Are All Singaporeans Rich? - My Reactions | How Much Income Do You Really Need... 

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Transport: MRT vs Grab vs Jap Car vs Conti Car House: BTO vs resale HDB vs EC vs Condo vs Landed Food: Hawker/ Coffee Shop vs Foodcourt/ Small eatery vs Restaurant Shopping: Local brand vs Luxury vs Ultra Luxury (need vs want) Holiday: SEA vs Asia vs EU/ US Children: 0 vs 1-2 vs >3 The list probably goes on... but the above determines how much income is needed.

Great video Josh! High expectations will eventually lead to high expenses. So whether one wants to lead a budget, economy, business or first class level of living is their call, just don't impose their own expectations to others.

Contentment makes all the difference. Young people have yet to learn contentment and tend to compare with peers. Old folks learnt to accept their lot in life whether rich or poor and most have a degree of contentment. People with unrealistically high expectations will always be unhappy. Contentment is within oneself and does not depend on circle of friends. Learn contentment and be happy.

all the published statistics on income is inclusive of employer's cpf contribution and bonuses. when we talk about our salary we usually just talk about our base salary, not inclusive of employer's cpf contribution for sure, thats why many people are finding their salary lower than the median.

I am rethinking what sort of friends' circle should I stick with...😅

“It depends on your circle of friends”… 🤔

Been unemployed for almost 3 years. My personal view regarding individual finance is: 1) As of 2022, I need around $2500 to be on the margin. This means no insurance payments, no vacation, very little to no outside meals, very limited entertainment. 2) To be able to invest, maintain insurance and have a bit of emergency funds. I require $3200 3) To unlock "Add-ons" like annual vacation (in SE Asia region), eating out more frequently, shop. I will require $3700. 5) To be truly comfortable and secure, my rule of the thumb is add another 1K for a final amount of $4700. In my unemployment phase, I have gone as low as $2200. But it means deprivation of many aspects of life. I don't go out. I keep much of my lights off, no air con, smaller meal portions, etc. All income thresholds as described above is individual with no dependents.

When asked about the required salary, it often depends on one's age. Similarly, when we pass away, financial needs might seem the highest not because we take anything with us, but because of what we leave behind for those who survive us. 😂 Additionally, there are costs associated with burial ceremonies, especially in certain communities, such as the non-Muslim Chinese community, as I’ve heard.

astute observation, the final 15 seconds. good job

It really depends on your attitude towards life/money, some people want simple lives, some people not enough money no matter how much they earn. If you are easily satisfied and lead a simple life, 2-3k is enough.

The idea of 10% rebate on petrol purchasing or any else by using credit card, it comes to believe we gain profit of it..but to own liabilities itself not a profit gain. So this is about lifestyle and how much it cost you overall. 😂

Great video! great words of wisdom!!

This is free world. Stop complaining. Go out there and compete. You can earn as much as you want perfectly up to you.

If 20-30k per mth, don't spend it all. Good times may not last. Especially for PMETs

Well researched video. Good insights on age and education. Also important to define income as total cash inflow including that from investments.

Wow, what wise advice! Really. 👏

40k would be comfortable. But to solve housing problem probably 50k+

My household income is around 40k per month and my expenses never go beyond 10k per month (excluding insurance/investments which a lot of balance goes to). I think spending 20-30k is beyond comfortable and bordering on luxurious. As you mentioned, we do need to keep an eye on how we spend and what we spend on to prevent ourselves from becoming too used to the good things in life and start chasing that mirage of a successful life according to social media.

A comment about the chart of distribution of HH income. If its from govt source, typically its (total annual income + employer cpf)/12. So if we are talking about 30k pm its actually only $325k pa for husband + wife + $35k (2 persons' employer cpf). $325k pa = $20kpm for husband and wife assumi g 4 mth bonus.

Depends on how much lifestyle inflation you allow in your life.

