Singapore Expats

Hi !

I am negotiating a manager position in Singapore. I am PhD in Biotechnology with 9 years experience after PhD. I was offered S$ 6000 + S$ 1200 per month with other generic medical benifit.

I am married and have one school going kid. Currently I draw INR 60,000 per month in India and spend minimum 10% of it only on medical expense from some medical problems of my family members.

I am habit of eating out and spending in luxyry items. I am looking for fully furnished 2 bed room condo n good locality and admission of my son in good Indian/ International School.

Is this offer of S$ 7200 OK ? How much of it I can save considering my lifestyle and medical expenses.

Have you done a search?

$7200 is not a bad salary for the position mentioned with your qualifications.

I have a friend who's also from India, a Ph.D and working as a research associate for a government related agency. He draws around $6k per month including everything.

He lives in Chua Chu Kang (far from City), as it is near his work place and considerably cheaper in terms of living costs. He used to live in a condo, now switched to HDB (public housing).

He sends his daughter to Kidzee, a Kindergarten from India.

I guess you would have a similar or slightly better lifestyle with $7200 per month.

Having said that, a 2 bedroom in a good locality sets you back at least $5k per month. International School costs anywhere between $1000-$3000 per month depends on the school and level of study.

If your family is covered under company's medical benefits, you would be fine. Otherwise, you have to buy some sort of medical insurance for your dependants. Medical costs for Non-Residents (Non Citizens and Non-PRs) are not cheap. Last week, I paid $1800 for my son who was hospitalized for 3 days.

If you eat out most of the time and wish to continue spending on avoidable expenses, you might have to live on a check to check basis.

metroguy wrote:Having said that, a 2 bedroom in a good locality sets you back at least $5k per month.

That's definitely on the high side these days, unless you insist on living in Orchard or something. Presumably your lab will be western Singapore (one-north, by any chance?), where rentals are also much more reasonable than in the city core. Staying in HDB public housing will be cheaper yet.

Salary seems quite low (in North american standards); but im not too familiar with the biotech industry in Singapore.

A 2 bedroom in a good area here will def. be 5k sgd +

Also, im not too sure what your definition of luxury items are, and "international" school. I went to an "international school" in Singapore and we were paying 15-20k usd a yr.

You should first decide how far your willing to live from downtown and the business center.

We just signed up a beautiful, spacious 2 bedroom condo with 1000 sq feet for $2600/mth. It is on the East Coast, District 15.

You can easily get a good condo on the Upper East Coast for this price. I think its a great area, but others may find it not convenient for their work.

Condos are renting for about 20% less than the advertised price right now. Its a renters market.