How much cash do you need

[cif5000]

Ive no intention to retire cause ive seen too many folks degenerate after "retiring".

I like to live my life like a kid (with the responsibilities of an adult, of course). When I was a kid, I never knew what "working" was about and I wasn't degenerating. It was about having fun, getting that adventure, and running back to a home filled with love.

[pianist]

Ive no intention to retire cause ive seen too many folks degenerate after "retiring".

I like to live my life like a kid (with the responsibilities of an adult, of course). When I was a kid, I never knew what "working" was about and I wasn't degenerating. It was about having fun, getting that adventure, and running back to a home filled with love.

there not much adventure to do in sg small island..do u mean overseas

[weijian]

Retire shouldn't mean do nothing and waiting to die.   It should mean financial freedom, and free to chose what to do e.g. a career change to a lesser income, yet more meaningful or desired job

May I suggest do not wait until achieving financial freedom to change to a more meaningful or desired job.

Something to ponder :
"Don't sleepwalk through life: Warren Buffett" from 1:45min onwards
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000497630

Yes. Many people have this type of thinking "After I make $XXm (or when my children grows up etc) , then I will focus on doing this and that for society/charity". 
I think it is a concurrent thing rather than a sequential thing.

Miss Teh Hooi Ling came up with an article called 'What do I want to do with my life?' in her popular BT column a couple of years back. It is taken from the same title book by Po Bronson.

https://yanziyang.wordpress.com/2011/12/...h-my-life/

For those who are lost, maybe some uninterrupted reading and brutal honesty with oneself, might help.

[wsreader]

....

HOW MUCH CASH IS ENOUGH

Experts suggest keeping about six months’ worth of expenses available for just such a situation.

Is not uncommon to know people jobless for a year. So at minimum today in modern Singapore, i would keep at least 2 years of emergency funds. .....

Yes. Mid-life redunancy is very real. ....

Mid-life redunancy and longer time to find employment may not mean emergency funds has to increase.

Emergency funds are monies set aside in liquid accounts that is available for use during sudden crisis situations. Being in liquid accounts means the return is low. After setting aside about 6 to 9 months worth of expenses as emergency funds, anything above that should be invested.

In the unfortunate event when an unemployment lasted for more than 6 months, then it is time to draw down on the investment account. This is better than maintaining a bloated emergency funds account.


Recently, I began to think that a worst(er) situation than long term joblessness is to face sudden medical crisis. I read some posts written by the late Dr Michael Leong, founder of shareinvestor.com, that private hospitals require upfront cash payment for hospitalisation even if the patient has the relevant medical insurance coverage. The refund from insurance company can take several months, so a portion of the emergency funds will be locked up as float money in such a situation.

Living expenses can be estimated fairly accurately using historical expense data, but it is difficult to estimate the amount of such float money.

[corydorus]

When you lose your job, most likely the market is bad too. And because of that, you are in poor health.
Is at a time you feel stressed and makes wrong decisions. Is also a time property value dropped or bank coming knocking at your door to top up ! Basically bad luck comes in a string. It can be a time your kids are in sec/pre/university and cost is at it's highest. ( touchwood )

You may have to include situation where the equity market is down and will take in losses if you sell them. This will set you back many years and put your financial situation a lot worst. They are also key to support your retirement in the future in the event your new job cannot cover family expenses or decided early retirement.

I think carefully planned commercial safe bond release period, fixed deposits, SG bond etc will help.

[Porkbelly]

Its difficult to devise a plan that can cover almost
all scenarios... loss of job, loss of limb, loss of life, loss of home.

It can be very expensive... and there will not be any leftover
to build a portfolio with long term growth.

I discussed with my spouse about life insuarance.
We decided that 1 years' worth of expense should be the value
of either of our lives. The surviving spouse would
grief for 1 year, and within that time, should be able to earn
an income to replace at least 50% of the lost income.

This make the premiums more affordable.
Hospitalisation and long term care is not in the risk management.
We agree to "pull the plug"... its just pointless being in a vegetative state.

There will be milestones in life that is fairly predictable,
and we should provide or at least mitigate.
And there will be events that is completely "suay".

In that case, it boils down to personal resilience... not an
emergency fund.

But overall, dont forget who and what we are and our roots.
Its where the source of enegry lies and it will help overcome.

[opmi]

^^ Porkbelly, group term insurance is very affordable. Via SAF or SAFRA Group Term.
1 year of expenses seems too little for me. I give my wife 10 years to adjust if I am gone.
But I have the same concept of "insurance cannot take care of your dependents until death. They have to adjust"

[CY09]

Yea group term or ordinary term is very cheap. Covering for 100k ranges from $5 to $18 per month

[corydorus]

Let's say monthly salary of 6K. Two years of emergency funds are less than 150K. And spread them across FD and Bonds. Personally i don't think this is a lot. in the event of Insurance, it will be the future emergency/support funds as current is drawn down. So Insurance should not mixed with emergency fund.

[chialc88]

Let's say monthly salary of 6K. Two years of emergency funds are less than 150K. And spread them across FD and Bonds. Personally i don't think this is a lot. in the event of Insurance, it will be the future emergency/support funds as current is drawn down. So Insurance should not mixed with emergency fund.

Good morning everyone, I had done with my FD renewal this year(end Feb):
1.  2016, the winner of FD goes to RHB @ 1.90% p.a.
     It could have been MayBank but RHB is closer to BOC (Physically lar).

2. Fellow VB who read my BOC FD negotiation story might be sadden this year.
    BOC staffs no longer so accommodative to me,
    despite knowing that their downstairs competitor is giving higher FD rate.
    I think BOC do not want our S$ but RHB wanted.

3. However, there is a small twist.
    I switch my salary to BOC SmartSaver and aimed to get 3.55% (calculation max@$60K)
    a. Salary credit into BOC > $2000/mth
    b. Debit Card spend > $500/mth
    c. Giro or online bill payment > 3 times/mth
    d. sweet, yummy, yummy


BOC Everything is still possible!


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

I'm also warmed to see so many different VB sharing their views on this touching topic.

In our live, most of us will experience some form of "downtime",
be it golden handshake, mid-life crisis, make redundant etc.

It's much more glaring nowaday, especially for PMET.
The minister kept talking about help those displaced.
Personally, I felt that jobbank is really useful.

I too noticed that few years ago, retrenchment of PMETs is greater than blue collar workers. 
So really need to tighten my belt.

However, I reminded myself, the best things in life is always free!

Love Compassion