Single 29M with no plans of marriage
Hi All, before I start, I just want to thank everyone on this thread that has provided their valuable advice, I have learnt a lot more about personal finance in general after reading this thread.
Goals
The reason I wanted to write this thread today was to seek your valuable advice on my goals and whether they are attainable or just a far-fetched dream. My goal currently is the following:
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Saving enough for my retirement comfortably.
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Taking care of my parents for food, health, and travelling once a year.
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Getting my own place at 35 (3-room preferably so if my parents need to they can move in with me without space constraint.
Context
I am a 29M working in a Government Hospital earning approx 4.6k per month with an avg of 3 months bonus (So around 70k a year before CPF deduction) My portfolio currently is as follows:
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10k in emergency funds saved (I know its low, used to have 20k but gave my Dad 10k for his business, aiming to get 20k saved up again).
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51k value in VWRA (Bought recently after selling half my stocks after reading this thread for portfolio rebalancing), 72k value in tech stocks (was very lucky to hope on before the boom) I was invested in individual stocks at around 1k per month but will start to DCA every month into VWRA from now on (20k annually with bonus months)
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26k value in ILP (AIA Pro Achiever, yes I know, dumb, but bought it before I was financially literate),
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54k OA.
Expenses
My expenses annually are as follows:
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Food 6k annually but expected to increase for food as my Dad recently stopped having his regular work.
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Transport 1.3k
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Travel 10k, inclusive of my own travel with friends or alone and i contribute ard 4k to my family's travel expense
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Household Utilities 6k, I live with 2 sister and my mom and they spend electricity on aircon and water like as if it's free no matter how much I scold them for it
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Gym & Personal Spending 6k, I start combat sports so that costs a fair bit but it keeps me mentally in check so I need it and I'm trying to cut on my model kit spending to save more
I don't have plans of getting married or a girlfriend because I cannot afford it.
Summary
As you can see I'm trying to over-balance alot of things but I'm not sure whether I can do it, my take home pay of approx 54k is pretty much stretched to the limit. I'm trying to cut my own spending as well to support this, I don't expect a huge income growth (Maybe a promotion next year for a few hundred dollars and annual increment of 100-200?) My parents don't really have their own retirement unfortunately because they were trying to take care of my sisters and I. I want them to be able to enjoy life without worrying too much for us but also plan for my own retirement so I don't end up having to rely on others. What should I do? Please feel free to ask me for more information if required. Apologies as I don't post much so if I made any mistakes, please call me out as well. Thank you!
Posted Jun 8, 2026, 4:53 AM UTC