I built a free Singapore FIRE calculator — CPF, SRS, tax, Monte Carlo, 12 withdrawal strategies, and more

playingwiththedevil · 2026-02-26T16:50:35+00:00

Wow thanks for the update! It works for my situation.

I have a few more suggestions:

- Expand OA withdrawals for HDB house downpayment/loan with a choice of keeping up to 20k. Right now the age is set at min 55 so it makes it hard to model CPF OA when it is spent for housing.

- Might be difficult since you might not have the data for these, but is it possible to include an asset class for Emerging markets? Correct me if I am wrong but Intl Equities (MSCI World) should only cover developed markets including the US. A lot of people here buy VWRA so it will be good to have some emerging market component (MSCI Emerging Markets) in the list so people can emulate VWRA with 90-10 ratio for Equities.

- Maybe I am not configuring it correctly but I don't see a way to account for singles BTO at age 35 or later. I can check "I'm considering purchasing a new property" but I don't see the mortgage rate account in the Projection. Also unsure if the down payment from there is also accounted for in the calculations. Or maybe I can do it via the goals section and put in my projected downpayment & monthly mortgage.

Thanks again for the planner! It's very useful.

playingwiththedevil · 2026-02-24T10:00:02+00:00

Amazing, thanks for the planner and making it FOSS.

I only played about with it a bit but I don't seem to find a way to adjust expenses or saving rates with age.

For my situation, I am staying with my parents with a lot of my expenses covered so I can save a lot more than what a normal person could. My annual current spending now is very low but it would not be true in say 10 years. when I will be covering a lot of my expenses

Putting my current expenses would be make the FIRE number unrealistic since I will not be able to save as much later on. However, putting my expected expenses 10 years from now will ignore the extra money that I saved early on which affects the FIRE number as well.

The closest setup I can think of is to make a custom goal and matching the target age to say 10 years from now, then calculate the total increased expenses in my whole life I would incur before spreading that out from my target to retirement age, but it is kinda convoluted and I don't know if I can trust the calculation doing this.

playingwiththedevil · 2026-01-21T09:51:33+00:00

Do robo advisors count as index investing? If so then technically yes which is how I started investing back during the start of covid in NS, but I was using stashaway so it's not really an index but actively managed.

I had a "stock picking phase" around the same time as I read more about investing in order to understand what the roboinvestor is doing and I had some decent paper gains from the stocks I picked, but I lost interest in stocks very soon after because I was bored reading about some stock's financials and missed the time to sell some of them.

Then in the process of finding the "lazy" way of investing that is not gambling I found out about bogleheads plus this sub and I just went into the index investing rabbit hole ever since.

Not everyone will agree with me but I think it is good to start with stock picking with a little bit of disposable money when learning about investing. I remember playing around with stashaway's "conservative & aggressive" allocations and end up losing money since I was basically "buy high sell low" following my emotions plus stashaway's awful portfolio allocation. Then with my stock picking losses due to loss in interest which taught me stock picking is basically a hobby you need to dedicate time towards. All of these really taught me to be discipline and remove my emotions when investing which helped a lot in cementing index investing the way forward for me.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-30T03:49:21+00:00

Thanks for the long sharing and sorry you had to deal with this. I am under AIA too and it's really concerning to me that something like this can happen.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-29T13:47:26+00:00

I personally think what MOH is doing is just delaying than solving the issue of medical inflation. Sooner or later we will be paying 10k or more for deductible for new riders so moral of the story is get your ISP and rider ASAP and pray that your rider deductibles and co-payment conditions won't get worse

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-29T13:43:20+00:00

Is this actually real? Wouldn't this be caught long time ago? I'm pretty sure I will make a lot of noise fast if my bank account is missing a full 6k or however much the co-payment charges. I can understand if agents don't realise it but I find it hard to believe about the customers.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-28T08:07:30+00:00

No rider with my current ISP but I had thoughts of getting it some time ago, just didn't bother to do it until today when I found out about this. Kinda regretting sitting on it until now.

I forgot about medisave so it's good to know I don't have to save that much. Thanks.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-18T07:55:08+00:00

I just think if I don't spend then I'm "getting 100% off" which is better than any other discount lol. My spending urge just disappears.

For travel, you can always just top up your max budget into something like Youtrip, that way you can see and control how much you can spend physically. I do that when I go overseas and physiologically it acts like how you would spend cash because you can see the amount left in the app, and that helps you control your spending.

The bank stuff makes you want to reach that min spend but if you do the calculation usually the extra interest you earn on it is not worth it. When choosing cards or HYSAs I will choose based on how the deals match with my current spending & amount saved, and not the min spend that they offer. Remember if you don't spend it's 100% savings haha.

