scrubbedexpat094

Hello!

My OH & I have been living in New Zealand for the past 7+ years & have citizenship, however due to a takeover my OH is likely to be made redundant in the next 6 months. We are trying to look at this as an opportunity & not a threat & as there's only the two of us the world is our oyster (we hope).

So Singapore (along with Aussie & Dubai) is one of the countries we are looking at as a possibility for a few years.

OH is a Senior Procurement Professional with over 25 years of experience in the profession and is a FCIPS. He wants to target his CV to recruitment companies rather than use a scattergun approach. Names of companies would be great thanks. Obviously he knows Hays recruitment as he has used them in the past.

I presume most expats rent a property, so we would probably rent out our house in NZ (though would sell up if we end up in Oz!).

What would a good salary be for a comfortable life in Singapore? I realise that this is a subjective question but we like to eat out & have a drink or two, go to the theatre. Go abroad for a holiday & be able to get back to the UK if necessary. I like clothes shopping though don't do much of this in NZ as the clothes are very cheap & crap or expensive & crap . Nothing like M&S, Monsoon etc. here

I haven't worked for the past 5 years in NZ for various reasons. I am a qualified midwife & also a qualified home economist. I'm not looking to work as either in Singapore but wondered what training opportunities are available or other sorts of work. Can you point me in the direction of useful websites please?

Obviously need to look into visas as well. Healthcare, housing etc.

We have been to Singapore but only for a few days 4 years ago. We liked it, though the large number of people will take some getting used to after life in NZ. My recent stopovers at Changi airport in the last few weeks weren't very useful to my fact-finding mission but were good for emptying my pockets! I love that airport.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me. I'm gradually reading through some other threads to get an idea of life out there.

bakedbean

Hi Vital . Sorry to hear about your OH's impending redundancy. That's a bummer.

I don't know how easy it would be to tap into the Singapore market. Probably ExReg may be able to give you some pointers as he is based there. Hopefully he'll be along soon.

We still travel down to Singapore now and again for a few days. It's a very expensive place these days...though I believe NZ is too?

Drinks can be expensive. Eating out...pricewise you can pay anything much like London. It doesn't have to be so expensive if you know where to go.

Great for holidays as there's so many interesting destinations just a short flight away from Changi...and you will find neighbouring countries way cheaper.

Work wise ....has your OH considered Malaysia? Another thought.

ex reg

bb keeps asking me to reply when I'm very very busy

Without specifics I'd guess you'd require S$10k pm plus to live comfortably.
That's including accommodation.

A lot more than that if you intended to buy a car and probably S$3k a month more if you were gonna lease or hire a car.

bakedbean

But I thought you were on the BE payroll

Forgot about cars... Singapore is the most expensive country to own a car...it's official. But you don't particularly need one. When we lived there we managed fine without one** you've got the MRT (underground trains) and bus routes and plenty of taxis.

**At heavy monsoon times you can't get a taxi for love nor money.

scrubbedexpat094

Many thanks BB & Ex reg. It is a bit of a bummer but I'm sure we'll be okay in the long run (for a born pessimist that's quite good for me ).

OH has registered with some recruitment sites in Singapore, Oz & Dubai. For some reason Singapore is my favourite location. I guess because the place seems so vibrant, would I be right or am I delusional?

I feel like I'm just waiting to die in NZ, I rarely see friends and the highlight of my week is the local Wednesday night quiz. I've struggled to get training to embark on a new career despite being reasonably well qualified (the Kiwis seem to be very specific in their qualifications & don't appear to take transferable skills into account). So I'm really frustrated living here.

Spent the weekend doing some research on accommodation etc.. Don't think I want to spend S$25k on a condo!!! I know there are some more reasonable options. Not looked at the price of cars as yet but did look at the price of goods in the supermarket. Not too dissimilar to NZ prices apart from WINE . I'll need to import it in cases. Must look up import duty.

Also need to investigate health insurance or is there a public health scheme?

scrubbedexpat094

BTW, hadn't thought of Malaysia BB but I guess anywhere is possible. Just never been there, mind you, I hadn't been to NZ before we emigrated here.

ex reg

FYI the results of a recent survey stated Singapor was the most expensive place to live in the world. Of course all these surveys are flawed.

The one thing missing or expensive in Super markets and wet markets here is good meat. Supermarkets don't really have it. And the specialist butchers are expensive.
Plenty of choice for fish and seafood and it's good quality.

Import tax on wine will mean it's just as expensive but at least you can get what you like.

If you pay into CPF scheme when you are working, you have to be a Permanent Res or Citizen to do that, and your employer has to pay double the amount into your scheme that you do, then you can use part of the sum to offset medical costs. Otherwise you pay what you use for medical and dental.

There is a lot of choice of things to do, places to see, places to eat in Singapore.

As a rule of thumb, many think that the cost of living in Malaysia is half that of Singapore.

bakedbean

Good post by ex Reg....would agree with all of that.

Yes, generally speaking, Malaysia is much cheaper than Singapore...err except booze still expensive. Malaysia is a food producing country so you'll get good meats and veggies and fruits at reasonable cost.

However.....would be recommended to see if you actually like the country first. It is not Singapore. KL (Kuala Lumpur) where you're most likely to find work ...well, folks seem to love it or hate it. I'm not a KL fan myself.

scrubbedexpat094

That's bad news about the meat. NZ beef is so good. On my recent trip back to the UK I rated the steak I ate as average to shocking. Looks like buying steak will be a real treat in Singapore. I shall have to eat more fish - good job I like it.

I'm a little sceptical of such surveys as it can depend on so many factors & doesn't always apply across the board. Surveys like that appear for Auckland too.

OH & I pay for Health Insurance in NZ though there is a public health system for emergencies & some procedures. We pay for seeing the GP & for some medications & prescription charges. A visit to the dentist is very expensive.

So swings & roundabouts I guess. OH's salary is likely to be much higher there than he's on in NZ (we are a low-wage economy but taxed on every $ earned).

I'm continuing to read through threads & using Google.

Thanks for your help so far

scrubbedexpat094

Think we'll stick with places we've been first. If we do get to Singapore then we will be able to explore Malaysia for ourselves. I'll bring you a bottle of NZ Sav blanc BB.

bakedbean

Now you're talking

Talking of tax..... you cannot fault the tax system in Singapore. Lovely low income tax...which actually allowed us to,retire early ....something we hadn't intended to do, so thank you PM Lee

Trying to remember.....there used to be a Thank You on the bottom of the Singapore tax bill...something like Thank you for contributing to Singapore. Or something like that...exReg would know I'm sure. You'd never get that in the UK, would you? Thanks for paying Stupid percent tax

scrubbedexpat094

That's lovely on a tax bill. Feel that in the UK & NZ it would read "We tried to screw you for more but have been unable to in this financial year. We hope to do better next year."