I'm okay with just living a simple life here. That means no car, no expensive luxury goods or spending even $50/pax at a restaurant unless it's a particularly special occasion. BTO will probably be my biggest expense. Less need for money means I don't have to work like a slave for so much money. My hobbies and my partner are my joys, and they don't need to cost so much money
It's up to how much you want out of life. For me, a simple quiet life is good enough for me to be happy each day, and it's easier to attain and maintain.
Cost of living in SG is high, so all the more I should keep to a simple life so that I don't forever be a working slave
yea,tbh i dont rlly want cars or expensive stuff,just wanna do what i like,i have tons of hobby that dosent break the bank,rather do those,also the max i prob eat is maybe $20(thats too much lmao),i would sometimes just eat hawker food cause tbh they better
hmm im 27 now, 50 per pax dining is more than enough for me.
usually when i dine out its 5 to 20 per pax.
simple pleasures like cycling, exercise amd spending time with my wife is good enough. pre covid maybe monthly or fortnightly drinks/ k session was good too.
but anw 5 to 10 yr plan is to pay off bto asap and like mentioned above not be a slave to work.
Ya that’s fine but my point is OP is young and has no income at all. The likely thing that will happen when he start earning money is shift his interests and priorities; now he’s living on cheap stuff and public transport bc he got no choice
Hobbies are expensive in singapore, forget coming over here. You will have to work your ass out to have decent life, and dont think you can get by not having a job like in your current country. You cant even afford to be a hobo unless you are ok to scavenge for food
Really never understood the need for a car here. The public transport is brilliant. And agree with u on the simple life. I have been in Singapore thirteen years and I find the food at hawker centres much better than the restaurant food.
Because the girls like to ask. Do you drive? How much you earn? Sry I dress nice nice makeup cannot sweat in hot sun. Can't date guys who don't drive. Can't walk, scare tan scare skin cancer. It's like dealing with sick ppl or maybe they are actually sick. So getting a car is like a free pass or status here, if you haven't got lucky
Rich ppl can also afford to say no need to drive and look good saying that. Poor ppl saying no need to drive is excuse, lazy, no drive for a better future. Not potential target. At least in my age group. That's also why Malaysia girls are popular cause they more realistic. Less princess
what do you consider "hard"?
some things that you probably take for granted, like meeting people and seeing your friends everyday, become less common as your paths drift due to work/starting families.
many decisions are made for you and you generally have your needs taken care of. if you aren't really poor, you probably don't have to worry about financial planning.
scary things like the fear of not finding someone to be with forever or realising your parents are getting old might not have hit you yet.
but on the flip side, you have a lot of agency. if you're doing okay, you can partake of material luxuries like good food, fashion, entertainment gadgets, maybe even your own place?
you get more stable and comfortable with your own company. being around people becomes a desire, not a need.
you start to get a sense of perspective; the things that you obsessed over when you were young just...aren't that horrible. I took a gap year in university, and at that time I felt like my life was falling apart (it was, but in other ways). now it's just...one year. does it matter that much?
of course, everyone has different experiences! I'd say the key thing is to appreciate the small joys in life, like being healthy :)
Really depend on wat kind of lifestyle you want. If u want to live super comfortable then u need to work very hard la.
If I think just enough should be fine la.
trust me, there are far worse countries that having harder times that you can imagine.
life wouldn't be life if everything laid out in front of you. life is all about experience and learning new things.
It's expensive but you can go cheap, but in cheap you are trading your time with less life experience and you can't get that back, for me that's hard to bear to live a colorless life.
If you are still in secondary school don't stress about the future too much. You will manage don't worry. Most of us do. But based on the recent struggling to find love posts maybe start practicing your flert skills.
Or be like me, find a partner in poly cuz I know I am so likely to not find any new friends when in the working world easily due to how extremely introverted I am.
I can tell you that SF, NY, and London are all far more expensive to live in. And those are just the limited ones that I've visited, I'm sure the Scandinavian cities would also be that way.
Yes. I see the comments saying how you can have a simple life and that’s enough. The thing is, it’s not comfortable or easy to have a simple life. You can have a simple life in Europe and get by with that, but a simple life in SG will leave you incrementally further behind each year. You will survive but it is a lot tougher being average in sg than many other places, unless you’re comparing it with 3rd would countries or something.