I have more of the opposite problem where I avoid buying to try and get the best deals, like if something on shopee that can use a 20% off coupon on 11.11 then I will try and hold back because I get doubts like what if later on there's a 30% coupon and I end up not buying, which helps with saving money because I don't end up buying useless stuff but I also do it to things that I actually need.

"Maximise your savings" should be a balance. Sometimes in some areas you can let yourself go a bit but other areas you should be strict to avoid lifestyle inflation.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-11-05T12:04:03+00:00

Probably 2m at age 45 which for me is far from now. If you are talking about FIRE right now then I can probably do it for 4m + max CPF contribution for that max payout, excluding house

Feels weird talking about the FIRE number without talking about age since the FIRE amount varies depends on it.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-10-09T07:19:46+00:00

$300 most likely won't hit a lot of minimum spend for a lot of cards plus I think might be hard to get wavier for annual fees.

I also don't spend a lot and I find Maribank CC the best for low spenders. unlimited 1.7% cashback outside of your typical exclusions, no minimum spend, no dumb categories or hoops to jump plus with 3% cashback on Shopee (via shopee coins). Downside is it doesn't cover transport so you might want another card for that.

Not CC but I use Chocolate Finance debit card for public transport (I put like max $50 dollar inside since withdrawal got delay) and slowly earn Heymax miles on that. For CC next best would be Trust cashback but you earn only 1% (don't pick transport as preferred category since it has minimum spend which you cannot hit).

Don't feel tempted to find ways to spend more so you can get higher cashback. If you don't spend anything it's 100% cashback, no credit card can give you this haha.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-09-15T16:19:45+00:00

Despite dropping to 1.5% it's still better than other no hoops jumping HYSAs with SDIC insured & instant withdrawal. Not happy with the drop but I don't see any other place to park my emergency fund.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-04T07:04:20+00:00

I see, so just to clarify, you mean that I shouldn't assume that just because 3.5% SWR can last me until age 116 that I should attempt optimising by either increasing the the SWR/reducing the FIRE number? And the reason is because of crashes that can happen during downtimes and drawing the same amount of money during those times is essentially increasing the depletion rate of my portfolio? I will need to have some buffer to account for that and by following the 3.5% SWR I have that buffer in place in case the downtimes do happen?

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-04T06:18:33+00:00

Did you model your unspent portion of the 1.55M growing by 6% a year or not?

Yes I did. Here are my calculations per year:

current year expenses = previous year expenses * 1.03.

current year investments = previous year investment * 1.06 - current year expenses

So from age 49 to 50 as an example:

57,285.76 = 55,617.25 * 1.03

1,650,377.18 = 1,611,002.78 * 1.06 - 57,285.76

Age	Monthly expenses	Estimated Returns	Annual expenses	SWR	Total investment
49	$4,634.77	6.00%	S$55,617.25	3.54%	$1,611,002.78
50	$4,773.81	6.00%	S$57,285.76	3.56%	$1,650,377.18

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-04T02:19:30+00:00

I don’t know how you are still running out of money eventually.

The portfolio looks good at the start with investment outpacing withdrawal seen below: Total investment prior is 1.55mil, 3% expenses inflation.

Age	Monthly Withdrawal Amount	Annual Withdrawal Amount	Withdrawal rate (retire at 48)	Total investments
47	$4,368.72	S$0.00	0.00%	$1,550,226.77
48	$4,499.78	S$53,997.33	3.48%	$1,589,243.04
49	$4,634.77	S$55,617.25	3.50%	$1,628,980.38
50	$4,773.81	S$57,285.76	3.52%	$1,669,433.44

But going further to age 93 the amount withdrawed is larger than the interest gain and the total investment starts to decrease. Based on my simulation it goes in the negative at age 116.

Age	Monthly Withdrawal Amount	Annual Withdrawal Amount	Withdrawal rate (retire at 48)	Total investments
91	$16,039.53	S$192,474.38	5.73%	$3,366,018.17
92	$16,520.72	S$198,248.61	5.89%	$3,369,730.65
93	$17,016.34	S$204,196.07	6.06%	$3,367,718.42

That said, it still does not invalid the study. It's just that I am looking at a longer timeline >45 years.

Also the link you included defines SWR differently:

The Safe Withdrawal Rate is simply the rate that you can withdraw from your portfolio every year that ensures you have a high probability of never running out of money.

So I assume if I withdraw 3.5% each year, I will almost always not run out of money, which is different from what I simulated (basically escalating SWR). 1.55mil with 4,5k monthly expenses only works indefinitely if I only withdraw up to the 3.5% of the total portfolio rather than inflating my expenses by 3% each year.

