sophwill

Hi all,

I am sure this has been asked many times but would appreciate your honest feedback. I have an offer for 150K. Is this enough for me and my family - 2 kids - one 8 and one 4. I plan on putting my oldest into private school and renting condo east side for 3-3.5K?

How far is east from main city centre by bus - thinking of both my travel and my daughters.

My youngest will be in local nursery school but will also need to think about putting him into school next year...

ex reg

I'd say probably OK but borderline.
Depends on schooling costs which can be exhorbitant.

You might be on the low side for rent. Guessing you'll need at least 3 bdrm.

Find schools first.
Then your accom.

Is 150k after tax?

See any answers will have toguess a lot on the info you've provided.

xizzles

Hi sophwill, welcome to the forum. As what ex reg said, $150K would be plenty, but with a private school-going child this year and possibly another the next, it'll be cutting it a bit close. What we don't know is whether housing/school fees/transport allowances/travel expenses (tickets home, for example) and taxes are included or separate from the $150K you mentioned - because those can add up dreadfully quickly!

Good luck!

sophwill

this is post tax but not including any bonus. No trips home or school fees but insurance should be covered.

xizzles

Well, let's do a rough calculation based on what you've said thus far:

Taking UWC Tampines (East Campus) as an example, you'll be looking at about $12,000 per term per child ($36,000 per annum) - the source is here.

As for rental, I'd probably say $3,500 would be a tad optimistic. Will you be using a helper? If so, I reckon you will realistically be looking at a 4-room apartment (one for you/your spouse), one each for the kids (or they could share), one for the helper and perhaps one for well-meaning guests from home when they come visit. A 3-bedder might just be adequate if you don't mind a bit of a squeeze.

I'd budget at least $5,000 per month for rental.

You add the cost of groceries, transport (public/taxis) and utilities up, and I reckon a conservative figure would be $1,000 per month, a realistic one probably closer to $2,000 per month (my average utility bill is about $400/month - the damn humidity makes it so hard to breathe without the A/C!)

So, 2 kids (one in UWC for the sake of our discussion), the other in a local nursery (without subsidies, you'll be looking at $1,000/month in fees for that), a decent sized 3 to 4 room apartment, living expenses and maybe a live in helper - that comes up to $132,000 in outgoing costs per annum.

Edited to include the link to where I quoted the figure of $1000/month for nursery costs: here

Hopefully, your company pays you a whopping fat bonus at the end of every year!