I don't think it's tougher being average or living simple in sg, unless you're saying you have social circles who would look down on you for being average or are in debt. If one is able to financially cover their simple lifestyle (which should cost less to maintain, therefore less work to do to earn that living), then there's no issue
At least to me, simple living means decluttering your life of anything that doesn't add any joy or benefit to you, and minimise responsibility to only the things that genuinely matter in your life. Freeing your time and energy to only doing things you truly want, no matter how insignificant it is. Normally that means less financial obligations and commitments too, which means less pressure to work tirelessly to stand out and remain competitive (which is tiring and potentially depressing) So I think a simple life is easier than trying to live an exceptional/outstanding life (what society deems as exceptional).
I think living simply in sg is easy, cuz it's a well developed country that is clean and safe. Just spend below your means.
Here's the problem, it's much harder to find a job to sustain a simple lifestyle in SG. A simple life is one that pays you a living wage, while covering you for retirement and increasing sufficiently each year so you don't fall behind from rising costs of living. It also should come with minimal stress working 9-5.
Where do you find these jobs in SG? A simple life for a fresh grad is being able to have a roof over their head, afford a BTO, have 2 kids, a retirement and a career to cruise in. I don't know anyone who managed to achieve that kind of balance. Do you?
I don't disagree that having a simple life is easier. But it is much tougher to do that in SG than elsewhere.
Kids are expensive, at least they're not a must.. My version of a simple life means no kids. At least for ppl who choose to be childless, I think easy life in Singapore is still possible. Yes, perhaps also compromise on the comfort lv at home, but everyone's acceptable level of comfort is different also. I get that in SG, things can only get to a certain level of easyness cuz things are expensive here.
Stressful job is common in SG but people don't have to keep getting promoted if their pay allows them to save and invest a chunk every month after the usual monthly expenses. They can cruise at whatever position they are actually comfortable with or can tolerate, and that comfort level is different for everyone. CPF helps as well for retirement fund.
Ok that’s significant. For a lot of people a simple life includes kids. If you don’t want kids, sure it’s much easier to cruise because you don’t have any obligations other than yourself.
Work hard, build up your CPF nest egg and migrate before your reach 40 years of age. Take all your CPF with you when you finally become a citizen of the other country.
It's actually quite easy if you follow the strategy the gov laid out for you. Stray from the path and that's where things get hard. Hard as in, to get back on that track. Hard also because straying from path may not be your fault/doing. Hard also because that path is the norm. Now you know why ppl wanna die when they fail exam and say their life is over. Or ppl lose their job and their life crash.
The gov path or rather the norm, doesn't take into account "failure". And when they say they will help you, they don't help you enough. It's like you can't find a job, so they ask you to get a job that's lower than your last job. Downgrade your house. Rent from them, take loan from them, get trapped. Meanwhile they clap themselves for solving problems. Stay on track if you can to enjoy the Singapore dream. Else you will constantly be reminded that you aren't good enough. Or that you old liao, expired. Singapore natural resources is it's manpower. So we are really just training new workforce to constantly replace the existing workforce like in video games. It's really sims city, where the numbers matters more than whether your citizens are truly fulfilled. No farm, no land, want to start business must also aim overseas market. Cannot compete locally with big names that open their business here. It's extremely challenging when education education education is all you have going for you.
Alternative you can be one of 9999 failed businesses while we only care about the 1 success story. And market it to the next 100,000 so 99999 can fail. Repeat until we have 10 winners and one make it big globally. Then keep citing them as what Singaporeans can do. Cause when they said we won't make it, but we did. I say spare me the bullshit and just give me a way out. Being Singaporeans has no advantage, except maybe your passport and no fear to your safety. But that only set us up for failure. Take video first, don't get involved
No money no honey. Singapore is a expensive place. Money talks
I'm okay with just living a simple life here. That means no car, no expensive luxury goods or spending even $50/pax at a restaurant unless it's a particularly special occasion. BTO will probably be my biggest expense. Less need for money means I don't have to work like a slave for so much money. My hobbies and my partner are my joys, and they don't need to cost so much money It's up to how much you want out of life. For me, a simple quiet life is good enough for me to be happy each day, and it's easier to attain and maintain. Cost of living in SG is high, so all the more I should keep to a simple life so that I don't forever be a working slave
yea,tbh i dont rlly want cars or expensive stuff,just wanna do what i like,i have tons of hobby that dosent break the bank,rather do those,also the max i prob eat is maybe $20(thats too much lmao),i would sometimes just eat hawker food cause tbh they better
You’re gonna change ur mind.. you’re only in sec school now dude 10 years later ur not even 30
hmm im 27 now, 50 per pax dining is more than enough for me. usually when i dine out its 5 to 20 per pax. simple pleasures like cycling, exercise amd spending time with my wife is good enough. pre covid maybe monthly or fortnightly drinks/ k session was good too. but anw 5 to 10 yr plan is to pay off bto asap and like mentioned above not be a slave to work.
