Singapore Expats

I am just wondering.

How much should I earn if I wanted to live in a condo cost around $5000 per month?
I have a wife and 2kids. The kids will be going to international shcool and we are hoping to have a car. And of course I want to save some money for our future too. We don't spend lots of money on food and clothes and other living cost.
If company wouldn't pay anything (like insuarance and all that) how much do I have to earn to make this happen?

Quick shot out of the box (per month):
$5,000 - house
$6,000 - school
$1,000 - car
$1,500 - food
$2,000 - etc

About $16,000 per month

Is your wife working? If not, add another 4000 to the 16k suggested by SE. That'll be 20k.

And to have savings, you should probably earn 25k.

Why a 5000 condo?

Do all the International Schools cost $6000 a months for 2 kids!?
That is far too much.

My wife is not working.
I just thought if I wanted to live in the central area most of condos will cost at least $5000 for 3 bed rooms, is that right?

wakkaw wrote:Do all the International Schools cost $6000 a months for 2 kids!?
That is far too much.

My wife is not working.
I just thought if I wanted to live in the central area most of condos will cost at least $5000 for 3 bed rooms, is that right?

The International Schools will cost from about S$20,000 to S$29,000 per year per student (Singapore American School at the high end). Divided by 12 you get S$3333 per month to S$4833 per month... and you will have additional costs including transportation, special events, and more. So maybe S$6,000 is a tad high but not by a whole lot. Plan for S$4,000 per month for tuition plus additional costs.

At least S$5,000 for condos in the central area... less as you move outward. New construction is being sold for S$700 per square foot and up... you do the math.

Don't know why a non-working wife would cost an extra 4 grand... I suppose it depends on what yours is like in terms of frugality.

Disclaimer: Below is only a possibility. It depends on what kind of lifestyle the person leads.

A non-working wife may cost 4000k:

Grocery/toiletries/household items for the family $250 a week = $1000
Eating out with girlfriends = $200
Buy books/hobby stuff to keep busy = $300
Buy this and that for the children = $1000
Spa, facial, manicure, pedicure = $500
Buy a dress or two for the social event, makeup, general shopping in the mall etc. = $1000
A happy wife = priceless

Of course these figures may sound exaggerated. Any leftovers from her expenses, I'm sure she will save or splurge on you or the kids.

And you surely want a happy wife while you're hard at work (maybe even long hours).

Irvine, the fact a wife is working or not won't change the fact that you'll need to spend 1000SGD/month for groceries and household. And tha'ts the same for the 1000SGD/month for the kids.

What do you try to say exactly?

I'm trying to say, if the wife is working, she will have her salary to pay for some expenses. If she's not working, she will need money to pay for the expenses. So hence, a husband may need to earn more so that the wife can have some money to use.

that's quite obvious...
What about the kids? If they don't work, the husband need to pay their expense too no? Same for the dog and the cat

singapore is a shopping paradise, so better set a budget for your wife's shopping and pampering expenses. so maybe jack it up to 30k/month.

wow.. $30k a month. That is alot. How many pairs of shoes and how many branded handbags do you need?
Apart from the kids expenses and groceries, i probably spend no more than $500 a month on myself.

Well, Imelda Marcos needed in excess of 3000 pairs of shoes so go figure?

The OP probably needs a bigger condo then if his wife is a shopaholic. All her 'things' won't fit. I am having trouble already ..

hence the OP is looking for a 5k condo and not a 1k HDB.

i wouldn't say that a $5k condo will that spacious... still a shoebox to what she is probably use to back in her home country.