To a certain extent.. very true

s the sayin goes: the grass is alwayz greener on the other side of the fence
:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:

My cousin bought a 3 bdrm house with garage for US$370k. Pays US$330 a month for car. Earns about US$8k a month working some IT stuff. My other cousin in seattle makes about US$75k per annum as a prosthetist, his sister makes US$80k per annum working for honeywell. I wonder how much the same jobs pay here.

Hypothetically speaking, convert all values to sing dollars. Can you buy a freehold landed property with garage for S$370k, or pay S$330 a month for a AMG? Maybe he got taxed 50% but i am sure he still has loads left over after paying for everything. I am not sure what did he told me when i was there but he said he collected US$15k for dunno what reason, maybe children or something.

Not that SG is a bad place to live in, but there are certainly things that must improved and change.

Somethings the grass is greener when they get watered more.

thats y i said u cant compare a durian and a duku. duku to duku or durian to durian. give u more hints... here chicken rice SGD3. guess chicken rice over there how much? (a) USD1.50 (b) USD3 (c) USD7 (d) none of the above

im in IT industry and i make about SGD100k/annum but i dont get taxed 50%. ding ding ding ding ...understand?

sigh maybe i shud say .... don compare a duku and a durian. ok lah u convert ur sgd to rm mebe u can "buy" lots of rx8 in msia in different colors :)

i am sure my mum has loads left too but still keep asking me for money wahahahhaha


take 1 step back and u can look at things at different angle and 'clearly' too heehee. the magic word here is 'standard of living'. anyway we r out of topic so sorry guys! adios..

cheers!

Don't confuse me becos SG government charge higher tax on car for lower congestion, but Mal people are tax for the sake of f#ckin fallen car industry......

It's not fair to compare Mal and SG in many aspects........
An engineer paid RM3500 in Malaysia, can only afford a Proton..... But same engineer in SG paid SGD3500 can afford something alot better....... That why a lot of Malaysian wants to work oversea... :o:

Btw 2 months back when i had my house toilet bowl re installed. The plumber kept asking me about my car. Guess what? He has a JDM 8 back home in malaysia.

very simple. mebe i didnt go straight to the point. lennon u r totally rite n u r straight to the point which i didnt coz i tot emperor would understand.

- standard of living in sg is higher but...cost of living in msia is higher
eg. a fresh grad engineer mebe take home ard rm2.5k - 3k but a fresh grad engineer in sg take home ard sgd2k. as for emperor's plumber story, you hv to bear in mind in msia have lots of kangtou. in sg less kangtou. u cannot just believe a plumber can own a rm200k car kua??? then i shud switch career leow. he sure got other sidelines or another job rite or plumbing is a family biz or he holds a few jobs etc??? i must admit generally msians are quite hardworking, i hv some friends hold a few jobs at one time. i work in both countries before so i know. eg. a levi's jeans cost rm300 in msia but sgd120 in singapore. newspaper in sg cost SGD0.60 but in msia cost rm1.20, tell me whose cost of living is higher? same theory applies to all countries in this world. compare until cow come home also same la. but bcoz u bought levi's at only sgd120 so your std of living is higher....u can save more than msians. one thing i must highlight... std of living in msia is lower but cost of living in msia is higher. as a singaporean working in singapore u shud be contented with low tax. even u add coe into the car price.. it is still cheaper than msia!! just ask any msia rx8 owner here how much they bought their 8. pls dont do the 2.285 conversion bcoz they dont get 2.285 conversion for their pay.. this is wat i mean by dont compare a durian and a duku.

anyway we r very out of topic. sorry about it. bottom line is im happy working in sg but nvr plan to retire here.

its just my 2.285 cents worth of opinion. pls dont be offended. but just sit back n think about it. once again i apologise for being out of topic.

How to compare this way? Should compare developed with developed countries. Or even compared upwards.

Nobody set goals downwards. You earn $100k this year does it mean must earn $80k next year? Just because someones else earns $80k doing the same job as you. But maybe another person earns $200k? Likewise, people compare upwards to progress not downwards to feel good.

Thus, comparision between SG should be made to other developed countries.

There is this perception by china people that singaporeans are so conceited, smart, made alot of progress, good at everything, superior than others, etc. But some off us know the truth right? We have made economic progress but we are inferior to other countries in many other ways.

lol. very hardworking. they are even well equipped with full sized umbrellas, marching right under the hot sun trying to hunt down those URA coupon "recyclers". :D

Honestly, the white hat is more aesthetic than anything else. I happened to see one with umbrella while walking back from lunch. Surprising.

