Middle class Singaporean no more.....Sigh

[MoJoe313]

Originally Posted by Edisonchan

TS.... I totally understand your situation..... Me too is facing problem like u and trying hard to improve my lifestyle.

Ppl here dun really understand what oversea (1st world country) countries can offer when we are earning the same amount of money here & there, and they are here trying to lecture you. I'm preparing to shift out of Sg with my family, and let saints here continue working freaking hard to earn more money trying to catch up with garment increasing living standard..... it insane and you will end up losing quality time with your family, which I think they dun care.

If I drive, it took me 15-20mins to reach my office but it will take me 2 hours when i'm not driving thus taking public transport.... Going out taking bus & MRT with old parents & small kids..... let the saints here try out and then comment, but to me I think car is a need. Mine is also 9 yrs +, we are planning to rent rather than buy after 2016. What I can say is we have been deprive from a lot of things as a Singaporean from LKY time to current LSL, I no longer feel privilege as a citizen here but have to give way to rich foreigners in my own soil.

Finally!! A bro who understands! We are in the same situation, pal. Kids, elderly parents, rapidly escalating costs. Yea, a lot changed since we transited leadership. Something stinks

[DemonicSS]

[QUOTE= Many mistake my post. My laments are about being pushed off the middle class. Not about going into abject poverty. Of course I know what to cut should it reach such a stage. The point I was making is whereas once upon a time (not too long ago) I could afford some things, now I find them out of reach. Come on, be fair. Not too long ago, it was common sightings to see people enjoying an occasional chilli crab at a kopi tiam. Now, I seldom see it.

I have yet to hear from bros with kids and elderly parents. Views please?[/QUOTE]

True, I believe in a way I mis read your thread too in a way, but I believe the fault is ours and not yours.

It is not about the cutting the lifestyle, it is about wanting to just maintain yours as before and that you are unable so because of the costs of living in SG.

It is unfortunate, and I do not think SG is going to change in any way even if you vote the opp in, the die has already been cast. I support bro edison in leaving the country. After rereading, I would recommend it even more for you to leave. I will be too as well once my stuff here is settled.

[*FiReWoRkS*]

I guess TS started this as more of a discussion thread rather than a personal complaining thread so let's discuss this very real topic objectively rather than putting people down yah.

I dont have a kid yet but will be getting married and receiving the key to my flat soon. I too drive a 9 year old car and am seriously considering going carless when my current one is up for scrap.

Getting "squeezed" is not a sudden phenomenon and neither is it peculiar only to SG. Other developed countries that so called provide a better life usually will require you to live with a higher tax rate, possibly worser crime rate, more polluted environment and a discriminating/racist society even to those people who are born and bred in their country but are just unluckily of a different skin colour.

It does get very frustrating when all we want is just to improve our lifes slightly from year to year or at least just to maintain our current lifestyle yet this simple life dream is slowly slipping away. Is it really too much just to yearn for a modest progressive lifestyle improvement? I dont need a conti car, just a regular cat A japanese or korean car will do but even those in the 2nd hand market will cost a bomb. I can eat out at restaurants only 2 times during the weekend but everywhere is getting more and more exp. I can dont use Dove, Panthene, Dynamo or eat Hagen Daz ice creams and only use house brands and eat Walls ice creams but yet have anyone of you all seen how much your grocery bills have ballooned over the past years?

We spent 2 years for NS plus countless ICTs, RTs, IPPTs and all we see around are foreigners flocking to our island surpressing our wages and/or fighting for the jobs and positions that we tried to work so hard for. I believe most SGs are not xenophobic by nature for I can see around a lot of us with many good foreign friends, plus it is not their fault that they were able to come to SG so easily because it's the Gov who facilitated all that!

If you know we have a small and shrinking population should you not have invested and focus heavily on good machinery and work processes in the first place in order to compensate for the shortfall in human capital? Why do this only recently and in your eagerness not to lose more votes you pushed this productivity scheme so furiously that countless honest but small business owners had no choice but to go bust which ironically was what they switched to do in the first place in order to try to improve their lifes like what we were discussing?!

Yes its good to be pragmatic but do we have to go to such extreme that we lose all sentience? We are human afterall, we need to feel happy and connected to our country and fellow citizens. Whats the use of being so pragmatic when we have effectively become robots in flesh? Such a high level of pragmatism that we are like robots being brain-washed and programmed with well scripted AI programming since young. I dont mind having like 20-30% foreigners in our land in order to have a healthy diverse mix of populace and also to remain open to talents but 40%? 50%?! Who knows in reality it might even be 60% or higher since all these "official" numbers are all calculated by them. I want to feel patriotic when defending my nation when bullets are flying at me at the front line but when I turn around the faces I see are those of PRCs, Malaysians, Pinoys, Bangala, India ABNNs, Indo, Viets, Ang Mos etc???!!! Laying my life for these people who pack the MRTs, fight for jobs with me, surpress my wages, litter indiscriminately in my once clean country, do not give up seats on public transport for my grandmother, do not need to pay any application fee when applying for PR yet we have to pay $10 each time when applying for HDB???

At the end of the day - if you cant beat them then join them or quit. Either we accept this reality and lower our expectations or choose to slog our lifes away in order to earn that extra few cents every year in order to achieve that little bit of added luxuries we yearn for. Or pack up and go.

Period.

[MoJoe313]

Fireworks,
Your post is so.....how does one say it..... supercalifragilisticexpialidocious that I read it a few times. Up you my humble 2 points.

[Pockypig]

Some bro misunderstand TS or they didn't bother to finish reading his post. Jumped in n gave TS a headshot straight away. Sigh.