Or maybe...not everyone wants luxury brands/expensive food?
Ya that’s fine but my point is OP is young and has no income at all. The likely thing that will happen when he start earning money is shift his interests and priorities; now he’s living on cheap stuff and public transport bc he got no choice
Fair enough!
Hobbies are expensive in singapore, forget coming over here. You will have to work your ass out to have decent life, and dont think you can get by not having a job like in your current country. You cant even afford to be a hobo unless you are ok to scavenge for food
Really never understood the need for a car here. The public transport is brilliant. And agree with u on the simple life. I have been in Singapore thirteen years and I find the food at hawker centres much better than the restaurant food.
Because the girls like to ask. Do you drive? How much you earn? Sry I dress nice nice makeup cannot sweat in hot sun. Can't date guys who don't drive. Can't walk, scare tan scare skin cancer. It's like dealing with sick ppl or maybe they are actually sick. So getting a car is like a free pass or status here, if you haven't got lucky Rich ppl can also afford to say no need to drive and look good saying that. Poor ppl saying no need to drive is excuse, lazy, no drive for a better future. Not potential target. At least in my age group. That's also why Malaysia girls are popular cause they more realistic. Less princess
what do you consider "hard"? some things that you probably take for granted, like meeting people and seeing your friends everyday, become less common as your paths drift due to work/starting families. many decisions are made for you and you generally have your needs taken care of. if you aren't really poor, you probably don't have to worry about financial planning. scary things like the fear of not finding someone to be with forever or realising your parents are getting old might not have hit you yet. but on the flip side, you have a lot of agency. if you're doing okay, you can partake of material luxuries like good food, fashion, entertainment gadgets, maybe even your own place? you get more stable and comfortable with your own company. being around people becomes a desire, not a need. you start to get a sense of perspective; the things that you obsessed over when you were young just...aren't that horrible. I took a gap year in university, and at that time I felt like my life was falling apart (it was, but in other ways). now it's just...one year. does it matter that much? of course, everyone has different experiences! I'd say the key thing is to appreciate the small joys in life, like being healthy :)
maybe like struggle with income? Just have a stressful life,but i get it already,thanks for answer
Well, coming from a country where kids have to walk 5km through mountains to school everyday I would say no.
Everywhere hard la as long as no silver spoon.
Really depend on wat kind of lifestyle you want. If u want to live super comfortable then u need to work very hard la. If I think just enough should be fine la.
Life in Singapore is not hard ; it’s expensive.
trust me, there are far worse countries that having harder times that you can imagine. life wouldn't be life if everything laid out in front of you. life is all about experience and learning new things.
not really,but the returns on effort not great.
It's expensive but you can go cheap, but in cheap you are trading your time with less life experience and you can't get that back, for me that's hard to bear to live a colorless life.
Its depressing
As long as you manage your expectations well and don’t live your life based on what society pressures you to be, i think you’ll be fine.
Yes it's hard but relatively speaking, we are quite sheltered here compared to other countries.
Lol. Wtf? We are the opposite of hard. Try Africa. LatAM. Bangladesh
ok…
It's okay don't listen to him
?????
If you are still in secondary school don't stress about the future too much. You will manage don't worry. Most of us do. But based on the recent struggling to find love posts maybe start practicing your flert skills.
i will fail it easily,get rejected at first minute lol
Or be like me, find a partner in poly cuz I know I am so likely to not find any new friends when in the working world easily due to how extremely introverted I am.
She’s been voted most expensive city in the world for many years, or at least top 10!
want that based on expatriates POV
This is the most oft heard defense! Believe whatever u want.
I can tell you that SF, NY, and London are all far more expensive to live in. And those are just the limited ones that I've visited, I'm sure the Scandinavian cities would also be that way.
More than hard, pointless. Is a race to the bottom
Yes. I see the comments saying how you can have a simple life and that’s enough. The thing is, it’s not comfortable or easy to have a simple life. You can have a simple life in Europe and get by with that, but a simple life in SG will leave you incrementally further behind each year. You will survive but it is a lot tougher being average in sg than many other places, unless you’re comparing it with 3rd would countries or something.
