The RETIREMENT thread

[Leongsam]

Congratulation Boss Sam. This is so inspiring. I have some questions for you:

1) 75% of your portfolio are in quite conservative investment - term and cpf. Does that mean your property had appreciated many folds? If not, it would mean your initial investment is huge to begin with?

2) At what age, age range did you achieve this? 40-45, 46-50, 51-55,56-60?

3) How many years did it take you to reach this figure, what was your starting point in amount?

4) If you were to start again right now, in current investment climate, what are the 3 things that you would do differently.

Thank you once again for sharing. I wish you continued success and good health.

Most of the gains are from appreciation of property which have provided a capital gain of 4x since 1999.

 

[Leongsam]

Mind the gap: Couples need $809,000 nest egg to retire with 'choices' at age 65​

Rob Stock12:30, Nov 16 2021FacebookTwitterWhatsAppRedditEmail

5-7 minutes

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Supplied
Pushpa Wood from the Massey University Fin-Ed Centre urges people not to be frightened by the idea of retirement planning.

A retiring couple relying only on New Zealand Superannuation need to have saved $809,000 to fund a "choices" lifestyle in a city, the latest Massey University Fin-Ed Centre annual Retirement Expenditure Guidelines shows.

But if those retiring in the provinces need only $511,000.

Single people wanting to live a “choices” lifestyle need $600,000 for retirement in provincial towns, and $688,000 for a city retirement.

The yearly guidelines are designed to show the estimated nest eggs retirees need to fund the gap between NZ Super, and the cost of either a pleasant “choices” lifestyle, or a bare bones “no frills” existence.

READ MORE:
* Increase NZ Super by $50 so over 65s don't need emergency food grants, pensioner says
* Kiwibank standardising time of benefit payments
* Six in 10 feel they will never have enough lifetime wealth

But while the sums are large people able to work past the age of 65 can get away with saving less, authors Pushpa Wood and Claire Matthews say.

The nest eggs are calculated using real-world spending data of over 65s taken from the Household Economic Survey and adjusted for inflation.
However, the spending data includes people who are still working after the age of 65.

While people need substantial savings to supplement NZ Super to pay for a choices retirement, which includes more luxuries like spending on eating out and clothing, they still need savings to even achieve a no-frills retirement, Wood and Matthews found.

FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL

Social justice and retirement policy campaigned Susan St John speaking at the Financial Services Council conference this week on why KiwiSaver is not fair to women. First published in 2020.

Even couples living a “no frills” lifestyle needed $75,000 saved for a no-frills rural lifestyle, and $195,000 for a city no-frills existence.

The single, living alone rate for NZ Super is $436.94 a week after tax, and for couples that both qualified $672.22, the report says.

But Wood urged people not to be frightened by the figures, and to do all they could not to “sleepwalk” into retirement.

“Retirement is only scary, if you go into it in an unplanned, unprepared way. Then it comes as a shock to your system. That's the key message,” Wood says.
Tools like KiwiSaver could be used to amass retirement savings, but people could also close the gap by working past the age of 65, which many older people already do, Wood says.

“If you add three more years full time, and you might add three more years part-time, you are constantly saving while you are supplementing your super,” Wood says.

Matthews says baby boomers need to show urgency in their preparation as at most they now have eight years before reaching the age of 65.

Supplied
“To avoid sleepwalking into retirement, people need to be proactive about their preparation,” says Massey University's Claire Matthews, one of the authors of the Retirement Expenditure Guidelines.

“While the millennials have at least 25 years before reaching age 65, it is not too soon for them to start thinking about their retirement,” she says.

To avoid sleepwalking into retirement, people need to consider factors like budgeting, life insurance, health needs, living arrangements, wills, enduring powers of attorney, and family trusts, Matthews and Wood say.

Many younger people doubt their ability to save meaningful sums to ensure they have decent retirements, but over 65s have strategies to cope financially that are revealed by official data from other sources, the Bank of New Zealand Wellbeing Report found last year.

Many people continue working past the age of 65, enabling them to draw NZ Super, and build up their savings.

The average effective age of retirement in New Zealand is 69.8 years for men, and 66.4 years for women, according to the OECD.

