan to start dabble into shares/ forex next year.
My ultimate plan is to buy a house when the price is low and sell them away at a high price. But I got no money to begin with and I don't like the 30 year mortgage plan.
As Singapore's market is small and saturated, is starting a business a good way to earn money? Minus away luck, if a person has only average ideas and ability, can they make it into business?
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my goal is still to retire at 40yrs old leh.... still look possible now... even if cannot maybe 42-45yrs old also can
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How you manage??can share??
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Originally posted by Moka:
How you manage??can share??
1) have a concrete plan2) save and invest and work hard
3) start early
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Originally posted by Moka:
I want to enjoy the fruit of labour @ 60.
- Had adsense and blog. Guess it's time to invest my time on them again.
- No intention to start a family.
- Plan to start dabble into shares/ forex next year.
My ultimate plan is to buy a house when the price is low and sell them away at a high price. But I got no money to begin with and I don't like the 30 year mortgage plan.
As Singapore's market is small and saturated, is starting a business a good way to earn money? Minus away luck, if a person has only average ideas and ability, can they make it into business?
What's your age?
Me share share myself
1. I still have adsense and blog. It brings me on average 10 to 20usd a month. I have also sold ad space recently for 42usd for 1 full year. My next step is to bring up my blog traffic, such that I can achieve higher traffic. Then I shall aim to reach 30 to 40 usd, or even average 50usd monthly.
2. I intend to start a family in a few years time
3. Already into shares
I'm keeping what I want to do after these secret because I dun want much pple to know what I aiming for yet. Basically, I will earn, but at the same time, I will be able to reach out and help many others. It's for a cause I believe in.
Why retire at 40? I want to help pple for as long as I can.
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earn money, get CPF money and then migrate to third world countries to enjoy the fruit of your labour.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
earn money, get CPF money and then migrate to third world countries to enjoy the fruit of your labour.
You opened yourself to the elitist's reply: yup, 3rd world people deserves to stay in 3rd world countries.
But nvm, I help you by listing here first.
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Originally posted by eagle:
What's your age?
I'm 22 this year..not exactly young anymore. I think it's time to really start earning money from all sources, not just from work alone. I worked from monday to sunday, 2-3 jobs and realised it doesn't work this way. But I got no idea how to go about earning money through different ways. -
Originally posted by Moka:
I'm 22 this year..not exactly young anymore. I think it's time to really start earning money from all sources, not just from work alone. I worked from monday to sunday, 2-3 jobs and realised it doesn't work this way. But I got no idea how to go about earning money through different ways.
care to say what you work as, full time and part time job? -
Originally posted by Moka:
I'm 22 this year..not exactly young anymore. I think it's time to really start earning money from all sources, not just from work alone. I worked from monday to sunday, 2-3 jobs and realised it doesn't work this way. But I got no idea how to go about earning money through different ways.you need to learn how to park your money. parking your money in bank account where they pay you 0.2% isnt the way to go. you can try shares to grow your money. the dividends you earned is already more than the bank pay you for interest isnt it.
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My previous job is Science field, main part time job is tuition. So everyday finish work @ 5pm will tuition until like 10pm. Sat and Sun also work. I can earn like 1000 from tuition.
I've set up a forex account : http://www.fxcm.co.uk/open-free-active-trader.jsp and have been practicing. but of course, failed miserably.
Right now my sister focus on IPO and I will just give the money to my sister to let her invest in whatever she likes.
I dunno anything about shares... .>.< like those junk bonds and AAA grade stocks. I don't have the "eye" and the knowledge to know what to buy. Any website that is good for a newbie like me to learn?
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
you need to learn how to park your money. parking your money in bank account where they pay you 0.2% isnt the way to go. you can try shares to grow your money. the dividends you earned is already more than the bank pay you for interest isnt it.
must understand his risk profile before recommending anyone into shares
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Originally posted by BanguIzai:
must understand his risk profile before recommending anyone into shares
I dun believe in this. warren buffet is in his 70s and yet he is a high risk taker. textbooks said people in their retirement age should not expose themselves to so much risk. so what say you about this. same with diversification. warren does not recommend diversification actually. some professors even said diversify is actually bad, as it exposes you to even more risks. ironic right to what the textbooks had written.