Not enough for even a simple retirement

NothingLeft SG · 2006-02-15T09:57:01+00:00

I believe, no matter how much you have in the CPF account, at the end of the day, they'd still "calculate" about $300 per month when you reach retirement age...

Atobe SG

Originally posted by Salman:
Lets be honest shall we?

Most people who don't have enough for retirement must have screwed up their money along the way some how. Either buying a car when it is not really necessary, lost money on stocks or gambling or borrowing too heavily etc.

Do you even know the word "honest" ?

For a person who boasts of a tertiary education in economics, your qualification certainly reveals itself in the economic depth of a "no brainer".

Buying a car with its original value inflated 200 percent by legislations, and with its economic use artificially regulated to only twenty years - should we penalise a person in this manner, when the vehicle is needed to make one's livelihood ?

Should we not question the higher cost of living in Singapore - despite a strong Singapore Dollar and a strong industrial sector that is to give us a greater comparative advantage over the regional agricultural economies ?

Should we also not question the high cost of Public Housing that require any average Singaporean a period of twenty years to pay for the price of homes built under the Public Housing Program ?

Yet the selling prices do not reflect the supposed lower costs of Public Housing Program - which is in the monopolistic control of the Government, with the price of public housing being pegged at prices only a few percentage points lower than Private Developments.

This is despite the fact that land is seized by legislation with compensation at a fraction of market price, and building costs should have been lower due to the massive economies of scale in the size of Public Housing, and with the building costs of the Public Housing Program and its supporting infrastrucure being funded through the cheap money taken from the accumulated funds in our CPF.

With a National Scheme that sucks every cent from the pocket of the Singaporeans through a multi-dimensional business facets - that force Singaporeans to depend on, as all forms of alternative competitions have been dismantled and wiped out; is it any wonder that Singaporeans have nothing left to survive with once any Singaporean pass his economic Life ?

ShutterBug SG

This I heard is what 25% of population is currently doing.

Soon, it can be 50% of people cashing out - then we'll see what our leaders will do or say.

Fatum SG

my parents have been looking at China as a retirement option ... even bought a condo there some time back ... I've been trying to talk them out of this crazy idea, i'd be worried about them living there ...

but yeah, I'm not entirely convinced Singapore is a place for old people ... in anycase we can all take a lesson from the thread starter: it's a good idea to be married, at least there's someone to share your burden with in your golden years ...

sgdiehard SG

why is retiring in China a crazy option? depending on the city, especially our parents who still speak dialects, it can be very comfortable and affordable to retire in some cities, like Xiamen. The only concern there is the weather, sometimes changes are drastic, need to get used to and be prepared.

Security wise, as long as you don't show off your money, it is safer to stay in many cities in china than JB or some parts of KL.

Thailand is cheap and the people are nice there, but you really must speak Thai and enjoy everything Thai, which bring us to a key question, what do we do in our retirement? every day play golf, go massage? My parents decided to stay put here, to be with the grandchildren, that is their joy (and I really appreciate that Laughing ). It is not an easy decision to make.

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