random_username

noted. i suppose there are different views on point 2 and how to treat it, and the outcome would be different. Also, wrt to point 3. opportunity cost, if there is a portion held in cash, the outcome would also be different since interest rates/returns are low. really admire your can-do attitude! All the best for your program!

thanks! i always learn a lot from your posts! so your return on 31,682 is already net of the 7k realised loss? and your return includes positive capital gain on sold stocks? is the return of 31,682 also after take into account the "paper" loss of stocks unsold but selling at lower price than you bought (since 121,032.76 > 73,600)? How do fund managers treat these?

just curious. what was the value of your stock as at the end of 2011 (ie. purchased price is 121,032.76, market price of these was?) were the returns (31,682.29) derived from dividend payments or from gains made on buy/sell, etc?

on hdb website, look at the resale checklist that sellers need to fill out - addresses the timing bit quite clearly. anyway, always best to clarify and/or confirm with HDB.

he/she posted he/she bought this june at 60.22. in any case, closing now will attract additional account closure fee of $30 (account open less than 6 months) and gst on the fees (see link happyhouse88 provided) how do these change the result calculated? thanks!

sorry, i don't get what you are trying to say. the closing prices today for your deposit are still in your favour, no? did you have a target price/value in mind when you started out? tia!

thanks for the info

gold - could i ask what "form" did you buy it in? eg. the physical metal, etf, gold related stocks, etc? If ok, could you also share why you bought it in that "form"? Thanks v much!

if so, would you not have to sell your pte when you buy your new hdb though?

dryer sheets - i'm currently using Purex and Bounce, both are nice - some brands offer various different scents, which i can usually sniff at through the box before deciding which to take. linen water - it's like the water you spray on clothes before you put the iron to fabric, just that linen water is scented. essence laundry detergent - essence is the brand; i believe this is referring to a fabric softener.

i use dryer sheets when i put the clothes into the dryer - clothes come out smelling nice. if you want to add scent during the ironing process, you can use linen water

why?

that would be one way of looking at it, and it would be nice if the 100k can generate overall returns enough to cover the interest on the 380k loan. likewise, it's also one way of looking at the actual return on, say, a 500k investment that can cover the interest payments on the loan, but the rate of return (percentage) may not be as attractive. for simplicity's sake, say the interest on the loan of 380k is 1% ie. 3800. a 3800 return on 500k investment is 0.76% - does that make the investment worth keeping? there are also hard-to-quantify factors like peace of mind, your partner's wishes, etc cos some people are just not comfortable with debt. also there are liquidity factors too - whether investments can be realised fast enough for one's purposes etc etc i'm trying to learn as much as possible from you more experienced ones; would love to hear how you decide in the end

wow, that's like 47 + 29 = 76. Anyway, you have flexibility since you purchased before many changes came into place, so i'm curious to see what you decide snd the reasoning behind it

orh, for family harmony la - definitely impt, priceless. what's the tenure of your 800k loan? and if you've used cpf to pay down/off your hdb loan, what are the requirements you must meet should you want to use cpf also for the other loan? (assuming balance above minimum sum/2 for both your wife and your accounts, assuming also you both are joint owners?)

super interesting. thanks for the perspective; that's a real eye opener for me

what's the motivation for that,if i may ask? you've mentioned before the low interest rate environment and how you put your $ to work.

i suppose, a hope could be that, by then it would have been paid down partially/fully, even if there was a ways to go before tenure is up.

i am totally lost here. say, a person does hasn't used cpf for his/her property purchase (ie. bought something without using cpf whether for lump sum or for instalment), does this change make a difference to that person?

wahahahaha, we started planning for retirement at mid 30's and already felt we should've started mapping out earlier, and even now at nearly 40, many of our peers still don't have a concrete retirement plan and think we worry too much, so sometimes i feel a bit torn and confused . anyway, to your poser of : 200K(say loan tenture 10yr @ 2.6%)and yr OA has 200K & you also have 200K on hand. What will you do? All are welcome to take part. since we like the rates we are getting on our mortgage and because it is lower than the returns we are getting on our investments, we have not paid it down/reduced it. at the same time, we always keep an eye on liquidity. i think there's been lots of discussion and illustration (with worksheet and numbers) on this topic and related ones in many various threads, but it's always nice to see more input and learn new things that pop up along the way

do you mean the unit is 20 years old or you have owned and/or occupied it for 20 years? can refer to HDB website for what your MOP is too.

Thanks gimz63251073 and friends78. I do see it eats into ready cash, but i would've thought, that a long term view for how manageable the overall selling price is would be given fair weight. This seemed consistent also with the intention to hold the house for a longer term, since for hdb there is the MOP and for pte, it's extra costly to sell it within certain time periods now. schiz0id, are you looking only at jumbo flats (as in when built already was a jumbo flat), not the ones that were originally 2 flats then combined into one? I occassionally see listings for these "combined" flats in various areas that seem quite well located.

just a general question on COV's: the focus seems to be on the amount of COV than the overall selling price of a unit. Why so? I understand that the COV needs to be paid in cash, but, the rest of the selling price will need to be paid by the buyer eventually (ie. even with a loan, the buyer still needs to pay it). Am i missing something?

coincidentally, i asked myself these questions late last year, as i sought professional help calculating my net worth whether it was on track for retirement. retirement, to me, is when one has reached a stage where one can decide not to work for $. this would mean, to me, that the person has ALREADY accumulated enough, taking into account inflation projections, medical emergencies, cash buffer, etc. it isn't enough, to me, to factor in present/passive streams of income on the assumption that they will continue - hence rental, part time work, investing - these can add to and enhance that retirement sum at the point of retirement, but i do not assume them to continue indefinitely nor assume them to continue indefinitely at the rate of return desired. the sum(s) you need to retire really have to do alot with your expected lifestyle - there's been some discussion on the retirement threads. lots of our peers are v high earners, but they also have very high maintenance lifestyles - i reckon at their expenditure rate and income rate, they're far off from retirement (we're all late 30's, early 40's). Then we also have friends who are also earning alot, but their expenditures are low, and they have accumulated (through savings and consistent investments) enough to work simply because they enjoy their work, want to keep busy but they have enough to stop work (or for one person in the couple) and continue their relatively modest (modest lifestyle relative to the amount they earn, in our modern context) lifestyles if they so wish. ps: here's another related thread in renotalk forums on retirement http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30352 ps: in calculating wealth, i didn't include my place of residence, since unlikely to sell it

rent income is taxed on all the joint owners of the property based on their share in the property. Go look at the iras website - very clearly laid out there. look out for the deductions allowable to you when calculating - also clearly laid out on the website. ETA: see yoongf's post above, who has kindly provided you a link too!