Good point to note Most apartments and condos in SG are well taken care off


This argument has been debated before and I can assure you SGD 4500 is definitely able to achieve what RM 4500 can achieve.... dollar to dollar.. location (MY) to location (SG)..

Looks like you have no idea what is it like in SG... In my opinion even if the rental rates and property prices go another 100% increase (additional to the current hikes) the situation will still be the same

SG provides a "flexibility of lifestyle" situation for people living in SG. What i mean here is depending on your lifestyle or needs you can "adjust" accordingly.

At SGD 4500 if you're single you can stay in a SGD 400-500 dollar common room HDB apartment and drive a Beemer.

If living space if what's more important to you can try getting a good condominium and rely on public transportation.

Well look at the other things you can get... all electronic items costs much less in SG than in RM...e.g. PSP is RM 850+. in SG it's around SGD300+...

Going on holidays is another example.. Earn RM 4500 in MY you go phuket or bangkok.. Earn SGD 4500 you can afford to go HK or even Japan...


And the other point to note is you should never compare it in a way that a Malaysian settling down in SG. Malaysians who venture to SG will always have the "edge" over Singaporeans in a sense that the SGD is stronger than RM. Why? An example is Singaporeans may need to take care of their parents in SGD. Malaysians take care of their parents in RM.

If I'm working in SG, my parents medical bills come to me and if it's RM 10,000.. I would fork out LESS THAN one month of my salary of SGD 4500 = RM 10,350.... Work in MY, earn RM 4500 .. if you do the math, MORE THAN TWO FREAKING MONTHS !

akira got sale...
go c c look look...
planning to buy pillow coz i still dont have any pillow...

Akira not selling electrical item only ?
no pillow how to sleep? hahaha

well said.that the powerful of the strong currency.just like in US you can get a Porsche with just 45K+.eventhought you only get 2K USD salary,you still can afford to buy it rather than buy Viva here.

Interesting thread. I'm studying Pharmacy. Thinking of staying in Singapore (drug research and development) after studying or go back to Malaysia (bigger drug manufacturing industry)..

But a 1100sf apartment will cost 500K sing dollars, can 4500 sing afford to pay for the apartment ?

Please forgive me if I am wrong
I am not sure where u get the 500k value, may be is for private apartment??
If you are going for HDB, 4 rooms type HDB normally is around 1000sqt( getting smaller for new hdb).
For us non singaporean, we cannot buy from HDB thus we need get second hand from free market. The price is range from 200k-350k base on location. The price might be higher now due to the raises.

EDITED: I think apartment cost more than 500k in singapore. So the answer 4.5k cannot afford 500k apartment.


This post has been edited by jimmy79: Nov 30 2007, 03:04 PM

Have you forgotten currently the rental rate is pretty high in Singapore?
You can rent out some rooms with very good price to help to pay the repayment,
this is what most Singaporean do to afford to own a house.

Not agree with you, if I can afford a private apartment in singapore why would I share my apartment with other ppl?

my fren told me working in Singapore, the paids is sooooo good...work as clerk in Singapore earn much more than Degree in Malaysia..><" but the expenses is high, can say not much life at there...

My colleague rented one of his room to a johorean for few years... in his appt... Just to collect some $$ back.,. he this Johorean used to rent from him when he was staying in HDB... then shifted into private condo... at same rental .... now this johorean is in Sabah, became his restaurant partners.. ... things to happen..

yes, if you just compare floor space in SG and MY.. then nothing to say... just pricing alone more than .... no need to compare.. Its all other stuff that adds up .... and you don't just survive on living in a spacious house.. without anything isn't it? housing is even more EXP in HK, why so many people still staying and choose to live there? so its really other aspects of life that make lifes and living within needs anc comfort..

yes but if you're already have a set standard of living in Malaysia, you would expect it to be BETTER overseas. And 1100sf isn't really spacious for a family. In fact it's pretty cramped.

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Added on November 30, 2007, 7:26 pmAssuming got family and not wanting to rent out? You're talking from say a single person without any commitment point of view.


This post has been edited by Drian: Nov 30 2007, 07:28 PM

How about going into Singapore education line ? What I mean is teaching ?

How is it ? What qualification I need ?

I think you can find that in the press... sometimes. may even find it in MY press something like that... My MY classmate told me... even SG police force did that..

degree cert a must... and also as reported... .SG taking in top 30% degree holder to be teacher.. pay wise.. not bad I would say .... it has been more increase in $$$ for teachers and due to long "over look" career...

Can't tell you much though... except that training will be 2 yrs... before really teaching....