Some over 65s also live with younger family members to share the financial load.

While about 80 per cent of over 65s live alone, or with one other person, there were just over 64,800 households with three or more generations co-habiting, according to 2018 census data.

Statistics NZ figures show between 4700 and 8900 households with multi-generation households with at least one over 65 in them.

Some over 65s also get extra benefits. Since 2018, people getting NZ Super also get winter energy payments, and in March 47,415 people getting NZ Super or Veterans’ pensions were also getting accommodation supplement, the Ministry of Social Development said.

Just over 9500 of them were getting additional emergency support, and just under 132,000 were getting disability allowance.

About 18,000 people living in Kāinga Ora homes are aged of 65 and over.

 

[SirRichard]

The challenge is the career lifespan of the average Singaporean gets shorter and shorter by the year although the official retirement age keeps getting extended. It used to be people simply retired at 55, the official retirement age.

Nowadays we have an official retirement age of 70 but yet companies are letting go people, especially the PMEs, in their early 40s. That's easily another 25 - 30 years left of driving PHV or doing Food Panda till retirement. No joke.

I think in SG there is a very bad culture of keeping up with the Jones as some of you mentioned. There's also the mindset of owning cars followed by changing cars after 3 years as they are being brainwashed that after that the cost of maintenance is very high.

 

[SirRichard]

Most of the gains are from appreciation of property which have provided a capital gain of 4x since 1999.

boss, please shed some light on the other questions

 

[Leongsam]

boss, please shed some light on the other questions

2) At what age, age range did you achieve this? 40-45, 46-50, 51-55,56-60?

Retired at 46 with a couple of million cash and property.

3) How many years did it take you to reach this figure, what was your starting point in amount?

As above.

4) If you were to start again right now, in current investment climate, what are the 3 things that you would do differently.

I don't understand the current investment climate so I cannot answer this question with any authority.

 

[Leongsam]

Retirement at 65 a pipe dream for many, as the pavlova paradise crumbles​

Kevin Norquay05:00, Apr 03 2022

PETER MEECHAM

Keith Simmonds, 93, has earned the right to enjoy his retirement, but instead he’s counting his pennies as the cost of living continues to balloon.
Having a home used to see you in good stead for retirement, but increasingly over-65s will find themselves renting and working. Kevin Norquay reports.

Once upon a time there was a quarter-acre pavlova paradise called Godzone, where everyone stopped working at 65 to live happily ever after on the pension.

But that was long, long ago, before house prices skyrocketed, wages didn’t, and life expectancy stretched out towards the 90s, making happily ever after years longer and more expensive.

So now Kiwis are increasingly reaching 65 with a mortgage in tow, still renting, and increasingly out there working, but not always by choice.

The safety net of New Zealand superannuation is predicated on you owning your own home when the pension kicks in, a goal fewer and fewer are reaching, or are likely to.

unsplash

To have a golden retirement, you had best be mortgage-free or have savings.

READ MORE:
* The coming storm for future retirees: Still renting and not enough savings to avoid poverty
* Five things to know about your finances before you retire
* Here's how a 25 year-old can set themselves up for a comfortable retirement
* Senior housing crisis on the horizon


Super was never intended to keep the evil step-sister away from your life savings, so the Kiwi retirement fairy tale has taken a nasty twist. The pavlova paradise has caved in.

The after-tax NZ Super rate for couples (who both qualify) is based on 66 per cent of the 'average ordinary time wage' after tax. That’s $712 a week.
If a couple retire at 65 with a $200,000 nest egg, they’ll have an average $153 a week on top of Super, over their 25 golden years. (There are other ways to calculate it, and it doesn’t include interest, but you get the picture.)

By way of comparison the average weekly grocery spend for an Auckland couple was $263.50 in 2020. It’s higher now.

Supplied
Retirement commissioner Jane Wrightson.

Working past 65 has two benefits: it increases the amount of money you have, and it reduces how long you need it to last.

If the couple above work until they are 70, and in those added five years save another $100,000 - they will have an additional $135 a week, or nearly twice as much, to come and go on.

A survey of more than 1400 over 65 year-olds released in December found more than a quarter (27 per cent) worked for pay. Most said they because they wanted to, 29 per cent (almost a third) said they had to work for financial reasons.

