[RESOLVED] SOS- Pls HELP me Decide!

[SV1231]

MOD NOTE: marked thread as resolved.

Hi,
I have been offered a full time job in Singapore.

My Gross take home salary would be S$ 5, 000 (exclusive of some incentives, which I suspect, won’t be much). the annual compensation is a little over 66K.

In addition to this- I will get S$ 6500 as relocation allowance to spend any way I want.

Company will pay the deposit & brokerage for my housing but not Rent
My wife would be coming here on a P2 dependent VISA.

I reckon that we will not be saving until my wife gets a job in Singapore.

I will need your help to suggest:

• If it is at all possible for a couple to live on this salary?

• How easy/difficult it is for a dependent pass holder to get a job in Singapore? My wife is an HR Manager & is a management graduate.

• What is the lowest rent we should expect to pay considering we are looking at a 1 bedroom independent condo apartment, anywhere on the green (or red line) line? My office is in Tanjong Pagar.

• How much should we budget for utilities (Internet, electricity, gas, water, phone)?

• How much to budget for commuting monthly assuming MRT/BUS? Office pays 50% of it?

• How much to estimate for spouse Medical cover. My company does not cover her?

I am kind of unsure whether to accept this offer or not , which by Mumbai/ India standard look quite attractive but by Singapore standards look very insignificant.

Any help w/o sarcasm would be welcome .

Thanks in advance.
SV

[Mad Scientist]

IMHO, if there is no sarcasm, there is not much I can do coz my advise is full of it.

Good Luck

[nakatago]

Don't we have several threads addressing these already?


...yes.

[richie303]

$6K you could do it, most of your money would be on rent, depends on how you want to live!

[SV1231]

IMHO, if there is no sarcasm, there is not much I can do coz my advise is full of it.

Good Luck

If you Must .. go ahead.. shoot!!

Am honestly on a crossroad .. need help!

[SV1231]

Don't we have several threads addressing these already?


...yes.

Oh REALLY!!

I didn't know that!!

who asked this on my behalf w/o my authorization???

Pls try n give some input that I can use, if you may

[SV1231]

$6K you could do it, most of your money would be on rent, depends on how you want to live!

5K not 6K

[nakatago]

Don't we have several threads addressing these already?


...yes.

Oh REALLY!!

I didn't know that!!

who asked this on my behalf w/o my authorization???

Pls try n give some input that I can use, if you may

Try using the search function.

[SV1231]

Don't we have several threads addressing these already?


...yes.

Oh REALLY!!

I didn't know that!!

who asked this on my behalf w/o my authorization???

Pls try n give some input that I can use, if you may

Try using the search function.

Appreciate it !!

[the lynx]

Well it all depends on your lifestyle.

Let's say you spend SGD10 per meal (which is sufficient), so over a course of 30 days (a month), both of you would spend a total SGD1800.

And then there's the rental, which is the killer actually. And it also depends on the location. The closer to the city centre, the more expensive. Renting a whole 1 + 1 HDB apartment would be around SGD2000 per month in Bukit Merah near Redhill MRT. Get a condominium instead and you have to double or triple that amount.

Dollar to dollar sense, IMHO, groceries are cheap enough.

Transportation-wise, if you're relying on public ones alone, you'd probably spend less SGD3 on MRT alone both ways to Tg Pagar (let's say you stay in Bukit Merah). So over 30 days, you'll spend SGD90 on MRT alone. If you are a big fan of cabs, throw in few hundred dollars (depending on how much you love cabs) to add to that figure.

This is as much as I can help you from here. You have to find out the nitty gritty details yourself. Really, Google is a wonderful tool...

[sundaymorningstaple]

To put it another way, the average Singaporean Family's household income is 5.2K/month (that's household income not per capita). Most household are DIWKs. Granted they 20% of that going into CPF but they are also getting and additional 15% of that put into CPF by the employers. so if you do your sums you will need approximately $7000/mo. However, if you don't have kids in school, your costs will come down considerably. Also, if you rent HDB (1500~1800/mo) and stay 20 minutes out of the CBD and eat in or eat in hawkers centres (local food) you will save heaps of money. In fact, depending on your alcohol dependency, you could possibly save 15% of your salary without too much trouble.

[SV1231]

Thank you: the lynx & sundaymorningstaple. That was super useful.

We are a tee totaller couple
Most of the time cook our food. Eat out 4 times a week.
No kids.
A MRT/BUS fan (can live w/o cab)

O don’t think distance from CBD is an issue for me.. but yes proximity to MRT (Green/Red) is.

I imagine utility wowuld not be more than 500 for a 1 bedroom HDB apartment.
Any thoughts?

[sundaymorningstaple]

You won't get a one bedroom flat. A three room HDB is actually 2 BRs. 1 BR HDB Flats are reserved for poor Singaporeans.

If you eat at home, use the MRT, are teetotalers, with no kids, you can probably save at least 20%. Utilities, if you can do with ceiling fans instead of Aircon (I do) you can probably get by with less than $150/mo for Electricity & Water, Cable TV/phones shouldn't run more than 75/month as long as you dont need huge bandwidth for computers and can make do with only a couple of added channels (Sun TV and such, that are not in the basic packages for TV).

[richie303]

$6K you could do it, most of your money would be on rent, depends on how you want to live!

5K not 6K

Sorry - my bad!

[JR8]

Sorry - my bad!

Curious jargon. You'll be inviting strangers to come and knock you up next!