I apologize if feathers were ruffled (for reasons best known to those who got their knickers in a knot) by the thread I started in another section, and I appreciate the mature way in which the primary purpose of this discussion was brought back into focus.

Anyway, to put a simple perspective into some of the finer aspects of what I said:

I'm nearly 50 years old. I've been working in Singapore for more than 25 years, the last 15 years in private practice. The first 10 years as a doctor in the government service, and I rose to the rank of a consultant.

Let's just focus on the last 15 years. As I've previously alluded, a consultant with the same seniority and experience in the same specialty (I'd rather keep that private & confidential) is expected to make about S$3,000,000 to S$4,000,000 gross per annum. Suffice to say, consultation fees make up only a modest portion of our earnings. Sure, we charge $150 to $200 for a standard consultation, but it's still only a small part of the overall income. Theatre fees/procedural fees/special medications make up a far larger bulk.

These are obviously not medications you'd rock up to your local pharmacy to buy. Biologics, Immunotherapy drugs - these are highly specialized, extremely expensive medications that can and must only be dispensed by qualified professionals. As an example, just by adhering to a mark-up of 20% on the cost price as per guidelines, it’s a fair profit of at least $1,000 - $2,000 per injection (check out Xolair, Humira, Enbrel, Dupixent, Stelara just to quote you a few examples). Those are the kind of figures I'm referring to. Like I said, 一山比一山高. I’m not talking about a script for Panadol or Piriton here. The best paymasters are not the local Singaporeans, but my patients from Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and even Malaysia (ironic).

Multiply that with the last 10 (not even 15) years of private practice, and you'll figure out why a post-tax "war chest" of about S$30,000,000 is not actually that far off the mark (kudos to the person who worked it out backwards).

Bear in mind also that my wife works as a chartered accountant, we have no children & we are both used to (as Malaysian Chinese) the culture of working twice as hard to receive half as much. We delay our need for gratification, and we don't feel the need to flaunt our income by way of expensive, branded items. I wear an Apple Series 4 watch (after my Apple Series 1's battery finally died), and she still wears the Tag Heuer I bought for her at her graduation in Australia. Our daily living expenses are already more than fully covered by her salary alone (she was previously with one of the big 4 in a senior role, she's now an in-house accountant for better hours), with change to spare.

Also consider our attitude towards housing: despite owning private properties in Singapore (and Australia), we continued to live in our humble little HDB flat that we bought the minute we qualified as PRs back when we first came down to Singapore. The savings alone, in living a humble existence, is not something to scoff at. This arrangement continued until our neighbours whom we've gotten to know very well moved away & new ones came in. One of the new neighbours got into some trouble with loan sharks and his house was spray-painted & his shoe rack was set on fire. That was our cue to make like a bat out of hell, right out of the neighbourhood.

We also don't drive flashy cars. She made do with our first car until the wheels fell off (a Honda City, then upgraded to a C-class which she's still driving), and I drive an S-class after the wheels fell off my old E-class (the W211 version). I know some of my colleagues or her friends of similar status would be zipping about town in their Ferraris and Porsches, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with their automotive choice, but that's simply just not our style.

My medical studies were also fully funded by the Colombo Commonwealth Plan scholarship, and included a very generous stipend. So, upon graduation, I had no debt and I’ve worked very hard all my life to avoid debt. My wife’s 1st year in her accountancy degree was initially paid for by my parents, but she applied herself diligently and obtained a University scholarship that covered tuition fees and since we both studied in Australia, my stipend was more than enough for both our living expenses. In this sense, we already had an advantage compared to many of our peers – being debt free from right off the bat.

So that’s a little bit on our background.

In the spirit of this thread, I'll share with you my portfolio (obviously, no need for hard numbers, just %)

50% liquid investments - in SGD & AUD (10:5 ratio)
50% properties - in Singapore & Australia. We've consolidated our property portfolio. We used to have units in Auckland & KL, but sold those as there were too many tax jurisdictions to worry about, and I couldn't do this full time.

Of the liquid assets, I have them split up as follows:

50% bonds (Senior subordinated, Tier 1 or Tier 2, rated - never junk grade) – bond issues from UOB, DBS, OCBC, Sembcorp Industries (not Marine), Credit Suisse, SIA, Wing Tai, Guocoland, SCB, HSBC, and in Australia, I favour Westpac, NAB, ANZ. As you can see, I'm heavily into banks. If they collapse, I'll probably jump from the proverbial 14th floor so beloved in /k. The average return ranges from 3.5% - 5%. If I were to sell off all of the bonds right now, the only 2 bonds that I would lose money on would be Sembcorp Industries & SIA. All the others are in positive territory. A lot of the bonds are also perpetual issues, with a call date some 10 years down the road. This does help with financial planning & stability somewhat.

10% in SGX blue chip stocks - the dividend yields are decent, if not overly exciting. I'd say they pay on average 5-6% returns.

20% in index-tracked stocks, with memory knock-out feature. Mainly in FMCG and consumer/entertainment stocks - like Starbucks, McD, VISA, Mastercard, Pepsi, Disney (by far my best investment so far) and Yum foods. These are slightly riskier assets, but they have paid 8-10% on average. I also have these in Pharma stocks, obviously, as I’m a little more attuned to potential sensitivities brewing in this industry. The key thing here is that I have no issues getting knocked in, should the share prices fall below the threshold, as these counters are also blue chips. I’ll just switch over from collecting the 8% to receiving the dividend payments instead.