In 1992 just 1.4 per cent of the workforce were over 65. In 2002 it was 1.8 per cent; 2012, 4.3 per cent. This year it is projected to be 7.2 per cent, about one in 14. In a decade, one in 10 workers will be over 65, the Government figures showed.

Some are landing at 65 still renting, with no security of tenure, a situation researchers say is more stressful in later life than it is for those in home ownership. Projections indicate that by 2053 more than half of over-65s will be renters.

More and more, older people are accessing the Ministry of Social Development accommodation supplement, which has burgeoned past $2 billion a year.

Retirement commissioner Jane Wrightson fears politicians will tinker with superannuation, when the long-term implications would hurt those still decades away from getting it.

“There’s no doubt that people who are able to will be working past 65, and there will be some policy consternation about `why should they get super?’, which is a pension,” she tells Stuff.

“They have to think about the people in their 30s who’ve taken out a seven figure mortgage, and have yet to have their children. It will be a miracle - I think - if they are able to retire early.

“You need quite a lot of money after you retire, and people are only just starting to realise how much they need. It’s not all disastrous, but people need to pause for thought about this.”

Alden Williams/Stuff
Author and financial advisor Martin Hawes.

As well as Wrightson, Stuff canvassed housing policy specialist Dr Kay Saville-Smith of Cresa (Centre for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment) and prolific financial author Martin Hawes, who this week will release his 23rd book, Cracking Open the Nest Egg.

“Low interest rates plus longer life expectancy, means the old method of parking your nest egg in a savings account and living off the interest is no longer an option,” Hawes says.

So what do we do?

How do I live a comfortable retirement if I don’t own a home?​

Hawes is blunt.

“The only way to do it, and I'm sorry to have to say this, is to save more … through either KiwiSaver or a KiwiSaver-type fund.

“You will need excess savings … giving up on the idea of owning a house in retirement, and you’ll have to save. In saying that you are very exposed to rental inflation, and you're very exposed to a lack of security of tenure.”

Stacy Squires/Stuff
Save, save, save ... then retire.

Whew, I do own a home, so now what?​

Owning a house covers you for future house price increases and rental increases, but it isn’t money, as such. If you want money, you will have to downsize to a cheaper home, move to a less expensive suburb or town, or into the likes of a retirement village.

Right, I will downsize; so now it’s happily ever after?​

Not necessarily, says Saville-Smith. Research shows selling up to stay in the same area, realises less cash than you might expect.
And moving to another town - as Aucklanders have done for years - takes you away from your friends and community, and that can be tough. So it’s not a win-win.

“Most older people - even if they are mortgage free - find it very hard to downsize in their communities. You need somewhere to live, and smaller is typically not cheaper.

“The amounts you realise often are quite small, in the $20,000 or $30,000 of surplus. Over 20 or 30 years of retirement, that’s not a lot.”

As for moving to provincial towns, house prices are heating up even there, as property investors seek existing stock at lower prices.

“Downsizing is not easy,” she says.

VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
Retirement villages are an option, but might not suit all.

What if I sell my house to go into a retirement village?​

Yes, you can capitalise on your house, but at some cost to your own freedom. You don’t own your property, usually just a right-to-occupy for life. Retirement villages have rules, and you might not like rules, Saville-Smith says.

She calls it degrading of tenure, where you lose control over your home. “It’s not something you can decide about, it’s something you have a liability for”.
“In some retirement villages there are reams of rules you have to follow, including, for instance, if you want to re-partner there are issues about the age of the person you partner with.”

What about flatting with other older people, all of us on Super?

Just like when you were 20? You might know octogenarians who would make excellent flatmates, but guess what - if you move in with them your Super gets cut. A single senior sharing gets $36 a week less than one on their own.

It’s a situation Retirement Commissioner Wrightson calls an “own goal”.

“I’m starting to think the structure of New Zealand superannuation is going to have to get a bit more flexible because the cohabiting rate is not the same as the single rate. I think it needs to be looked at, and I may well do that, in that context.”

RICKY WILSON/STUFF
Housing researcher Kay Saville-Smith.

