If you are here for money, when will you stop?

[Wd40]

I would never be able to retire on $2k/mo, that won’t even cover our vacation budget... plus we still have to put two kids through college, that isn’t going to be cheap.

Therefore, I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of retiring early - which is not a bad thing, at least I’ll have something to do.

Actually, even in Singapore, we are so frugal, that if you exclude rent and my daughter's International School fees, our expenses are well below 1k.

This is the breakdown of our 2020 total expense:

Rent = 21.6k
Daughter's school fees = 10k
Income tax = 6.5k
Everything else = 8.6k
Total Expense = 46.7k
Total Income = 122.1k
Net savings = 75.3k

If we go to India, rent goes to 5k and school fees goes to 4k. All other expenses should be similar to Singapore, so 24k definitely doable.

[smoulder]

If I were in your position, I'd probably just make the move back to India. But only if I had a good idea of how I'd spend my time and avoid losing my mental sharpness.

As it stands, I wish that by 50 I'm in a similar situation as you, where I "can" retire (in my case hopefully in Singapore) because I have a sufficient amount of money to generate sufficient monthly income. Would I retire then? Maybe not if I can help it - but it would depend on how engaged I feel at work. Of course, if I'm made redundant, then I won't have a choice.

[Wd40]

If I were in your position, I'd probably just make the move back to India. But only if I had a good idea of how I'd spend my time and avoid losing my mental sharpness.

As it stands, I wish that by 50 I'm in a similar situation as you, where I "can" retire (in my case hopefully in Singapore) because I have a sufficient amount of money to generate sufficient monthly income. Would I retire then? Maybe not if I can help it - but it would depend on how engaged I feel at work. Of course, if I'm made redundant, then I won't have a choice.

Thanks. My interest mainly lies in stock markets. Stocks is a huge field to keep me interested and occupied. I actually like working in banking, mainly because of my interest in finance, even though I am IT. So I will find something to keep me occupied. Maybe join a bank again, but more from a business analyst kind of role, if I can find.

The best part about being financially independent, is that you can then evaluate roles without looking at the money. So you can do something that interests you.

But from mindset perspective need to quit my job, take a sabbatical and then decide.

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[PNGMK]

Interesting thread. I've got a few goals to trigger retirement (which is leaving the corporate world);

CPF: 1MM OR
Work: Payout (currently ~250k if retrenched) OR
Compulsory retirement age (63 - 7 years from now).

In the meantime I am working hard at building up a few side businesses and hopefully getting my share portfolio up fair bit more. I can see a long slow down in the decades from 60 to 80 but a shift to what I want to do.. I figure I'll die around 75 to 85 as that's when most of my paternal uncles go.

[smoulder]

If I were in your position, I'd probably just make the move back to India. But only if I had a good idea of how I'd spend my time and avoid losing my mental sharpness.

As it stands, I wish that by 50 I'm in a similar situation as you, where I "can" retire (in my case hopefully in Singapore) because I have a sufficient amount of money to generate sufficient monthly income. Would I retire then? Maybe not if I can help it - but it would depend on how engaged I feel at work. Of course, if I'm made redundant, then I won't have a choice.

Thanks. My interest mainly lies in stock markets. Stocks is a huge field to keep me interested and occupied. I actually like working in banking, mainly because of my interest in finance, even though I am IT. So I will find something to keep me occupied. Maybe join a bank again, but more from a business analyst kind of role, if I can find.

The best part about being financially independent, is that you can then evaluate roles without looking at the money. So you can do something that interests you.

But from mindset perspective need to quit my job, take a sabbatical and then decide.

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Nice. I'm very curious to see what you decide on in the end.

PS. Looks like we share a lot in common. Age, nationality and being employed in IT /banking. I would imagine that working in one of the MNC banks in India in a business analyst role like you describe would be quite a good experience. Probably Citi might be a good idea if you are interested in living in Chennai or even in Bangalore where I've heard that they have some roles nowadays.

[bro75]

For me, I am not sure when i am going to retire and where i am going to retire to (either SG or PH). My wife and I are PRs but out daughter is not. That fact is keeping us from being fully committed to stay here. Our SC application and our daughter's PR applications have not been successful. But we will keep trying. We thought of packing up and going home but our incomes have greatly improved in the past few years so we have decided to keep working here as long as we can and further increase our savings.

[the observer]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

[PNGMK]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

I like Canada but it's awfully cold and really expensive in the cities where the work is (Toronto and Vancouver IME).

[Wd40]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

I like Canada but it's awfully cold and really expensive in the cities where the work is (Toronto and Vancouver IME).

I never took Canada immigration seriously. Too cold. Salaries way lower and real estate is way too expensive. Job opportunities are fewer.

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[the observer]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

I like Canada but it's awfully cold and really expensive in the cities where the work is (Toronto and Vancouver IME).

It’s not for you, given that you’re legally localized.

It’s for our EP brethren to consider. A coin toss between India and a billion population, or Canada with 37 odd million.

[the observer]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

I like Canada but it's awfully cold and really expensive in the cities where the work is (Toronto and Vancouver IME).

I never took Canada immigration seriously. Too cold. Salaries way lower and real estate is way too expensive. Job opportunities are fewer.

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Possibly not for you either.

But there are families with a disdain for returning back.

Amongst English speaking countries, not many are as welcoming as Canada, and you wouldn’t know how long this window of opportunity will be.

Edit: it claims to run through till 2023. Who knows how dynamic this govt will be.

[smoulder]

Canada welcomes you. So long as you are fine with the tax.

400k PRs to be dished annually, till 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... t-recovery

I like Canada but it's awfully cold and really expensive in the cities where the work is (Toronto and Vancouver IME).

I never took Canada immigration seriously. Too cold. Salaries way lower and real estate is way too expensive. Job opportunities are fewer.

Sent from my Redmi 10X using Tapatalk

How bad are the salaries? For say an infra architect?

Real estate - My friend recently bought a nice looking condo at half the price and double the size of my place here. In Vancouver.

[bro75]

I had a few friends who went to Canada. Some went there due to job transfer or went there with jobs already confirmed. This is ideal because you would not start from the beginning while gaining "Canadian experience". From that status, it is easy to become a PR and a citizen. Some went there as immigrants. I heard they had a hard time in the beginning as they were in jobs way below their qualifications. Eventually, they were able to land jobs close to their qualifications. Canada would not be for me also as I feel I do not want to uproot my family and start at the beginning again.

[the observer]

I had a few friends who went to Canada. Some went there due to job transfer or went there with jobs already confirmed. This is ideal because you would not start from the beginning while gaining "Canadian experience". From that status, it is easy to become a PR and a citizen. Some went there as immigrants. I heard they had a hard time in the beginning as they were in jobs way below their qualifications. Eventually, they were able to land jobs close to their qualifications. Canada would not be for me also as I feel I do not want to uproot my family and start at the beginning again.

But I thought you made a mention that you were stuck in a conundrum, with your daughter not being a PR.

[PNGMK]

I've seen a few friends (Chinese) struggle to get on their feet in Canada, I've seen others (Singaporeans and Europeans) do really well there. It's highly dependent on your qualifications having relevance. A chinese degree is only good for ass wiping there I'm afraid.