50 Y.O MAN WORKED SINCE HE WAS 18 BUT CPF ONLY GOT ABOUT $60K, “WHERE DID I GO WRONG”

Where did I go wrong?

I’m pushing 50, have poly diploma and no degree. I have two kids and live in a 4 room HDB flat that I bought in 2003. House is fully paid and the price was reasonable based on BTO in 2003. Nothing fancy and I was grateful to get a relatively low cost public housing.

Now I don’t really have much commitments. No second property or any other source of income except my day job which pays me around 5k per month. I’m generally very happy go lucky person and don’t really worry about the future but I’ve saved about 60-70% of my salary for the last 20 years.

However in the last few days, I’ve realised besides my own savings, my cpf has gone nowhere. I have just about north of 60k in OA. I’ve been working even since I was 18, and except for the HDB payment, I’ve never used my CPF for anything else.

So I’m wondering if I got shafted by the system and employers along the way 🙂 If I have had bigger dreams of owning another property, 60k is not even enough for me to pay for a EC downpayment.

Actually forget about EC lah, how am I going to fund my kids uni education using just OA. I’m not complaining but I’m puzzled by this phenomenon 🙂

Netizens’ comments

1. I just wanted to say you are a freaking awesome husband and father. Good man ser.
   • (OP) Thanks for the kind words. But I think the real hero is my wife.
     For the longest time she was the saver, I wasn’t very interested in money matters. I don’t know how she managed the finances (and with a small child) when I was barely making 2k in the 2000s. And she put this idea in my head about savings.
2. wow how did u save 60-70% of your salary WHILE having 2 kids
   • (OP) We pool our salaries together every month but more importantly we are borderline misers. Barely spend on anything besides the kids. No vices, no holidays for the first 15 years of marriage except the occasional movie. My parents are self sufficient so I don’t have to take care of that.
     The only big ticket item was kids private tuition which has eaten away my saving somewhat. Otherwise I’m good with the savings part.