How much money you need at 46?
Back to the sneaky pretty girl in business suit from the bank which managed to trick/swindle/persuade/coax S$50,000 out of my life savings. I am tossing and turning in my bed in Bangkok's Ambassador Hotel two days ago going through what exactly happened. By the way, I forgot to mention that the girl was from OCBC. She wasn't sneaking around trying to ambush men which was what happened to my friend when he was cornered by a pretty girl in Shenton Way recently.
I think the thing that hooked me was when she showed me the amount which I am supposed to get when I am 46. By investing S$50,000 gradually over 5 years, it would guarantee me approx. S$140,000 in total by the time the 15 years are up. The question which she asked was :
"How much money is enough for you at 46? HOW MUCH WOULD YOU REQUIRE AT RETIREMENT?"
How much money is considered enough for me indeed at 46?
I have never thought of this shit. People of my generation usually avoid thinking about hitting the 40's. 46? What the hell is that? It is something that only happens to other people, right (like death and getting married) ? 40's are reserved for all the old geezers who are fat, bald and impotent. People who are 46 are those ugly old people who are stuck behind boring desk jobs in your office. Desk jobs which you swear won't ever happen to you. You meet these people all the time in your offices - people who are just clocking time and have no further career ambitions. Too old to consider moving for greener pastures, too chicken-hearted to even consider new jobs or try new things or to travel to new places, too set in their ways, eat the same chap chye food at S$3.50 for lunch (sweet sour pork and steamed egg - oooh I can see it in my crystal ball now) everyday, too fat and too bald. These are people who have given up on life in their early 30's and resigned to collecting a S$3000-S$3500 paycheck every month for the rest of their lives. They get scolded by your younger boss daily in office (who will be armed with a spanking new degree from a foreign university) and then went back home at 6.30 pm to their nagging fat wife and teenage kids who played Playstation X, don't listen to them and only know how to stretch their hands for money.
Digression - How do you recognise such 46 year-old Singaporean men in the crowd (besides them being fat and bald)? Simple, they all walk around with a blank look in their eyes. The Americans called it the 'Indian" stare. These people wish they were dead and can't wait to go to Bangkok over the weekend to get a quick sex fix with the young and nubile Thai girls. I met plenty of such Singaporeans on my flights to and fro Bangkok from Singapore. You recognise them instantly. Plump, quiet and nervous. They avoid eye contact with you and mumble something about going on a "business trip" to Bangkok even though they are not even carrying a pen on them. These people have given up on life and have no further ambitions other than to live day to day and avoid seeing their nagging wife and kids as much as possible. Ahhh, what a "wonderful" life awaits me, a typical Singaporean man, at 46. Life is clearly a bitch. Someone should shoot it.
So how much money would such a typical 46 year-old Singaporean man need? I conclude that S$140,000 is not enough after a quick mental calculation. How can it be enough? Let's face it, Singapore is an expensive place to stay even though I love the country. If you go by the track I have laid out above, most men would have 2 kids by the time 46 comes around. Your kids' education will be a major source of expenses. It would cost about S$30,000 per kid to send the bugger to a local university and these are just university fees alone. Holy shit. We haven't even compute in other stuff yet like books and living allowances for those pesky kids. Then add in bills for the flat and cars? And daily living houshold expenses plus something extra for your wife for her LV shopping? Sometimes, I wonder where do Singaporean men in their 40's get extra income to support a Chinese mistress. I estimated that a married man will need to spend S$3000 a month to support aging parents, a wife, 2 teenage kids, a car and a 5-room HDB flat. So S$140,000 probably only lasts a married Singaporean man 3.8 years at the most (if for some reasons he has lost his job and is not working). If someone in the family requires a major medical treatment at Mount Elizabeth, all the best.
If you are single at 46, then things are more tolerable. But don't stop working and go blowing your wad of dollar bills at that red ferrari. Without a family's support, you are going to need to be thrifty at 46 bcos you are going to have to rely on yourself (and no one else) in times of need. This is especially true when you are retired at 62. No children to take care of you and foot your medical expenses. No fat (but loving) wife to take care of you when you have problem chewing your food. (Hell, by 62, I will be gumming my food instead.) All sorts of sickness will descend upon me and getting sick in Singapore is no walk in the park. My friend's dad stayed in Mount Elizabeth Hospital for a few days, did a routine check with a doctor and costs more than S$400,000. Oh yeah. And he still died! That spanking red ferrari is going to COST me dearly when I am 62 and have no money to pay for my medical bills. In conclusion, that S$140,000 at age 46 therefore has to be reinvested carefully in all sorts of insurance schemes so that at 62, it would have grown to a sizeable cache providing adequate financial backup for the lonely, single Singaporean man.
Is $140,000 enough at 46? Conclusion : Barely enough if you intend to stay in Singapore. Sure, I could migrate to Laos and get a Lao wife and plant cabbages and mushrooms in my backyard for the rest of my life. In which case, S$1,000 per month is more than sufficient to ensure a luxurious living. S$140,000 can actually comfortably lasts me 12 years in Laos. But there is something defeatist about this particular lifestyle although I know of Singaporeans who actually gave it all up for a simple life. Besides, I am useless at planting cabbages and mushrooms. This of course leads to the next big question:
NOW HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED AT 62 (RETIREMENT)?
