Singapore Expats

How much do I have to earn for $5000 condo?

Discuss about getting a well paid job or career advancement. Ask about salaries, expat packages, CPF & taxes for expatriate.
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Zeenit
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Post by Zeenit » Wed, 20 May 2009 9:58 am

New condos have bomb shelters and I use it to store my bags.......No way is the shoes going into a room that has no air con.

I never went to the spa in the Uk as I was working. Now nails, spa, taxis, lunches, just veryday things do add up.
So yes give your wife a realitic budget just for her is a very good idea that way you have one thing less to argue over. :P
Zeenit

irvine
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Post by irvine » Wed, 20 May 2009 10:50 am

Oh yes, I forgot the taxi. Haha... nowadays I have quite given up on the bus or MRT. If I miss the company shuttle in the morning or evening, it'll be taxi all the way - $12 or $13 each way during non-peak hours. That is a price I'm willing to pay for sanity sake.

Somehow, money does make it easier to stay happy in Singapore. Although... that is a fact that I have been putting off to accept. I'm all for doing things, going places for free and still enjoy it. However, free events/things here in Singapore means huge crowd, and I'm quite a crowdophobic, so I'd pay to have my own little space in a taxi, in a paid event, or going shopping only when there is no sale (extra happiness when items are marked down during regular days). Hence, my statement of 'money does make it easier to stay happy in Singapore'.

We're also continuously making the home more cozy so staying at home on weekends becomes the best option eventually.

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Post by durain » Wed, 20 May 2009 8:14 pm

defo need to put aside the wife's expenses. even if the wife is low maintenance in the home country, but when in singapore when the wife miggle with other housewives, that's where she need the extra expenses for high tea, , coffe morning, gathering, ann summer's party equivalent, etc. it's gonna be in posh coffee shop, hotels, etc. i mean, how often you see expat's housewives gathering in food court? :P

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Post by amiee40 » Wed, 20 May 2009 8:33 pm

Thats why i don't socialise with other expat wives, did enough of 'shoulder rubbing', socialising whilst working. Now perfer to spend more time with my children and better myself with further studies. At least this way, the break in my resume doesn't look too bad.

Whats wrong with local housewives?? Not trying to start anything, just curious.

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Post by wakkaw » Wed, 20 May 2009 11:30 pm

It looks like lots of expats wives are spending loads of money in Singapore. My wife (including kids) in fact never spend $1000 a month on her own stuff. She is not into some expensive spas and gucci bags. Probably the most expensive bag she bought was only $200 and it was almost a year ago already... Now she is worried that it is going to be hard for her to make friends.

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Post by OogieBoogie » Thu, 21 May 2009 8:51 am

i'm relieved to see i'm not the only one on the forum married to a low maintenance girl. My wife hardly spend 1000SGD per month. Her favorite spot is Dome cafe, and spend more time in Borders and national library than shopping. She tried to mix with other expat wifes recently, but couldn't bear their posh and complaining attitude.

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Strong Eagle
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Post by Strong Eagle » Thu, 21 May 2009 9:05 am

wakkaw wrote:It looks like lots of expats wives are spending loads of money in Singapore. My wife (including kids) in fact never spend $1000 a month on her own stuff. She is not into some expensive spas and gucci bags. Probably the most expensive bag she bought was only $200 and it was almost a year ago already... Now she is worried that it is going to be hard for her to make friends.
Listen... it is a bit stereotypical... and there are trailing expat spouses whose husbands (mainly) are on juicy expat packages that include generous housing and school allowances as well as club memberships. You can find them hanging about the American Club or the Tanglin Club or the British Club.

But, there are many more spouses not in this boat at all. It is hard for trailing spouses to find employment; hence an alternative is volunteer work and you will find many women in various organizations.

It will be harder to make friends in one way... without business connections it is harder to meet people... and easier in another way... the time to volunteer and meet are people is great... and the people she will meet are expats as well... and in the same boat.

My wife was initially not happy when she came over here (and I came to start a business so no 'package'). But she has made friends and is active, using her many skills in volunteer organizations and she is happy to be here.

