I’ve been thinking about the cost of education in Singapore and would like some advice or feedback.

Like most parents, my children’s education is priority and I also know how expensive it can be. With this, I am also worried of my own retirement - that I would not have saved enough. I also don’t expect my kids to look after me (financially) and I don’t wish to be a burden to them. Any thoughts on this? How should I go about planning my retirement yet supporting my kids’ education to the best of my ability?

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My son is 2 years old, and I'm only 21 years old now - but I have the same concern too, especially being a single mum. I think to figure this out, what you'd need to do is to find out how comfortably you want to live in retirement and when you want to retire, to calculate how much you need to save! You'll also need to factor in the car inflation from now until your retirement age. Eg. If you want to have $2,000 per month, that $2,000 now would probably be $7,000 by the time we retire. For example, you want to live comfortably at $2,000 a month, retire at 60 and live until 85 - including inflation it could be $7,000 x 12 x 25 = $2.1 million. Generally, a good sum to save for retirement would be $2-3 million! I have about 44 years before I reach 65 years old, but I'm not even sure I can earn $2 million by then. So, the next thing you need to figure out is your financial situation and how much you are able to spare - a good savings rule is 50-30-20 rule, 50% of your income on needs like bills and rent, 30% on wants and the remaining 20% to savings :) Now that you know how much you can spare for savings, you need to research on the plans/available schemes that would best suit your needs - whether it's a savings account, bank savings plan, insurance-linked financial product or investment. It'll help to set up monthly accounts for both your retirement and your child's education so that you don't forget to save, BUT always remember - you have to set aside some cash for emergencies too, especially if what you save in is not withdrawable!

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