Is 6875 SGD / month good salary for a family of three?

[Srilak]

Hi,

I recently got an offer for 6875 SGD, which includes my 13month annual wage and two months bonus, from Singapore. ( Basic 5500 SGD/Month)

I am an Indian and at present working in SaudiArabia. Since life in Saudi doesn't have that updated exposure and restricted to the family growth, I thought of taking this offer.

I have 8+ years experience in the engineering field. My wife is IT professional, and we have just born baby. Obviously, my wife can go work minimum after two years.

Of course, I am looking for a better lifestyle  with some savings.

Is this worthy package to take it up considering family living standard in Singapore?  Is this good enough to save some bucks?

Would you please share thoughts about what is on the ground in terms of cost of living and challenges?

Your valuable comments are really helpful.

Thanks...

[Kafka]

Yes, that's a very good package... for Indonesia or Malaysia countryside (not event KL or Jakarta). Do some research on this board, you will find out by yourself about housing costs and living standards. And forget about the savings.
On 1 salary, that's not much, especially with new born-related expenses.
My is it "obvious" that your wife cannot work for the 1st 2 years? Maybe that's a cultural thing, many western women (or local S'porean) go back to work after maternity leave...
If your wife was able to return to work, say, after 6 months, that would be much better...
Good luck.

PS: not sure what "updated exposure" means, but I can understand you want to leave feodal Saudi Arabia !

[jalanperak]

Whether it's enough or not depends on what kind of lifestyle you are comfortable with. For most expats from Europe/UK/US/Aus/NZ, it's probably not enough. For many Philippinos, Thai, Chinese, Indians, etc., it often is.

I just did a search on a property website for 2 bedroom (3 room) HDB flats, and there are currently about 1180 properties available for $2,500 or less per month, and 119 that are $1,500 or less per month.

Another way to look at it is that a salary of $5,500/month easily qualifies for a P2 employment pass, and there are a lot of professionals working in here on P2 EPs.

[Srilak]

Thanks for your helpful message.
Would you please provide me the link of that site???
I had been in Singapore two times on business, and I could  see the life-style of people. I came to know that cost of accommodation is the only factor takes major part of the salary.
Do you have an idea about other expenses cost for a month, if I prefer to have an upper-middle class standard?

My concern is that I would like to save at least 2000 SGD fixed per month from 1 salary..

[Kafka]

Thanks for your helpful message.
Would you please provide me the link of that site???
I had been in Singapore two times on business, and I could  see the life-style of people. I came to know that cost of accommodation is the only factor takes major part of the salary.
Do you have an idea about other expenses cost for a month, if I prefer to have an upper-middle class standard?

My concern is that I would like to save at least 2000 SGD fixed per month from 1 salary..

Again, like JLP rightly said, all depends on your lifestyle... what do you mean by upper-middle class? How many flights out/travel per month, taxis/week, dinner out/week, alcohol... Describe your lifestyle then maybe it would be easier to give a fair opinion. Also, for the housing you can afford (2.5K), this is HDB public housing, not quite upper-middle class.
Assuming your wife will not work, your savings target is just not realistic: $6,875 gross - $310 income tax - $2,500 (rental, utilities, internet) - $2000 savings = $2,000 left for groceries, transportation, mobile phone, clothes, leasure activities... So that's financially possible, but pretty tight?
You should check if your package includes health benefits for your wife+baby (and yourself of course), that could be another significant expense...

[Srilak]

Thanks..

If my housing includes the internet, electricity and TV are manageable within 2500S$, It should be fine. Could please provide me the link of the property search site where I can locate HDB for 1500S$?

My package covers medical insurance only from myself not for the family... As you said that would be another significant cost when I have a kid.

Do you have an idea about the opportunities for IT professional in Singapore? My wife is 4+ year experience and hope she can start work on the dependent pass after she settled in Singapore... On this stage, we have to think about for  good baby care centre for our kid.

[Kafka]

Thanks..

If my housing includes the internet, electricity and TV are manageable within 2500S$, It should be fine. Could please provide me the link of the property search site where I can locate HDB for 1500S$?

My package covers medical insurance only from myself not for the family... As you said that would be another significant cost when I have a kid.

Do you have an idea about the opportunities for IT professional in Singapore? My wife is 4+ year experience and hope she can start work on the dependent pass after she settled in Singapore... On this stage, we have to think about for  good baby care centre for our kid.

I thought you said you already have a kid  

I don't have a clue, but my guess is, as you are from India, you should have uni-mates or ex-colleagues or family in Singapore who can advise you on that.

[jalanperak]

Thanks for your helpful message.
Would you please provide me the link of that site???

I can PM it to you, but it's against the rules to post URLs on this board, especially for real estate sites.

I had been in Singapore two times on business, and I could  see the life-style of people. I came to know that cost of accommodation is the only factor takes major part of the salary.

Not necessarily. Transportation can be very expensive if you want to have your own car or you use taxis a lot. Food can also be expensive if one insists on eating the same products and brands they're used to back home, or eat in restaurants a lot.  It's not uncommon to hear about expat families spending $600~800 per week for food

Do you have an idea about other expenses cost for a month, if I prefer to have an upper-middle class standard?

As kafka points out, "upper-middle class" is kind of a subjective term, so it's hard to generalize.

Electricity is expensive here, and running an air conditioner a lot can put your electric bill well into the hundreds. If you're frugal and use fans your bill will typically be around $150/month.

Housing almost never includes water/electricity, internet access, or cable tv. A fully furnished place may include a television, but you're usually responsible for the annual TV license.

[expat_vs]

Sri, housing here may create a bad hole in your pocket. Try to get it included in your package. Appears you are in Oil industry and you must negotiate housing benefit like most have in Middle East (my experience).

[housing woes]

rentals alone will take up at 1/3 of your income,
a 2 bedroom condo in the city fringe starts at $4,000 per month,

it's workable if you can live on love and fresh air

[Upper Middle]

You need to make above $25k a month before you can live as upper middle class in Singapore.

- Live in landed free-hold property or luxury condo
- 2 maids
- 2 cars
- 2 country clubs
- kids in International schools
- 2 vacations a year
- tuition for kids

[Also it has to be said]

He will have 5.5k a month in hand - the other is bonus or extra months salary paid in a lump sum probably twice in the year - if he can "Exist" as that is all it will be on 5.5k I suppose he could save the extra payments.

As for the wife getting a job on a dependents pass - it is proving very difficult lately and with the current climate against Indian IT workers in particular after many recently published antics it will be even harder

[Absolute tosh]

rentals alone will take up at 1/3 of your income,
a 2 bedroom condo in the city fringe starts at $4,000 per month,

it's workable if you can live on love and fresh air

If you said 3K then you might be closer to the mark