- SGD 2,400/month for 80 sqm, 2 beds, on the other side of the hedge from the Istana (the Presidential residence). Mango tree outside the window. Couple of hornbills live in the neighbourhood. A further SGD 150/month for electricity and water. Managed building, so everything is new and works and can get replaced free if it breaks. I know people paying less to live in landed houses but they are very good at searching. Rents drop fast outside the centre; I saw a 120sqm 4 bedroom in Bukit Panjang (~1h from CBD by MRT, 20 minutes Uber) which was going for SGD 1,500/month in 2014.
You can also pay over SGD 15,000/month for a super penthouse in the best condo; there's quite a bit of demand for these because Americans with a high enough salary can offset their tax bill with it, so instead of giving it to the IRS they live lavishly.
- SGD 400/month for food including frequent "nice" restaurants (sometimes every night). This is helped by going to wet markets instead of supermarkets (in my case Tekka Market just down the road). I could probably cut that to SGD 50-100 by cooking every meal or eating only in hawkers (SGD 2-4/meal).
- SGD 200/month on Uber, mostly out of laziness. The MRT is ultra cheap (SGD 0.8 a short ride, maybe 1.2 for a 1h ride) and about as fast but requires an extra 5-10 minutes walk both ends. The 25 minutes ride from the airport to my flat cost me SGD 17 last night at 3am with a 2 minutes ETA.
- SGD 40/month for health insurance, this is for AIA gold max whatever (I asked for the best coverage they had) although only covers hospitalisation. Wife has corporate insurance which covers me, so GP visits etc. are free anyway.
- around SGD 500/month for flights. Both the yearly/bi-yearly flight home (usually around 1,000 return) and the various trips to Sydney, Tokyo, etc. which at the moment are every month (around 200 return, thanks budget airlines!). I typed my original comment from Sydney. I think I spent almost 50% of the year abroad in 2016.
- I "get back" around 1.5 extra rents thanks to the ultra low income tax rate (between 4-8% for a typical developer salary).
As far as I know, I could not get that quality of life for that money whilst being as central in any of New York, Sydney, Paris, Geneva, Zurich (maybe just, because of the high salaries), London or LA. I think it was doable in Berlin when I was last there (2010 or thereabouts) but have heard of skyrocketing prices since; also, Berlin is damn cold in winter. It's probably doable in secondary US cities like Chicago. I'm not familiar with SF but based on the rents I've seen, it's definitely not doable there.
Costs skyrocket when you have children if by then you do not have PR; in particular, the frequent pickups and drop-offs mean you either need to buy a car (which costs more than an American house) or take a lot more Ubers. House prices are comparable to capital cities in countries with equivalent GDP per capita; if you can't afford a flat in New York, Paris or London, you can't afford it in Singapore.
It's also quite expensive to drink due to high alcohol taxes. In my experience France, Italy and Spain and perhaps Germany are cheaper; the UK and the US are about the same. If alcohol is important to your social life, that can also rack up quickly.
- SGD 2,400/month for 80 sqm, 2 beds, on the other side of the hedge from the Istana (the Presidential residence). Mango tree outside the window. Couple of hornbills live in the neighbourhood. A further SGD 150/month for electricity and water. Managed building, so everything is new and works and can get replaced free if it breaks. I know people paying less to live in landed houses but they are very good at searching. Rents drop fast outside the centre; I saw a 120sqm 4 bedroom in Bukit Panjang (~1h from CBD by MRT, 20 minutes Uber) which was going for SGD 1,500/month in 2014.
You can also pay over SGD 15,000/month for a super penthouse in the best condo; there's quite a bit of demand for these because Americans with a high enough salary can offset their tax bill with it, so instead of giving it to the IRS they live lavishly.
- SGD 400/month for food including frequent "nice" restaurants (sometimes every night). This is helped by going to wet markets instead of supermarkets (in my case Tekka Market just down the road). I could probably cut that to SGD 50-100 by cooking every meal or eating only in hawkers (SGD 2-4/meal).
- SGD 200/month on Uber, mostly out of laziness. The MRT is ultra cheap (SGD 0.8 a short ride, maybe 1.2 for a 1h ride) and about as fast but requires an extra 5-10 minutes walk both ends. The 25 minutes ride from the airport to my flat cost me SGD 17 last night at 3am with a 2 minutes ETA.
- SGD 40/month for health insurance, this is for AIA gold max whatever (I asked for the best coverage they had) although only covers hospitalisation. Wife has corporate insurance which covers me, so GP visits etc. are free anyway.
- around SGD 500/month for flights. Both the yearly/bi-yearly flight home (usually around 1,000 return) and the various trips to Sydney, Tokyo, etc. which at the moment are every month (around 200 return, thanks budget airlines!). I typed my original comment from Sydney. I think I spent almost 50% of the year abroad in 2016.
- I "get back" around 1.5 extra rents thanks to the ultra low income tax rate (between 4-8% for a typical developer salary).
As far as I know, I could not get that quality of life for that money whilst being as central in any of New York, Sydney, Paris, Geneva, Zurich (maybe just, because of the high salaries), London or LA. I think it was doable in Berlin when I was last there (2010 or thereabouts) but have heard of skyrocketing prices since; also, Berlin is damn cold in winter. It's probably doable in secondary US cities like Chicago. I'm not familiar with SF but based on the rents I've seen, it's definitely not doable there.
Costs skyrocket when you have children if by then you do not have PR; in particular, the frequent pickups and drop-offs mean you either need to buy a car (which costs more than an American house) or take a lot more Ubers. House prices are comparable to capital cities in countries with equivalent GDP per capita; if you can't afford a flat in New York, Paris or London, you can't afford it in Singapore.
It's also quite expensive to drink due to high alcohol taxes. In my experience France, Italy and Spain and perhaps Germany are cheaper; the UK and the US are about the same. If alcohol is important to your social life, that can also rack up quickly.