At what age did you actually feel like an adult in Singapore?

Random late-night thought.

We always talk about “adulting” — paying bills, working full-time, filing taxes, planning retirement — but when did you genuinely feel like you became an adult?

Was it when:

You started paying for your own phone bill?
You moved out?
You supported your parents financially?
You got your first full-time paycheck?
You realised no one is coming to “save” you?

In Singapore context especially:

NS delays some milestones for guys
Property prices make moving out hard
Many of us stay with parents into our late 20s
Career competition is intense

So what really defines adulthood here?

Is it:

Financial independence?
Emotional maturity?
Taking responsibility for family?
Making long-term decisions (insurance, investments, BTO)?
Or just surviving without calling your mum every time something breaks?

Also curious:

Do you think our generation matures later compared to our parents?
Does earning more automatically make you “more adult”?
If you’re in your 30s/40s, do you still feel like you’re winging it?

Would love to hear different perspectives. I feel like nobody really talks about this honestly — everyone just pretends they’ve figured it out.

Let’s discuss.

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Citee Hong

18h ago

Age 21

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1M45

Edited 1d ago

when did you genuinely feel like you became an adult?

When I get my first paycheck, I feel like I have grown up.
But I really feel like an adult at about 35 yo. When I started to enjoy being alone, avoid unnecessary socialising, no longer required others validation and prefer simplicity.

So what really defines adulthood here?

To me is about financial stable, emotion maturity and taking responsibilities.

Do you think our generation matures later compared to our parents?

Yes. Because our parent live in a more predictable era and rapid nation growth. They started work at a younger age, primary, secondary.
For their era, Just work hard & save, can definitely earn enough to buy a house and have kids.
They can work a job in entire life, very loyal to the company.

For our generation, we are in a highly competitive and performance driven era, also high cost of living and job market volatility which move the milestones like buying house, start a family backward.

Does earning more automatically make you “more adult”?

It remove the financial barriers like owning a house, start family etc... all the thing adult do. But it does not correlate with social emotion, you can be wealthy but remain emotionally immature.

If you’re in your 30s/40s, do you still feel like you’re winging it?

I think everyone is winging it to some degree. The difference now is that I'm comfortable with the trial and error. Adulthood is just making the best decision you can with the information you have and taking responsibility for the outcome

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