20% in cold, hard cash (SGD & AUD). I'm lucky that I managed to lock in the bulk of my AUD savings in 60 - 80 month time deposits, so those are still paying nearly 8% in interest (non-compounded), but I'll have a major headache when those good deals run out in a couple of years' time. As for my SGD, because of my relationship with the bank, I get a special 2.25% return to keep my money with them. The rate is reviewed/renewed every quarter, but they've kept it more or less the same for a while now. Some may say that we’re quite silly to keep this portion in low returns of cash, but it does give us a bit of flexibility and there’s always emergencies that having a bit of money at hand would be helpful.

We also have an annuity plan that will pay us a comfortable income upon official retirement ($10,000 per month in total). We bought ours from AIA.

Of the 50% in properties, we have a mix of residential and commercial units. We are receiving at least 3 – 4% in rental returns. The relatively higher yield is from the fact that we own a couple of commercial shop houses, which are in quite good locations with good traffic footfall. In additional to residential properties in Australia, we also have a couple of medical suites bought in Australia, rented out to my classmates from University (oh, what a small world!) Those are paying quite good returns too – about 5% per annum.

In my opinion, the crucial factors that some detractors might have missed in their initial scepticism are:

1. Us being totally debt free upon graduation
2. Singapore’s meritocratic system being a haven for talent – they do recognize & reward performance
3. Singapore’s position as a regional medical hub (for me) & a regional headquarters for many MNCs (my wife)
4. The Singapore dollar being stable & relatively strong against major currencies
5. The Australia dollar peaking at 1.31 against the SGD some years ago – I liquidated ALL of my AUD and converted them into SGD at nearly the highest point (having accumulated AUD at an average buy in price of 1.02 – 1.03 over the preceding years leading to that spike)
6. My wife and I being debt free, and without obligations to our elders (my parents passed away many years ago, as has her dad, and she’s estranged from her gambler of a mother)
7. We have no children – so no need to plan for their education costs

So, if you do your sums and add all of that up, you’ll realise that what I quoted, in terms of passive returns of $40,000 to $50,000 a month is easily achievable – and that’s honestly, me being on the conservative side. I will still be working full time in Singapore for the next 2 or 3 years, so I do expect to increase the portfolio significantly, before we make the move over to Sydney to retire.

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify myself.

You’re most welcome, and thank you for keeping things civilised and respectful despite how dodgy it might have appeared initially. A mature discussion with positive participation is a refreshing change from the usual vitriol and venom that gets spat about in /kopitiam - though the latter isn’t without its fun moments. Whilst I maintain I have nothing to prove, it is precisely in the spirit of sharing and mutual exchange of information that I decided to clarify and expand on my initial post (which was lifted and pasted here without my knowledge, permission or intention) - but no worries, I bear no grudges and absolutely zero ill-will whatsoever.

I will be the first to admit that my investing skills are nowhere as honed or sharp as many others here, and I will be the first to say that my financial acumen leaves much to be desired. Much of what I can do, I do because my wife and I generate enough income to do it. Our conservative natures also mean we are probably underperforming when compared with other more savvy investors with a similar pot of funds. But I’m not here to compare the lengths of our genitalia or the diameters of the hairs on our chest. I want to enjoy learning from all of you, and perhaps even contribute in a small way, should an opportunity arise (unlikely as it would seem, what with an amateur like me being in the presence of such learned masters as yourselves).

Someone briefly made a mention about it being surprising or suspicious that I would, as a new member, be familiar with the vernacular of these forums (such as the /k standard of RM20,000/month). Observation is a key tenet in the art of medicine, and I’ve been observing these forums for a few years, before I finally decided it was worth a dip of my toes to test the waters.

Perhaps it’s because of my impending retirement and the fact that I’ll leave Singapore and Malaysia so many miles behind. I trawled the pages in HWZ too, but deep inside, despite being a PR in Singapore for nearly 30 years, I know in my heart, I relate more to my Malaysian brethren and kindred. Our cultures may be similar, but not identical - and the blood in my veins is decidedly Malaysian. Hence, Lowyat instead of HWZ - a little slice of home for me when I find myself permanently in Sydney.

And aspartame, thank you for being a voice of reason. I didn’t go through all that transpired when a few members started insinuating about the merits of my story, but I did catch your post about giving me the benefit of the doubt, instead of condemning me to be a fraud from the get go. Your statement was neutral and non-judgemental; much like how I have to approach every patient’s medical concerns, no matter how fallacious they may sound at first. The benefit of the doubt is always given, lest I commit the greater sin of unfairly judging a person, and harming him as a result.

Interesting medical choice for a nickname though.

As it stands, I’m grateful to see that the vast majority of the participants (at least in this section anyway) are mature, level-headed and magnanimous enough to welcome a relative newcomer like myself to the fold.

I know what you mean. I tried to semi-retire 5 years ago after I passed 45y of age, and failed because I thought it was premature to cut short my professional and financial potential. This time, I'm super determined not to make the same mistake.

Hopefully, in 2 years' time, my plan will be executed and I'll be posting to this forum from Sydney.

Seems like alot of you guys in this thread are much older. So I have a question to seek out your experiences.

Say you had in today's terms a modest figure of RM2mil worth of assets and 2 kids who are already adult and working. (RM2m is net asset position) You are at the age of 50.

What would be your ideal asset mix of that RM2m?

Just wanna hear your opinions as well, cause ive been hearing so many opinions im starting to think some of them are bias