Surely landlords like renting to older people?​

Yes, they are seen as reliable tenants BUT landlords who like to raise the rent know that older people don’t have the money to pay, Saville-Smith says.

And there’s a chance they could die, which they see as another negative. All that makes it harder for older people to find a rental roof.

What is the answer then?​

The central problem is no more than being able to afford somewhere to live, and food to eat. It’s not about beach holidays, or living off the pig’s back.
The simple answer is the government must build more houses, Hawes says.

“And I would have said that that was a matter of emergency. Observing it over the last 40 years I'd say that we should have been treating this as a matter of urgency all the way through. So what the hell are we doing?”

Wrightson is much more positive. While the government has a role, it is also up to individuals to make good decisions.

“There are many ways of attacking this problem. Very bright people are seeing there are problems, and very bright people are thinking about it.


“What can be done is twofold: one is systemic and one is individual. Systemic is the hardest of all, but is there a house building programme happening? Yes there is. Is there thinking going in on rent to buy? Yes there is.

“Is this fast enough for some people? Of course not, but this is an incredibly difficult problem that takes years to resolve.

“So as long as you can see that people are thinking and that there was some acknowledgement of the need for systemic change, that’s good. It's just going to take a while.

“From an individual perspective, what they tell you increasingly is, it’s important not to have over-capitalised in your house.

“The expensive renovations you tend to do in your 50s and 60s might not be a smart idea. You might be better diversifying in a way that we are still not very good at, so spending their money somewhere else or investing the money somewhere else.

“And absolutely being ready to downsize. But it's really quite hard, if you want to maintain a certain standard of living.”

‘When you’re young you think you’re going to live forever’​

Robyn Edie/Stuff
Invercargill couple Ella Flynn and Bradley Quine bought their first home about eight months ago.

Retirement might be a long way off for Ella Flynn but the 21-year-old likes to think she’ll be ready.

The Invercargill woman started putting money into KiwiSaver when she got her first job at 15, and last year bought a $400,000 house with partner Bradley Quine.

With the house loan likely to be paid off by retirement, she thinks it’ll be a lot of money to have at the ready, though at this stage that’s as far as any future planning goes.

“We’ve got so long until we retire.”

Robyn Edie
Invercargill superannuate and renter Ann Reedy says she didn’t think about retirement when she was younger.

Invercargill superannuate and renter Ann Reedy, 74 regrets not thinking about retirement decades ago.

“When you're young you think you're going to live forever.”

Reedy’s strict budget allows no room for treats, though superannuation and wages from working 15 hours a week at Age Concern cover her bills and the occasional social trips with family or friends.

She would likely receive more money on the superannuation with increases announced by the Government this week, but expected the cost of living to also rise.

”Everything is going up. You’ve just got to roll with the punches.”

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff
Dot Hutton says with all the rent she’s paid over the years she could have bought two houses.

Wairarapa pensioner Dot Hutton is doing the same. Homeownership has always been out of reach for the 79-year-old who tried to get a mortgage when her husband died 32 years ago, only to be turned down for being a woman alone.

“With all the rent I’ve paid over the years I could have bought two houses.”

The insecurity of the renting came crashing home last year when she had to leave her home rental of seven years. Her new rental house costs her double what she was paying, and it’s tough to make ends meet. There’s also the worry about what will happen should her new landlords sell the property.

“I'm not on skid row but with everything going up the prices are astronomical. I don't buy much meat, I live on fish fingers and frozen stuff.”

Her thrice-weekly drives for hospital appointments are also biting into her fixed income and she often finds herself choosing between buying petrol or groceries.

“I don't know how people get on with families, I really don't.”

Supplied
Penny Ashton and Matthew Harvey bought their first house about three years ago.

Penny Ashton, 48, has chosen not to have children though admits her “ovaries were pinging to paint a wall a nice shade of teal.”

The Auckland actor and comedian bought her first house about three years ago and says without the support from her parents it would have been impossible.

Like Hutton’s experience decades ago, she wouldn’t have been able to get a mortgage without her husband, despite earning more than him.

“Its time the banks caught up with that s... There’s a lot of bias about self-employment particularly in the arts.”