Actually, the amount of car related tax is like paying tax in Australia. Last I heard from a friend, personal income tax rate goes as high as 42%. ie, every 10 plates of chicken rice you can buy, 4 plates go to the govt.

At least, in Singapore, there is still a choice between budget and expensive cars. No doubt cost of car ownership is high, like you said, the income tax in Singapore is really low. Even if one needs to pay tax in Singapore, there are tax reliefs to take advantage of to minimise tax expense.

On the other hand, the bad news about Singapore is the weekday traffic jam at CTE during peak hours. XD

The chicken rice analogy is incorrect; its more like you in Oz you work till end of May each year to pay the government's annual tax. But I think the tax has come down soemwhat. The VAT/GST is still pretty damn high though.

The tax rate for $25,001 - $75,000 is $2,850 plus 30c for each $1 over $25,000 or 11.4% for first $25k and 30% for anything above $25k.

Supposedly, you earn Aus$42000 per annum being a hairdresser. The tax payable is Aus$7950. So you get Aus$34050. And your wife earns the same. So each gets Aus$5675 per month.

And you bought a 3 bdrm house in the near suburbs for Aus$350000 @ 6.89% for 30 years. Monthly installment is Aus$2302.76

And buy a car Rav4 for Aus$35k @ 10.55% for 7 years. Monthly you pay Aus$596.04.

Total expenditure is Aus$2898.80 per month. Deduct from monthly income and you still get Aus$2776.20.

For a hairdresser buying a decent car and a good house; seems fine to me. Maybe you get more doing other stuff?

hi, im not driving a rx8 but i read other people's forum and came across this interesting thread. do you mean malaysia is an undeveloped country? do u still think we live on trees?haha kidding. btw im malaysian. i agree with u that singapore is a developed country but that doesnt mean malaysia is an undeveloped country.

i think callalily means u compare dollar to dollar and cant compare dollar to ringgit. i think thats what he/she means by u cant compare a durian and duku. i dont think callalily trying to compare downwards (callalily, pllease correct me if i'm wrong) but just trying to explain to you what is 'standard of living' and 'cost of living' and you cant compare like the way you did because there are other factors involved. someone mentioned the grass on the other side is greener, i think he/she means we always think outside world is better (again, please correct me if i'm wrong) but is it really greener??

In US cars are cheaper as compared to singapore but a plate of chicken rice or sweet and sour chicken rice can cost around USD7 in chinatown. so its not really greener on the other side. Actually you guys shouldnt say cars in malaysia are cheaper (thats what alot of my singapore friends think but it is actually not true), cars in singapore is cheaper than malaysia. Imagine a RX8 in malaysia cost more than RM200k. Imagine SGD200k you can buy E class in singapore leow. Do malaysians earn 2.285 (the current exchange rate) more than singaporeans with the same type of qualifications and experience? Sad to say, answer is no lor. I think this is callalily's theory on the durian and duku. but of course if you convert your sgd to rm and spend in malaysia then different story leow unless you have a '2nd' family in malaysia heeheeheeee

conclusion:-
generally....
Malaysia - standard of living is low but cost of living is high
Singapore - standard of living is high but cost of living is low
USA - sorry i dunno nvr stay there before :)

heehee sorry to hijack this thread. just my 2 cents worth of opinion.

I've lived and worked in both Seattle and KL about 2 years apiece, and to be quite honest, its really not the fixed costs (housing/rentals, car repayments), but the variable costs that make a huge difference. i dunno where you get chicken rice that costs us$7 (maybe california coz it's about $3 in seattle?), but just as back home, we don't really eat out every day. and even then, a good steak place will cost $40-50, $ to $ similar to both SG and KL.

Coincidentally, i was paid almost the same amount $ to $ in each country, give or take 1k.

What i found is this: fixed costs up to the first 1.5-2k or so in repayments for the car home/rental and accrued taxes is more or less the same. in the US, you save in housing and car, but taxes divided by 12 months add up. SG low taxes but super high housing and car prices. KL is in between, so they all even out for the first 2k. Also although US taxes are high, a good tax consultant or even a good tax software can help you save - it's all about how you file and claim benefits (didn't really affect me as i was there short term, but all my SG colleagues that were there long played with the system)

But its the variable costs in Singapore that can bloody kill: high cost of education and indirect road use taxes and fuel prices, high cost of medical care, ridiculously priced food and cigarette prices, and even energy bills are higher. Even recreation and entertainment costs are cheaper and more varied vs SG, where to have a good time you need to fly out to somewhere in the region. In KL and the US, just an hour or two's drive somewhere is enough.

