Better life-style in Singapore compared London?

[sundaymorningstaple]

People on this site love to blow smoke about their packages. How many of them can back up their claims is another story. I take them all with a grain of salt.

[amiee40]

oh jeeze, this is going to sound so Singaporean like... I know a place that sells $1.80 chicken rice... hahah.. yeah i guess you get what you pay for, lots of rice and a few pieces of bones.
But my local HDB stalll does a nice one for $2.50...

[julietzhuye]

Carla:
I just moved to Singapore from London and I would say food and transportation are definitely cheaper than London, the rent goes a little bit higher though, but the quality is not too bad.
I came here of course for career development and escape the weather from London, but one thing I didn't expect is the English accent as well as Chinese accent here are quite different and a little bit difficult for me to adjust to at the ver beginning. There are a lot of variety of food at affordable price, but European style food are still quite expensive comparatively.

[nakatago]

oh jeeze, this is going to sound so Singaporean like... I know a place that sells $1.80 chicken rice... hahah.. yeah i guess you get what you pay for, lots of rice and a few pieces of bones.
But my local HDB stalll does a nice one for $2.50...

At least there's rice! But seriously, hawker centre near my work has 2.50 chicken rice. Decent serving portions too, but then again that hawker centre is really cheap.

I take them all with a grain of salt.

on the mountain of rice? to make up for the lack of chicken?

[durain]

but European style food are still quite expensive comparatively.

no la, still can get it cheapo at food court like fish & chips, chicken/ pork/ lamb chop and even banger & mash. unfortunately, havent found jellied eels yet .

[thefurz]

Rent: Singapore is probably more expensive for a similar standard of property.

Perhaps in terms of living space, but in Singapore you don't have to deal with 100+ year-old badly maintained, drafty Victorian houses with moldy carpets, and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to have a plumber drop in to fix something.

So overall I would say the costs are about the same as the UK but factor in the much lower income tax and I would say you may be slightly better off. Your lifestyle will change as well so nights out drinking alcohol will be substituted for cheaper events!

Costs are about the same if you insist on living precisely the same lifestyle (Western food and lotsa booze in fancy bars) as in London. The more local you get, the cheaper life in Singapore is.

True. Although I forgot to mention aircon service costs...

An example of your second comment: we now buy oyster mushrooms rather than button. 1/3 of the price!

[EADG]

Keep in mind the exchange rate, for some of us the money we make here means less than from where we came. Hurts when traveling.

[Heart]

To put it in a better light Singapore is number 11 on the quality of life rankings, the UK is number 29

WIN! above all, security is the best!

[aster]

To put it in a better light Singapore is number 11 on the quality of life rankings, the UK is number 29

WIN! above all, security is the best!

Don't pay attention to these sorts of rankings, the last time I gave them a look it was some cold, Scandinavian, socialist country with draconian alcohol laws (not to mention prices) that grabbed the top spot.

I can't name 5 better countries to live in than the UK, let alone 28... LOL! Having said that the same applies to Singapore. Both are definitely in my Top 5.

[EADG]

Enough perhaps, but that average can be misleading in this context, and depends what you are comparing it with from what standard of living one is coming from.

That's Y838,898 / month, while not poverty level there, it's not exactly thriving either, especially with a family. I certainly would not want to live there on that.

Is 13K enough? Huh? That is almost double the average household income in Tokyo. I don't mean to be mean, but seriously, if you are earning double the avg. household salary of the most expensive place in the world and living in Singapore you are probably going to be OK. I don't know what your "needs" are but I think you will probably have enough.

[QRM]

Its all relative. A while back in the UK an article came out saying in order to have an "Comfortable" family lifestyle in Central London. ie A decent three bedroom flat in a good area, two new cars you change every 4 years, a couple of nice family holidays a year, decent schooling/activities for two kids and a family club membership the parents needs to earn at least 250,000 pounds a year before tax.

[jaypee]

I slightly exaggerated. The median household income in Tokyo is 7mil yen a year. Double being 14mil and at 64 yen to the Sdollar you end up with around 18k Sdollars monthly. Either way, median means that half of the households earn more and half less. Doubling that would put you into a very high top percentile, being that the income disparity is very small in Japan. Obviously everyone has different expectations of lifestyle and family situations so mileage will vary.

But honestly speaking double the median income in any location is probably considered "thriving".

Cheers

[quote="EADG"]Enough perhaps, but that average can be misleading in this context, and depends what you are comparing it with from what standard of living one is coming from.

That's Y838,898 / month, while not poverty level there, it's not exactly thriving either, especially with a family. I certainly would not want to live there on that.

[Teckie]

My thoughts on London-Singapore costs comparison:

Rent: Singapore is probably more expensive for a similar standard of property.

Eating out: hawker centres are cheap $5ish so yes you can eat out more. Restaurants are probably the same price as London.

Buying food: Cold storage is probably the Sainsburys of Singapore so not the cheapest but I would say a bit more expensive than the UK. Buy "western" foods and brands it it will be even more expensive.

Transport: buy a car and the costs shoot up. It is easy to survive on public transport and taxis - cheaper than London.

Alcohol - more expensive in Singapore. £7 a pint! Small can of tiger £1.40.

Recreation: 100 balls at driving range £2.70. Squash court £3.

So overall I would say the costs are about the same as the UK but factor in the much lower income tax and I would say you may be slightly better off. Your lifestyle will change as well so nights out drinking alcohol will be substituted for cheaper events!

Weather - this splits opinion. I miss seasons and a bit of cold! Walking isn't really done and it an get a bit tedious living in an aircon world. Saying that it is nice to sit outside any time of the year without the need for a blanket!

I must say that having lived in Singapore all my life - and spending the last 3 years in London, and now being back in Singapore - I think this is the most accurate view thus far. Singapore is expensive in certain ways and cheap in certain ways. I think the work-life balance in Singapore is worse than London, no questions about it.

[Vaucluse]

I can't name 5 better countries to live in than the UK, let alone 28...

Easy, just choose the first 28 out of an alphabetical order . . .


1 Afghanistan
2 Akrotiri
3 Albania
4 Algeria
5 American Samoa
6 Andorra
7 Angola
8 Anguilla
9 Antarctica
10 Antigua and Barbuda
11 Argentina
12 Armenia
13 Aruba
14 Ashmore and Cartier Islands
15 Australia
16 Austria
17 Azerbaijan
18 Bahamas, The
19 Bahrain
20 Bangladesh
21 Barbados
22 Bassas da India
23 Belarus
24 Belgium
25 Belize
26 Benin
27 Bermuda
28 Bhutan
29 Bolivia


Well, besting Afghanistan isn't difficult.