Fresh grad making 20k monthly. My buds make a quarter what i make and i dont think one should necessarily change your circle based on pay. Yes it is true the immediate work circle will be ppl who make the same as you but that is a corollary rather than a cause. Who you choose to mix with is a better indicator of who you are than who you happen to mix with. I spend 3k on mortgage and that's really 90% of my total expenses. I save the rest/invest/repay student loan. You are right that it is in the mindset and personal sense of security. I don't think income should change you as a person but i do recognize that it is mostly true. Advice to self: stay true to who you are and discover what kind of a person you are in the process

Thanks for all the sharing, I have seen quite a fair bit of your videos and have learned a thing or two from your sharing. Just want to highlight that I saw some of your recent videos mentioning HLE, a few months ago it was replaced by HFE. Just thought you should know, perhaps to give a more accurate assessment, though I didn't read up about the differences between the two. Cheers!

I think you should explain how the gross income is made up of at the start of the video for clarity. If the gross income consists of the employer cpf contribution, aws, bonus and allowance, then the annual income for someone with an gross income of 7K will be just 84K instead of 120K like you mentioned for fresh graduates.

Interesting that the salary between degree holders and non-degree holders is so much different. Is it a Singapore thing? In my home country, everybody can have a degree if they want (there are about 700-800 universities 😅).

Credit card can be accessible if u deposit money in the bank as fd and use it to secure your loan. Did that when i was a uni student when i had no income.

It's Been a Long Time my Ex Boss Josh I learnt alot of Great lessons from you back in the old days during 2011. 😎😎😎 Great to see you sharing your knowledge to everyone. Hope you & your family are well. Do send my best regards to your sister ! God Bless You 🙏 😁

My family’s recurring combined expenditure is around 8-9k. We live in 5 room HDB, no car, have a baby, have helper, give generous allowances to parents, eat well and travels without financial constraints. I would think $12k after taxes would be a good income for our current life stage, with decent savings for retirement. $6000x2, it’s just about the kind of income degree holders would earn. But honestly, it’s an income that we wouldn’t feel is enough (for ourselves). 人(at least myself)是贪得无厌的 = greedy.

also 0 income can be retirees with rich children paying their bills and luxuries, or those that do not report income - e.g. certain investments

Love this content

See, as i said right from the start of your youtube journey, $20-30k is correct for good living. Thats why my retirement income is in that range. And even at that range, make sure you have a buffer.

Most are poor in terms of free time available...how about a chart of how much free time Singaporeans have, we will see how poor we are in this side.

Industry plays a huge role. Middle management (degree holder) in special education industry earn around 5.5k. People keep on saying we come in with the heart and passion to serve. But money is important too. And even moe doesn't help to raise our pay when mainstream teachers salary are revised.

If one is in his comfort zone, he might not have the motivation to continue do well in his career. That's how silent quitting happens?

Just to clarify, does the published data on income include bonuses? I understand it does include employer's CPF contribution.

I'd say average in the region of S$7K/month is probably alright for a single with your own place, and would like to travel beyond asia at least 1-2 times a year. The narrative will be very different if you have a family with kids.

My inner circle are all multi millionaires and income is easily in excess of $30k per mth, so the views are largely different

My mindset currently hate the term SALARY. From the school study to be A+ student, then working to be A+ salary's staff. So this idea made me tired and regret. Should us be taught better idea since school time not to work but to invest or have own business. 😂

Depends if I can stay childless, eat caifan and stay relatively healthy till I check into old folk home. Doable. I think.

Which engineering field paid more than $6K for a fresh grad??????? With no experience, who can demand such salary????

I really need to show this video to mine HR haha. I’m underpaid

just a small suggestion - maybe don't speak directly into the mic, it sounds pretty harsh when you say the letters "P", B", "T".

Singapore is rich culturally and as humans they possess some stunning traits. Money is not so important. It’s other factors that make up riches that mean so much more to me.

Can please make video on US stock market? Is been a while since you mentioned bear market not over..

I always asking ppl who complained about cost of living. Is it cost of living too high or your cost of lifestyle too high.