While she’s always had reasonably good experiences with renting – despite one landlord who refused to go halves in a heat pump - the security of homeownership has been a relief. It’s also enabled a change in lifestyle with her husband recently giving up a well paying job of 30 years to work in a bike shop.

“I have been so lucky and so privileged, and it’s such an example that so many people don't have that.”

Supplied
Peter and Robin Greenfield paid off their mortgage in their fifties. Peter says it's vital for people to own their own home in retirement.

Peter Greenfield says the peace of mind that comes from owning your home is vital in retirement.

The 85-year-old Aucklander and his wife Robin paid off their home in their fifties, prioritising freeing up the mortgage instead of any bells and whistles.
Anything other than the most modest mortgage would be impossible to service on a fixed retirement income, and current rents are entirely unaffordable. While the couple are still impacted by the rising costs of living, things aren’t too difficult, and he feels for older people stuck in the “dreadful situation” of still having to rent.

"I don't know how they sleep at night.”

Additional reporting: Virginia Fallon and Che Baker.

 

[Leongsam]

Life

A 67-year-old who ‘un-retired’ shares the biggest retirement challenge ‘that no one talks about’​

Published Wed, Jun 15 202210:40 AM EDTUpdated Wed, Jun 15 20224:59 PM EDT

George Jerjian, Contributor@georgejerjian
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Yoshiyoshi Hirokawa | Getty
In 2007, at age 52, I was forced to retire overnight. An MRI had revealed a tumor, the size of a large eggplant, sitting on my pelvis. In 98% of these cases, my oncologist told me, bone tumors are secondary cancer. He estimated that I had about six months to live.
But after two successful operations, I took a few months to recuperate on crutches and learn how to walk again. After my near-death experience, I had been in retirement for 10 years. I found myself bored, restless and stuck. My enthusiasm and energy diminished. My mental health suffered.

No one else I knew who was retired told me these were things I might experience. But when I shared with them how I felt, they admitted to feeling the same way at times.
That’s when I decided to “un-retire” and launch a mindset coaching company to help people achieve a more fulfilling retirement than I had.

The biggest challenge of retirement​

Retirement means different things to different people. I did a deep survey of more than 15,000 retirees over the age of 60, and asked them one question: “What is your single biggest challenge in retirement?”
Below is a small selection of responses I received under the most cited categories:
Regret:

• “I miss doing the work that I love.”
• “I don’t think retiring is for me. I want to go back to teaching.”
• “I’m not sure what to do with my time. I feel lost.”

Health:

• “Keeping my mind healthy and adding value to the world.”
• “Fear of dying in pain and discomfort.”
• “When you’re 70 with a heart condition, you don’t get that many more bites at the apple.”

Identity:

• “Fear of losing my identity created over a lifetime.”
• “People do not see you anymore.”
• “Feelings of rejection — internalized, not voiced.”

Here’s what this tells us: The biggest retirement challenge that no one talks about, in my experience, is finding purpose.
Sure, money is certainly a concern. “I have a fear of poverty and losing dignity,” one person said. Another wrote: “Money goes out, nothing comes in.” But surprisingly, financial worries weren’t among the top three in the list.
People often confuse retirement savings with retirement planning. But these are two different concepts. Google the words “retirement planning” and you’ll mostly see, for pages and pages, savings-and pension-related content.
There is nothing on actual retirement planning, which I believe is more about your life, and less about money. Having steady finances to last you throughout retirement plays a significant role in quality of life, but what’s more important is your life-planning.
In other words, what is it that you are going to do once you leave the workforce? You can retire from your career, but you can’t retire from life.

Finding purpose leads to a more meaningful, healthier life​

In the same survey, I asked how people thought they might solve their challenges. A full 35% believed that the answer is in finding purpose in life through a new skill or interest.
In fact, a 2021 study of 12,825 adults over the age of 51 published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology associated a strong purpose in life with healthier lifestyle behaviors and slower rates of progression of chronic illnesses.
Finding purpose can also help retirees find new side hustle opportunities that bring in income, helping to ease financial concerns.

How a Japanese concept saved me from a depressing retirement​

I’ve helped countless retirees find their purpose. They didn’t go back to work in the traditional 9-to-5 sense, but they set up new businesses, consulted, volunteered and took on hobbies that brought them joy and satisfaction.
To identify what activities brought me purpose, I referenced the Japanese concept of “ikigai,” which translates to “your reason for being.”

