After 70 years of hard work and focussed leadership, the nation of Singapore can retire

I was travelling between Frankfurt and Singapore on Singapore airlines. I read a very interesting article called A closer look at S’pore’s reserves – August 30, 2006.

The article suggests that on current trends, every citizen in Singapore may be able to retire by 2015. Singapore is a highly developed market economy with a stable political leadership that has been focussed on building Singapore. In my business dealings in Singapore, I have been impressed by the singular resolve that all Singaporean’s have toward advancing the country. It is less than a generation ago that Singapore was a developing economy. I would encourage you to read the Wikipedia entry about Singapore.

Many other leading economies finance trade deficits by increasing their foreign debt and selling domestic assets to foreign investors. This facilitates the purchase of consumer goods today, but reduces the wealth of a countries citizens over the longer term. Every individual today is confronted with one critical choice everyday – immediate consumption and gratification or adequate funding for retirement. Singapore as a country has funded its retirement and strong growth rates have also permitted significant increases in consumption by its citizens.

What strategies do countries need to adopt to enjoy higher levels of consumption and retirement in one generation? What short-term sacrifices would each citizen need to make? Which countries have leadship that could formulate and implement the required changes? Would the citizens tolerate the short-term sacrifices?

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