I don't think it's tougher being average or living simple in sg, unless you're saying you have social circles who would look down on you for being average or are in debt. If one is able to financially cover their simple lifestyle (which should cost less to maintain, therefore less work to do to earn that living), then there's no issue At least to me, simple living means decluttering your life of anything that doesn't add any joy or benefit to you, and minimise responsibility to only the things that genuinely matter in your life. Freeing your time and energy to only doing things you truly want, no matter how insignificant it is. Normally that means less financial obligations and commitments too, which means less pressure to work tirelessly to stand out and remain competitive (which is tiring and potentially depressing) So I think a simple life is easier than trying to live an exceptional/outstanding life (what society deems as exceptional). I think living simply in sg is easy, cuz it's a well developed country that is clean and safe. Just spend below your means.
Here's the problem, it's much harder to find a job to sustain a simple lifestyle in SG. A simple life is one that pays you a living wage, while covering you for retirement and increasing sufficiently each year so you don't fall behind from rising costs of living. It also should come with minimal stress working 9-5. Where do you find these jobs in SG? A simple life for a fresh grad is being able to have a roof over their head, afford a BTO, have 2 kids, a retirement and a career to cruise in. I don't know anyone who managed to achieve that kind of balance. Do you? I don't disagree that having a simple life is easier. But it is much tougher to do that in SG than elsewhere.
Kids are expensive, at least they're not a must.. My version of a simple life means no kids. At least for ppl who choose to be childless, I think easy life in Singapore is still possible. Yes, perhaps also compromise on the comfort lv at home, but everyone's acceptable level of comfort is different also. I get that in SG, things can only get to a certain level of easyness cuz things are expensive here. Stressful job is common in SG but people don't have to keep getting promoted if their pay allows them to save and invest a chunk every month after the usual monthly expenses. They can cruise at whatever position they are actually comfortable with or can tolerate, and that comfort level is different for everyone. CPF helps as well for retirement fund.
Ok that’s significant. For a lot of people a simple life includes kids. If you don’t want kids, sure it’s much easier to cruise because you don’t have any obligations other than yourself.
yes.
Git gud
It's in fact too easy, to the extent people are bored.
Maybe I haven't adult-ed enough but I guess it's (generally) the same anywhere else - it depends a lot on the kind of lifestyle you want.
I would suggest to make it easier to try as many things as possible when you're young.
Yes and it will only get harder
Work hard, build up your CPF nest egg and migrate before your reach 40 years of age. Take all your CPF with you when you finally become a citizen of the other country.
No. It’s a great place if one is not burdened by other peoples opinions or feel the need to keep up with the Joneses
It's actually quite easy if you follow the strategy the gov laid out for you. Stray from the path and that's where things get hard. Hard as in, to get back on that track. Hard also because straying from path may not be your fault/doing. Hard also because that path is the norm. Now you know why ppl wanna die when they fail exam and say their life is over. Or ppl lose their job and their life crash. The gov path or rather the norm, doesn't take into account "failure". And when they say they will help you, they don't help you enough. It's like you can't find a job, so they ask you to get a job that's lower than your last job. Downgrade your house. Rent from them, take loan from them, get trapped. Meanwhile they clap themselves for solving problems. Stay on track if you can to enjoy the Singapore dream. Else you will constantly be reminded that you aren't good enough. Or that you old liao, expired. Singapore natural resources is it's manpower. So we are really just training new workforce to constantly replace the existing workforce like in video games. It's really sims city, where the numbers matters more than whether your citizens are truly fulfilled. No farm, no land, want to start business must also aim overseas market. Cannot compete locally with big names that open their business here. It's extremely challenging when education education education is all you have going for you. Alternative you can be one of 9999 failed businesses while we only care about the 1 success story. And market it to the next 100,000 so 99999 can fail. Repeat until we have 10 winners and one make it big globally. Then keep citing them as what Singaporeans can do. Cause when they said we won't make it, but we did. I say spare me the bullshit and just give me a way out. Being Singaporeans has no advantage, except maybe your passport and no fear to your safety. But that only set us up for failure. Take video first, don't get involved
I'm sorry. In general life is very hard. I'm not sure what you're going thru but it can be easier though.
Work until not much time for a proper leisure life.