Is it too late to plan for retirement at age 57?

This is in reply to a reader's comment: here.

Hi hosea,

Welcome to my blog. :)

I am not allowed to give advice to individuals and I don't. ;)

However, if I were 57, I must recognise that I cannot be too adventurous with my money. I need to be more conservative.

Being more conservative, the returns might be lower but there is less chance of a massive or total loss of capital which a senior can ill afford. 




I want to consider investment grade bonds which includes Singapore Savings Bonds and also possibly maxing out my CPF-RA to benefit from a risk free 4% to 6% per annum return. This will provide a guaranteed monthly income in future.

Of course, I would have to make sure that my lifestyle is adjusted according to how much I expect to have coming in at retirement. 

It is not just how much we have coming in that is important. It is also how much is the outflow.

Now, at 57, if I think there is going to be a mismatch in what I need and what I would have coming in, then, postponing retirement to a later age beyond 62, which is only 5 years away from now, might have to be considered. This will also allow my CPF savings to continue growing.




What about investments? 

Well, I could consider blue chips which are less volatile and which have a good dividend paying history. 

I might want to consider ST Engineering, SATS and VICOM, for examples. 

I might have a few REITs which are more conservatively geared in my portfolio but I wouldn't want them to be a major part of my portfolio because I might not have the resources to take part in rights issues if they should happen.




If I have a HDB flat, there are many ways to monetise my flat. I could sell some of the remaining lease to HDB or I could rent out a spare room or two. I could choose to downsize too.

Finally, I remember that I have some savings in my SRS account which I can start drawing from at age 62 over a 10 years period. As long as I must pay income tax, I want to consider continuing to make contributions to my SRS account to pay less in tax.

I don't think it is too late to plan for retirement at age 57 but we have to be realistic with the options which are available. 

Related posts:
1. NDR 2014: Retirement adequacy.
2. Tea with Matthew Seah: Lifelong income with SRS.
3. CPF Life Payout estimator.

Make an altruistic investment in Singapore's future.

When I blogged about making a donation to NUS' university wide bursary program, a reader asked me, "What about NTU?"


As I make regular donations to NUS and I tell people about it when I have a chance, that was not the first time I was asked that question.


Well, honestly, I have more affinity towards NUS because I spent four years there. However, I do understand that there are needy students in NTU too.


So, in September, I decided to make a donation to NTU's bursary program to help needy Singaporean students there as well.

This is taken from NTU's website:


"The NTU, MOE, Donated and CDC/CCC University Bursary is open to Singaporean students."  Source: NTU.


Some readers might remember a rather disturbing episode that happened on my FB wall when I encouraged donations to NUS' university wide bursary program. 

By sharing the above statement from NTU, I have taken out the guesswork as to the beneficiaries of the program.

If we have the ability to be so, we should really consider being charitable and helping those in need.

Although there are exceptions, I do believe that most Singaporeans are charitable people.


There are many ways to make a donation to NTU. See options here.


There is also an option for making a donation online using a credit card: here.

AK made a $500.00 donation online.

Don't be shy to make a small donation as even $10 would go some distance to helping the needy.


In this instance, we would also be making an altruistic investment in Singapore's future.


Related post:
Making a donation to help needy students.