Simply put, i saved more when i worked in KL, a little less in the US, and much less in SG.

of course if you're earning about $4-5k or so per month, you're prob stretching yourself getting the 8 no matter which country you are in, that is if you're not living off your parents

My 2 cents:
US: High quality of life, medium cost of living, high standard of living
KL: High quality of life, low cost of living, medium standard of living
SG: Low quality of life (we work like dogs), high cost of living, high standard of living

My humble opinion only. dun flame hor

P.S: to put things into perspective, I drove the following cars: KL: Perdana; SG: 316 manual backside cutoff version; US: c-class coupe. All are abt the same price in SG abt 150k then (assuming I benchmark the Perdana as a Camry)

Malaysian: developed and un-developed countries is a classification internationally to grade countries. Singapore was deemed "developed about 3-4 years back. Which also means we get less subsidies, benefits, etc from "developed" countries.

So thus comparision should be between developed countries.

qfoo: What you said is quite true. And if you actually cook your own food, basic food costs can be quite low as produce is readily available in most other countries.Conversely in SG, eating out is cheap but basic ingredients can be more costly.

Whenever i stay in melbourne for their summer (at least 1 month at a time), i actually spend less than i would in SG. Beef most of the way, prime cuts at Aus$8.99 a kg; try buying the same cut for S$35 a kg in SG. And petrol costs is also cheaper; and i save even more as i hardly use the a/c.

When i stayed with my uncle in seattle; my cousins said earning US$40-$50k is considered poor and below their poverty line and are entitled to state or federal benefits. Because they said what they earn are what most people get paid there.

Guys: look for the McDonald's index to have a relatively fair cost of living indications.

I have moved to/lived/worked in four countries; three continents the past 30yrs of my life. Its about your lifestyle and how that reflects in your spending habits (then) plus what you spend at different stages of your lives will vary..... overall, tough to compare other than using a snap-shot comparison like the McDonald's index, where their Big Mac has different prices at different location; from Moscow to Maimi....for a very good reason.

I'm curious about this too, especially the part on the cost of maintenance and servicing. Its a rotary engine, so how is the cost like (in Singapore) if you get the rx-8 serviced by Mazda S'pore/ Parallel importers?

To dtorre:
Also, read from ur post that u spend 800 bucks a month on the cost of running is 8? Is that in Singapore context? Thanks.

To the rest of the guys (rx-8 singapore owners):
Was ur 8 substantially financed by loan or substantially paid up? Or was it a birthday present from parents? :D:

Finally, what percentage of ur disposable income was spent on the car?

After reading much about the mileage per gallon (from the US guys), for the manual rx-8, is 8 to 10 km/l achievable on Singapore roads (ie, about 75% highway and 25% city driving)?

Thanks for the input pple.

PS: Queries are strictly made with regards to the Singapore context, where no mention of locality is stated.

vesfreq: to help you out

- I'm considered poor working class
- never been back to Huayang's agent for servicing, i prefer monster garage
- depending on oil, avg about $160-180 for oil change if you use jap-brand rotary oil, change every 2.5k (i kiasu)
- substantially financed by loan
- not exceeding 20% of disposable income including mods
- AT8, about 6km/l on good weeks, else about 5.5km/l

u bought ur 8 from PI? Servicing can be done at other non-mazda workshops?

The engine oil quite ex. Poor working class? ie, running cost less than 20% of disposable income, not including installment, right? :)

Guess if ur AT 8 runs at 6km/l, then manual should be easily 8 +km/l. Thanks. Roughly should be about there.

Appreciate ur help. :) Planning to get one in the near future. hehehe.

Your 20% of disposable shd include instalments, carpark, oil, fuel, servicing, mods, and accrued insurance/rdtax bro.

thx. Thats a good gauge for spending on the rx-8.

Car -20%
Investments Portfolio - 15%
House - 30%
Savings - 15%
Subsistence Expenditure - 15%
EEA - 5%

Recommended... alas, i dont really follow nowadays

simi si EEA?

U dont know meh, in school we got ECA, CCA,

EEA = Entertainment & Extramartial Activities lor..

gfoo i think u should know better....

5% for EEA? Lets say 5% of 10k is $500. Either your EEA is really budget or your income is alot higher than 10k a month.