I came from watching another of your video on teaching salary. Don't most MOE teachers earn less than the median income?

Do these figures include bonuses? Or just gross monthly pay. Might be difficult to account for bonuses and pay structures across different industries

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

No amount of money can let you live without worries. Even the richest people in the world don't live without worries

all still young when i was 20+ 3k can lah try asking 40+ one with kids

whatever money u earn in ur life will go to some strangers in the end either directly or indirectly....

Comparison is the thief of joy!

I have to be blunt. Singaporeans in general want a bit of everything in life. They want good house, good car, get married and have 1-2 kids, want to travel and maybe buy some branded stuff. These goals are very high and with increasing cost of living everywhere in the world, not just Singapore, I find it unrealistic and in fact quite greedy. Why? Because when Singaporeans aren’t able to achieve these wants, they start blaming the government and many become keyboard warriors. So to answer your question, are Singaporeans rich? They are if they’re realistic and not live beyond their means!

I don think the graduate survey is true

But credit card got annual fees

Great video, as always. Josh, I have a question if you don’t mind me asking. If ever at one point I (2 kids aged 10 and 6) do decide to take up a job offer and potentially move to Singapore for the longer term with the family, how much of a monthly salary would my family need to draw in order to sustain the cost of living in Singapore? Assuming I have no other income and my family is a single income household.

There will always be “bad money influencers” (people around us) telling us phrases like, “once in a lifetime, you will regret not getting, everyone is doing so, it’s really a must have”. Then these really makes one double think if one is really losing out if one doesn’t get it or if one is not thinking right. From weddings, pregnancy, baby, housing, cars (when we already have world class transport and considerably much affordable option of private hires). Then, naturally, everybody else’s lifestyle would inflate, and being in the same income group, one would just think probably it’s the next most natural progression one should take. This constant lifestyle wants/needs/inflation makes our income never enough and keep us further and further away from early retirement.

man i feel poor after seeing the median avg wonder where they get this numbers

Does the per month include bonuses paid once annually and not monthly?

What is the average monthly income of a university lecturer.

i filmed this hehe

say i earn sooo less on the age group

+Josh Tan - TheAstuteParent May I ask if your figures included the 37% CPF money that will be deducted, or reflected the take-home pay?

The term median is representing the average. U need to look at what does average mean. It means median, mean and mode 😂

Does household income include family with working kids in 20s or 30s that not yet married?, if so if both parents are still working plus the kids, there could be 3-5 working adults in the family.

Just curious to know our world highest paid Ministers how many times higher compare to Singaporeans medium income group?

I bo friends haha then how? I dun have any friends at all.

20k would be ok

Jai Hinduja. Don't see only for today's expenditure like a grey Rhino. High income above 10K is needed for young families to salt away for the long retirement years.

The recent street interviews on Singaporean's income doesn't seem match with gov statistics. There is impression of individual Singaporean earns above median income (~5k) with these interviews. The household income statistic may not give complete picture of individual's salary pay with the possibilities of 1) high income single person household (e.g 10k a month), they will fall under 50 percentile, this group of people is growing as getting more Singaporean enjoys their single life; 2) median income with more working adults household (e.g. 4 working adutls getting average of 5k a month), this will put them in the last 16% household income group. Personally, I think that comparing household income and expense for individual income group (e.g. the household expense of 10k median household income group) could be give a clearer picture to assess if Singaporean is rich. =D

Median income is big numbers with no meaning.

Depressing 😢

sg lucky cost of living low

No degree no talk for average guys like me.

新加坡是国富民穷 。。。

Homeless soon😥

Thanks Josh. Lot of nonsense out there, no one with valid stats except you

vote wisely...

7k not enough, 2.5k car, groceries +alcohol 3k, makan outside 4K, occasional shopping 3k, grooming 1k, fitness 500, give parent 2k. Exclude travel n big ticket items..

Only happen in my day dream.

Gold diggers aim high.