Simple Budget, Simple Life

Blogging about my financial moves is good. I had the impression I started topping up my SA and my mum's since 2015, but it was actually since 2016 (see here and here ). This is my 6th year topping up, which meant a good $84,000 into my mum and my CPF 😱. Not forgetting a blunder I made in 2019 where I top-up ~$6k cash for MA only to be refunded. I've forgotten the story because I didn't blog about it (it was drafted halfway).  Anyway, here's locking down in my little virtual journey that I've just done the cash top-ups via paynow  today.  I will egg my husband to do the same as my SA has outdone his. Afternote - settled his top-up.

I wanted a morbid title - If I drop dead, I'd hate myself for not spending my money. But since it's a new year, I shall make it less disgusting. You get the drift. I thought about this on 30-31 Dec 2020 when I was feeling damn sick. I had bad gastric (thinking if I've gastric cancer), fever at 37.9 deg then dropping to 37.2 deg, then back up, then dropping to 36.8 deg (thinking if I've covid), backaches (again, is it Covid??). My brain was overthinking. While friends were hyped up for the new year, it was just a mundane day for my hub and I. No celebrations with friends and no fireworks to look forward to. Anyway, I thought, IF I'm really sick, and I suddenly drop dead, I'd be pissed I didn't spend my money. With at least $350k accessible money now, what exactly am I accumulating for? I've no kid. I don't need to leave a legacy. My parents and husband and self-sufficient.  So what am I saving for? I pondered....and realised I've nothing I want. M...

You would likely have seen 1M65 if you are following up on personal finance posts/blogs.If this concept is new to you, you can watch a video here: Essentially, this concept meant the following (extracted from dollarsandsense ) At around 30 years old, both husband and wife puts $130,000 each into their CPF SA and MA. The prevailing CPF SA and MA interest rate of 4% compounded over time will grow the couple’s combined CPF balances to over $1 million when they retire at 65 years old. I was really intrigued by his latest post that I decided to do my own calculation. Given my laziness and constant daydreaming to not work, I really wish to retire at age 50 . That's ~20 years more (yes yes, I am very old liao), which is why I'm aiming for 1M50. Am I on track? It seems to be so. With my past 5 year efforts to pump $7k/year into SA  and one time top-up to MA (psst, I will hit BHS this year), my SA and MA now stands at $125k. 1M50 Couple Goal In order to achieve 1M50...

Most of us think that saving for our retirement can wait. For the young ones (like me :P), we're busy saving up for our upcoming BTOs, wedding, children etc. With these impending life stages, should I plan for my retirement now? At age 25? To help me answer my question, I'll be using the  DBS Retirement Planner  which I chanced upon when doing ibanking and answer the following questions: 1. When would I want to retire?  - Honestly, IDK. The thought of working for another 40 years, till 65, make me quiver. Yet, the reality is that, without income, my family and I would find it hard to survive in this world. Also, I'm not entrepreneurial and could imagine myself in my 9-5 office job foreverrrrr....So, 65 shall be the age I envision myself to retire! 2. What is my desired monthly income during retirement @ 65? - As a guide, the desired monthly income could be 70% of my current salary. As I will not be revealing my salary openly, I've inputted an e...