How many millionaires and billionaires do you know personally? Were the people who 'told' you that millionaires and billionaires themselves? If they are, why are they still in Malaysia - since by their logic, only the 'very' good stay in Malaysia and the inferior ones all leave?

But think logically. People coming to Singapore are not saying that they are better than Malaysians in terms of being hard working or smart working. All they are saying that for the same amount of effort and brains they put into their work, Singapore pays more... for various reasons... ranging from availability of higher paying jobs to racial issues to exchange rates.

I meet some people like that as well. Unless they themselves ARE indeed the millionaires, billionaires and corporate high flyers that they speak of (ie. they are examples of those cream of the crop who apparently all stay behind in Malaysia) - I don't entertain them. I have no time to listen to stories about their friend's friend's brother's wife's younger brother who supposedly earns thousands each day. At the end of the day, it's whose wallet is fatter? You want to criticise me for my choices, show me the money!

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 27 2008, 05:10 PM

It's all relative.

Properties, if you're eligible for HDB, you can buy new HDB properties of around S$300K as long as your salary is less than 8K per month. I think that's roughly the same consideration as someone in PJ/KL. The CPF withdrawal programs for home purchase are more extensive than EPF, so most people do own flats.

However, all HDB flats and at the end of the day even landed freehold, will return to the govt at some point. The compulsory purchase and enbloc (majority wins) laws are extensive. So, there's very little chance of passing down your property for generation after generation after generation.

Education... it's free as long as you go where you're told ie. don't put up a fight when the ministry tells you that your kids are too dumb to go to uni, and can only qualify for poly or trade school.

Insurance... in what way? Do insurance companies in Malaysia charge lower premiums (in US$ terms) compared to Singapore insurance companies for a US$1,000,000 policy?

Road tax... well, you pay a couple thousand S$ each year... but then a Camry costs S$85000 in Sg, and RM150,000 in Malaysia. The difference will pay for a lot of years of road tax.

Personal tax... Singapore is actually much lower in terms of personal income tax. The progressive rates progress slower and the maximum rate is lower. However they have GST, but that doesn't apply to savings, whereas income tax applies to both savings and expense components of income.

IMHO, there is NO financial downside to working in Singapore compared to Malaysia... in general, unless your circumstances are exceptional. Otherwise, don't worry about the money.

The main considerations to making the move from Malaysia to Singapore will always be your family situation, your attitudes towards the differences in lifestyle in Singapore vs Malaysia and your opinion on the importance 'national' loyalties / pride / politics / equality etc.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 28 2008, 01:23 PM

You are not comparing apples to apples.

Singapore is a city state with limited land. The standard for housing is a flat. Malaysia's standard is a house. If we use your logic, then 99% of the people in HK, Tokyo, Seoul etc will never be as fortunate as Malaysians because they will never afford houses.

The comparison needs to be how many people can afford to get standard housing. In Singapore, almost everyone can. In Malaysia, we're not quite there yet.

It's quite low for Singaporeans due to the govt tuition grant. Net it is around S$6000 (if I'm not mistaken) for the whole undergraduate course. PRs and foreigners who agree to serve a 3 year bond with a Sg registered company also get the same grant.

CPF is 20% of salary up until a maximum cap of only S$900 a month. Any salary over and above 4500 is CPF free. Max employee portion of CPF is S$10800 a year. You get a tax deduction for CPF contributions, which means the net take home cashflow impact is less.

And if you're talking about staying short term in Singapore, new PRs have the option of only paying very low CPF contribution rates for the first 2 years.

If you don't become a PR, yes, you don't contribute max S$900/mth to CPF, but your employer also doesn't contribute their portion as well. So, you need to do your sums to see if losing the employer's portion is worth it to your individual situation. I've got friends in both camps.

The 55 year old limitation of withdrawals even after giving up PR, is dumb. I fully agree. And it only applies to West Malaysians, not East Malaysians nor any other nationality. But there is a loophole. It applies to Malaysians RESIDING in West Malaysia (not BORN in West Malaysia). That means if you get PR in Australia etc or get your home address in your IC & passport changed to an East Malaysian address, you can withdraw your CPF.

But at the end of the day, it's a moot point if you are deciding whether to work in Mys or Sg. You also can't withdraw your Malaysian EPF before you're 55. So what's the difference between having your money stuck in CPF or EPF until you're 55? Me, I'd actually trust CPF much more than EPF. At least they don't use CPF to bail out failing GLCs or political cronies.

In addition, in terms of pure net cash flow, my Sg after tax salary net of $900 CPF is still more than my Mys after tax salary net of EPF in absolute units (S$ vs RM) due to the fact there is no cap on EPF contribution, and the Mys tax rate is higher than Sg. And when you apply the 2.4X multiplier for exchange rates, the incentive is definitely there.

The 55 y.o. requirement for West Malaysians to withdraw CPF is not linked to the Malaysian nor Singaporean retirement age. Of course, the retirement age was the reference point when it was setup, but it is not linked. I've got a feeling that it will be lowered or abolished as more negotiations between Malaysia and Singapore progress.

You know, the S$500 required to open a bank account is just that... to open a bank account. After the account is open, you can withdraw it to spend. So that $500 shouldn't be on top of whatever youneed to spend eg rental, food etc.

But there is a minimum balance fee that's like a few $ per month, but it's not a big deal to pay it for a couple of months if your financial situation is so tight that you really cannot leave 500 balance in your bank account.

Anybody tried asking the company for a salary advance to help you settle in? For eg. 1/4 salary advance after you've worked 7 days and so on.

