# How to live a good life in Singapore?



## Macy

lane:
Company pays me *SGD3500 *for housing (i can keep the balance if rental is less than that amount).

So with my basic salary of *SGD8500*, for a family of 4, how to live a good life in Singapore? what are the "mandatory" cost to be spent monthly? 

PS: 
1), We don't intend to save much money in the first couple of years when starting in a new country. 
2), Company also pays free round home trip for whole family once a year. 
3), Basic medical insurance covered for whole family


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## BBCWatcher

To clarify, your total monthly compensation would be SGD12000, correct? Plus one annual return trip for the family, medical insurance, and (perhaps) annual bonus?

If you want an approximate lifestyle comparison, let us know what your current total compensation details are in Hong Kong.

What ages are your children? Is your spouse interested in working, and in what field? Full time or part time?


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## Macy

BBCWatcher said:


> To clarify, your total monthly compensation would be SGD12000, correct? Plus one annual return trip for the family, medical insurance, and (perhaps) annual bonus?
> 
> If you want an approximate lifestyle comparison, let us know what your current total compensation details are in Hong Kong.
> 
> What ages are your children? Is your spouse interested in working, and in what field? Full time or part time?


===
To answer your questions:
1), yes, my monthly income is SGD12000 (add on X months of bonus due to performance) 

2), current life in Hong Kong is happy - we have our own house, not big but sweet and warm, children enjoy free education, we eat whatever we want to eat, travel overseas as much as we wish.  

3), Children - one is 6y, one is 3y, my hubby will seek job once settle down here, in management position here, full time for sure. 

I don't mean to compare the life between HK and SG, but just wanna know, based on my income (current), what kind of "life" can we enjoy? will it be "tough"? or will it be "comfortable"?


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## beppi

From whichever angle you look at it, it is a very good above-average pay package.
How good your life is, however, does not depend primarily on the money. You can easily be happy with half of it, or spend it all and still be miserable. Your choice!

Since this (although true) is not what you wanted to hear, here's a cost of living comparison site: www.numbeo.com


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## Macy

Beppi, yes, you are right. 
Money can not provide you "Good" life but "sufficient in providing" life only, heha? 
With sufficient money in the pocket, we could potentially provide more opportunities for the family to enjoy better life standards, that's what i want to know. (e.g., dine out once a month or once a week or twice a week, depends on how much money left in your pocket after you pay your rental, right?)


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## beppi

In Singapore, food at hawker centres is cheaper than cooking yourself. Many locals always eat out.

Quality of life is a relative concept, thus I doubt you'll get a satisfactory answer here.


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## Macy

Because we have 2 kids, we don't want to eat out a lot. 
But once we eat out, we prefer some decent places...  

Well, i think i can only find out the answer here only when we land. Thanks anyway.


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## BBCWatcher

Where do you plan to send your children for education in Singapore?


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## Macy

Local schools, if possible...


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## BBCWatcher

Possible, but there are some school fees, and "local" only means "somewhere in Singapore" if you're a foreigner.

If you're satisfied with the assigned school and its location, great, but it's a bit of a wildcard.


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## simonsays

locals schools have upped the charges for non-Singaporeans .. set aside upwards of 1,000 per month for schooling ..


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## Macy

I checked the MOE website, the school fee for P1 next year for foreigners is SGD500 something... i think it's reasonable. 

Yes, we are passive for the choice of local schools, maybe in a location that you don't like at all, but, what else shall we do now? we prefer local school where mother tongnue language of Chinese can be learned by the kids....


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## wesmant

I think we should give Macy an answer for the budget?

I think Singapore and HK are quite similar.

With 12k p.m gross as an expat, i think it's pretty OK, but not that high.

Breakdown:
-housing rental: assuming u're getting a 3 bedroom unit in condo/private apartment, you can budget ard 5-6k near CBD or ard 3.5-4.5 slightly out, or even cheaper if further out (say those condo near sembawang MRT station)
Add in another 300-400 for utilities.
- kids schooling: most have discussed, for 2 kids probly u need to set aside ard 1500-2k per month, if your 3 y.o goes to normal pre-school. E.g: those PCF run ones. However, more expensive pre-school are available at your additional cost.
- transport: if you are to get a car, a simple normal jap/korean sedan would cost u abt 2-2.5k monthly all included (tax, insurance, parking, car installment). Bear in mind, getting a car with >1600cc engine would cost u differently.
- Groceries: i normally spend ard 500-600 only per month, as my wife is regularly cooking. I'd throw another 300-400 when we eat out, but we don't go to that really high end ones since we don't take wine and go for moslem food only.
- medical: unless u r hospitalised or having a serious condition, normal doctors are priced quite reasonably. Normal MD in normal clinic would charge ard $20-30 for consultation, and medicine is cheap. If you need to get to hospital Emergency is ard $100 flat rate. And i noticed that u r covered by insurance, even better.

That's how I live my life in Singapore. Hope u can judge what to face here. Good luck!


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## Macy

Thanks for the analysis for us, it's very useful!! 

We might plan below: 

-housing rental: Yeah, we targeted Bedok/Tampines/Pasir Ris/Simei.. as it's near my office, should be something near SGD3.5K, i assume? 

- kids schooling: I plan for SGD1K for pre-school and SGD0.5K for primary school

- transport: at first year, we don't plan to drive, take publich transporation e.g. MRT (our company offers free shuttle btw office & CBD, i heard), how much would that cost for 2 adults? 

- Groceries: will take yours as reference, within SGD1K is reasonable to us

- medical: yes, no need to worry here as whole family is fully covered 

Well, with simple calculation for above items, we might still have some money left.. ^_^ Wakaka


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## Agan

Ha ha then you can plan for sg. Rwntal is about 2.5. So you still save additional 1k


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## wesmant

Good luck Macy. Once u landed here you'll feel that Singapore may notbe that expensive for someone with that earnings


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## Macy

wesmant said:


> Good luck Macy. Once u landed here you'll feel that Singapore may notbe that expensive for someone with that earnings


Thanks Westmant, i hope we will enjoy this wonderful country very soon... except the hot weathere. :-(


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## Macy

Agan said:


> Ha ha then you can plan for sg. Rwntal is about 2.5. So you still save additional 1k


Agan, 
we already decided to come over here one month ago  
we will land end of this months... tough time for packing now at home.


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