Planning your finances doesn’t have the same sense of urgency and excitement as booking your next vacation while you’re in your twenties. To live the life you want in Singapore, you must know about personal finance. Many of these life milestones—traveling abroad, popping the question, or making a down payment on a house—require careful planning and money management.
You may take advantage of every opportunity life presents by taking charge and beginning your financial planning right away. Here are the 6 most significant life events you may anticipate between graduation and retirement and what you can do to prepare financially.
Milestone 1: Your first job and first salary
The path to financial security does not begin with employment. You must start setting aside money and managing your wealth to make your salary work for you. Even if your starting salary falls short of your expectations, you can still develop wise financial practices that will lay the groundwork for a future that is secure and steady. Being through a pandemic has also taught us to be ready for everything life may throw our way in addition to planning beforehand.
Milestone 2: Buying your first home
Whether you choose an HDB apartment or a condo from a private developer, purchasing real estate in Singapore is the most expensive decision you will ever make. From the age of 21, you can buy a private home, a resale HDB flat, a build-to-order flat (BTO), or a build-to-order flat (BTO) with your partner. The age requirement to purchase an HDB resale apartment if you are single is 35. Nonetheless, you may choose the optimum time to start this new phase of your life with the appropriate information and careful planning.
Milestone 3: Planning your wedding and getting married
Talk about what’s important to have at the wedding and how much you can comfortably afford to spend with your partner. While wedding angbaos can assist reduce your costs, you shouldn’t base your budget on what you might gain from them. As you start your life together, keep in mind that you have other expenses to consider.
Milestone 4: Pregnancy and birth of your first child
A child takes a significant financial and personal commitment, forcing you to re-evaluate your priorities. It will be simpler to provide your firstborn with the finest upbringing possible the earlier you begin planning for their birth. Start by concentrating on the two key costs associated with pregnancy and delivery. Once this is resolved, you may start setting up your child’s early years’ budget.
Milestone 5: Childcare and Education
It’s time to start thinking ahead and budgeting for the costs of raising a child when the expenses associated with pregnancy and delivery have been resolved. Make sure to assess the best daycare alternative for your family before your or your wife’s maternity leave expires. The second thing you should do is start saving for your child’s college education, which is one of your biggest future expenses as a parent.
Milestone 6: Planning your retirement
You are likely aware by this point of the benefits of starting your retirement savings when you are in your 20s. Retirement planning has fallen lower down the list in recent years as new objectives and pressing financial requirements have taken precedence.
Many working-age Singaporeans between the ages of 35 and 55 consider themselves to be members of the sandwich generation or the group who must simultaneously meet the financial needs of their aging parents and their growing children.
You free your children of the financial responsibility of taking care of you in your old age by developing the means to sustain yourself. You can gain the benefit of gaining time for your funds to grow while you achieve other life milestones by starting your retirement plans early.
Conclusion:
Preparing your money can be much less glamorous and thrilling than planning your next vacation or your ideal wedding. Although there is nothing wrong with wanting these things, the only way to achieve your ideal lifestyle is by managing your finances wisely. You can materialize these ambitions with wise financial preparation.
