Is SG$260K ok?

[really...yeah]

Well you must have a very small circle of expat friends then.

How do you know what package their on anyway?  Are you one of those obnoxious people that automatically ask how big one's package is??? 

[Obvious]

While you can't tell what their total package is, you can easily deduce the minimum from the rent they pay (no hiding that. we all know what the rents are), the school fees they pay (ditto), whether they have a car or not, the holidays they take, the clubs they frequent and to what extent, their general levels of consumption. It's not rocket science. Plus, the maids talk! (Of course, if the employers are boring, the maids will make something up to spice up their stories, so huge pinches of salt required!)

[To Really?]

who said anything about them being "Western"?
I said there are plenty of expat families on less than this, and I know plenty of them

[For a few years]

We are on about the same amount you mention - totally local package with no benefits.  2 adults, 2 kids, 1 maid.  We bought our car, a Nissan SUV and pay $900 pm for the loan. The maid gets $600 pm.  We have one kid in local nursery ($6k pa) and one in international school ($20k pa).  Shopping is a combination of wet market, cold storage, fairprice, giant and specialist places.  We have a reasonable standard of living at the moment, but are only paying $5000 pm for our 3000 sqft 4 bed apartment.  When our lease comes up next year we have been told the rent will go to $9k which we could not afford.

I would say that if you only come for a few years you'll be fine.  As a couple or with babies you can get away with a smaller flat, so won't have to pay ridiculous amounts on rent as those of us who need space do.  It only really bites when kids hit school age - assuming you go the international school route which most of us do.  There are lots of excellent local preschools which will do your children up to about age 4 or 5.

At the end of the day, it depends on your own lifestyle and ambitions.

[move3]

Thank you all for the advice. I think we will carry on researching in order to make up our mind whether we will accept or not. This will be our third move in as many years and we both feel we just want to settle and start a family.
In comparison to what we get at the moment the package is a bit less. We are living elsewhere in Asia at the moment so we just need to weigh up the pros and cons, I just get the feeling from the forum that SGP is expensive so we don't want to take a huge step back in our way of life. We also had the idea that we were going to make this move and stay for a long time.

What is the average stay for expats? And if you had the option to stay would you? Would you make SGP your home? Is it a good quality of life?

[T2K]

Quality of life here is excellent compared to most large Asian cities.  Settle down here for good?  No, I'm not going to.  But many do.  Some expats are here for 6 mth assignments, I'm into my 9th year (extended from an initial 2 year contract).

For two people with no kids, or one kid not in school, your pay is good.  Don't worry about that.  You can easily get a nice place in a central area for 5K/mth.  Just look a bit.

Do you even want a car?  I don't.  Consider that public transport here is very good, clean, easy, etc.  Pocketing the car allowance (call it a "transport allowance") is ideal.

[myopic views]

"there are plenty of expat families with kids on much less"

Really? Which countries do they come from? I don't know any Western expat families who would move here on this kind of package. Maybe singles might consider this, but families? They'd be better off staying in their home countries.

Maybe step outside the country club one day and see how 'ordinary' people live.

Oh, and do visit an opticien. It's called myopism.

[Vulcanl]

Reading through this post and all the replies, just brings home to me how clueless some expats are. 

Here is a sobering thought: the average Singaporean HOUSEHOLD income is somewhere between SGD 50-60K per year.

That should really put into proper perspective how much one 'needs' to be comfortable here. 

[%^&*]

But nobody is mentioning "need". This is a discussion as to what lifestyle that salary affords and replies are mainly positive.

[For a few years]

What Singaporeans live on is totally irrelevant to an incoming expat family.  The relevant information is what are they leaving, what are their expectations and what kind of standard of living are they prepared to accept.

Huge numbers of Singaporeans live in multigenerational accommodation - Grandparents, parents and kids.  That means very very low cost of accomodation, free baby sitting, etc etc.  Singaporeans have subsidised housing purchase, compulsory CPF put away from them, and are happy with the local schooling system which is really cheap and delivers very good academic results.

Expats have to pay for accomodation.  They have different expectations on space and standard of living - because they have left something to come here.  Only an idiot moves to a lower standard of living than where they were. 

Most expats do not want to send their children to local schools because we have a different approach to education and childhood.  Not better or worse, just different.  Local school is a couple of hundred dollars a year - international school is about $20k pa.

Most Westerners know that the local food, while tasty and cheap is actually quite unhealthy.  High levels of fat, oil, refined carbs and low amounts of protein and cruciferous vegies.  The disease profile of Singaporeans is quite different from that of many western nations because of the different diet.  Many Westerners will want to keep eating food that they think is good for them.

yes locals live on $60k pa but expats are not locals. 

[on food]

Question about food.  If local food is unhealthy, why are Singaporean less obese than Westerners?  I hate local food, btw.

[hearty]

Agree they are not obese but they have a very high rate of heart disease for such a small country.

[For a few years]

Singaporeans have one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world - not surprising as their diet has negligible fibre.  Just think about a local meal with 2 bits of wilted green on the side of the pile of rice and fatty chicken.  Then think of the meals of your childhood with brocoli, beans, sprouts and cauliflower - on an Indian diet with lots of complex fibrous pulses.

They also have very high rates of kidney disease, diabetes (despite being thin), cardiovascular disease and ridiculous levels of oral cancers.

I'm not claiming that the West is super healthy - we have our own problems particularly obesity, but the Singaporean diet is not brilliant.  Genetically they are thinner than us, and the servings are much smaller than Western portions (which is totally to their credit) but skinny does not necessarily mean healthy.  Look at all the anorexic women, and the triathletes dropping dead all over the place.

A mediteranean diet is actually much healthier - but way more expensive here as everything has to be imported.

[Athlete]

Sorry I need to take you up on the comment " triathletes dropping dead all over the place ".

There have been three deaths in past two years in events with combined entries of around 65-70,000 . Given the numbers participating in these events its unfortunate but statistically a few deaths can be expected .Two of the three cases related to undiagnosed heart problem and one to heat stroke.Very sad cases indeed,widely reported but giving a very false impression on fatalities.

To the credit of Singapore the participation in these events is rising but comments like this are just patently misleading.

[Myopic expat lady]

.....  Only an idiot moves to a lower standard of living than where they were..... 

....Most Westerners know that the local food, while tasty and cheap is actually quite unhealthy.  High levels of fat, oil, refined carbs and low amounts of protein and cruciferous vegies.   

Quote no 1. about the idiot moving.

Some are actually in for the experience of living abroad in a different culture, also as an investment for a further career.

Quote no 2. about the food here.

I surely hope you are not American, cause that one would really make me ROFL.

I bet you never step outside your sacred condo, singapore so scary lor!