9/23/2010

Amazing Singaporeans

Singaporeans continue to amaze in things they think are normal but bizarre to foreigners. I have previously wrote about how Singaporeans paid millions for a house which they hardly stay but left to the maids and their boyfriends when they visit in the middle of the night or when the owners are at work. Fully furnished and well appointed homes that they paid for through their noses but spending their time elsewhere. The next most costly consumer item in a Singaporean’s expenditure is of course the car. Before buying a car they need to buy a COE, Certificate of Entitlement to buy a car, which will cost between $30k for a small car to $50k for a big car. And the small car will cost easily another $30k for a total cost of at least $60k, not including insurance and road tax. The best part is that Singaporeans are encouraged to part their cars at home and cycle or take public transport to work. And parking in public housing car parks is not cheap either. Maybe I am wrong in that the next most costly expenditure item is the bringing up of a child. It easily costs between $250k for the average hardlanders to bring up a child through university and more than $1m for the well heeled that comes with tuitions and all the perks, plus an overseas degree. And Singaporeans are encouraged to have more children, assuming that they can all afford to cough up this huge sum of money to bring up children. Sure, money is not important to Singaporeans as money is abundant. Another baffling thing that the Singaporeans take for granted is to keep saving in a saving fund that they cannot touch, except for housing and specific needs, till a ripe old age of 62 and above. And they enjoy smiling at the big amount of savings from the monthly statements but barely able to make ends meet in their daily lives. Oh, this one got a best part too. The inflation will find their savings a wasteful effort at the end of the day. And the startling discovery is that despite the big savings, between 40 to 50% of their income, retirement is still a problem to many. Some would have to remortgage their flats or sublet them to keep themselves alive. This is how successful Singaporeans are and in their retirement plans. Oh wait, despite having full employment and needing to import millions of foreign workers, there are Singaporeans still complaining about joblessness. And they are qualified, some are graduates. Amazing indeed. One small secret. Some maids and workers own bigger houses in their home countries than their Singaporean employers.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

singapore is defintely a very unique place. Whereby the young cannot take care of the old. the government want the citizen to take care of their own. Why are the govt be paid so high! since their job is 'don't bother'. singaporeans informed the authority about hardships, then the authority say "don't complaint". SPECIAL PLACE TO BE IN, INDEED'

Anonymous said...

Whether sinkies get to spend their wealths or not, the fact remains that sickaporeans are rich. And since they are rich, why are they not investing in homes abroad ? There are so many neighbouring countries that are so much cheaper to live in. Day in day out sinkies only know how to complain but never or refuse to use their blains. No gut.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

They may grumble and kpkb, but for things to be better. Singapore is still home.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

> One small secret. Some maids and workers own bigger houses in their home countries than their Singaporean employers. <

You are comparing apples with durians -- totally out of context.

There used to be a time where selling your HDB box could buy you 2 houses (with swimming pools) in Aust. But as noted previously, the comparison is nonsense -- UNLESS you do actually sell up and move.

Bringing up a kid in S'pore is substantially cheaper than it is in most other countries -- where people pay more taxes and have less left over to "spoil" their children with.

As far as retirement accounts go: I have always argued that CPF is not a retirement fund, but a TAX, and the only reason it is still going is that the majority of people still believe the myth.

Buying a car in S'pore is essentially exposing oneself to VOULUNTARY taxation at an exorbidant rate. Thankfully, no one "forces" you to buy a car. I have lived in S'pore and never owned a car nor found it neccessary to do so. If I needed one, I'd simply hire, and be don with it.

Using cabs in S'pore is great: the cab picks you up from your doorstep and drops you smack at your destination. Having a car means you have to park it, walk to your destination and walk back to retrieve your car -- usually only after paying extortionary rates for parking.

So yeah, Singaporeans are amazing -- and I myself am amazed that they have the luxury of complaining so much. To have all that time and energy, you must be wealthy first.

Kaffein said...
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Kaffein said...
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Kaffein said...
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Kaffein said...

I find it very amazing that an 18-yr old Singapore can pick up a gun and fire it but cannot watch an RA movie which has an age restriction of 21.

Even more amazing is that Singapore is not mature enough to vote until he's 21 yrs old.

Kaffein

Anonymous said...

My observations--some singaporeans will pay a bomb to buy things that they don't need so as to impress people who couldn't care.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Kaffein -- I suspect brainwashed by Western lefty-liberals, surmised:

> I find it very amazing that an 18-yr old Singapore can pick up a gun and fire it <

Blatantly incorrect.

To "pick up an fire a gun" at 18 is an ORDER given by The Authority, therefore it is not a "can" but a "must". The 18 yr old HAS NO CHOICE but to comply/ obey the "official" instruction given by his "superiors". We are in the context of national service here -- where eligible males have no choice in the use of weapons.

> but cannot watch an RA movie which has an age restriction of 21. <

In common with many of the "prohibition-type" laws, this one is a complete nonsense, although it is on the books.

Anyone (including persons under the age of 21) with an internet connection is able to access the nastiest pornographic material FOR FREE, and download legally and illegally most of the movies rated "RA" for private viewing on their computer or mobile device.

Although porn is illegal in S'pore -- at any age -- any fool who has worked for the govt knows full well that even the servers i the so-called "spotless" govt contain assortments of pornography and other "non work-safe" content.

> Even more amazing is that Singapore is not mature enough to vote until he's 21 yrs old. <

You've fallen for the big-joke again. Voting - in and of itself is only "valid" if there was a true (liberal) democracy and not some kind of half-baked nonsense designed to keep the incumbent political party in govt forever and ever.

Therefore the idea of a "legal" voting age is irrelevant. Before you can vote -- at any age -- there first must be a system in place where the democratic process can actually work without being controlled or meddled with.

Notice how the S'pore Law Society itself defends the idea of the (arbitrary) legal voting age of 21.

Kaffein, I think you are well-intended in wanting to criticise "The Establishment", and IMO it is important for young people to do so, however you need to get your facts (i.e. objectivity) straight.

anon 821 -- getting tied in logical knots:

> buy things that they don't need so as to impress people who couldn't care. <

If there are enough people who are doing it - as you conjecture -- then obviously people do care -- so, S'poreans then are busying themselves trying to impress each other.

I think that rocks :-)