150K for a family of 2 enough
 

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...

Re: 150K for a family of 2 enough
 

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.

Re: 150K for a family of 2 enough
 

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!

Re: 150K for a family of 2 enough
 

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

Re: 150K for a family of 2 enough
 

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! :)