How Parents Survived In Singapore
Basically, I did a calculation of the total expenses to feed a person since womb, to Tertiary Education.
Well, the older a person gets, the more expenses parents needed to spend on them.
Expenses includes giving birth and hospitalization fees, medical consultation, baby diapers, milk, food, housing, utility bills, clothing, school fees, pocket money, books, outings, daily necessities, shampoo, soap and etc. Typically from womb to about 19 years old.
I am only taking this amount to an average family in Singapore to feed one person is about $100,000. Bare in mind, it is only from womb to about 19 years when they graduated from tertiary education. Luxury is excluded.
If you are an average person who earns $3000 per month, after subtracting CPF of 20%, it would be:
3000 x 80% = $2400 cash per month. If an average person could even save half of the salary, it would be 50% x 2400 = $1200. Let’s be a little more optimistic. The person saves 60%! Take 60% x 2400 = $1440 cash in hand every month.
2400 – 1440 = $980 expenses includes allowances for grandparents, transport, food, movies, outings, activities.
If an average person needs $100,000 to be fed from womb to tertiary education graduate, it would take this parent 100,000 / 1440 = 70 months of savings (Approximately 6 years of pure savings)
You will need purely 6 years of savings to feed a person from womb to tertiary education.
If you are a parent who feed your children till university, it would have been double the amount. which means 12 years of pure savings. This amount does not include dating expenses or money spend on girlfriend or wife. Purely on a child.
A person averagely lives for 75 years. If you have 3 children, and you are the sole-breadwinner. It would take you 36 years of pure savings to get all your children into university. If yourself were graduated from a university, you would be starting to work at about 24 years old due to 2 years national service.
The life of an average parent in Singapore is basically it. They live for 24 years to study and work their life for another 36 years to cover the expenses of the children. When they became 60 years old, the children grown up and starts their own family. And the cycle repeats.
I am 24 years old now. Basically I spent 5 years from womb to kindergarten, 2 years from kindergarten to primary school, 6 years in primary school, 4 years + 1 year normal academic stream, 3 years in polytechnic, 2 years in national service, 1 years in workforce and further studies, 5+2+6+4+1+3+2+1= 24.
My salary were about $2,200. After graduating from university it would probably increase to about $3,000. After years and years of promotion. I would probably get increment every year that would add it up to about $4,000. If I could really do well, maybe a $5,000. However, let’s take an average of $3,000 and follow the lifespan and expenses planning. This will not be a life that I wanted. If it is you, would you want to be an average person who lives a stagnant life in Singapore?
I started a company to sell computer. Even though it does not look very convincing that it is going to prosper, I have gained certain knowledge in which leads me to make a decision that would affect my future. I don’t know if it is a good move, but I really need to take another step on this journey.
Will I succeed?
I don’t know…