cis! wanna snatch my customer.

Not true. My bosses appreciate Malaysians more than their fellow Singaporeans.

We use the escalators to get down from the tree.

@reign226
@deodorant

Thanks for the tips ill look into bedok, i did the math i think taking abit more time to get to the city is better then paying an extra 200-300 dollars in rent, my main few factors are that i want to be able to cook and not have the owner there dictate what i should or should not do.

Looking around the sites i can only find mostly Condo's that have that kind of flexibility which is paramount to how i want to live. But the come at a steep cost, i guess it boils down to savings vs freedom, i have to spend more time looking for the right place or couple or right places then make time to view them.

I hate that listings have very little or no info as well as terrible pictures.

Anyone else come across problems like this?

Do take note, if you get PR and contribute CPF, I believe the first year is not 20% employee anymore. And CPF is cap at $5000. Withdrawal is at 55 years old (West Malaysians) unless you declare you won't be living or working anymore in West Malaysia or Singapore

In my opinion if you don't intend to settle down in Singapore or got no intention to stay beyond 5 years, you might as well don't apply. The only thing is that it's easier to look for jobs, no doubt about that or you are earning more than 5k per month.

This post has been edited by catacomb: Apr 23 2013, 03:33 AM

Yupe got what you are saying. What we want to see are the room how big and what is in the room but instead got what is outside that building. Yup is all about whether you want freedom or saving. Can't get both. Anyway good luck to all of us are looking for place to stay in SG

And also lifts.

I once stay at a unit without owner and can cook, the thing only problem is, other tenants is staying there longer than me, so their thing is full in the fridge, when you buy thing to store, you need to find place yourself in the fridge to store your thing, cooking wise no problem, but you need to keep the stove clean. But since it is without owner, the cleanliness of the unit is terrible, i mean really terrible, dust is like decade thick. before i move in, everything also say ok ok. but after one week staying there, one piece of rule and regulation coming out, talk alot of bullshit, cannot this, cannot that. so IMO, with or without owner, the difference is can cook, other thing i dont see any different, you still have people dictate what you should or should not do because without owner, the main tenant still need to answer to the owner himself.

Noob question here, if I entered SG with the white card & now in the process of getting my pass I can still exit SG with passport and re-enter right?

yes, if u haven't get EP, means u r just like other tourist coming into Singapore. As long as u dun overstay, should be no problem.

Crap, means I need to get another white card to fill on my way back. Thanks for the info My medical report is taking super damn long, until today they still have not sent the report to my company

Can I apply for a bank account with IPA? If my company is to issue me a letter I don't need to place deposit right? Just need to remain SGD 500 every month to make sure I don't get charged only?

My company currently does not have a POSB account & my colleague is suggesting that I apply for UOB as there are more ATMs around. What do you guys think?

Yes, u gotta fill the white card if u haven't get ur work pass.

I opened my POSB account using my IPA. Can be done.
Need to have 1k balance else they will charge $2 for maintenance fee.

POSB is everywhere. Bank choice, up to u.

If you want "freedom", you either buy your own unit or rent an entire unit.

Once you "share" or "live with landlord"... there will be a compromise. The landlord or main tenant will always have a "my roof, my rules" attitude.

My take for freshies... spend a bit more and get a master bedroom with attached toilet. Then work hard, work smart... get promotions as quick as possible and invest to kick off the passive income stream... to move on to bigger and better things in 3-5 years time and so on. If you plan for your entire stay in SG to be renting room (kowtow to landlord/main tenant), running after buses and trains, eat economy rice,... because your salary stays more or less where it is now - then it's like the life of a foreign labourer. What's the point of living?

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 23 2013, 10:54 AM

what would you advise for the bolded part?

i have been working in SG for almost 2.5 years now, not a PR yet and my intention is to settle down but due to various hurdle by gohmen here, it's really PITA to own house.

About the getting charged part, there also have monthly withdraw limit where if you withdraw too many times, you will get charged. UOB have more atms then POSB? are you sure?

Agree with you, i still finding way to increase my income, that why taking PR is a deep consideration as my take home pay will be lesser for me if i intend to make investment. i also understand that CPF can be used as downpayment for HDB.

Haiz, dilemma...

Labourer not bad one, my dad also labourer, primary 6 only. Some people just stick to their old ways of living even after they got better. Not the issue of affordability, more to the issue or worth or not. I can never get my parents to agree for a 15RM Starbuck because they got used to drinking a normal kopi o and the 20 years old car they still keeping...

Too harsh for those freshies and people still struggling bah, but good advice always harsh to hear. Some may not like it.

Invest in PR, start saving for the house down payment and don't buy any oversea properties if you aiming for HDB.

What does a PR in Singapore give you nowadays ? What benefits do you get there ?

Nothing really where got free lunch one. You are paying for all those benefits every month.

I also cannot drink starbucks...
although i'm not that old

i think it's exorbitantly expensive...
i drink white coffee can de

When you're just starting out,.. save. Save as much as you can. From the day I started working, my savings rate has never fallen below 60% of GROSS salary annually.

Saving is second in importance only to Salary. Make sure your salary is as high as possible, as early in your career as possible.

Once you have a decent amount, or have a salary that allows you to save a decent amount each month - invest. I'm a very unsophisticated investor. FDs, shares and only recently, property. That's it. I have no fancy investments.

And I have no fancy investment strategy. I have no time or energy to monitor and analyse. I invest and forget... so I just invest in shares in sectors I naturally understand well ie. 嫖賭飲吹. I basically bought one lot of Genting, BToto, Guinness, Carlsberg, BAT, JT every month or so (sublots for BAT) and increased the number of shares as salary got higher. All of them pay a high dividend, and have cash rich, unchanging/addictive long term demand, low fluctuation, low risk business models. Don't have to monitor , just collect the dividend cheques. Later on, I added on telcos as a sector because it has very much the same dynamics and I happen to be very interested in this field.

After 10-15 years, you'll be surprised how many shares you have accumulated and how much dividend you get regularly.

But don't put all your cash into shares. I'm naturally risk averse, so I built my FD balance to even off the risk. Now, I'm gradually converting some of that FD/cash into property.

Now... you can actually go into property early, instead of or on top of FDs and shares. If I had more knowledge or interest in the property market when I was younger... I would have bought property as well. I'd actually be earning more than I am now in terms of ROI (Return on Investment)... but the risk is that it is absolutely critical to choose the right property (in the beginning... you have only 1, very big, very costly bullet. And in property, there is no effective cut loss).

This post has been edited by seantang: Apr 23 2013, 01:46 PM