How to make my money last longer? A senior's example.

The very first question I was asked during the meeting with readers last Saturday was, "I am 60. What can I do to make my money last longer?" 

Well, in our golden years, I feel that we probably want to be less adventurous when it comes to money matters and I shared some of my thoughts with everyone at the event. This blog post coincidentally exemplifies one of those thoughts. I don't know if the lady who posed the question on Saturday will be reading this or not but I hope she does.

My dad might not be the most financially savvy person I know and he has some bad money habits but he has very good work ethics. He belongs to a generation of hard working Singaporeans who refuse to stop working. He is almost 70 years old and, yes, still working.

My dad used to spend money very easily, too easily, and, for many years, I was very worried. I wondered whether he would have enough money for retirement. So, in my own retirement planning, I factored in the cost of my parents' upkeep, just to be safe.

For a long time, my dad was also very suspicious of the CPF but, in his old age, as he fears not having enough money for retirement, he started believing in the system instead of joining the Hong Lim Park "Return our CPF" protests. Well, this is largely due to my nagging.

Son nagging at father? Bad AK! Bad AK!

This morning, my dad sent me a message:

"Son, my cheque to CPF cleared already."

I logged into his CPF account just now to take a look.

My dad continued to work beyond 55 years of age and, in so doing, accumulated more funds in his CPF account. Any voluntary contribution he makes now can be considered as short term savings as he is allowed to withdraw money from his CPF account once a year while still working and anytime he wants once he stops working. 

The funds will enjoy interest rates of 2.5% (OA) and 4% (SA) per annum in the meantime. No fixed deposit rates in Singapore can beat these.

If you are a senior or if you have loved ones who are seniors, this might be something worth considering and sharing if they are trying to achieve retirement adequacy.

IMPORTANT (added 4 Feb 15):
For seniors 55 to 65 years old, please read comment by Sally Tan in the comments section below.

Related post:
Retirement: Buying a AAA rated bond.

How to recession proof your life? Your time will come too.

Last evening, after the group photo taking ended, I took my first selfie ever with a couple of readers and the lady asked me whether I might make some changes to my frugal spending habits as I go into retirement. Well, maybe not in those exact words but I think that was what she meant.

Actually, many people asked me questions along the same line before. Why not be more generous to myself since my investments are generating meaningful income annually? Why am I still so frugal? (Aiyoh, car, chocolates, ice cream, remember?)

"I don't think I will change anything. I am too used to what I am doing now. I don't think I can change," was my reply. Now, this can either be viewed as a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what we are talking about.

My breakfast this morning.
Yes, got chye sim! Trying to take more vegetables.
I nag at readers about money and readers nag at me to eat vege.
Sounds fair to me. ;)

Human beings are creatures of habit. Everyone has some habits, whether good or bad. Look at ourselves and be honest. I am sure we can identify some of our own habits.

We might need a little help because our eyes are looking outwards. So, ask our friends and family members and they will tell us. They might be brutally honest but that is a good thing. It is all going to contribute to an important body of knowledge, self knowledge.

A visit to NTUC Fairprice in the morning.

There will always be some habits in life that will hold us back from achieving financial freedom. There will be habits in life that will help and, no matter what your persuasion might be, it is probably difficult to dispute that being frugal is one good wealth building habit. If we keep to our frugal lifestyle even as we make more money in life, we would probably be on our way to financial freedom.

My dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch for tomorrow.

I shared last evening that my family narrowly averted bankruptcy when I was in primary school. It was a difficult thing to understand for a boy but my mom was able to paint a picture of total loss for me that has stayed with me till today. I forgot to mention last evening that although we averted bankruptcy, we suffered financial hardship for many years. We lost almost everything. How does one forget something like this? Quite impossible.

The fear of growing old and destitute stayed with me till today.

I must never be in a situation like this, I told myself, and the last two decades have been a journey of self-discovery and stumbling in the dark, somehow doing mostly the right things but also falling into a few pits along the way. I do feel that I have been mostly lucky.

Of course, I could still fall into a pit or two in future. I don't know everything there is to know, for sure. However, I hope that I have done enough that is right so that, unless the pits I fall into in future are particularly deep, I would be able to recover quickly.

In summary,

1. Develop good habits that will help to build wealth.


2. Discard habits that lead to wealth destruction.


3. As our wealth and income grow, maintain a frugal lifestyle.

If we do all these, we would most likely become more recession proof than the average person too.

It is always hardest in the beginning. It takes time but you must believe that your time to work when you want to and not because you have to will come too just like it has for AK the giam siap fellow.

Related posts:
1. If we are not rich, don't act rich.
2. Three points which could turn our lives.
3. To retire by age 45, start with a plan.