SINGAPORE: A 55-year-old man took to social media to express his deep-seated concerns about retirement, a period that looms ever closer for him without the safety net of any savings.
In his post on r/singaporefi, he provided details about his present circumstances, stating, “Current salary is $3.5K. Did not manage to save much money over the years as all went to my 2 daughters’ education.”
“I have a paid off 5 room HDB flat. Wife is working and making $2K. 2 daughters are recent Uni grads. I have $20K in some DBS shares and $10K cash savings. CPF I am not going to really count it.”
“My goal is to retire when I am latest 65. I don’t think I can still be working any more by then. In the next 10 years, what can I do?”
He also mentioned that since his daughters will soon be able to move out and rent their own places, he is considering renting out the entire house.
“I hope to have passive income of about $3K/month to sustain me and my wife. With the household contribution from my girls, that might give us additional $1500.”
“Are you sure your girls plan on giving you pocket money after they start working?”
Below his post, Singaporean Redditors expressed their confusion as to why the man didn’t want to count the CPF, which is presumably the most significant contribution to his retirement savings.
One Redditor said, “Not sure why you don’t want to count CPF, but you can look up CPF Life and see if you can hit FRS and collect $1.6k a month from 65yo onwards for life.”
Others, on the other hand, chastised him for expecting his daughters to provide for him financially.
One Redditor asked him, “Are you sure your girls plan on giving you pocket money after they start working? You sure they will be able to earn enough to rent outside on their own while letting you rent out your existing place? Discussed it already?
A lot of young people cursing their parents for making them give an allowance, even though they sleeping in the parents house, using parents food and electricity and wifi. Their motto is – I did not ask to be born.”
Another commented, “Haha, $1500 in total from both daughters. That’s quite optimistic.
Some of my friends don’t even give their parents money. And others that do, are often at $500 thereabout cause they have their own family to take care of.”
A Redditor who happened to be a fresh graduate also chimed in, sharing her perspective on the matter.
She wrote, “Coming from a fresh graduate pov, unless your daughters are doing a very high paying job like 6k to 8k, and I would expect them to give arnd 500 to 600 for them to be comfortable.
I am paying my bills for myself and giving whatever I feel is comfortable in order for myself to have savings for the future. My dad understands this well because of the rising costs.”
Others also suggested that he consider downgrading his 5-room flat to a simpler 3-room one. This way, he could utilize the proceeds from the sale to bolster his CPF life.
In related news, a Singaporean took to social media earlier this year after learning that there will be no more Special Account for CPF members 55 and above in 2025. He asked, “Should we plan to retire by 55yo?”
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