I can explain to XR (or YJL) that 1) his non-housing burn rate if living in SG would be SGD 4-6k,,,,, 2) his rental spread across U.S./SG would be USD 1k [1],,,, but he would have insufficient confidence in my far-fetched estimates.

[1] considering pTax alone, XR said his home rental income post-tax would be up to USD 2k/M, or up to 3k pre-tax

Scenario planning and analysis is equally science and art. I guess most people would say it’s guestimate, and they would have insufficient confidence.

Moon landing — For the laymen, it was inconceivable that scientists and engineers could predict what happens in the world out there, then plan and engineer such a mission, based on experiments on planet earth. My growing confidence in my long-term cash flow projection is similarly based on data and technical analysis —

• burn rate data from my expense tracking,
• blogging and analysis,
• discussions with a wide range of people, as sounding boards
• Singapore shield plans + polyclinics + nursing homes
• observation of Singapore relative to U.S. and other systems  — nanny state “principles”, fiscal policies, long-term rental demand.
  • cross-reference : Canadian (+ China) citizens have confidence in public health insurance. Such collective confidence builds over decades of collective experience.