The financial health of the young working class Singaporeans starts when they enrolled into tertiary education. For the more fortunate there is the PM scholarship, or papa mama scholarship to fall back on. The bills for their education will be picked up by papa and mama. For the less fortunate, they will have to take an education loan or to slog it out with some part time jobs to get by.
On completion of their first degree education, presumably they have taken an education loan, it is time to pay back. The PM scholarship recipients may also think of repaying their papa and mama. This will take out some of their exposable incomes which could have gone to their savings.
How long does it take for the young to save $100k or $200k for their deposits for their first flat? 5 to 8 years will be quite a reasonable time to save that first $100k/$200k for a tertiary educated young couple. And this sum will be clean off from their savings the moment they make that big decision, to get married and buy that property, public or private.
And for the next 30 years, the bulk of their savings will go to that property with little savings left. They would be quite lucky if they have enough money to meet the minimum sum requirements in the CPF and the Medisave. During this time, the family will be growing, with babies, and the need to pay for that precious car that a growing family needs at an average of $100k or $300k for 3 cars in 30 years. Come to think of it, the car is more expensive than a flat. A $400k will be useful for 99 years or costs $40k every 10 years, assuming there is zero value at 99 years. A cheap working man’s car is going to cost $100k every 10 year.
How much savings will a young couple starting out life today in 30 years time? By the time they hit the CPF withdrawal age, they will be lucky if there is some extra above the two minimum sum schemes to take out some money to spend. And this is only possible if there is no major health problem and admission to hospital which would likely empty everything in the Medisave and still not enough, and needing cash top ups. Hopefully there will be some cash savings available, not forgetting the PM scholarships they have to provide for their children.
What happens, for the fortunate few, everything will be just enough, everything just affordable, and the wallet nicely empty by the time they have to call it a day.
Unfortunately that is the hard truth which I subscribe to, all along, although I am sparsely educated.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, the young seems oblivious to the reality, being brainwashed by big banks, big property developers, big car producers, big corporations making consumer items like handphones, cameras etc, big airlines and travel agencies, the MSM and the Government, espousing the mantra that to spend, spend, spend is the way to go. Until the time comes and regret is not the word.
The people of USA and Europe are finding the real hard truth of all those overspending. The ones who will suffer will be the people themselves when the day comes. But first they will lay blame on everyone but themselves.