Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore

All about Income, Jobs, Career, and Investment in Singapore

 

What’s My Pay Increment

December 21st, 2009

You ask, “What’s my pay increment for 2010?” Mercer says you can expect 3.2% pay rise next year.

The HR consultancy based its projection on a recent survey of 262 companies across 11 industries.

Mercer predicts that pharmaceutical companies will give out the highest increments at 4.1%. In comparison, banking and finance employees will only get 3.1% increment.

The following are Mercer’s projected figures:

  • Pharmaceutical: 4.1%
  • High-tech: 3.3%
  • Aerospace: 3.2%
  • Consumer goods: 3.1%
  • Banking and finance: 3.1%
  • Chemical: 2.9%
  • Property: 2.6%

Mercer notwithstanding, how much increment do you expect to get in the coming year?

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Car Owners: Do You Make More Than $7,650?

December 13th, 2009

If you are a car owner, does your pay match your car ownership status? If you don’t have a car, how do you know whether you can afford one? In this article, Salary.sg proposes using $7,650 as an income guideline for car ownership in Singapore.

We all know that owning a car in Singapore is a luxury. A small saloon costs around $50k while a family MPV can easily set you back by $80k or more. Don’t forget you also need to pay for road tax, car insurance, servicing, petrol, ERP, parking fees, cleaning, grooming and what have you.

If your income is not high enough, it may be a stretch for you to fund the costs of owning that set of wheels in Singapore.

According to the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) report recently released by the Singapore Department of Statistics, only 38% of households here own a car.

From the popular Salary.sg household income comparison tool, we can find out that the top 38% highest earning households make more than $7,650/mth. Though this group of 38% may not be exactly the same as the car-owning 38%, we argue that this is the group that can well afford a car. If this group can’t afford a car, we don’t know who can.

Hence the $7,650 guideline.

So, if you and your spouse own a car but make a combined salary of less than $7,650 a month, it may be a wise thing to do your sums again.

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Does Your Income Match Your Housing Type?

December 5th, 2009

Many people often wonder if they can afford to stay in private housing. There are various ways to find the answer. You can ask a bank, calculate your debt ratios, use our 7.6x guideline, or compare your income with the average income of your desired housing type – which is the main topic of this article.

The easy way is to ask your banker. But if you and your spouse are working professionals with stable incomes, your banker will most likely grant you the loan even if you will be overstretching yourselves to pay the loan installments. See how a couple got saddled with a property loan they can hardly afford.

To be safe, we recommend you carefully consider your condo purchase (or landed property purchase). Read our articles on debt ratios and 7.6x guideline, and do your sums properly. And with the recent release of the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) report by the Singapore Department of Statistics, there is one more way to confirm if you’re suited for a certain housing type.

According to the HES report, the average monthly household income of families staying in private housing is $17,795/mth.

Families staying in landed properties make an average of $20,427/mth, while those in private apartments (including condos) earn an average of $16,311/mth.

If you and your spouse earn far below these amounts, you have to at least be aware that you will be far below average.

If you stay in HDB or plan to buy a bigger HDB flat, here are the numbers for you to do the comparisons:

  • 1- and 2-room HDB flats – average monthly household income is $1,186
  • 3-room HDB flats – average monthly household income is $3,503
  • 4-room HDB flats – average monthly household income is $5,114
  • 5-room and Executive HDB flats (including maisonettes) – average monthly household income is $8,177

See also Leong Sze Hian’s observations on the HES report.

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Raising Funds for Charities – the Wrong and Right Ways

December 2nd, 2009

I remember watching the NKF charity show on TV as a kid. The whole thing seemed so meaningful to me that I picked up the phone and repeatedly dialled the donation number. No, I didn’t seek my parents’ permission, but let’s not sidetrack.
I continued watching these heartwarming and often emotional charity shows into [...]

Read the full article at Raising Funds for Charities – the Wrong and Right Ways

Civil Service Bonus 2009

November 27th, 2009

This year, civil servants will get the usual AWS and a one-off payment of 0.25 month capped at $750.
This means that a civil servant earning a monthly salary of $3k will get 1.25 months of bonus worth $3,750, whereas another civil servant earning $10k a month will only get 1.075 months or $10,750.
Whose bonus would [...]

Read the full article at Civil Service Bonus 2009

2 Risks of Sibor-Pegged Home Loan

November 22nd, 2009

Much has been mentioned about the “transparency” of Sibor-pegged mortgage loans. But there are TWO risks associated with such loans.
First is of course the possibility that the Sibor rate may go up. And it may shoot up dramatically.
Just 3 years ago, Sibor was hovering around 3.5%. If your bank charges you Sibor + 1.5%, you [...]

Read the full article at 2 Risks of Sibor-Pegged Home Loan

Our Poll Results: Our Readers Save 33.1% of Their Income

November 22nd, 2009

We conducted a poll on how much Salary.sg readers save. The results of the poll show that the average saving rate of our readers is 33.1%.
The average Salary.sg saves about one-third of his/her monthly salary.
The poll attracted more than 700 responses, 32% of which picked 21-40% as their saving rate.
Another interesting finding is that about [...]

Read the full article at Our Poll Results: Our Readers Save 33.1% of Their Income

What’s not good about Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)

November 15th, 2009

At first glance, the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) appears to be a very good deal. But after a simple analysis, we will know why it is not the case.
As illustrated in today’s Sunday Times (see similar example in Finatiq), a contribution of $11,475 to your SRS account brings about a tax saving of $1,096. This [...]

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Our Poll Results: 41% readers make 100k, mostly from MNCs

November 15th, 2009

About 41% of Salary.sg readers make more than $100k per annum. This is according to our poll which garnered more than 800 responses.
Out of this group of high earners, about two-thirds work in multinationals (or MNCs).
As for those who work in government-linked companies (GLCs), slightly more than one-third make more than $100k. Contrast this with [...]

Read the full article at Our Poll Results: 41% readers make 100k, mostly from MNCs

How Much Do You Save?

November 8th, 2009

Some people save a fixed amount of their monthly income and spend the rest. Others like myself spend prudently and save the rest.
Regardless of whether you’re a spend-the-rest or save-the-rest saver, you should be able to gauge roughly how much you save a month.
Though thrift and financial prudence have been extolled as good “Asian values”, [...]

Read the full article at How Much Do You Save?