S$214,000 - Good Package?

[eaton15]

Package is S$214,00 base, or S$247,000 with bonuses. Is that a good enough package for a family of 5?

There are no extra benefits, and the children are 5, 4 and 2 - so how much should I put aside for schools. Are the local schools an option?

Office will be based in Alexandra road, so where would be a good location to live - I hear East coast is nice?

Thanks

[jpatokal]

Congratulations! You just managed to squeeze all top three most popular questions on Singapore Expats into three sentences, and all in a single post.

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[october]

Working in Alexandra? East Coast is not so good for u then.. maybe far from work place...try river valley, Queenstown area, Bukiy Merah areas..

[rudiruessel]

Package is S$214,00 base, or S$247,000 with bonuses. Is that a good enough package for a family of 5?

There are no extra benefits, and the children are 5, 4 and 2 - so how much should I put aside for schools. Are the local schools an option?

Office will be based in Alexandra road, so where would be a good location to live - I hear East coast is nice?

Thanks

very nice package ... expect to pay 20% taxes ... kindergarten/ preschool in a decent institution abt 1000 sgd per month per child ... i think local schools are an option for primary, the benefit is your children will have exposure to chinese language ... you may want to consider foreign schools for secondary ... independent thinking not really encouraged in local schools ... just my 5 cents

[sundaymorningstaple]

Package is S$214,00 base, or S$247,000 with bonuses. Is that a good enough package for a family of 5?

There are no extra benefits, and the children are 5, 4 and 2 - so how much should I put aside for schools. Are the local schools an option?

Office will be based in Alexandra road, so where would be a good location to live - I hear East coast is nice?

Thanks

very nice package ... expect to pay 20% taxes ... kindergarten/ preschool in a decent institution abt 1000 sgd per month per child ... i think local schools are an option for primary, the benefit is your children will have exposure to chinese language ... you may want to consider foreign schools for secondary ... independent thinking not really encouraged in local schools ... just my 5 cents

Taxes on 247K would be $31710 or 12.8 % of your gross. The tax rates between 160K and 320K is 18%. Singapore uses a graduated tax rate structure with the highest tax bracket of 21% being reached upon reaching 320K gross. just some change from the 5 cents above. 2 cents back. Individual Tax Rates

[stormie]

Package is S$214,00 base, or S$247,000 with bonuses. Is that a good enough package for a family of 5?

There are no extra benefits, and the children are 5, 4 and 2 - so how much should I put aside for schools. Are the local schools an option?

Office will be based in Alexandra road, so where would be a good location to live - I hear East coast is nice?

Thanks

hi! if you work at alexandra and live on the east coast you will have to contend with pretty bad traffic jams going to office as well as on the way home. check out the river valley area with nice apartments along the singapore river, there are many choices so presumably with a bit of searching a good deal may be found. river valley's a 5 min drive to orchard road and the cbd. getting to alexandra is also easy. For an estimation of apartment rents around river valley/orchard rd check out....
http://www.sexytoy.com.sg/property_for ... rict_9.htm

my US colleague was spending abt SGD 1.5K each on his 3 kids aged abt the same as yours. He sent them to the American School in Woodlands and that's actually a pretty long drive from river valley, alexandra OR even east coast. You might wanna check out the United World College or Dover Court Preparatory School located very nicely near Alexandra. Pls google their websites. There's a newish australian school abt a half hrs drive from river valley and a french school near that.

buying cars are expensive here.......u might want to compare costs of leasing one as opposed to buying.

good luck!

[kaurikid]

Good package
Pasir Panjang is a good area to live
Close to the sea
Condos like Islandview are great for families

[Sharon Tay]

Package is S$214,00 base, or S$247,000 with bonuses. Is that a good enough package for a family of 5?

There are no extra benefits, and the children are 5, 4 and 2 - so how much should I put aside for schools. Are the local schools an option?

Office will be based in Alexandra road, so where would be a good location to live - I hear East coast is nice?

Thanks

The package sounds good. You may want to stay near Alexandra Road Area. The good place to stay for an expats will be Pasir Panjang Road, 5mins bus ride or drive. There's a Cold Storage Supermarket, a bottle shop that sells mainly Australian wines called Good'day Mate and a few western restaurants along. There's also a good church-based kindergarden which my kid used to attend to and the Principal, Mrs. Koh is very invloved in the school activities, besides, school fees is cheap, at about S$460p/term. If you want something more international, there's a Lorna Winston Childcare at Alexandra Road Area. Cost about S$700-800p/month for full day.
East Coast would be very out of the way, as Alexandra is more towards the West Coast Area. They have a nice park called Labrador Park or Kent Ridge Park, all about 5 to 8 mins distance.
Rental at Pasir Panjang Area starts at about S$2,000 p/month for a 2 bedroom apt with facilities. If you go up the hilltop at Pasir Panjang Hill, the rentals are a little moe expensive as you get a good view of the Kent Ridge Park, good scenary and greenary view, very tranquil....I have an apartment up the hill that I lease to a doctor from London, she works at Science Park and she likes the place alot. She just extended her lease with me recently.
Along Alexandra Road is IKEA, there's another Apartment place called Anchorage, more pricey, a little more convenient. You can consider if your spouse doesn't drive or if you don't intend to own a car.
Now, there's a VIVO city coming up at Harborfront with the latest and biggest cinema in Singapore. Just 5 mins away from your work place. I don't see why you shouldn't be staying nearby. Let me know if you need more info. Glad to help....

Sharon