Singapore Expats

sundaymorningstaple wrote:

ecureilx wrote:

She wasn't Chinese, btw .. not sure if that helped the "numbers" ..

Which means she would have probably had 4 anyway........

Sort of YES, for her 'people' 4 or more was always the norm

All this you wonder what is driving the demand for residential housing ? All very well owning 20 properties but not if there is no one to rent them especially as work permits for non Sings are being strictly controlled. At least it will hopefully save Bukit Brown the ignominy of being turned into a grim HDB complex in 20 years.

Travailes wrote:All this you wonder what is driving the demand for residential housing ?

Corrupt politicians in neighboring SE Asian countries need to hide their gains somewhere!

For resale HDBs? Well, MOM and ICA just closed the spigot in the past year or so, right? Singaporeans hen kiasu lah, hold out on price can. I give it at least two years before you any change could possibly have an effect

zzm9980 wrote:... Corrupt politicians in neighboring SE Asian countries need to hide their gains somewhere!

I would cast the net wider to include "ASIAN COUNTRIES"

ecureilx wrote:

curiousgeorge wrote:

Mi Amigo wrote: Why don't they just give out one free curry puff per day for the first five years of every newborn infant's life? Problem solved!

I LOL'd at that.

I was thinking maybe a daily lucky draw for all parents of babies born on that day Like 4D with babies...

years ago, when the baby bonus scheme was introduced ... a then colleague of mine seriously did a calculation and decided that having more than 2 children actually was financially worthwhile .. oh, well, her house, which was a joint apartment, under the then allowed scheme of allowing HDB house owners buying the next unit and merging - so 5 bedrooms in all, and was fully paid up by then, and that may have worked in her favour as well ..

Baby bonus scheme rewarded her with 20,000 or so, for the 4th baby, if i am not mistaken.

She resigned, and went on to make 4 babies ..

And I also remember the government claiming the baby bonus scheme boosted the birth rate by some x percent ..



She wasn't Chinese, btw .. not sure if that helped the "numbers" ..

Is this what you're talking about, or is this something else entirely?

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04. ... _can_claim

Basically it looks like if you have two kids and make ~$10k/month, this completely covers our income tax. Wow not bad.

zzm9980 wrote:Is this what you're talking about, or is this something else entirely?

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04. ... _can_claim

Basically it looks like if you have two kids and make ~$10k/month, this completely covers our income tax. Wow not bad.

That, and there was some cash-back kind of scheme, added to the CPF balance ordinary account .. not sure how it went ..

More info here ..

https://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/index.html

BTW, at the IRAS site, did you notice the section for 'legitimate child' and 'illegitimate child'

ecureilx wrote: More info here ..

https://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/index.html

BTW, at the IRAS site, did you notice the section for 'legitimate child' and 'illegitimate child'

Man, so much money to have a kid as a Singaporean. I did notice that too. I also noticed the parents only have to be tax residents, but the child has to be a Singaporean. I was trying to figure out how that would work out... (non Singaporean parents with a Singaporean child)

I am blaming the following factors combined for the low birth rate.

-the clear cut presence of prostitution:
I mean the Singapore kids see too much. You have to keep kids stupid and romantic to have a higher birthrate. Now when kids go out, they see prostitutes soliciting in areas like Clarke Quay.
Now they walk around in flashy clothes tempting young girls to do the same to obtain "easy money" and boys get weird ideas about money and girls. So the youth gets too cynical.

-Houses and rooms too expensive: Kids stay traditionally long with their parents instead of living on their own and making their own (often fertile) mistakes

-non-accommodating school times for kids of working parents:

-work/life balance: if they work so many hours how do they get the chance to develop stress free relationships?

Societies view on marriage versus living together: That males have to make sure they have everything before they can get a female, makes sure that many do not even contemplate marriage before they are 40!

Barri wrote:I am blaming the following things for the low birth rate.

-the clear cut presence of prostitution:
I mean the Singapore kids see too much. You have to keep kids stupid an romantic to have a higher birthrate. Now when kids go out, they see prostitutes soliciting in areas like Clarke Quay.
Now they walk around in flashy clothes tempting young girls to do the same to obtain "easy money" and boys get weird ideas about money and girls. So the youth gets to cynical.

You should come to NZ where it is made decrimilnalise a few years back But again their NZ FTR is 2.07 way more than SG. I disagree on your view on this issue

Sorry for not being clear: I mend the combination of these factors that leads to a low birthrate. I edited it now.

Barri wrote:Sorry for not being clear: I mend the combination of these factors that leads to a low birthrate. I edited it now.

I wouldn't call those girls in Clarke Quay prostitutes; skanks, yes, but if most of them are prostitutes? No.

(The rest are tourists.)

It were Singaporeans, who in first instance (as pastime entertainment while seated at the terrazzo) pointed out quite a few professionals, walking up and down with every time new clients in tow on Clarke Quay.
I have seen in following visits to Clarke Quay, quite a few girls or transvestites walking away every 30 min or so with a new client, to later come back to pick up a new client.

I personally find that prostitution should only occur in the so called "designated areas" and not in clear vision of youth, who goes out to the clubs.

I do not think that the so called "skanks" are targeting at least ten clients in one evening. I am sure they have other goals with their behavior.

Barri wrote:-Houses and rooms too expensive: Kids stay traditionally long with their parents instead of living on their own and making their own (often fertile) mistakes

There's also another reason for this, not just the costs involved: nobody to make their bed, nobody to clean the place, nobody to cook them meals. Home is a convenient hotel for many "grown-up kids" (now that's an oxymoron!), not just a money-saver.

aster wrote:

Barri wrote:-Houses and rooms too expensive: Kids stay traditionally long with their parents instead of living on their own and making their own (often fertile) mistakes

There's also another reason for this, not just the costs involved: nobody to make their bed, nobody to clean the place, nobody to cook them meals. Home is a convenient hotel for many "grown-up kids" (now that's an oxymoron!), not just a money-saver.

Quite true, but no matter how one looks at it, the former is still a strong reason.

And Singapore is bloody small, why would any single working professional want to rent own room at inflated price across the island when the transportation can just make up for the distance?

That same kid that chooses to stay with his mum will be driving a new Beemer around, not exactly looking at how cost-effective this is. But as you said, it's a mix of reasons from money to the convenience of mum doing everything at home.