Singapore Expats

Would like to hear experiences of expats who have migrated to Australia or Canada in recent times (after spending some years in Singapore) and how they feel about these countries compared to Singapore, especially kids education, lifestyle and career opportunities?

merlion88 wrote:Would like to hear experiences of expats who have migrated to Australia or Canada in recent times (after spending some years in Singapore) and how they feel about these countries compared to Singapore, especially kids education, lifestyle and career opportunities?

Australia - the complaints I hear of are high taxes and lack of opportunities.

Every Asian I know who migrated to Canada (excluding mail order brides) has never found a good job.

My cousin in Sydney tells me that taxes actually not all that high. There are lots of relief and rebates, like 1st child, 1st house etc and overall tax rate will be around 20% for his salary range. I don't know his salary but guessing it should be around 100K atleast.

The main differences are transportation, public transport is damn expensive and not as good as Singapore's. Cars are much cheaper and most people will drive or stay very close to office and ride a bicycle/walk.

Everything closes down at 5PM.

Im a PR in my early fourties, have a job that pays me over S$300k a year (the past 4 years). In a bad year it could potentially drop to S$225k. My expenses with kids in an International School, condo, travel, including income tax are S$180-200k a year. I have savings of S$2 million (including S$350k of CPF)

Id think if I lose my job, it maybe difficult to get another one in the same salary range in Singapore, in which case I'd need to move back to India.

What would you do if you were in my position? go with the flow and move back if things go wrong? or apply for a PR and move to Australia or Canada in the next few years, where I can easily afford to buy a house and a few cars upfront, take a back seat on my job and career though (it would be difficult to find a job there too perhaps a 50k variety), have my kids grow up in a more developed country set up (with its pluses and minuses), access to good school and college education, and possibly some level of retirement and medical benefits in my old age?

Would be nice to have your views.

merlion88 wrote:Im a PR in my early fourties, have a job that pays me over S$300k a year (the past 4 years). In a bad year it could potentially drop to S$225k. My expenses with kids in an International School, condo, travel, including income tax are S$180-200k a year. I have savings of S$2 million (including S$350k of CPF)

Id think if I lose my job, it maybe difficult to get another one in the same salary range in Singapore, in which case I'd need to move back to India.

What would you do if you were in my position? go with the flow and move back if things go wrong? or apply for a PR and move to Australia or Canada in the next few years, where I can easily afford to buy a house and a few cars upfront, take a back seat on my job and career though (it would be difficult to find a job there too perhaps a 50k variety), have my kids grow up in a more developed country set up (with its pluses and minuses), access to good school and college education, and possibly some level of retirement and medical benefits in my old age?

Would be nice to have your views.

Migrate for your kids sake or return home (India?) for a cheaper retirement.