Haha, maybe after a while, as i stop advertising on Facebook on this blog's existence, I will realise that the only person reading this blog is myself..*sobs*..
So far I think I have got 6 followers who subscribed to my blog.. and I started writing since donkey years ago. >< Ok this must be because i do not have a habit to update the blog as frequently (4-5 post last year) - that's why. *continues to live in self denial*
Last week the readership went up to 200views though! So i am just praying for a miracle to happen that people will suddenly find interest in my lamebowl blog. hahaha.
But it shouldn't matter anymore! because since i love to write, so i should just type whatever that comes to my mind, even if there is nobody reading it. *TRIES giving the biggest hint i can* x)
Do subscribe ok! If you have yet to, i will really be so touched, and feel loved, that this is a blog that went through many episodes of "Survivor" and came out stronger. =) Thank you in advance haha!
Food for thought: Have you ever read about how if you give time to what you love to do (30 mins each day), then maybe one day it will all add up to something big? Every success starts from something insignificant, and that's what i shall do for 2017:)
Enough talking to myself, today i shall talk about retirement. LOL. Recently, I have the honour to know a good friend. We love to discuss about how we invest and save our money. It is really interesting to share, because i think it is not everyday that we can discuss about such money topics with your friends.
Firstly, if you do, maybe they will think you that you are too hao lian, and secondly, this is such a sensitive and private topic! Haha but for some reasons, maybe due to age difference, or she is such a great listener to my never ending stories - we were able to do so comfortably. =))
Because we are such risk adverse people, (unlike investors who take bigger risks in stocks and sometimes earn really high returns), we chose to do what the common man do. I am not sure if such decisions will prove to be "Wrong" in the future when i look back, but i think this is a more secure and safe route which i prefer to take. And my heart will be able to work better without the highs and lows, hopefully.
Ok so here it starts! A few months ago... I chanced upon this blog, on how we could most certainly save $1million by retirement and i got really excited! (Although i know $1 million by then would be not so much due to inflation, but still =)..
This is assuming that you are healthy & working, thus contributing regularly to CPF. In short, the blog posts talks about how we should take advantage of the higher interest rates provided by CPF, the fact that you are young by the magic of compounding interest.
The blogger, named AK, showed snippets of his own CPF statements, and how by transferring some of his OA to SA at a young age, plus cash top ups into SA, he manage to accumulate a lot of wealth, through the interest rates from the govt. On top of it, he does some other investments too.
However, there are many considerations before transferring your money to SA. This is because once the money is transferred to SA, you can only take it out when you are 55 years old. (that's like 20+more years) I don't mean take out everything at age 55 though, but only the difference on top of the Minimum Sum. (currently pegged at $166K).
So if you are still paying off your housing loans, education loans, or are those with bigger risk appetite (thus would want to use your OA to invest in stocks), then maybe you would not find this approach appealing at the moment.
One thing about this blogger which i find interesting, is how he dares to use proofs, by putting up his own CPF statements, the huge amount of interest he gets a year, onto his website. You can visit his blog and look at the blog posts at the side tool bar for more information~
This is one of his posts which i find interesting: CLICK HERE for the link! :)
A second "safe route" we discussed is the Singapore Savings Bonds. This product has so much liquidity, i am surprised that i did not even know of its existence till my friend shared it to me! *facepalm*
Basically, it is a 10 year product that provides about 2-3% returns. The difference from putting the money in a bank is obviously the higher interest rates. And there is one more huge advantage of this product compared with fixed deposits (lower interest rates omg): that is - you can withdraw it ANYTIME you want before the 10 year period, and DON'T suffer any loss due to early termination. What??
Ok maybe the only cost you need to bear is the $2 transaction cost? Plus the time from applying to withdraw the money to you receiving your money is apparently only one month. The liquidity is so awesome! =) I am going to pump my emergency funds in! :)
Maybe i should shut down one of my saving accounts then? Since is offers me such a low rate, and by transferring, i think i will have less than $1000 inside, later kana penalty $5. haha.
Eh if you are someone who is very in tune with all these products, please don't laugh at my ignorance. Ignorance is bliss la! =)
Hmmm..after researching much more on all these money money stuffs late last year, instead of just scrolling and looking at facebook news all day long + watching a lot of tv, i am excited! This will make me think twice before spending on holidays. But i still love to go on trips, so haha i can't throw in all my money too. Later by the time i want to spend my retirement savings, i might not be able to tahan the cold awesome winter/taking planes heh.
I am just so glad that all the part time works i did when i was younger (thus the CPF contributions) can come to some use now! :)
SA SA SA SA St Andrew JC~ haha okay lame. Thank God for a sweet friend~ =D Let's all start saving for retirement, and take care of our health (reminding myself)! Adios!=)
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