see also
Based on a mail to my friend XR, on retirement burn rate in SG.
Q: Inflation hits everywhere including public transport and food, so how come my prospect of Singapore CRBR has improve over the last 10Y?
— expected wellness costs remain unchanged. Insurance cost would increase with age but no surprise.
— food:
I now eat more raw fruits and vegetables.
- Most fruits are inexpensive and I avoid those rare fancy fruits.
- The vegetables I eat raw are always cheaper than any cooked food.
There are many low-cost food options that I didn’t notice 10Y ago. For example,
- frozen food is both healthy and cheaper than fresh.
- Smoothies are now part of my daily meals and I prepare it at home, at very low cost.
My meals are smaller than 10Y ago.
When I go beyond fruits/raw-veg/smoothies and eat hot food, I eat mostly home cooked, compared to commercial food 10Y ago. I bring leftover of home cooking to office, so I seldom need to buy commercial food.
I have also cut down on fresh bakeries by 70-90%. Most of the bakeries I eat are bought my other people, so I may not know the cost.
If my average meal 10Y ago costs $3, it is now 70% like $2. Therefore, a fancy restaurant meal is now 30 times my average meal cost.
— transport:
fare inflation is very easy to observe. It has not gone up as fast as I worried 10Y ago.
There are also senior citizen fares that I didn’t notice.
I guess the elephant in the room is car ownership. 10 years ago I often toyed with the possibility of owning a car when I have a bigger family. Most of my Singapore peers, younger or older, seem to drive nowadays. Unlike them, I don’t want a car in Singapore. Am now more comfortable using public transportation and bicycle, because I’m slowly mellowing up, growing more patient with my commutes.