Moving to Singapore ? - help!

[Alisand]

I have been offered a job in Singapore on a 2 yr contract.  My wife and 2 children 4 & 10 will come with me from the UK.  We of course are excited but also very anxious that we are doing the right thing!  First things first I've been offered a package of S$113,100 per year plus 1 months salary for relocation  - (S$8700) and possibly help for deposit on accommodation.  What we would like to have is a 3 bed condo in a nice area and good schools for the kids pref private and the ability to have quite a nice life style  - nothing too flash.  Can we do it on this salary?  If not what do we need to ask for in the way of a package - health care, school fees, housing fees etc

[JD]

Could all depend on whats included within your package i.e, car allowance, are they paying for school fees etc?
Sugget you look at the other message board that relates to jobs etc. There you will see other postings about packages/costs etc.
Housing costs can vary depending where you want to live. Holland Village, big expat are is popular but pricy but it is near the expat schools. My husband and I live out on the East Coast and pay $5k a month for a 6 bed house but we have no children so being close to schools isn't important.  

[wife]

I would push for the company to pay for the school fees - they are extremely expensive and likely to eat up a major part of your salary. Not only do you have to pay generally one term's deposit (refundable when you leave, provided you give sufficient notice), but also hefty non-refundable registration fees - for each child. Fees vary according to the age of your children and of course which schools they will go to. You may have to pay anything from S$3500 - S$5500 per term per child if the school has a 3-term year. Some schools are profit-making outfits too, the only ones which aren't as far as I'm aware are Tanglin Trust (British), United World College (British/International) & the Singapore American School, which I doubt your children would enrol in.

Also bus fees are very expensive too, mostly operated via the school PTA's and cost in the region of $300 - $400+ per term per child. Few children live within walking distance of their schools and unless your company provides a car you will not really have much option.

You will need to be careful as your eldest will be going into secondary education so I think it would be unfair to put this child into an unfamiliar Singapore local school system (I've heard mixed reports, but bear in mind that class sizes average 40 and there is not much creative thinking, 'rote learning' is the norm apparently) and then return to the British education system in two years. (You will also have to plan ahead for entry to the UK school of your choice too!).

T

[This message has been edited by BoardManager (edited 20-04-2001).]

[Mark D]

Dear Alisand

There have been many other "is my package enough" type threads on this board, but I will give my opinion on your package in brief.

Firstly, you'll pay around $15k tax on your salary, leaving around $100k net or around $8k per month.

You'll probably need to budget around $4k at least for a 3-bed condo + utilities in a nice area.

If you send both kids to a private school that would be around $1.2-1.5k per month each (the younger one will be cheaper than the eldest). Then I think you'll need to budget at least $2k per month for groceries etc

So you see we're already at over $8k with nothing put aside for transport, holidays, savings, entertainment etc.

In other words, I don't think your package is near enough to give you the lifestyle you want.If you really want to come here and can't negotiate up, you'll need to get your wife working, or look at significant economies in your lifestyle (eg local schools).

Secondly the relocation allowance doesn't look generous. Private schools look for deposits of around $5k per child, you've got airfares, removals etc to pay for as well. I'd ask \for at least $20k if I were you.