Yushui Village in Lijiang, Yunnan, with snow mountain backdrop and cascading waterfalls.
1/11/2009
How much must be earned in a life time
How much must be earned in a life time to live in paradise? Take an average 4 roomer two kids family. In his life time he must spend these money other than the normal living expenses. His flat will cost him $500k or more when fully paid up. His Medisave that he cannot touch will be at least $30k. His two kids, if lucky enough to get into university locally, total cost for each upon graduation would easily be $300k. GST at 7% for a $4k monthly expenditure for 50 years will come to $148k. S&C at average $50 pm for 50 years will be $30k. And if he owns a small car, changing one every 10 years, or 5 cars in his lifetime, he will spend at least $300k at $60k each.
The above adds up to a cool $1.6m. Even without owning a car, the amount is $1.3m. This he must have in addition to what he needs to live daily. At a simple $3k pm for 50 years it will add another $1.8m to his total budget. So an average Singaporean family will spend $3.4m in their life time. A very conservative number. And he could count himself lucky if he does not need to be hospitalised. One entry could empty his Medisave or more.
The cost will go up for those who bought bigger houses and cars. A job and a steady income is crucial to keep an average Singaporean alive. it is amazing that we could go on for so long and still aspiring to be more prosperous and to pay more for our standard of living. Singaporeans born today would easily need double or triple that amount to get by.
Would the system be able to pay them that kind of money or would Singaporeans still command that kind of premium in a competitive world market of the future? When I look at our Ah Beng, Ahmad and Muthu, and their counterparts in other countries, they are not much different. And when they put out their best to compete with us, either their income will go up or ours will go down. A new level will be found. Would ours still defy the odds and move up or will the law of diminishing returns drag us down?
How much? in sg, you may be glad to know that the sky is the limit. Housewives gossips aside, you must look at the positive side of life, am i wrong to say that. Would ours still defy the odds? We have never fail in doing that, we have come up against overwhelming odds, always on top. this is what we are good in. Would we do that again? What do you think bruther?
ReplyDeleteAnonym? Do clarify the term WE as used in your comments. I get a impression your WE means govt and commoners are one, like head and limbs are parts of a body. Of course in such a reality, only the head is capable of talking and the word WE means whole body.
ReplyDeleteThe reality here is this is not a singular body. It is a company wherein the p.a.p. tua tow (big heads) use the term WE to mean themselves and their clans.
So the massive, little we's like us should think about how we take care of ourselves, families and dependents for 50 years. Same time avoid being exploited by WEs.
Perhaps the best way is for the little we's to gang together and force the big WEs to surrender 90% of their wealth for little we's to share. We must transform the big WEs into good, little we's who willingly use their skills more efficiently to grow more wealth for national commonwealth by profiting from rich foreigners. Not us, the we's.
Sorry, I have not any idea on how we can coerce the WEs. So I only can pray 5 times per day.
Hope you guys know what I mean.
Sorry, dog's mouth grow no elephant tusk.
if you dun undestand we means sg, i dun blame you doggie.. wag wag
ReplyDeletehey bruther, for someone who claimed to be earning $30k pm, i would presume you were once a very senior civil servant, or still is.
ReplyDeleteeven in my lowly position, i would not find it appropriate to poke fun on people's identity in a negative way. i feel very uncomfortable addressing him as dog. i would like to reverse it to sound better.
cheers.
singapore has never failed in the past. this is no guarantee that it will not fail in the future. we have great and selfless leaders and civil servants then who worked for the people and nation, not so much as how many more millions should they be getting.
ReplyDeletethis is a big difference.
should you call dog, dog when it is clearly dog, or was the name wrongly assigned? anyway sorry that it sounded negative to you. take it as a joke bruther beanie .. pom pom.. nothing personal.
ReplyDeletecheers to all.
from your posts you have revealed yourself and the level you are in. definitely not $30k material. not even $3k.
ReplyDeletesenior civil servants earning that kind of money are mostly respectable people. they carry themselves very well. you may disagree with their policies, but they have a certain class and decorum that befit their social status.
have a good day.
dog is a respectable person who chose to use a nick that is right at the bottom of the social ladder. it is humility and not that he belongs there.
we should learn to respect people even if we don't agree with them. that is what good upbringing is all about. ask your father or mother. they will agree with me.
beanie the trouble with you is that you tend to make alot of assumptions too easily, if you care to relook your posts you will find loaded assumptions all over that even an idiot can see and which my friend inadvertently reveals the level you are really at. the truth is, that truth hurts.
ReplyDeletenot really. if you would just use a nick then all your posts will make sense. i don't even expect yu to reveal yourself. now you are hiding under anonymous and i will have to try to pin you down. you can't blame me for trying to be presumptious.
ReplyDeletea $30k person is something compares to a $3k person. different class altogether. you cannot hide or pretend that the two are the same. when someone has to insinuate dog as a dog, it tells a lot about the character of that person.
i will keep making assumptions when i have to. i wish i don't have to. you are trying to take advantage of being in the dark and i in the open. why don't you level up with me then there is no need for any assumptions?
someone recently posted about an older worker enjoying his seniority in the office despite his fading faculties. somehow talking to you reminds me of that situation. if the lack of focus and concentration in your arguments makes this a boring exchange, your stubborn attitude sucks even more. once again and for fuck's sake, no one is trying to insinuate anything and if you still dont get that, just drop dead for all i care.
ReplyDeleteI am passed 60, anon. Have gone through much of life, even ate OrDauPuen (black bean rice) for a few years. And I see you anon as too self-opinated.
ReplyDeleteRedbean. Pity on him lah! A coward is always criticising others from behind.
well,it is common knowledge that one can claim anything in cyberspace,I always sign myself off as billionaire(Self-made)
ReplyDeleteSinner-Spore
hi dog and sinner, these are two nicks that reflect a lot about humility : )
ReplyDeleteday dreaming is quite therapeutic at times. but we need to be ourselves and not to lose credibility in what we post. then we can generate meaningful discussions.
come off it what rubbish talking you? anyone reading this thread would know how disjointed and presumptuous were your arguments. if you have something slightly more than cow sense, you will only make yourself a cheap talking clown to blog about high level issues that are clearly beyond you.
ReplyDeleteHi beanie, why is this clown pestering you? another of your fan?
ReplyDeletemy most devoted fan. i will buy him kopi one day and pin a medal on his chest as my number one fan : )
ReplyDeleteone thing for sure, he takes pain to try to understand everything i post.
i was reading seah chiang nee's article about 'class divide Widened by hard times'. he quoted how some of the children of the elite were reacting to criticism of the system. wee shu min was quoted in the article.
ReplyDeletei look at shu min as a young girl, very bright and a bit lacking in empathy for the losers. but she got guts to say her piece. she will end up more mature after the incident if she takes it as a learning process.
but there are some lesser breed of MP's children who are not in the class of shu min, not in the top schools, with bad manners, and went around in pseudonyms attacking other bloggers. these are the poor specimens of elite children who will no longer be elite when they have to prove themselves and earn their own money.
You talked about Elite. let's talk about yourself instead, you said you are ex-civil servant. So what grade where you?
ReplyDelete