Lower income, higher quality of life

In other countries, being poor could mean eviction, starvation, death by pneumonia. But not in Singapore, because we have a pretty high median level of comfort and security even for lower-income workers. 

Many Singaporeans live in owned homes; some already paid for by older generations. Without home ownership we would surely be much worse. We benefit from the hot and mild climate. Without money to pay our bills, we would not freeze to death; and if we need respite from the heat we can simply take shelter in shopping centres and libraries (not to be taken for granted, for they are dying in many other countries)

We have plentiful public amenities like drinking water, public toilets, and free or very cheap exercise facilities. In many other countries you would actually need to pay for those things. Food is likewise inexpensive - you don't need me to tell you that.

I'm not saying Singapore is perfect. We can do much to provide for the public. But I think that, as long as you work, you don't need very high wages to afford a quite comfortable basic standard of living.

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When you don't make much money, there's no sense worrying about tomorrow. You don't have enough money left over to set aside for that dreaded "rainy day" (which I spent most of my time as a personal finance writer nagging about) - let alone save for big expenses in the future. 

Without these 2 reasons to save, therefore, 100% of your income is disposable. Since disposing of money is where all the fun of living is, it's no surprise that the not-so-rich live far better than the wealthy. You don't feel guilty about spending your cash on daily luxuries like meat, beer, and the lottery. 

Consequently your time horizon shrinks. You don't live in the future, building sandcastles (becoming the next Elon Musk, future-proofing your career, whatever) in the air - you focus on immediate choices and gratification. Making less money puts you squarely in the moment.

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It's like that song from Dungeons & Dragons:

 No fortune found, nor faith divine, come close to topping the juice of the vine

With cherry crew, we sip and sway, let’s tip the tankard and waste the day

Reeraw! Well ye ken, our toils can wait for a time

We saw the folly of men who rather than revel repine

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When I was earning a much higher income than I am now, I felt burdened by surplus money. What to do with it?! I hated having to "manage my wealth".

Saving for emergency - fine, hard to argue with that. But what comes after? You have to come up with new goals to attribute a point to all this extra income. Wealth begets wealth, which leads to an ever-expanding surplus of cash, so your goals and dreams get increasingly bigger. You start out with a dream to buy an HDB flat, but before long, you're considering upgrading to your 5th luxury penthouse. You even laugh at what a pauper you used to be.

Strange as it sounds, I feel more secure at my present reduced income than when I was earning more. That's because the additional income wasn't enough to insulate me from life's problems. 

If you want to be rich, it's best to be uber-rich - that uppermost echelon of wealth that leaves you unmolested by plebeian concerns such as inflation or AI making your job redundant.

Those with merely slight to middling wealth get only the downsides of wealth without that sense of invincibility. You end up feeling very jealous about it. You feel scared of anything that could wipe it out. Getting cancer, for example, or being backstabbed at work, or your home's resale value dropping. Basically you go through life worried about life itself. How ridiculous!