A 38-year-old woman took to social media asking for financial advice as she is “unable to save up anything” because of her monthly expenditure and credit card bills.
In an anonymous post to popular confessions page SGWhispers, the woman said that her 40-year-old husband was also earning money.
“I take home around $4500 , whilst my husband around $5800, both after cpf deductions. Staying in a 5 room hdb resale flat. We have 2 kids, one 3 years old and one 10 months old. My husband takes care of the childcare fees , enrichment classes, utilities bills and kids insurance”, she wrote.
She added that every month, she spent $2,400 of her salary on stocks and savings, money she gave her parents, insurance, and internet and phone bills.
However, she added: “My credit card bills racks (sic) up to between $1500-$2000 or over per month, making me unable to save up anything or even eat into my savings. The bills include transport fees, eating out, groceries, buying toys, clothes for the whole family”.
The woman noted that she and her husband did not have a joint account and kept their finances separate. She wrote that while she had $100,000 in assets and savings, only $15,000 was available as immediate emergency funds.
She wrote: “I know I am very blessed already with a job and a roof over my head. Cutting down on the allowance for my parents is a big no as they are both not working and I’m the main pillar of their source of income. But I would like to know by the age of 40, what is a healthy amount of savings one should have? Any advice on how do one increase their savings, especially being the sandwich generation”.
Here’s what netizens said:
In another confessions post, a woman who moved in with a single father and his 8-year-old daughter felt that over time he became very calculative, to the point where he would sometimes treat her like a servant.
In an anonymous post to popular confessions page SGWhispers, the woman, Jas, wrote that she was not able to live with her own family as her brother’s two sons would often bully her daughter.
“My brother will always side his boys and even mentioned that we’re the ‘guests’ not host. I can only ask my daughter to endure [their treatment]”, she wrote.
When single father Jo asked them to move in, Jas said that she was relieved.
“But at the same time, I didn’t want to be a leech to him. I offered to contribute to the expenses but he quickly decline citing he earns almost 4 times of me. He said he rather I take care of his house and daughter and make up for the lost of her motherly love. I gladly agreed as I am very confident with my cooking and believe I can take good care of the girls”, she added.