Singapore, a Millionaire's country.

[FilthyRich]

Reading through articles and articles about housing hitting the 1 million mark, Be it the $1000 psf condos, to the 900k HDBs. Even now, it is news to find private houses below the $1m price range.

It is almost impossible to live in Singapore without being a millionaire. Remember the days where people's dream were to become millionaires.

Now that their dreams have come true, is this really what they were expecting?

[EBD]

Reading through articles and articles about housing hitting the 1 million mark, Be it the $1000 psf condos, to the 900k HDBs. Even now, it is news to find private houses below the $1m price range.

It is almost impossible to live in Singapore without being a millionaire. Remember the days where people's dream were to become millionaires.

Now that their dreams have come true, is this really what they were expecting?

Depends on how it is defined. For many they are "house poor". Their condo may have inflated to over 1million but their mortgage is still substantial.

Even if no mortgage, you can't eat or spend your toilet so your wealth is locked up if your apt is pretty much your only asset.


Merrill Lynch describes HNWIs as those who hold at least US$1 million in financial assets with both excluding collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences.

This definition of millionaire seems to make more sense to me.
The definition of all assets = 1 million including your home - really no one is better off unless you are prepared to cash out and ship out of Singapore.

[evergreen]

It's not the assets alone that determine whether the person is millionaire... it's net worth.

[vip]

Total net worth = Assets - liabilities - own residence

A millionaire is someone who has at least one million (I prefer in USD) in assets, minus all debts and minus the value of the place he is staying.

Reason: since you need to live in this place anyway, whether your residence increases or decreases in value has nothing to do with you.

The way to become a millionaire:

1) Buy/rent your residence at its best value.

2) Buy with cash or pay off the loan as soon as you can.

3) After (personal) loan-free, save for sound investment.

... and becoming a millionaire won't be far in sight.

P.S. You can reach there earlier if you change the currency sign before the million

[FilthyRich]

I believe with a million dollars aside from Asian countries, you can do a whole lot more. house, car, with lots more spare

[vip]

I believe with a million dollars aside from Asian countries, you can do a whole lot more. house, car, with lots more spare

The same amount may be used differently in different countries. But they may not be comparable to Singapore in terms of quality of life, including safety, efficiency, air quality, etc. And you don't need to be a millionaire in Singapore to enjoy all these!

[roly8]

The same amount may be used differently in different countries. But they may not be comparable to Singapore in terms of quality of life, including safety, efficiency, air quality, etc. And you don't need to be a millionaire in Singapore to enjoy all these!

well said..

[phantom_opera]

寸金难买寸光阴

天生我材必有用，千金散尽还复来。

[Allthepies]

cheap housing r aplenty for 80% of the population, 300k to 400k hdb r plentiful. many can retire as early as 40s if they dont chase after material wealth and status.

[phantom_opera]

cheap housing r aplenty for 80% of the population, 300k to 400k hdb r plentiful. many can retire as early as 40s if they dont chase after material wealth and status.

Me not chasing material wealth ... we are only trying to hedge against inflation so we will not need to burden anybody when retiring

Think about it, reported inflation is 5%, actual inflation could be as high as 7% ... CPF OA paid 2.5% ... CPF SA/MA paid 4% ... 10y corp bond paid 5%

How to survive without investment properties to hedge?

[hyenergix]

Me not chasing material wealth ... we are only trying to hedge against inflation so we will not need to burden anybody when retiring

Think about it, reported inflation is 5%, actual inflation could be as high as 7% ... CPF OA paid 2.5% ... CPF SA/MA paid 4% ... 10y corp bond paid 5%

How to survive without investment properties to hedge?

But it depends on whether you can find tenants paying decent rental, or another crazy buyer paying an even higher price. If not the maintenance and interest rate will eat more into the investment. Really in a dilemma now.

[ysyap]

But it depends on whether you can find tenants paying decent rental, or another crazy buyer paying an even higher price. If not the maintenance and interest rate will eat more into the investment. Really in a dilemma now.

So now when looking for tenants, die die also must secure at least 2 year rent and avoid the headache of looking for tenants every year and the potential hazard of leaving the unit empty for prolong period of time...

[carbuncle]

cheap housing r aplenty for 80% of the population, 300k to 400k hdb r plentiful. many can retire as early as 40s if they dont chase after material wealth and status.

Ya but how many hdb can one buy? It is useless for generating passive income if its the only property you have.