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Added on December 1, 2007, 12:52 amI do not know where is the basis of the arguement, obviously if you are working overseas, you will have to suit, adapt or whatever needed to adjust to the living conditions there.. even with family, you will do with whatever it takes... My friend, so many expats out there, some can .. like what you say, even have better standard of living with higher spending power especially drawing expat pay.. however, how many are there....

Many have to adjust... there are not amny people now on expat packages... not any more like the old days.. .most foriegners are on lcoal contract.. and therefore... to adap and adjust.. to the life style here... I have many foreign colleagues in my company, from Indian, Sri Lanka, MY, Philippines, Mynmar, Taiwan, China, Nepal, Australia, US, Canada, UK, EU, etc.. what about them.. Majority are on local contracts and some getting lower pay than what they get in their own country... They are surviving and...staying on their own, and many are driving cars....

My Nepalese colleagues is single and his parents are with him, he bought a 5 rm HDB and drives a newly bought car, have $$ to invest in SG stock....

By the way, if you are earning SG$ and and not wanting to settle down, you won't bother to buy houses, you only need a roof to shelter yourself.. most of the time, you will be working.. I know malaysians who shared a room with someone whom they met while working in SG... that helps with the rental and most times, he is working OT and earning $$$, bring back to MY... to him, he can enjoy his life when he is back in MY for holidays and visitation... he said worth the effort... though he is not earning a lot here.. but enough for him compared to what he gets and save, spend in MY.. nothing left or little spending power

This post has been edited by bbmars: Dec 1 2007, 12:52 AM

You all have valid arguments on the issue, but it all boils down to what you consider to be a comfortable living.

The thing is, for most people who came from Malaysia, space is a very important criteria for comfort, and this is one thing that Singapore doesn't have much of.

However, if you can put aside the 'pressure cooker' crampiness feeling of Singapore and settle for a 'very' small living space, you may be able to have a slightly higher standard of living in Singapore for SGD 4500.


I do warn you guys coming over, that there is a great temptation to spend in Singapore. Technology is more advance here, everyone change phones and buy gadgets a lot. You might end up spending more than you want to if you get caught up. When the culture around you is like this, you will tend to follow it.

Btw, my annual income 2007 is about SGD50k. I can tell you that I will be living a much more comfortable life(in my opinion of comfort) in KL with RM50k than in Singapore.

This post has been edited by htennek: Dec 1 2007, 02:52 AM

Beside the advance technology, i think the currency play a role as well because the gadjet take up small percentage of ur salary only. Example a normal PC cost Rm3k but here cost SGD1.5k. you will think to buy it because you "feel" it is much more cheaper.

i use baju as my pillow lo...
make a stack of it...
muahahaha

Temptations are always there... I hardly been affected by this except maybe year end,... allwo myself to spend a little more. I also have to keep up with technology, but I am not into such things unlike some of my friends... also depends on your sustainable life style.. A colleague of mine earning ~3k/mth, not married and staying with his parents, used to go holiday every yr to places like Japan, EU.. of late, he decided not to travel but save $700/mth for insurance alone in CASH.. He is still living his normal life of carefree and spend as he wants... Of course, he is not the spend thrift type except only on things he love.. electronics gedget. However he still spending, according to him, still can survive comfortibly...

As for PC, you can go Sim Lim Sq and asked for OEM.. 1 PC set up without monitor cost ~$400.. not referring to low end type mid range typical set up but pay more if you want superb type ~$700.. no need pay $1500... Given that, who won't want to spend.. temptations ... always there.. Even SGTel and StarHub, the 2 biggest Teclo companies in SG are offereing free laptop and desktop with their broadband subscription.. By comparision with MY, $ for $, SG is definitely much cheaper... imagine paying ~$45 for 7Mbps/mth and you get a free desktop worth $1500 Pc from I think HP, or some reputed brand.. if you aren't choosy, like me, I am using 10Mbps paying ~$73/mth bundle with hp line, comes with $200 voucher and Samsung CAM corder FOC.... imagine paying for 1Mbps RM77 in MY (was in another thread just this week in LYN about subscription fee)

But again... in SG, many people as they claimed, even market analysts & economists too.. eyeing SG pie for retail and spending as the people simply have too much CASH to disposed.... Given that scenerio?.. temptations is really very high and almost everyone is in the mode of spending.... Given that kind of remarks.. Don't you think this SUCKERS also have some point in what they had written about the spending power of working in SG and the cost and cost index ?

Heh...SingTel's 6mbps plan was offering Wii for a total of 6 days last week hehe.