Reward 500 Tiger-coinsYou’ve probably come across headlines like "How Hard Is It to Retire in Singapore?" on social media or news sites. So, what’s the reality?
In February this year, $DBS(D05.SI)$ analyzed data from 2 million customers and came up with an answer: To retire comfortably in Singapore, you’ll need at least S$550,000. If that sounds too high, you might want to revisit our previous discussions: Earn in SGD, Live Like a King Elsewhere?
How Much Cost Do We Need For Ideal Retirement?
DBS breaks retirement into three tiers (assuming a 20-year retirement and 2.5% inflation, excluding healthcare):
🟢 Basic Lifestyle (Monthly spending: $1,600) → $550,000 needed
🔵 Moderate Lifestyle (Monthly spending: $2,800) → $950,000 needed
🟣 High-Quality Lifestyle (Monthly spending: $4,000) → $1,300,000 needed
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In other words, if you just want to maintain a retirement spending level similar to the 2023 Singaporean average, S$550,000 is the baseline. Yet, the reality is that most younger people (aged 35-44) aren’t investing aggressively enough.
According to DBS, this group invests only 15%-17% of their income, mostly in fixed-income products. While stable, these often fail to outpace inflation.
The Good News? Hitting S$550K Isn’t That Far Out of Reach!
For example, if you earn $4,000/month, your CPF contributions amount to ~$1,480/month—that’s $17,760/year and $532,800 over 30 years, not even counting CPF interest. The key factors? Stable employment, consistent self-investment, and early planning.
Tell us your thoughts—your insights might inspire others!
Have you calculated how much your ideal retirement would cost per month?
How much are you saving to achieve FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)?
What do you think about the S$550K retirement benchmark? Is your savings on track?
Is your investing enough?
Reply in the comments with: "My retirement goal is ____."
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Comments
$1600 or $2800 or $4000 is just a figure. It doesn’t mean that we need to spend every single cents. There will be some overflow to next month.
I hope to be 🟣 as I love purple colour. [LOL][Happy][Smile][Chuckle]
@MHh @melson @HelenJanet @Wayneqq @rL
S$550K is way too little. I recall the figure floating around has been S$1million for a long time. So, S$550K comes as a surprise.
I think 3K per month is ideal. This would help to account for basic expenses, hobbies to spend time meaningfully with and also for travelling. This is also to account for the scary inflation.
I save/ invest at least 30% of my salary to try to beat inflation. I think I am currently on track with my savings and investment to reach my target amount.
Importantly, I try to ensure that while I try to have a good quality of life, I do not have overt lifestyle inflation and steward my money to have the maximal sum for retirement. It is always better to have more than less but also important to have a certain quality of life. Balance is the key!
@Success88 @Kaixiang @Wayneqq @Fenger1188 @HelenJanet @DiAngel @SPOT_ON @LuckyPiggie @Universe宇宙 come join
🟢基本生活方式（每月支出：$1,600)→需要550,000美元
🔵適度的生活方式（每月支出：$2,800)→需要950,000美元
🔋高品質生活方式（每月支出：$4,000)→需要1,300,000美元