[nono1973]

Originally Posted by retirebatam

Yes, everyone’s lifestyle during retirement differs. One must have proper financial planning before going into retirement so that his retirement life will not get disrupted halfway..

Retirement planning basically to ensure that :

i)There is a steady flow of income for the retiree for the rest of his life after he has stopped working.

ii) Retirement expenditure to be budgeted carefully, including taking into account those hidden or indirect costs. Also to ensure that monthly retirement income must be more than the expenditure. The surplus after expenditure can then be accumulated to enhance the savings. And the cycle goes on.

iii)Must reserve funds for medical treatment and unforeseen circumstances like emergency.

iv) Liquidity of asset is an important factor as it is the ability you have to convert any asset into cash quickly as you may need it urgently. Cash is the best.

v)The monthly retirement income must not be subjected to too much fluctuation.

This is good information for me, and duly noted with sincere thanks. And i do consider all you have mentioned above in my Batam retirement plan, especially so on (iv). I do take into consideration on (iv) even when i make my plans on buying properties in Batam too.

How fast can it be sold when i need them sold?

As well as other trivial things which i took into consideration...

1. Who's gonna paint/clean my external block wall every 5 years? (just look at the condition of Batam Queen Victoria apartment blocks after 5 odd years,hehehe..)

2. Who's gonna fix my apartment when there's a leak on my ceiling? (since MOST apartment owners wont be at home in Batam)

3. Will there even be a rubbish chute? (i am saying, how they gonna manage their rubbish from those apartment blocks and not who will,hehehe..)

4. Lift breakdown? Hehehe...not that i am stingy, but i am considering buying lower floors than higher floors for this reason. Pros and cons, and i will need to bear with the mosquitoes (easy for me).

Many would feel that i think too much or just being kiasu. One of the other factor which i REALLY REALLY MUST consider before purchase is...who's the management and how efficient they are (even after i have cut expectation by half).

Originally Posted by retirebatam

The monthly maintenance fee for JB condo unit per month range from RM 100 plus to RM 300 plus. However not familiar how much is the maintenance fee charge at Formosa Residence or Citra Plaza studio apartment ?

Thank you for reminding me to ask them,hehehe...i completely forget about it. But base on what i am looking, it probably wont cost much since there are so many units in one single floors and they have such high storey condos. Then again, i still need to ask as i need to know too.

For maintenance in Sillypore condos, the lesser the total number of units in a block, the higher the amount. Which is why i guessed it wont cost more than S$480/month comparing it with a 33 units in a single block condominium,hehehe...HDB 3 room flat is about S$45/month tho.

Originally Posted by retirebatam

Due to the frequent devaluation of the indonesian currency, many businessman or property buyer loan large amount of rupiah as over time, the currency becomes devalue and so are the loan rupiah amount.
Thus in this way,the loan interest will be off set by the devaluation of the rupiah..

That is why many indonesian businessman loan rupiah from bank for doing business but quickly convert their surplus business profit from rupiah into US dollar or Sing dollar to grow their profit..

Hmm...this one is interesting, and i learned something. Will be looking further on it.

Thank you again for sharing.

Originally Posted by retirebatam

About 10 years back when I was working in a building in Bukit Batok, I knew a chinese old man cleaner in his 70s by the name of Mr Chua who often goes to Batam to have fun.

Although he was single, he ended up fallen in love with a booking cewek who came from kalimantan. He rented a house for her at the outskirt of batam city and gave her money to do business. He travelled to batam to stay for 3-4 days every month. His salary was about $750 per month during that time and has invested more than S$50,000 which is inclusive of all his CPF withdrawal, life savings for the cewek.

Soon after few years has passed,she told him that she has lost all the money invested in the business and even dared to ask for more. But during that time, Mr Chua was diagnosed with cancer and physically unable to go to Batam anymore as he became weak and often require to do chemotherapy.

In the end he also lost his job and financially unstable. He stayed with one of his sibling as he could not afford a flat. The indonesian woman also did not bother to visit him in singapore as she was only concerned about money. All his hard earned money was gone..

Looking from another angle of view,i cannot blame these older generation of seniors. Most were lesser educated, they werent able to manage or plan their finance as well as the current newer generation. To make matter worse, there use to be a saying, never eat pork also ever seen a pig run before （没吃过猪肉，也该见过猪跑), and Mr Chua's generation seriously havent seen pig run nor eat pork much during his time.

The newer generation,like ours...has seen and hear many stories in Batam as mentioned by you and me, either thru friends,the newspaper or even from reading this thread. But what about Mr Chua's generation whom you said was in his 70s or 80s? It was "his generation" that make those "mistakes" so our current generation gets to read and learn from it, so as we could avoid making the same or similar mistake/s. Thats why so often, i much appreciate senior bros here who shared their past experience on Batam.

* few months ago,i got some chance to interview handful of older Singaporean who were born in the 30s and 40s, hence i was somehow able to look at things from their perspective. People can say, the past has more opportunities,compare to present but then out of 1000 back then from the past, how many can REALLY "make it" in life?

** their generation were "once upon a time" where a group of young boys who would stand together in the same roll behind the five-foot-way to masturbate and challenging each other who will fire off their cum the furthest...hehehe...winner wins the bet (beside just catching spiders etc).

Originally Posted by retirebatam

From this example, I have learn a few things:

1) Always buy the milk but not the cow.

2) No real love between a Working Lady and a Cheongster

3) Never 100% trust a working lady’s words.

4) Must plan for retirement early. Still working at the age of 70s is quite pathetic.

5) Do not use CPF savings to splurge on cewek or else all hard earned money will be kena sucked dry dry..

6) Remember the saying…No money, No honey. This is a very realistic world. Usually people with money will be treated with due respect.

Some time when i look at those failed situations and while i pity their ending, i also envy them (i envied their fun time they got and not their ending). At the least, these group of seniors have had their best form of fun during their younger days. Their respective ending were result of the choice they made thereafter.

An old chinese saying goes like that, some pitiful people, surely have something they did not right in their life - 可怜之人，必有可恨之处。