Singapore teacher burdened by hefty mortgage loan for HDB fl
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Originally posted by novelltie:
but most of the time if the job requires travelling, usually there is transport allowance you can claim... or even company's car that you can take... my ex company has 2 cars for us to use when we need it and if we have our own car, they will pay for season parking and some petrol allowances.
Transport/fuel allowances dont' cover very much. They don't pay for depreciation, mechanical maintenance and tax/insurances. If you run the red light, the company won't care either.
Not many companies offer company car for peons to use.. Mostly, company cars are reserved for big shots.
Anyway... it's a shame what this couple had to go through.. to live a Singaporean dream.. instead they are living a nightmare. Pity.
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
if u NEED to have a car for work
1) it should be covered by the company (even if there is no car involved, a company should give transport allowance if they require their workers to travel for work)
2) if one is working freelance, the price of transport should be considered in the payment.
anything else is a luxury and there are alternatives to owning a car, like car rental / car sharing / car pool
Please don't be so naive lah. You go work as a traveling salesman/engineer first.. then you come here talk big big.
You think car rental is cheap ? Foolish.
Car sharing ? HAHHAHAH...
Car pool ?? HAHHAHHAH....
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Originally posted by novelltie:
this i agree... my father in law is a laser printer toner salesman... he needs his car for delivery...
price of transport must be pushed to the consumer who wants delivery services
people who don't push extra costs like these to consumers, instead using that tiny bit of profit to cover the transport, is just asking for it.
if consumers wanna save cost, they can go collect the printers themselves
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
Please don't be so naive lah. You go work as a traveling salesman/engineer first.. then you come here talk big big.
You think car rental is cheap ? Foolish.
Car sharing ? HAHHAHAH...
Car pool ?? HAHHAHHAH....
i'm laughing at people who own cars and not find alternatives if they think its too expensive
we see who can laugh louder
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
price of transport must be pushed to the consumer who wants delivery services
people who don't push extra costs like these to consumers, instead using that tiny bit of profit to cover the transport, is just asking for it.
if consumers wanna save cost, they can go collect the printers themselves
Yah .. right.. you go do salesman job without a car..the company ask you to go cover Jurong and Ulu Pandan...
A delivery guy will come and collect your dehydrated dead body. Then will you appreciate what a car is good for.
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
i'm laughing at people who own cars and not find alternatives if they think its too expensive
we see who can laugh louder
HAHAHHAHH !!
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
Yah .. right.. you go do salesman job without a car..the company ask you to go cover Jurong and Ulu Pandan...
A delivery guy will come and collect your dehydrated dead body. Then will you appreciate what a car is good for.
get up early
take the train
IF you really wanna save money
OR
fork out easily 12K a year just to have a 'luxury' of getting stuck in jams and maintenance costs.
u want luxury for the whole world? yeah, everyone has a car, everyone gets stuck in jams, i dun call that a luxury.
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
HAHAHHAHH !!
nah, not loud enough
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
get up early
take the train
IF you really wanna save money
OR
fork out easily 12K a year just to have a 'luxury' of getting stuck in jams and maintenance costs.
u want luxury for the whole world? yeah, everyone has a car, everyone gets stuck in jams, i dun call that a luxury.
Simple solution mah. Don't do the salesman job lor.
Got pple take knife point and force others to be salesman meh?
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32 year old Singaporean: I am lucky to be born earlier
Dear TR
After hearing the stories from Judy and Melissa, I hope my story can act as a counter-balance. In a way, I just want to show the difference of being born 5 years earlier than both Judy and Melissa blessed me with a little more luck. That since the last election many government policies have gone wrong, and we need strong, immediate change.
I am 32 now, and working in an MNC. My wife is of the same age, and an accountant with another foreign firm. We had graduated from the local university 9 years back, and had starting salaries of less than $2,000.
When I proposed to her in 2004, my situation was very similar to Melissa. We made less than $5,000 combined, but house hunting was really a fun process for us. We had our pick – from a condo in Hillview going for about $600,000 to a HDB executive condominium in the west at around $400,000 (which we almost bought). End of the day, we got very lucky and balloted a HDB flat, and chose a $300,000 unit. Our queue number then was about number 4,000 with only 1,800 units for the development, which meant that more than 2000 people had given up on their queue numbers before us, so it was really lucky.