Hmm.
I think the thing that hooked me was when she showed me the amount which I am supposed to get when I am 46. By investing S$50,000 gradually over 5 years, it would guarantee me approx. S$140,000 in total by the time the 15 years are up. The question which she asked was :
"How much money is enough for you at 46? HOW MUCH WOULD YOU REQUIRE AT RETIREMENT?"
How much money is considered enough for me indeed at 46?
I have never thought of this shit. People of my generation usually avoid thinking about hitting the 40's. 46? What the hell is that? It is something that only happens to other people, right (like death and getting married) ? 40's are reserved for all the old geezers who are fat, bald and impotent. People who are 46 are those ugly old people who are stuck behind boring desk jobs in your office. Desk jobs which you swear won't ever happen to you. You meet these people all the time in your offices - people who are just clocking time and have no further career ambitions. Too old to consider moving for greener pastures, too chicken-hearted to even consider new jobs or try new things or to travel to new places, too set in their ways, eat the same chap chye food at S$3.50 for lunch (sweet sour pork and steamed egg - oooh I can see it in my crystal ball now) everyday, too fat and too bald. These are people who have given up on life in their early 30's and resigned to collecting a S$3000-S$3500 paycheck every month for the rest of their lives. They get scolded by your younger boss daily in office (who will be armed with a spanking new degree from a foreign university) and then went back home at 6.30 pm to their nagging fat wife and teenage kids who played Playstation X, don't listen to them and only know how to stretch their hands for money.
Digression - How do you recognise such 46 year-old Singaporean men in the crowd (besides them being fat and bald)? Simple, they all walk around with a blank look in their eyes. The Americans called it the 'Indian" stare. These people wish they were dead and can't wait to go to Bangkok over the weekend to get a quick sex fix with the young and nubile Thai girls. I met plenty of such Singaporeans on my flights to and fro Bangkok from Singapore. You recognise them instantly. Plump, quiet and nervous. They avoid eye contact with you and mumble something about going on a "business trip" to Bangkok even though they are not even carrying a pen on them. These people have given up on life and have no further ambitions other than to live day to day and avoid seeing their nagging wife and kids as much as possible. Ahhh, what a "wonderful" life awaits me, a typical Singaporean man, at 46. Life is clearly a bitch. Someone should shoot it.
So how much money would such a typical 46 year-old Singaporean man need? I conclude that S$140,000 is not enough after a quick mental calculation. How can it be enough? Let's face it, Singapore is an expensive place to stay even though I love the country. If you go by the track I have laid out above, most men would have 2 kids by the time 46 comes around. Your kids' education will be a major source of expenses. It would cost about S$30,000 per kid to send the bugger to a local university and these are just university fees alone. Holy shit. We haven't even compute in other stuff yet like books and living allowances for those pesky kids. Then add in bills for the flat and cars? And daily living houshold expenses plus something extra for your wife for her LV shopping? Sometimes, I wonder where do Singaporean men in their 40's get extra income to support a Chinese mistress. I estimated that a married man will need to spend S$3000 a month to support aging parents, a wife, 2 teenage kids, a car and a 5-room HDB flat. So S$140,000 probably only lasts a married Singaporean man 3.8 years at the most (if for some reasons he has lost his job and is not working). If someone in the family requires a major medical treatment at Mount Elizabeth, all the best.
If you are single at 46, then things are more tolerable. But don't stop working and go blowing your wad of dollar bills at that red ferrari. Without a family's support, you are going to need to be thrifty at 46 bcos you are going to have to rely on yourself (and no one else) in times of need. This is especially true when you are retired at 62. No children to take care of you and foot your medical expenses. No fat (but loving) wife to take care of you when you have problem chewing your food. (Hell, by 62, I will be gumming my food instead.) All sorts of sickness will descend upon me and getting sick in Singapore is no walk in the park. My friend's dad stayed in Mount Elizabeth Hospital for a few days, did a routine check with a doctor and costs more than S$400,000. Oh yeah. And he still died! That spanking red ferrari is going to COST me dearly when I am 62 and have no money to pay for my medical bills. In conclusion, that S$140,000 at age 46 therefore has to be reinvested carefully in all sorts of insurance schemes so that at 62, it would have grown to a sizeable cache providing adequate financial backup for the lonely, single Singaporean man.
Is $140,000 enough at 46? Conclusion : Barely enough if you intend to stay in Singapore. Sure, I could migrate to Laos and get a Lao wife and plant cabbages and mushrooms in my backyard for the rest of my life. In which case, S$1,000 per month is more than sufficient to ensure a luxurious living. S$140,000 can actually comfortably lasts me 12 years in Laos. But there is something defeatist about this particular lifestyle although I know of Singaporeans who actually gave it all up for a simple life. Besides, I am useless at planting cabbages and mushrooms. This of course leads to the next big question:
NOW HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED AT 62 (RETIREMENT)?
Hmm.
posted by Captain Obvious at 4:03 AM
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