A popular question (which is also related to financial Math), is how much money does it take for a person to retire in Singapore? We will collate reliable sources and their calculations in this blog post. By reliable, we mean that we will only select sources posted by major banks (POSB, OCBC, etc.), as well as those posted on major Singapore news outlets (Straits Times, Today, Channel News Asia etc.). Major insurance companies (AIA, Prudential) etc, can also be considered. Lastly, we also consider famous blogs like Mothership, Seedly, MoneySmart.
We will also post the relevant “metrics”, which include Retirement Age, Retirement Monthly Income, Years to Retirement.
Note that the Straits Times has estimated that a recommended Retirement Monthly Income is $1379, or around $1400. This covers mostly necessary items only, with just a few small “luxuries” like “occasional inexpensive meals out with family or friends, homes that are safe and comfortable, and an annual holiday to a nearby destination”. Note that air-conditioning and owning a car is excluded from the budget.
(Note that this list is not finalized, we will continue to add new sources here when we encounter one.)
1) OCBC: S$1.3 million
OCBC has a very interesting “fishing video” featuring a talking fish. In it, it is calculated that “to retire in 20 years and live on S$3,000 monthly, you need S$1.3 million”.
Retirement Age: 62
Retirement Monthly Income: $3000
Years to Retirement: 20
2) Mothership: S$720,000
This plan is worked out by Daniel, 29, and featured on Mothership. His retirement plan is to spend “30 years on a piece of farmland bought overseas, where he will build a ranch, and live off the earth surrounded by free-roaming livestock”.
Retirement Age: 50
Retirement Monthly Income: $2000
Years to Retirement: 21
The $720,000 can be broken down into S$360,000 cash and S$264,000 in his CPF Retirement Account at age 55 years old. Note that the above doesn’t quite add up to $720,000. That is because the CPF amount is for ensuring that he will “receive a steady stream of monthly payouts of around S$2,110 from age 65 for as long as he lives”.
3) Mothership: S$360,000
This is another plan from Mothership, by Melanie, age 25, female.
Retirement Age: 70
Retirement Monthly Income: $3000
Years to Retirement: 45
Again, the magic number seems to be “S$264,000 in her CPF Retirement Account at age 55”. Melanie can then defer her monthly payouts to 70. She will then receive around $2,600 per month for as long as she lives.
4) Seedly: $228,960 to $473,760
The Seedly blog calculates that one would need $228,960 to $473,760, depending on the age of retirement. It is summarized in the table below.
| Retirement Age | Average Life Expectancy Of Singaporeans | Years Left To Enjoy Retirement | Retirement Savings Required |
| 50 | 82.9 | 32.9 | $473,760 |
| 55 | 82.9 | 27.9 | $401,760 |
| 62 | 82.9 | 20.9 | $300,960 |
| 67 | 82.9 | 15.9 | $228,960 |
The above is based on:
Retirement Monthly Income: $1,200
This is on the low side considering the Straits Times article that recommends $1379 for monthly retirement income. Nevertheless, the amount of total retirement savings required seems quite low compared to OCBC and Mothership.
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