I'm kind of surprised that no one has pointed out that retirement is tremendously subjective. If your mum is a pretty simple person who doesn't need a particularly high standard of living, CPF could literally be enough by 65. If she wants to retire before that, it changes the whole game. Or if she wants to retire at 70 instead. You get the general idea. So whether or not she has less than a 2k salary is not as important as how much she's saved already and how much she's willing to save, depending on the kind of guaranteed income she wants in retirement. The instruments and risk required to meet those goals also vary depending on some of the stuff I mentioned above. You may want to edit this post to include some of these points so that people can give you more detailed advice.

Of course it depends if youre selling it, and if you do anything with the CPF monies or cash. You can invest (and should invest either). Cash has more versatility, so I could probably help you achieve a higher return on it than OA investments. But if you intend to sell your property, then the accrued interest is a huge factor. Ultimately it depends. But Id lean towards CPF..

No idea what 'Bump' is... This gets to me a bit, so I'll give you a long piece of advice. I have a couple of friends who did this. Much like older generation adults I was (and still am to some degree) extremely cynical about taking a gap year. You have spent your entire life figuring out your crap during uni, army or otherwise - you can figure it out while working, not spending money that you typically don't have. But okay, some people did it anyway - and the reasons they gave for doing so were very half assed. Typically the kind of people that make good friends but not good clients - generally terrible with money, not bursting with responsibility or obligation to family for paying for their education, etc. If that sound pretty judgmental, its because it certainly was. But you never wish bad things for your friends, so I waved them off and hoped it was useful. Some of them went backpacking, some of them did volunteer work or driving - all sorts of things. Once they came back and we had drinks and stuff - I've noticed two things 1) The ones who took a gap year and did nothing learnt nothing. If anything, they were more lost than before, generally dreading the inevitable process of going back to work or applying for jobs. It would be only much, much later they would get jobs even after the gap year was over. 2) The second group of people, however - were like completely changed people, even if they hadn't left the country. An engineering graduate who visited third world countries became far more passionate after seeing how his skills could mean life and death for others. A humanities graduate who was generally aimless before is putting 70, 80 hours into non profit. They spoke about their stories and experiences like they were much older people than a year from when they had left - they were more appreciative, more alive, generally more prepared to take on and embrace responsibility and contributing to society. Here's my advice - having taken the gap year, consolidate everything that was meaningful, no matter how little it might have been. Sum it up, as well as set aside exceptional experiences. Reflect on it and make it a part of you before you go for your potential employer interviews. Why did you take the year off? What happened and how has that been overcome? How has the year made you a better person? Was the time well spent? Some people are motiviated by regret of wasting time, while some people are motivated by the experiences they had. Either way, you're in a good spot. Look an employer in the eye and show them what you've learnt and how hiring you this year would have been better than hiring you last year. Talk to them as people, not try to up your credentials. If your employer wants further credentials they can read the rest of the CV and look for someone more qualified. But here, you have something jarring that stands out - and you can take something that is seemingly negative to something positive if you're authentic about yourself. Don't stop learning. And look for a good Financial Consultant after you're employed! https://www.moneymaverickofficial.com/posts/an-earnest-conversation Luke

I've written this officially for IPFAS ( Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore ). https://www.moneymaverickofficial.com/posts/ilps-as-a-retirement-solution For the pros of a savings plan instead https://www.moneymaverickofficial.com/posts/why-i-got-a-savings-plan-for-my-niece-s-education-instead-of-investing-it

You're doing really well so far. What's your monthly savings though? You should really consider investing more of what you have in the bank. With savings like that, there's a decent chance your OA has been fairly filled and will mitigate most, if not all the downpayment already - so you're holding onto too much cash unless you really want to spend it all on your wedding + reno...which I think you'd consider really excessive. Especially seeing as how you're concerned that 65k at 27 years old + investments + insurance might not be enough. I offer formal investment advice with a strong track record - you can read this if you think it might help. Good luck! https://www.moneymaverickofficial.com/posts/categories/investing-101

P2P has been a tough life for me, since I used to operate a small business on it. I've had to even sue someone and it wasn't pretty. Gold was good to me, and now it's bad. Options are generally promising in the right, disciplined hands, much like forex.

The general consensus is yes, but if you think about it Tech has been overvalued for decades. It's not good to group them up anyway - it's better to look at some of the individual REITs much like you'd look at individual stocks rather than them as an entire category. Historical returns show you the promise of REITs without timing your entry, which you really are encouraged NOT to do. You could experience a 40% drawdown on your capital and still have made a ton of money prior to that and after that. Eventually there will be an inevitable correction or bubble burst as you mention, but it's typically not a good idea to try and predict when it'll happen.

My Dad taught me the value of working hard. He works really long hours, even now in his 60s - finding fulfillment in what he does. When I was younger - I thought I worked hard, and he showed me over and over again that I didn't even know what that meant. Even though he wasn't around as much as my mum, I felt his presence through what he provided - literal food on the table, amongst other things. He also saved tremendously during regular days and spent quite lavishly on us during holidays. We had at least two vacations a year, even if they weren't particularly expensive places like Europe - he and Mum always emphasized that it was important for us to experience what they never got to do when they were young, and to do it properly (which I guess was to spend more to get a better experience LOL). Typically I do most of these things today as well.

You should probably be as specific as possible. 1) Ratio 2) Defining Short Term 3) Defining Long Term 1) I'm not too sure your ratios should work like that because objectives have a price regardless of your timeline. So if I want to get a house in a year and I haven't even started, it's more likely that my short term savings would be 5 to 1 compared to 1 to 2, for example. Not that the general idea isn't there and its a good base for someone to start, but financial planning done generally is typically done poorly. 2) Short term has a huge range. For traders, its a couple of hours and for investors, it can be impossible to predict a year record. If your short term is 3 years or higher, there are some asset allocations (investing) and short term bonds or structures which you can place your money in. This can help you to get a higher interest on those yields with specific predictability. Common short term instruments are your enhanced bank accounts (e.g. Multiplier, 360) as well as SSB. For more return, you can speak to a Financial Advisor like myself to design an investment asset allocation depending on how short the term is. Of course, thaht kind of investment also needs to be liquid because if you're looking at the most common short term things from start to finish, it can typically go in such an order: 1) Initial downpayment of house 2) Wedding preparations 1 (e.g. bookings) 3) Wedding preparations 2 (e.g. purchases of specific items) 4) Wedding preparations 3 (e.g. miscellenous) 5) Renovations 6) Moving in 7) Items for the house Etc. You kind of get it. Some people will bypass this entirely and stick with the common options, while some people whose short term is longer than they'd expect (1 year or higher) might even go for P2P lending, where you can get 8% yields pretty easily. 3) For long term its fairly straightforward in the sense that you know you'll be investing in the market - Unit Trusts, Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, REITs, etc. Speaking purely from an advisory/investment specialist perspective, the asset allocation is important because your long term may be longer or shorter than a general view (e.g. retirement at 65). A portfolio that I plan for someone who wants to retire by 45 is going to have different components from someone who can retire at 65, assuming they start at 30 years old. This is because you have to sell at some point, and unless you're a skilled trader you ideally want the probability of the portfolio to have a positive return at the end of your tenure. In summary, you save up using short term instruments and long term instruments with precision and careful planning. Do talk to a professional like myself if you require further advice and yields. https://www.facebook.com/luke.ho.54