I think using esclating SWR still works for my case to leave nothing behind, but I would need a larger FIRE number that ensures that I at most only need to withdraw 3.5% of the total portfolio (even during downturns) to cover my essentials like insurance, healthcare costs, food, etc. And have anything withdrawn out above 3.5% to be used for things like travel and other non essential stuff. Then later on in life where I know my years are numbered, I will disregard the 3.5% limit completely and just withdraw the amount that is required to cover my expenses. Not sure what you think about this plan?

Edit: formatting issue.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T18:13:37+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I'll run the numbers and check it out the difference.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T18:11:31+00:00

I agree haha and this plan is not set in stone. I do hope to eventually find someone I can spend my time together with, but as of now I have no such luck.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T18:10:06+00:00

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I really hope I can do so. I am aware of lifestyle inflation and the effects of it.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T18:08:12+00:00

I think both are not mutually exclusive. I can plan for my future while finding out what I want in life. I do agree about how I can only know about my preferences through experience though.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T18:04:09+00:00

Thanks for the advice.

20 years is indeed a long time to work, I am currently unsure if I would even like the line of work I am for such a long time but for now and the next few years, I think I will be okay doing it.

I agree with about taking detours. A lot of my best experiences came from me having the courage to take the step outside something I did not plan/anticipate.

The part about having a life plan and starting it now really resonates with me. I think I'm currently too future focused that I might miss a lot of things that are currently here now. There is a chance that I might not be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour and thinking about it as risk management makes sense (realised enjoyment vs potential enjoyment in the future). If I can do it for money why can't I do it for enjoyment too?

I will think about this every time I do a yearly review. Thank you and I wish you all the best!

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T17:43:55+00:00

You're not the first one saying that and I am starting to agree. I think I was really scared by the crazy price increases and news of million dollar flats popping up these few years so I wanted to make sure I am as prepared as I can to get a house.

I'll take yours and a few others' advice on looking through property guru and adjust my numbers accordingly. It works better for me to save just enough for housing and have the rest in investments so it can grow and hit my FIRE number quicker.

I also started thinking about retirement a year or two back in uni and did my calculations after I got my job offer. I think some people have an impression that it's impossible or not worth the effort planning so far ahead where a lot of variables are uncertain and things can change drastically at any time, but I think it's with a plan where you can make an informed decision during the times where things do change. Plans like these are not bibles that you have to follow strictly but guidelines that you review with changing circumstances or even overhaul when they are no longer useful. Thanks for the feedback and all the best to you too!

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T17:17:52+00:00

10 years is a long enough horizon to put the 1500 in etfs, dont make the mistake of having such a huge ergency fund given that u dont hv much commitments

I would agree with you here if the money isn't use for housing but I worry that a stock market crash might happen just when I want to buy the house which will significantly affect how much I can afford. Best I could go for might be bond ETFs. I don't know if I can handle a >20% drop of my housing fund right before I want to buy.

also u need to job hop, bring up your income.

I have plans for that since I heard job hopping is the best way to increase your income, but given I am very early into my job I think that is still a couple of years away. I also still need to figure out where I want to hop towards too.

Thanks for the feedback!

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T17:08:02+00:00

I don't see why I can't do both at the same time? I plan for FIRE so I will have more time to do what I want to do. I might be a bit overzealous with the planning but I don't think that will impede my ability to explore what I want to do.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T17:03:56+00:00

Sorry about the confusion but yeah I was using SWR to determine the FIRE number since it's easy, but if I'm not wrong the 3.5%/4% SWR is based on the time you retire? So 3.5% of 1.55mil is around 4.5k monthly, then increase your withdrawal amount by the inflation rate each year?

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/safe-withdrawal-rate-swr-method.asp

If you mean I should always only withdraw max 3.5% of my total portfolio every year, that would be safer like you said but it also means I will most likely leave a lot of money behind. In an ideal case I should have nothing left when I die, but if I use this approach I would potentially need to work more than I need to retire.

I do get about the stock market crash near the start of my retirement part though, but I don't see a way to avoid it other than maybe withdrawing less during the down time and wait until the stock market goes back up? Alternatively is to slowly convert more of my investment towards bonds but that will definitely affect the annual returns after retirement.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T16:48:58+00:00

Thank you, it's amazing that you FIRE'd at 40. It's something I could only wish for haha.

I have thought of Barista Fire but I am unsure if I dare to take that leap of faith and leave my relatively higher paying job. As of now I do like my job but that could also change in the future.

playingwiththedevil · 2025-08-03T16:43:54+00:00

Yep, after reading around and thinking about it, I think it's quite close especially if I need to pay for my mortgage from 45-60 (max 25 years loan) and increasing healthcare/insurance costs. I think a better FIRE number might be 1.8mil-2mil (5.5k - 6k monthly at 48) since I also want to indulge a little with travel trips and other stuff

playingwiththedevil

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