Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore

NTU has finally released the results of its graduate employment survey.

The average fresh NTU graduate makes $2,700 a month. Channelnewsasia.com says this is higher than both NUS and SMU, but I recall that SMU’s figure is $2,850. See post on SMU graduates starting pay.

As for students who studied under the NTU Global Immersion Programme, their starting pay is $2,900 on average.

I hope they also release figures for the top 20%, like what SMU did.

All in all, it shows the economy is doing well. Let’s hope it lasts.

Children from rich background have it easy. Many doctors come from rich families. Rich kids go to elite schools. If they work sufficiently hard, they can almost guarantee themselves a good life – get good high-paying jobs, inherit parents’ fortune, and the “virtuous” cycle repeats.

I’ve said before that it takes luck and a lot more hard work for the poorer students to catch up.

But what are the options? Suppose they are not smart and lucky enough to get into an elite school. What should they do?

These are my suggestions:

• Go to a polytechnic for your tertiary education. Less stress there, and you learn practical skills.
• Work for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Yes, I know the standard advice from HR experts – one must try to get into an MNC, because your resume will look very nice. My argument here is that you can learn very different things in SMEs. Read on.
• Learn as much as you can about the business in the company you’re working for. If possible, observe closely how the entire company works – sales, operations, logistics, human resource, accounting, finance, suppliers, vendors, etc. Because it’s an SME, it should not be too hard to know about almost everything about the business.
• Mix with like-minded people in the company, people who are as hardworking, smart and ambitious as you are.
• Save up.
• Together with your like-minded friends, start your own business. Compete with your ex-bosses. (Now, if you think this is unethical, let me say that this is only as unethical as joining a competitor. If you think that is also unethical, I have nothing else to say.)

This is how many “tow-kays” got started.

If you had chosen the MNC path, do you think it’s as easy to start a business? What you would learn in MNCs are corporate things that won’t help you start a business. Your experience in an SME should help make the learning curve much less steep.

You can’t start an MNC, but you can definitely start an SME.

Work hard, work smart, and with a bit of luck maybe you’d be a millionaire in your 30s – as rich as an investment banker.

Since the Wee Shu Min’s “get out of my elite uncaring face” debacle, the topic of elitism has been a rather hot discussion topic.

Today, the Straits Times publishes a report on elitism. The report is based on a survey conducted by Singapore Press Holdings’ research department on students aged 15 to 24.

At first glance, the results of the survey are not surprising at all.

Basically, students feel that “elitist behaviour” is mostly about looking down on others who are not academically strong. (I think these elites will probably “progress” later in life to look down on others who earn less, stay in HDB, or work in unglamorous jobs.)

What is perhaps a little surprising is that the survey defines “elite schools” to be just these 11 schools:

1. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
2. Hwa Chong Institution
3. Methodist Girls’ School
4. Nanyang Girls’ High School
5. National Junior College
6. Raffles Girls’ School
7. Raffles Institution
8. Raffles Junior College
9. Singapore Chinese Girls’ School
10. Temasek Junior College
11. Victoria Junior College

So, parents take note. If you are grooming your children to be the elites of tomorrow, send them to these schools.

I also notice that those from the elite schools do not place as much importance on getting a scholarship as their non-elite counterparts when they define elitism.

This is perhaps explained by the fact that students from elite schools are wealthier, with a median household income of $7,501. On the other hand, their non-elite counterparts come from homes with a median household income of only $3,560.

“Some 71 per cent of those from elite schools speak English at home, and 62 per cent live in private housing,compared to 34 and 19 per cent respectively of those from non-elite schools.”

Since the elite students are from rich families, they don’t even bother with scholarships – they can just ask their rich daddies to send them overseas.

This means poorer students should get a better chance at obtaining scholarships, which is good. But, alas, I think the reality is not that rosy.

Although the elite students say scholarships are not important, many of them still apply for scholarships and actually get offers. I don’t have the numbers, but I think we can draw certain indirect conclusions from the doctors come from rich families observation.

Moreover, organizations that award scholarships often say they do not consider family background (wealth) when deciding who should get the scholarships. They award scholarships purely based on merit, i.e. academic performance, CCA performance, NS performance, and of course performance during interviews (but rich kids perform better in interviews!)

The Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS) reveals that the number of people taking up 2 or more mortgages (home loans) has doubled when compared to 2 years ago. This is reported in the Straits Times today. (The credit bureau is set up in 2002 by Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and DBIC Holdings Pte [...]

The National Family Council (NFC) reported less than stellar results in its first “report card”. As reported in the Straits Times today, “striking a balance between work and family life is … elusive for Singaporeans”. This runs contrary to the recent Robert Walters report which found that work-life balance is important to Singaporeans (I wonder [...]

The Business Times ran an informative article on performance fees charged by investment funds. Although less common in unit trusts, performance fees are part and parcel in Reits and infrastructure funds, such as the newly listed CitySpring Infrastructure Trust. How it works is that if the fund generates a return above a pre-determined benchmark or [...]

According to Song Eui-dal, a correspondent for South Korea’s leading daily Chosun Ilbo, Singapore’s success is attributed to top officials being paid well. Yes, yet another compliment from yet another source. Song’s article is published in the Business Times today. “The top 20% of assistant division chief level officials who have worked in their positions [...]

It seems that Business Times is trying to reverse the negativity of its report on retirement funds gap yesterday. Today, it reported on the findings of yet another retirement-related survey, this time by AXA Group. The AXA Retirement Scope 2007 survey found that Signaporeans are 2nd in terms of monthly savings for retirement ($824), among [...]

Business Times ran a story today on a study conducted by Manulife. The study finds that the average Singaporean expects himself/herself to live for another 9 to 12 years in retirement. But the reality is that he/she can live for another 17 years based on actual statistics. Due to this misguided expectation (or underestimation), the [...]

As alluded to by SMA chairman Dr Wong Chiang Yin in his ST article last year, rich kids tend to speak better and hence can perform better during interviews. What interviews do kids or teens have to go to? Do they need to look for jobs at a young age? They do, but it’s not [...]