Singapore Expats

Hi Everyone,

Just your basic question regarding remuneration package...I am a single professional woman relocating to SP possibly for a management position with a medical group. I have 13+ yrs experience in my field. Is this a good/decent offer?

Annual in US $50,000
Medical/Surgical Provided by employer, as well as housing & transport 100%. Not sure how much housing allowance is yet but I know my rent for the area I want to be in will be 3500 SGD. Is this a good offer? I feel it's very low compared to my US salary etc. Any thoughts/advice would be great. Thxxxx

You should be able to survive on that package but your are not going to have lots of fun. Find out how much your housing allowance is before moving on with anything. If you have to pay additional rental costs out of your 50k salary you could struggle. Also find out if the company pays utility bills and everything in relation to your accomodation. Furthermore make sure you double and treble check the medical insurance as some of them are poor to say the least. Expect to draw up additional medical insurance on top of it if it is a normal standard Singapore insurance.

Fortan wrote:You should be able to survive on that package but your are not going to have lots of fun. Find out how much your housing allowance is before moving on with anything. If you have to pay additional rental costs out of your 50k salary you could struggle. Also find out if the company pays utility bills and everything in relation to your accomodation. Furthermore make sure you double and treble check the medical insurance as some of them are poor to say the least. Expect to draw up additional medical insurance on top of it if it is a normal standard Singapore insurance.

Govt hospitals housing allowance is pretty much fixed at 800 $ a month

if she is going to work in a hospital, medical is comprehensive, again ..

All outpatient, and sugery with an excess of 3000$, rest fully paid by insurer.

NYCbaby wrote:Hi Everyone,

Just your basic question regarding remuneration package...I am a single professional woman relocating to SP possibly for a management position with a medical group. I have 13+ yrs experience in my field. Is this a good/decent offer?

Annual in US $50,000
Medical/Surgical Provided by employer, as well as housing & transport 100%. Not sure how much housing allowance is yet but I know my rent for the area I want to be in will be 3500 SGD. Is this a good offer? I feel it's very low compared to my US salary etc. Any thoughts/advice would be great. Thxxxx

If its very low compared to your US salary then its a no go. Bear in mind that cost of living here is higher than US and unless you get a higher salary you will struggle. If you have a choice, dont accept it.

Before you do anything look at the total net in your pocket of your US income and your projected Singapore income (taking into account the tax differential).

You should already be aware of your US tax liability, If your total gross income in Singapore is less than 95,100 USD (approx 118K SGD) You can possibly avoid the majority, if not all of your US tax bill if your only income is from earned income.

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page01.aspx?id=88

The above link should give you all the information you will need to estimate you tax liability in Singapore. Singapore tax rates are extremely low so you may well have more disposable income even on a lesser salary.

If you are coming for the international experience then good. But if you are looking to make money, then unless you get at least a 20% uplift from your US salary, I'd walk away from it.

Wd40 wrote:

NYCbaby wrote:Hi Everyone,

Just your basic question regarding remuneration package...I am a single professional woman relocating to SP possibly for a management position with a medical group. I have 13+ yrs experience in my field. Is this a good/decent offer?

Annual in US $50,000
Medical/Surgical Provided by employer, as well as housing & transport 100%. Not sure how much housing allowance is yet but I know my rent for the area I want to be in will be 3500 SGD. Is this a good offer? I feel it's very low compared to my US salary etc. Any thoughts/advice would be great. Thxxxx

If its very low compared to your US salary then its a no go. Bear in mind that cost of living here is higher than US and unless you get a higher salary you will struggle. If you have a choice, dont accept it.

If the housing is fully covered andthey are getting the equivalent of $50000 US on top as salary then there wont be any remote chance of struggle unless they are an alcoholic smoker with a penchant for steak.

Barnsley wrote:

Wd40 wrote:

NYCbaby wrote:Hi Everyone,

Just your basic question regarding remuneration package...I am a single professional woman relocating to SP possibly for a management position with a medical group. I have 13+ yrs experience in my field. Is this a good/decent offer?

Annual in US $50,000
Medical/Surgical Provided by employer, as well as housing & transport 100%. Not sure how much housing allowance is yet but I know my rent for the area I want to be in will be 3500 SGD. Is this a good offer? I feel it's very low compared to my US salary etc. Any thoughts/advice would be great. Thxxxx

If its very low compared to your US salary then its a no go. Bear in mind that cost of living here is higher than US and unless you get a higher salary you will struggle. If you have a choice, dont accept it.

If the housing is fully covered andthey are getting the equivalent of $50000 US on top as salary then there wont be any remote chance of struggle unless they are an alcoholic smoker with a penchant for steak.

Yeah, I agree. I didnt mean struggle as in difficult to make ends meet. As salaries are always relative and OP in her own words says the salary is "very low" compared to her US salary and given the higher cost of living, she isnt getting a good deal.

Sounds low to me.

Barnsley wrote:If the housing is fully covered andthey are getting the equivalent of $50000 US on top as salary then there wont be any remote chance of struggle unless they are an alcoholic smoker with a penchant for steak.

Hospitals fully covering housing ? Not that I know everything, but unless a person come in on a C Level , Never heard of it ..

ecureilx wrote:

Barnsley wrote:If the housing is fully covered andthey are getting the equivalent of $50000 US on top as salary then there wont be any remote chance of struggle unless they are an alcoholic smoker with a penchant for steak.

Hospitals fully covering housing ? Not that I know everything, but unless a person come in on a C Level , Never heard of it ..

Like I said.........

If

Honestly for a 13 years experience................$50K is pretty low I would think. Further to this, considering, its a management position.

In the event that you are given no housing allowance, as I understand quite a number of employers in Singapore are cutting back on such schemes together with the increase in the influx of foreigners from Europe moving into Singapore recently, I doubt you can survive on that package paying a $3.5K monthly rental.

Whether its lower or higher than what you obtain in the US really depends on the net disposable income after adjusting for taxation and housing rental (rental in Singapore is heck lot more expensive in the US I would believe), and while food may be cheaper than in the US, that is only cause you may be eating at Hawker Stalls 5 days a week, as long as you are willing to stomach the crude taste.

livingontheedge wrote:Honestly for a 13 years experience................$50K is pretty low I would think. Further to this, considering, its a management position.

In the event that you are given no housing allowance, as I understand quite a number of employers in Singapore are cutting back on such schemes together with the increase in the influx of foreigners from Europe moving into Singapore recently, I doubt you can survive on that package paying a $3.5K monthly rental. .

err .. did you read again ?

Hospitals do provide accomodation allowance, limited to 800$ or so ..

And management - not = TOP management .. so .. i would hold my horses ..

Provided that accommodation is fully covered, and seeing that TS stays in NYC, relative to her location i would think that the cost of living in Singapore is actually more affordable and TS would certainly live very comfortably and still have savings at the end.