30 years old... gosh. That was nearly 20 years ago for me. Not much savings as everything went into studies...

Very impressive savings for some of you!

Hello there, ladytarot99! Happy lunar new year!

Sorry, been super busy with niece’s wedding preparations and also much family drama when she came back for CNY (she’s just left for the UK today) - and I was away in Hong Kong to celebrate the CNY with my side of the family and only just got back a week ago.

Anyway, to answer the question:

How much did I have when I was in my 30s? (That was nearly 20 years ago) No more than RM100,000 - I had to support my youngest brother’s education on a registrar’s pay after my mother, followed by my father passed away from illnesses.

Luckily I was already working in Singapore then, and made a decent salary, with performance bonuses and my fixed specialist allowance thrown in.

My story is not unlike your husband’s - studied on a Colombo Commonwealth Scholarship, fully funded with a generous monthly stipend which of course, I saved. My first Masters was self-funded (I was already working as a junior doctor in Singapore then), but my subsequent Masters and Fellowships were institution-sponsored, in return for a fixed service term. I was lucky in that I had kind supervisors that didn’t steal credit and acknowledged my hard work. I was luckier that I also had consultants that gave me the opportunities to take on responsibilities to show what I was capable of doing, and I was lucky that Singapore was a country with a system that practiced meritocracy and recognized and rewarded talent and results.

Anyway, it’s not what you have that matters. It’s what you do with what you have that is more important, IMHO.

Keep safe in these uncertain times. I won’t have much time to pop in as much as I’d like - family/my niece’s wedding commitments and planning and this Coronavirus outbreak will be keeping me honest and busy for a while!

This post has been edited by hksgmy: Feb 10 2020, 11:30 PM