[MoJoe313]

Originally Posted by DemonicSS

It is not about the cutting the lifestyle, it is about wanting to just maintain yours as before and that you are unable so because of the costs of living in SG.

Bingo, bro

[jacky43]

Again this is just me. The people in the house bring in FT inorder to win bec thats the way it is. No body dare to break out of the glass window like Japan who will not give IC even to white man who marry into the country.

Actually blanglahs after working here for ten years, blue IC will be offer no bones about it. Then we have white people visiting the old man memorial hall to know history of my country. They are holding local IC.

Lets talk about bread and butter issues. We are seeing high % in PMET retrenchment in 2014. Thats text book my friends bec Otelli had out of the book the one where teachers cant teach. However she used indirect speech. Those PMET were expats as well as PR not so many born locals. Past 15 years this group of people screw up the company bec they are here for fun. The first matter on the table is a place to stay, next blue IC pink one is better. If all possible bring in their friends and family. Fucking hell!

Fear not thats what i told mine colleague who quit today. He is ok to my std not so to my Manager. I advice him take note at the pte sectors who are hiring more born locals such as him.

It is not the $ that matters to a company. It is he who had to area cleaning after the FT and PR mess up. Work harder speak to his future Managers that Rome was never build in a day, same with this red dot. The process is long and seems difficult. Trust me every body it is not we need patient.

Good luck in higher paying jobs.

[du76ke]

TS..
I'm married with 3 kids (1 in Secondary, 1 in Primary, 1 in kindergarten)
My monthly combined salary with wife is ard 5K. Both my parents staying with me in a 5rm flat.

I don't drive so every family outing is definitely going public.
I used to own a car but few yrs back sold off to have more cash in hand. I agree with u that standard of living keep going up so we have to spend what we have. Earn 5k & spend 4k, not earn 5k & spend 5.1k.

Understand ur car going to expire soon. If u really need a car for work can consider a second hand car instead of a new one.

And as for our parents, cherish them when they are still around. When we are young, did they find us too troublesome and want to throw us away??

At the end of day is how we spend what we have.

Juz my 2cents.

[MaoSanWang]

Originally Posted by MoJoe313

Bros,
Getting old. Tired of this impossible rat race. You feeling the pinch too?

I feel you man...
And if your parents have no medical ins or not on civil servant pension scheme, good luck to you liao.
Their medical cost can potentially wipe u out.

You lucky got Pioneer Generation medical subsidy this year.
Can take the savings go legal houses liao.

[kraam]

combined over 10k still kaopeh so much.

u talk like u think u the biggest, worst off fucker in whole of SG? u come here tell your story in SBF, u think got no bros here worse off than u or earn lesser than u, live a much worse off life than u?

guess u never considered that possibility, because u're one selfish fucker.

[DemonicSS]

Originally Posted by kraam

combined over 10k still kaopeh so much.

u talk like u think u the biggest, worst off fucker in whole of SG? u come here tell your story in SBF, u think got no bros here worse off than u or earn lesser than u, live a much worse off life than u?

guess u never considered that possibility, because u're one selfish fucker.

Dude, what the ts is talking about is not about the amount of money he is earning, but rather his only wish is that his lifestyle can be maintained. A govt's duty is to improve the lives of others, if they cannot, at least maintain the standard as is across all segments of society - and not degrade it. But our current system is doing totally opposite, causing the segments to change greatly, making the rich richer, the middle and poor poorer.

So Kraam, dun be so quick to mouth off who is worse off economically. that wasn't the topic here. If you wish, create another thread telling us how affected are you in your income group instead. We are all in the same boat afterall.

[lasupkia]

Originally Posted by MoJoe313

I think you are taking this the wrong way.

Let's see how u will feel when yr combined income lessen by a zero.
Then u will know how fucking blessed you were.

[godsfury]

So.. U talk abt moving to another country to stay? So that means u will become an ft there? Where do u wanna stay? U think that living in australia is cheaper? They willingly offer u high paying jobs w no taxes? Medical is free? Lol. The grass always seems greener at the other side till u really live there and find out.

[Bangster]

rat race?
why get tangled up in the rat race?

10k per month is no easy feat for a lot of us...including me.

But I also reckoned along the way to such a combined income figure, you would have accumulate higher tastes for a lot of things. Basically, a relatively lavish lifestyle.

Like many of the bros here advised, I would say live within your means. The planet will still keep turning whether you like the idea of FTs being here or not and grocery costs increasing like crazy.

There are seriously many things you can be doing to survive, or to improve your lifestyle without sacrificing what you have now. And I mean legal things. Singapore is a land of opportunity. Try living in some other countries. It's not even possible to start thinking about marriage and buying a place with our standard of living here.

It's not the best place on Earth here. But would you trade it for somewhere else?

Some would. Some wouldn't.
Your call, bro.

[MoJoe313]

Originally Posted by lasupkia

Let's see how u will feel when yr combined income lessen by a zero.
Then u will know how fucking blessed you were.

For the benefit of those who are poor in maths and rich in jealousy, a single person earning $3,000 a month is TWO TIMES RICHER than two people earning $10,000 for a family of 7 ($10,000/7 = $1,428)

Those who think children consume less may be surprise to know that a 2 year old child will not walk to the kitchen to pour hot water into her milk bottle, shake it with Dumex and drink. Someone has to do it for her. When both parents can't do it because they have to work, these become costs. I can eat chap chai rice but I doubt a 2 year old child can. Google milk powder price and you will know what I mean.

I can understand there will be individuals who survive on less than $1,428 a month but one cannot say $1,428 a month per person is extravagant because there are indeed many singles who earn more than $3,000 a month for himself/herself.

In any case, my thread is about the rapidly rising cost of living. I guess some are too fixated on money and envy to notice.