How To Get Rich by The Retirement Age of 63?
Are you approaching your retirement age? Or are you simply interested in retirement savings? Financial Planning is the hottest topic among working Singaporean adults. It is vital for you to know the steps of acquiring wealth at a young age; we have heard stories of senior citizens begging on the street due to poor financial planning. You will be surprised that some beggars earn more than 5k per month in the past. It all went wrong when they splurged their savings. Today, WorkClass.co will teach you the ways to manage your finance through 4 effective methods.
What Is Retirement Savings?
Retirement savings is money you save up for your retirement. There is 2 main components for retirement savings: CPF & Personal Savings.
Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a compulsory social security scheme funded by employers and employees.
CPF is the key pillar of Singapore’s social security system that funds the 3 aspects - retirement, housing and healthcare needs.
The Singapore government also helps to supplement the CPF savings of lower-wage workers through schemes such as Workfare and top-ups to MediSave for senior citizens.
Senior citizens are entitled to a monthly payouts scheme when they reach 65 years old. It is a life annuity scheme that provides senior citizens with monthly payouts for as long as they live. The payouts will depend on the retirement sum the elderly set aside in the Retirement Account.
CPF Basic Retirement Sum depends on the money you have in your retirement account in order to make a full withdrawal. Without $88,000, you can only make a partial withdrawal and receive a monthly payout from CPF.
| Withdrawal Age | 55 Years Old |
|---|---|
| Payout Eligibility Age | 65 Years Old (for those born after 1953) |
| CPF Basic Retirement Sum | $88,000 for members who turn 55 in 2019 |
Personal Savings is the money set aside for retirement. Many Singaporeans do not plan their budget well. They do not allocate a percentage of their income to savings. Without a detailed saving plan, you may find yourself having financial difficulty after retirement.
Have you ever heard of a famous Singaporean saying, “You can afford to die, but you cannot afford to fall sick in Singapore”. Singapore’s healthcare services are reputable for being one of the most expensive around the world. A normal B ward costs about $79 per night (non-inclusive of GST) - be reminded that this pricing is for government-subsidised hospitals. Private hospitals will cost you more than $100 per night. Not to mention, there is still consultation/examination fees to factor in. It is not a laughing matter to be hospitalised in Singapore.
Our advice for you is to have a monthly budget plan - consist of savings and spendings. Savings should be around 30% - 50% of your total income. The other 50% - 70% will be on your monthly expenses and spending.
Savings should not be kept in the bank. For your information, the bank interest rate is less than 0.05%. It can never beat the inflation rate of 2% per annum. To combat inflation, you should invest your money into blue chips or reputable stocks to make a stable 3-9% interest rate per annum. More information will be elaborated in the later section.
Is CPF Enough For Retirement?
CPF is enough if you plan to eat plain bread/porridge for meals. Let us do some simple math. If your retirement account has $88,000, you can draw approximately $1,400 - $1,700 per month. Most of your payout will be spent on medical services which can easily cost $1000 per month. You still have to pay basic utility bills, which costs about $50 to $200 a month. Transport costs money too. This means you are only left with a few hundred dollars each month. That is the sad life of a retiree.
Previous higher-income earners do not rely on CPF because they have enough personal savings to last them through retirement. The moral of the story is, do some kind of income investment to live comfortably during your old age.
Without further ado, we will teach you how to get rich by 63 years old.
4 Ways To Get Rich By 63
Savings Plan
There are a variety of saving plans offered by insurance companies: AIA, Prudential, Manulife, etc. Most of the savings plan pays you around 3-6% interest per annum. The rates are compounded - the interest payouts will increase each year. For e.g, if you deposit $1,000 in an account that pays 1 per cent annual interest, you’d get $10 in interest after a year. In year 2, you would earn 1 per cent on $1,010, or $10.10 in interest payouts. Compound interest accelerates your interest payouts and is more effective if you start at a young age.
Online Investment Platforms
Check out online investing services like StashAway, Tigerbrokers, and Robinhood. They completely automate all your trades for you – with no minimum investment! Fees are kept at a minimum, you’ll be pleased to know everything is transparent and upfront.
Don’t wait, because investing early and often dramatically increases your chances of getting rich.
Buy Stocks*
Pick startups with potential. A timely investment could boost your wealth by no small amount. For example, Whatsapp and Instagram are two black horses that nobody expected. Plus, the addition of new startups every week doesn’t make picking winners any easier. Be shrewd and selective. Experience, instinct and a little bit of luck will go a long way in finding that big payoff.
*Disclaimer: Method not applicable for everyone
An average Singaporean earns about $3000 a month. Let’s break down his/her budget. We can expect approximately $100 dollars on phone bills. Next, we need to account for utilities which can go up to $300 depending on his/her electricity and water usage. Not to mention, transportation and food expenses can go up to $1,000 per month. We need to account for other miscellaneous spendings like subscription fees and contribution to spouse/parents/children. Technically, an average Singaporeans can only expect to save less than half of their income.
Saving approximately $1,500 a month for 30 years amounts to $540,000. He/She can buy a 5 room flat with that sum of money!
A rule of thumb is to check if your employer is paying you more than $500 a month. If they do not want to pay for your CPF contribution, they will pay your salary every week and the amount would be less than $500 each payout. As mentioned, CPF serves as your safety net when you reach retirement. Do not be blinded by short-term benefits and disregard the CPF contribution; it can amount to $50,000 by the time you reach 63 years old.
There’s a reason why many Singaporeans equate balloting for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats to a lucky draw. It’s not just because it is hard to obtain their ideal first or second HDB flat; it’s because up until now, BTO flats have almost always been sold at a profit. This lies largely with just how subsidised the flats are in the first place – the government sells them way below market price.
As a Singaporean, you should totally make use of this opportunity to make a huge sum of money. Some can even make $300,000 off their HDB.
It really depends on your current and future financial goal. Many young couples would want to sell their BTO after the 5 years of Mandatory Occupation Period (MOP). They can earn 10,000 to $200,000 from the resale. However, Singapore property normally fetches a higher price after a longer period of time. For those who want to earn a larger sum, be patient and wait for 10 to 20 years - your flat is likely to have doubled or tripled in value.
How to Save Money?
Before ending the blog, we want to provide our readers with these 2 pieces of advice - have a detailed monthly budget and be frugal with your spendings. If you need more motivation, you can visit this blog that features the most impactful money-saving quotes.
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