The next 6 years of our lives were quite painful for me. As we didn’t have our own home yet, we had to stay with our in-laws which really inconvenienced them. We took the opportunity to drive our dingy OPC car whenever possible to pass by our building home, and yearned for it till crazy.
When we collected our keys last December, our income has more than doubled over the last 6 years, and I really count myself very lucky. I felt that the government policies had served me well, and that now I had a home that I could retire in, and leave as a legacy for my baby who’s 3 years old now.
Whilst a lot of my colleagues are FT, they are really here thanks to a warped government policy and by no fault of theirs. I enjoy a very cordial working relationship with them, and can’t see how anyone can detest working with colleagues from other countries just because they came from different roots.
I am looking to quit very soon to venture a bit with a small business, try to find a way to make a living whilst feeling fulfilled. My wife’s income will support us during this period. I promised her that if my venture fails, I’ll hang my head (in shame LoL) and find employment again. Even if as a taxi driver, I don’t think I’ll starve.
I never believe in “You reap what you sow”, and put my current situation as downright lucky – lucky to have been born just a hands worth of fingers earlier than Judy or Melissa.
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With that, I want to say that I have benefited only at the lost that many of my fellow Singaporeans are suffering from today, for the sole reason that I was born earlier.
I empathize with the strain those who are very early in their working careers, and being subjected to an education system that did not allow them to understand any form of making a decent income other than as an employee.
We need change, else it can only get worse. I am content and happy for myself and my family. I hope people reading this will be too.
If you feel jealousy, then you know that there needs to be change. Maybe not in the form of a wholesale change in government, but at least a counterbalancing voice to show them that the policies currently being churned out are fallacies and hurting everyone who wants this country and it’s people to succeed.
TR, feel free to print this out too as you deem relevant.
Devoran
Times has changed. Now people are becoming more daring!
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Originally posted by eagle:
Simple solution mah. Don't do the salesman job lor.
Got pple take knife point and force others to be salesman meh?
Don't say this too early ok ?
At the current rate of influx on cheap foreign labours. Supporting jobs are mostly going to foreigners.
Outdoor Salesman job seems like the only field that doesn't hire so many foreigners.
One day you may have NO CHOICE but to work as a salesman to pay your bills.
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Sadly when a thread cross the fourth page, it will wither into irrelevance.
The fact - that a soon-to-be married teacher and an engineer cannot afford even to start a home - is due to this PAP government insisting in its own arrogance that its public housing policy is right.
It is the same arrogant mentality when sane voices were telling LKY that his Family Planning Policy was too drastic and will surely affect Singapore's future prosperity over the longer term.
Our present problems concerning poor birth rates had the origins from LKY's brilliance, and will continue with the brilliance from those talents whom LKY appoint to continue with his policy of dogmatic arrogance.
Job Security, Home Ownership and Birth Rates - are all tied together and depend on each leg to exist before any progress can be made in any one of this direction.
As matters stand, this PAP Government has failed in all three areas, and the current policies can only continue to make the bad situation - worst.
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Must a car always be a luxury ?
Some jobs require a person to have their own transport you know ?
a car is not a luxury in singapore? are you kidding yourself?
if her husband need a transport for work, why would he struggle to pay for car installments, he should have car allowances for it. u need to read carefully before you talk.
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I heard COE almost $40,000 recently.
Expensive piece of paper.
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Transport/fuel allowances dont' cover very much. They don't pay for depreciation, mechanical maintenance and tax/insurances. If you run the red light, the company won't care either.
Not many companies offer company car for peons to use.. Mostly, company cars are reserved for big shots.
Anyway... it's a shame what this couple had to go through.. to live a Singaporean dream.. instead they are living a nightmare. Pity.
not true la, some of cover more than enough. i know of ppl whose car allowances is $1400/mth with petrol card. he is just manager post.
generally company provide car allowances, myself included. but it is generally cover car installment + petrol+ season parking. of coz the TS never mention whether his husband as an engineer drive a BMW or corolla.
however one thing i agree with you, they are trying hard to live a singapore dream.