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ksl
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Post by ksl » Thu, 21 May 2009 8:14 pm

OogieBoogie wrote:Irvine, the fact a wife is working or not won't change the fact that you'll need to spend 1000SGD/month for groceries and household. And tha'ts the same for the 1000SGD/month for the kids.

What do you try to say exactly?
He's saying it's cheaper to rent a wife, than marry one :lol:

Purchasing

The maths on the Paul McCartney-Heather Mills divorce is as follows:
After 5 years of marriage, he paid her $49 million.
Assuming he got sex every night during their 5 year relationship
it ended up costing him $26,849 per time.


This is Heather.





Leasing


On the other hand, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's hooker,
Kristen, an absolute stunner with a body like no other,
charges $4,000 an hour. For anything.
This is Kristen.


Had Paul McCartney "employed" Kristen for an hour of sex every night for 5 years he would have paid $7.3 million, a savings of $41.7 million.

Value-added benefits are:
- a 22 year old red-hot babe
- no begging or coaxing
- never a headache
- plays all requests
- no bitching or complaining
- no 'honey-do' list

Best of all, she leaves when you're done, and comes back when asked. All at 1/7th the cost - and no legal fees.

Sometimes leasing just makes more sense.



Definition of "JUSTICE" - When your kids have kids of their own !

WAKKAW you will have no problems here at all, my wife spends at most 100$ a year on herself if she's lucky, to get the time off work :lol:

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Post by irvine » Fri, 22 May 2009 11:14 am

Haha.. that's funny. Reminds me of the craigslist post on the 25-year-old girl looking for a husband - http://www.snopes.com/love/dating/golddigger.asp

Ok, let's come back to the original post question. It's really up to you I guess. If you're traveling in and out of the city center, then you should also consider the ERP (electronic road pricing) charges. They can get hefty.

singapore2891
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Post by singapore2891 » Fri, 22 May 2009 10:55 pm

My wife is interested in volunteer work. What kind of volunteer do they have?
Do they have a website?

irvine
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Post by irvine » Tue, 26 May 2009 9:27 am

Try www.sif.org.sg for volunteer work.

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akhild
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Post by akhild » Wed, 27 May 2009 4:29 pm

my rule. no more than 25% of ur disposable income for housing (rent or mortgage)

mrericlee
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Post by mrericlee » Sun, 31 May 2009 1:11 pm

You can get a 6 bedroom landed house for 5k.

wkwoods
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Post by wkwoods » Thu, 16 Jul 2009 6:27 pm

Strong Eagle wrote:Quick shot out of the box (per month):
$5,000 - house
$6,000 - school
$1,000 - car
$1,500 - food
$2,000 - etc

About $16,000 per month
Hi, this is my first post.

I think this estimation is far too high if one is here longer term, particularly on the school fees. I've been in Singapore for about 15 years and am a PR. My wife doesn't work and we have 2 kids. My mortgage payment on a $1.4m loan is about $7,200 (painful expense, but the property has doubled in value since we bought it in 2005). We pay just $900 for the 2 kids to go to local schools. One is in a Junior College, which has one of the highest Ivy League acceptances in the world and the other is in her first year at a local school that offers the International Baccalaureate. Our car costs us around $800/m and we have a maid that costs us around $600/m. We are careful with our money, but not frugal by any means. Food and other incidental expenses come up to around $2,500/m. Total is $12,000 of operational expenses, which exclude taxes, which are very very low. Even after being laid off for 6 months (retrenchment benefits covered it) and finding a lesser job at a lower pay, I manage to cover our operational expenses and have a little savings. We don't have a lot of savings, but maybe enough to cover us for about 8 months or so. My wife worked until about 7 years ago and our combined CPF savings, even after using some for the downpayment for our house are over $500K. So you don't need $16K or $20K to live reasonably well in Singapore for a family with 2 kids and have some financial security.

onlyvictor
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Post by onlyvictor » Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:41 am

well said wkwoods,

at the end of the day, you will need to work for the type of lifestyle you want. If you cannot afford to send your child to International Schools, local ones do as well, if not better. If you cannot afford to eat at restaurants, eat at hawker centres, the food really do taste better (with the sweat of the hawkers as secret ingredients!)

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