I wrote about receiving my Credit Report from the Credit Bureau Singapore several posts back.

Besides having an understanding of how financial institutions see my borrowing patterns, the interesting thing about the report was that they gave some statistics. These statistics revealed that people in my age group (35 to 39) who use the products below have the following average balances:

Credit card balances: $4,577

Personal loan: $10,633

Motor vehicle loan: $49,251

Housing loan: $222,305

Here are some of the distribution of % and amounts they owe for personal loans, housing loans, motor vehicle and credit cards:

What do the figures show?

Looking at the figures above, you can see for those who use the various products, many are indebted to large amounts to the banks.

I feel blessed that I’ve managed to clear off my housing loan when the average in my age-group whose statistics are captured by the Credit Bureau is $222,305. While I strongly advocate not “keeping up with the neighbours” in terms of spending and lifestyle consumption, it’s useful to benchmark yourself to your peers to see how you’re doing by NOT FOLLOWING what they do.

In terms of consumer debt for credit cards and personal loans, I pay off my credit card bills within the credit limit and generally don’t use unsecured personal credit lines.

My car loan is less than $10,000 remaining and I have close to 9 years of useful life remaining until the COE expires.

How did I achieve it. Looking back, my frugal habits that I learnt from my parents helped a lot as did my unconventional life relative to the typical Singapore resident.

To live unconventionally is to be different from your peers. Don’t spend on what they spend. Don’t keep up with what they are keeping up and don’t be afraid to look or appear “poor” in terms of tangible expressions of wealth.

Above all, live your own life focussed on the principles of living within your means, saving and investing, growing and protecting your means.

How do you fare against these benchmarks if you’re from the age of 35 to 39?

Be well and prosper.

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