Some big 4 accounting firms give hiring allowances eg. dress allowance etc. Others might give relocation allowances to outstation hires.

Sure got, but then again, it depends on how much they want you lah. But doesn't hurt to ask your new boss.

I think all buses stop at least once for toilet break.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 1 2008, 08:19 PM

No lah, I don't think it's embarassing. It's just negotiation.

You don't tell them you're broke and you've got no money to buy food and toilet paper lah. You just say that you are newly relocating to the country and you want to know if the company is willing to help you with relocation costs and initial setup expenses.

This is actually a common thing that workers in Australia, EU and US negotiate for when they move from one job to another job.

When I moved to Singapore, I negotiated for 2 months serviced apartment stay instead of the 1 month initially offered, an appliances allowance (to buy fridge, washing machine etc) and also transport expenses during that period, which helped a lot as I could then afford to take taxis everywhere to do my immigration paperwork, viewing apartments for rent and to do all the shopping required to set myself up in a new country. The new company also paid for the KL-Sg air ticket and excess baggage charges.

Nothing more than the normal 1 month notice period and a firm handshake to seal a gentleman's agreement.

I actually received my employment pass without even submitting copies of my certs with the application form, much less the originals. I think as long as a company wants to hire you and is willing to vouch that you will be gainfully employed in Singapore, an employment pass will be issued.

It's when you apply for PR that the authorities become quite strict with your original certificates. I had to bring all the originals to an over-the-counter interview at the immigration dept before they approved my PR application.

Hmmm, I didn't know that. I assumed everyone who has a job and employer backing will get an EP.

It's entirely relevant I reckon. Working in Sg means a complete change of lifestyle, and food plays a big part of that lifestyle.

Taking on a job in a foreign land entails a lot of changes, and it's only logical that this thread discusses those changes, whatever they may be, including food.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 7 2008, 10:17 AM

Depends on what your standards of survival are. For me, I can't live with strangers and I can't live without aircond. So my rental + utilities is already $1500. So for me, cannot survive.

Yeah, Bus 138 from AMK Hub goes to the Zoo in Mandai... but it does take the better part of an hour. And it's only 15min from AMK to Orchard via MRT... if this qualifies as "far side of town" - then what the heck is Boon Lay, Changi, Jurong East or Punggol then?

If you live north of the city, then Novena, Toa Payoh, Bishan are the city suburbs. Then Bishan North, AMK, YCK are the inner suburbs. Beyond that, Khatib and Yishun are the outer suburbs and Woodlands is basically end of the line. Up until YCK, it takes no more than 20 minutes by MRT and 15 minutes by car (no jam lah) to get to Orchard.

Why so specific? You do not want to consider any other type of companies?

Sim Lim Square (2nd floor upwards) if you know your shit, and Funan IT Mall if you don't.

Funan has a promotional website as well, with directions and all. Should be able to find it quite easily on Google.

Singaporeans (citizens) and PRs are not allowed to drive non-Singapore registered cars (ie. Malaysian or Thai cars) in Singapore. If you want to drive into Singapore, you have to drive a Singapore car. Check out the traffic police website.

Basically there's cable, which is Starhub. That's available to all flats and condos built or refurbished after 1990 or something (I can't remember the exact year). Every home, no matter a Starhub customer or not, gets an active cable connection. Everyone connects their TV to this cable connection for the free-to-air TV channels.

Starhub has 2 types of cable broadband - monthly and pay-as-you-use. The monthly one is tied to a certain address etc. So when you move, you have to inform Starhub. It's about S$30-40 a month for the lowest bandwidth.

I was using the pay-as-you-use one previously. It's $2.50 a day and the account is linked to the modem MAC address only, which means you can just take the modem to any other flat, plug it in and start surfing. I usually only used it during weekends. Weekdays I go online at work. You pay by credit card / cash card.

Singtel also has ADSL broadband, just like Streamyx. But to use it, you must first have a telephone line. Since I already have a postpaid mobile phone with more than enough free call time, I find paying S$20 a month for a house phone which I will never use, simply unnecessary. So Singtel's broadband is out of the question for me. Plus tenants need to pay to reconnect the phone line (the previous tenant will always terminate the account or transfer the line to a new address).

I now use mainly mobile broadband on 3.5G / HSDPA. Just subscribe, get a simcard and Huawei or Samsung USB or PCMCIA modem (usually free when there's a promotion, like now!) from Singtel, Starhub or M1. My package is the lowest speed (1mbps) from Singtel, one year contract, S$22 a month but free 3 months.

Even at that speed, you can dl around 2-3GB a day using torrents (comparatively, you can dl 8-20GB a day using Starhub cable - sometimes cable is really, really fast - but that's only 10-20% of the time). But for some stupid reason, Singtel still comes with a 50GB cap (and they charge a ridiculous $0.0005 for each kb beyond that ie. S$500 per GB... and they do sue you for payment... so think carefully). Starhub and M1 are unlimited. I will switch after my contract expires this Christmas. I chose Singtel initially because it had the shortest contract (12 mths), 3 months free, free modem, free simcard, no other registration, administration or connection charges - during its Xmas promotion.

I like mobile broadband the best. With a laptop, there are really no wires. You can of course wifi with cable bb, using a router... but that's an additional S$100-200 for a router (which can pay for 6-12mths of subscription). And you can also use mobile bb outdoors. And of course, you don't have to inform anyone that you've changed address if you move somewhere else.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 28 2008, 01:21 PM