How to Find Your Ikigai
George Jerjian | CNBC Make It
The Westernized version of this concept is based on the idea that there are four components a person must have complete to achieve ikigai.
Each concept is represented by a question. As you actively pursue what you enjoy doing in service of yourself, your family, and your community, think about whether that activity allows you to answer “yes” to any combination of those four questions:

1. Are you doing an activity that you love?
2. Are you good at it?
3. Does the world need what you offer?
4. Can you get paid for doing it?

Japanese neuroscientist and happiness expert Ken Mogi also suggests considering if the activity has the five pillars that further allow your ikigai to thrive:

1. Does the activity allow you to start small and improve over time?
2. Does the activity allow you to release yourself?
3. Does the activity pursue harmony and sustainability?
4. Does the activity allow you to enjoy the little things?
5. Does the activity allow you to focus on the here and now?

On a deeper level, ikigai refers to the emotional circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable as they move towards their goals.
As for me, I’ve found that my purpose now is to help retirees “un-retire” and create a new life for themselves. Depending on when you plan to retire, you may have another 30, 40, 50 or more years of life — and that’s a hell of a long time to drift aimlessly.
George Jerjian is the author of “Dare to Discover Your Purpose: Retire, Refire, Rewire.” An Emmy-award-winning producer and author of 10 books, he earned his business degree from Bradford University in England and a master’s degree in Journalism from New York University. Follow him on Twitter @GeorgeJerjian.

 

[Eisenhut]

Why not have a few sugar babies to enjoy old age?

 

[snowbird]

Why not have a few sugar babies to enjoy old age?

Unfortunately sugar babies only love very generous sugar daddies which I'm very far from it.

 

[nightsafari]

4) If you were to start again right now, in current investment climate, what are the 3 things that you would do differently.

I know this is a bit late, but I believe your question is basically how to replicate his success? The answer is that he was fully vested in an inflationary asset in an inflationary period. A once or twice in a lifetime happenstance. Not the easiest trick to duplicate and especially not for the moment.

 

[cocobobo]

Sam your OP was in 2013, mentioning 5m. You need to update that.

 

[Leongsam]

Sam your OP was in 2013, mentioning 5m. You need to update that.

? The facts cannot change over time.

 

[ginfreely]

View attachment 160847

 

[JohnTan]

Japanese neuroscientist and happiness expert Ken Mogi also suggests considering if the activity has the five pillars that further allow your ikigai to thrive:

1. Does the activity allow you to start small and improve over time?
2. Does the activity allow you to release yourself?
3. Does the activity pursue harmony and sustainability?
4. Does the activity allow you to enjoy the little things?
5. Does the activity allow you to focus on the here and now?

Doing volunteer work at the RC or in church meets all 5 criterias.

 

[Leongsam]

 

[Singapore Dancing Spirit]

One third of the world population will be gone out of the world.

After that the world will be a better place to Live. All those sided with devil and sought short cuts to made money woll be gone.

SG HDB and houses will be free. No need to build more houses as more CECAs will be gone out of the world.

Stay tuned for the updates

 

[liamricci]

View attachment 169637

Flexibility is my goal at the moment and for that i just need a right thing to do.
This article https://www.zenefits.com/workest/how-to-recognize-employees-the-right-wаy-in-todays-workplace/ made me think a lot about my future career and my plan for the next couple of years. It is not an easy thing to have a work/life balance and those people who find it, can consider themselves really happy.

 

[Papsmearer]

My purpose is to make money. But as I grow older, more and more profitable projects come to me. I never look for them. So, what to do? Cannot retire and keep on accumulating wealth. After retirement, I do have a purpose. To fuck the PAP at every opportunity. that one is akan datang.

 

[birdie69]

One third of the world population will be gone out of the world.



After that the world will be a better place to Live. All those sided with devil and sought short cuts to made money woll be gone.



SG HDB and houses will be free. No need to build more houses as more CECAs will be gone out of the world.



Stay tuned for the updates

 

[birdie69]

I would like to see CECA Indians out in Singapore. But, how are they to be gone?