Middle-class Singaporeans are feeling more insecure due to
- Rising cost of living;
- Government social support targeted at lower-income groups and not the middle class; and
- They do not have the option to leave the country unlike the rich.
This problem could have a broader implications on society. Middle-class serves as an aspirational category for the poorer class. As the aspirational value of the middle-class decline, this could lead to the lower-income less inclined to work hard to move up.
Source: "Middle class in Singapore 'feeling more insecure'", Straits Times 29 November 2014. A joint forum organised by the Institute of Policy Studies Social Lab and the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ Social Science and Policy Cluster on 28th November 2014.
My comment: If you do not plan, you plan to fail. Financial planning is about coping with the rising cost of living which ultimately affects retirement. Instead of waiting for government handouts, the middle-class must start to plan to take control otherwise when they are old, it would be too late like many others who have to work until they drop.
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There is no middle-class in S’pore.
Over here, there is only 2 main classes: Rich-class and Working-class (need salary to pay bills & buy food).
At the same time, there are also 2 derivative classes: Can Retire and Cannot Retire.
This latter classes are not purely derived from the 1st two, but also depend on wise lifetime decisions, thrift, savings, hard work & luck.
i.e. Rich-class can end up as Cannot Retire, while Working-class can end in Can Retire after many years.
Conversely, those very rich can already be retired from the day they are born, especially if solid financing structure has already been put in place by ancestors, and they have wisdom to continue or expand on the solid financing.