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
Don't say this too early ok ?
At the current rate of influx on cheap foreign labours. Supporting jobs are mostly going to foreigners.
Outdoor Salesman job seems like the only field that doesn't hire so many foreigners.
One day you may have NO CHOICE but to work as a salesman to pay your bills.
You continue to think ba. Maybe you can re-read your own post and determine where you contradicted yourself.
My dividend income portfolio is already sufficient to pay for most of my bills at the moment. I'm only working to grow this portfolio now. Whatever you say doesn't bother me much.
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Originally posted by reyes:
a car is not a luxury in singapore? are you kidding yourself?
if her husband need a transport for work, why would he struggle to pay for car installments, he should have car allowances for it. u need to read carefully before you talk.
Why would an engineer need a car for work in the first place? Especially when OT so much... Don't even need it to travel much...
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Originally posted by eagle:
Why would an engineer need a car for work in the first place? Especially when OT so much... Don't even need it to travel much...
Why you want to know so much ? Go live in your oblivious blissful little world enough already ok ? Good.
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Originally posted by eagle:
You continue to think ba. Maybe you can re-read your own post and determine where you contradicted yourself.
My dividend income portfolio is already sufficient to pay for most of my bills at the moment. I'm only working to grow this portfolio now. Whatever you say doesn't bother me much.
LOL !!
Why you keep thinking I'm talking about you ? You a narcissist ?
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
LOL !!
Why you keep thinking I'm talking about you ? You a narcissist ?
You still want to act stupid is it?
This is what you posted to me:
One day you may have NO CHOICE but to work as a salesman to pay your bills.
No lor, you not talking to me about me. Oh ya, maybe you failed primary school English?
Try harder ok?
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
Why you want to know so much ? Go live in your oblivious blissful little world enough already ok ? Good.
The thread is talking about the engineer. Suddenly you brought out irrelevant stuff like salesman.
Just like you.
I wasn't even talking to you, nor directing that post to you.
This is for you instead: "Why you keep thinking I'm talking to you ? You a narcissist ?"
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Anyone noticed that it whether the chap needs his car for his work is actually irrelevant ?
Regardless of whether the car was neccessary, for work or for show or whatever, it's been bought, and it was already taking a large chunk of their combined income BEFORE they bought this nearly half a million property. The car was an expense they were already paying before their property purchase, and it was something they knew they had to factor in.
But still, they went ahead and overcommitted themselves, chosing such an expensive flat in a prime area when they could have chosen another cheaper location, or a smaller unit. If they did their homework and knew they would be overstretched, why did they commit ? No one can save anyone from their own stupidity.
Moreover, to the chaps here who already, or actually own a flat, or those who have done their homework towards actually buying one, notice something fishy ?
How is it that after their monthly contributions from their CPF towards their house, they are still living from hand to mouth ?
Let's do some sums.
30% of monthly household income is their stated cap for housing loan, and that is BEFORE deducting their CPF ordinary account's contributions towards their loan repayment
So, based on their stated 5k income, their CPF ordinary account contribution is approximately 1k per month ...... and based on a 30%, 30 year HDB loan calculation, their monthly loan installment is approximately 1.5k a month ...
1.5k, - 1k from CPF ordinary account contributions, = 500
500 dollars a month, it's probably less than the monthly installment for their "neccessary" car ....
so what are they ranting about ?!?!
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Mah Bow Tan: We do not want flat prices in the future to go down
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/15/mah-bow-tan-we-do-not-want-flat-prices-in-the-future-to-go/
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‘Peak debt’ approaching as house prices outstrip incomes
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/25/peak-debt-approaching-as-house-prices-outstrip-incomes/
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This is crazy....
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Bras Basah flat sets HDB price record
Jessica Cheam
Fri, Mar 26, 2010
The Straits Times
A TAIWANESE couple have paid $650,000 for a four-room flat in Bain Street - smashing Housing Board (HDB) records and reflecting the strength in the red-hot resale market. The sale price works out to be $736 per sq ft (psf) for the 30-year-old flat on the 25th floor of a block at Bras Basah. That is the highest psf price paid for an HDB property and is on a par with prices of private homes in suburban areas.