Cost of living Aust V Singapore

[No Idea]

I am shortly to relocate to Singapore and am currently in negotiations around salary. Can anyone give me an idea as to what i should be asking for if i was on a $120,000 salary in Australia. What would you think the cost of living difference is? Taking into account general living differences i.e. rental costs, food, etc etc

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I am shortly to relocate to Singapore and am currently in negotiations around salary. Can anyone give me an idea as to what i should be asking for if i was on a $120,000 salary in Australia. What would you think the cost of living difference is? Taking into account general living differences i.e. rental costs, food, etc etc

It really depends on your lifestyle.

As a general rule, I find accommodation dearer in Singapore - but you know yourself prices in Australia vary from state to state, and from suburb to suburb. If you click on the top banner and go to this sites main page, you'll find some good real-estate search engines that might help you guage yourself whether it's cheaper or dearer to what you're used to living.

Food, I find cheaper - but again, this depends on your lifestyle. I do recall a friend of mine taking punnets of raspberries with her on the plane back to Singapore as she explained that some fruit isn't as cheap as what we pay back in Melbourne. Overall, I still think you'll still be saving in this area.

Transport:- Public transport is approximately the same, assuming you were an inner suburb person back in your home city, if you lived in zone 2 or zone 3 then you'll find Singapore public transport a cheaper and more efficient system.

Cars are another matter.- read the various threads in this forum about that.

My humble opinion, is you can live quite confortably with 120k in any country you visit. The other thing is, cost of living doesn't really dictate what a particular profession gets from country to country. Some occupations are in higher demand in Australia, and thus attract a higher salary package, and vice versa. I quickly found through friends that my profession was esteemed much lower in Sg than in Australia with a noticable difference in the expected pay packet.

[craig31]

Hi There

Is this your package or just the salary? Are you single or family?

Taking into consideration the lower tax rate, on average 15% of your gross salary (very different from Oz) that you will pay, your disposable income will be higher than in Australia. If your salary in negotiable you will want to try for additional:

Taxi / transportation allowance
Joining fee of Australia club (social aspect is important as well)
Insurance - medical/travel included as well (very expensive for medical in Singapore)
Home leave tickets.

If you have a family...you may want to ask for entitlements for them in addition to insurance and home leave tickets etc.

If you need schooling, you would want to have this included in your package.

Cars are not needed here as MRT is efficient and easy. Taxis are cheap as well, so transportation allowance is ok.

Food and Groceries are expensive in Singapore as it is flown in mostly from Australia. Alcohol as well, on average a beer will cost $10.00 (however back to disposable income it is ok). A night out can cost 100-150 dollars, the thing is you don't do it all the time, so ok.

I would say that v's Sydney, Singapore would be more beneficial for you. If you are transfering money home you may wish to have a AUD base salary and get this converted to SGD otherwise you may loose some money in the coversion.

Apart from that Singapore is a very easy place to live and work, it is efficient and the nightlife is good as well.

I hope this helps.

Cheers
Craig