Cost of raising a kid in Singapore.

Seriously lost count on how many posts I've seen in the last 5 years and I reached a point where it no longer annoys me or irritate me.

To give just an example, take a look here. https://blog.seedly.sg/cost-raise-child-singapore/ Seedly, I lost respect for you. So people want to go for 'typical postnatal massage', 'confinement nanny', and what not but complain that kids are expensive. But glad the 'stage' of "conceiving or getting in the mood to conceive' and include another 20-30K for a honeymoon or romantic massage etc. Anyway, I am happy to see the 'wannabe classy' folks avoiding the kids and not adding unnecessary strain on the SG society. 

Online prices vs Offline prices. Singapore is getting expensive...

A friend of mine visited from USA and his first reaction is. How bloody expensive this place is?  I was quite surprised to hear, as my experience has been quite fine with Singapore and in fact I found US, AU, EU far more expensive based on my travel.

I started comparing prices and then realized few things.

• Offline prices (neighborhood shops) offers the cheapest prices for groceries. For example, Fresh Milk which you can get for $5.20 is sold at NTUC, Giant online, Redmart & Cold storage for $5.70 (Yeah, all offering the same discount of 65 Cents from the list price of $6.35)
• Vegetables, Onions, Potatoes, Nuts etc are often cheaper at the market
• Some goods may be cheaper online (especially plumbing, electronic accessories) 

Now, another interesting thing is the food/groceries. I do not know if it is because of food delivery services or simply because of the cost of doing business but the cost of food more than doubled in the last three years. Agree, the inflation remained stagnant or lower but the food inflation is horrendous.

Based on Singstar information the CPI of food excluding food services in 2007 was 77.7, and in Nov 2017 it stood at 105.244. So in 10 years, we are talking about ~ 35% increase ??? Am I right here?

I wish I am not but it looks like it's real :|

Mobile Internet Data Costs across region... Brunei is most affordable, India is on the other end

Source: Tech In Asia, Socialmeediaweek.org

According to above sources, the most affordable mobile internet is in Brunei, followed by Singapore while the most expensive are Timor, India, Philippines.

I think the study is good but if possible there should be some points need to be considered. Especially the bottom of pyramid folks who occupy the bottom half or more in India, timor etc. If we focus on Mobile Data subscribers that would be a good measurement.

i.e. Take the sample and calculations from those who subscribe to Mobile Data. In that case there would be a huge different IMHO.

I am sure Indonesia, Thailand would be more 'affordable'. 

Worldwide cost of living index 2013 - Singapore at 6th place

Source: EIU

Ok. I do agree Singapore is an expensive place to stay. But this report from EIU, simply filled with many flaws and the views are totally from a 'westerner'. There are plenty of reasons to say that Singapore won't end up in top 10 if it is normalized with local or asian flavour.

At the same time, I don't agree at all that South Asia is the cheapest place. As mentioned by the EIU themselves in the report,


Although India is something of a tiger economy tipped for future growth, much of this is driven by 
its large population and the untapped potential within the economy. Income inequality means that 
household spending levels are low on a per capita basis, which has kept prices down, especially by Western 
standards

The Worldwide Cost of Living is a bi-annual (twice yearly) Economist Intelligence Unit survey that 

compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. These include food, drink, 
clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private 
schools, domestic help and recreational costs.


See, this is where the problem is. So don't pack your bags to India, as many of the returning Indians end up getting a huge shock. At times, they may find cities in India are more expensive than living in US or AU.

Ok. Let's look at the details for a couple of items.

• Bread - EIU shows that Bread costs USD 3.25.

I choose NTUC prices as this is the largest super market where majority of people choose to do their shopping. So based on NTUC Online price it varies between SGD 1.91 to SGD 2.30 / KG.

From Coldstorage it's between SGD 3.83 (Gardenia White) - SGD 8.40 (Fruit & Nut loaf). So in USD terms the prices are no where near US 3.25 unless you take one that costs $ 10+.

• Cigarettes & Table wine. 

I don't think this is a good way to compare. I completely avoid this based on our life style and this is not even something done by everyone.

The problem is when you try to look at a specific view, things look differently. If I try to buy a napa valley wine in Singapore, it'd be pretty expensive but the question is how many people drink in this hot sultry whether as a necessity item?

As many of our leaders say, the devil is in the details. Unless people see the full picture and get in to the details, there is no way the surveys can give a clear picture.

Why some things are more expensive in Singapore - Even MAS got the doubt now

Source: CNA

If you ever wonder, why things in HongKong, or USA or even our neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Thailand are relatively cheaper compared to Singapore then you are not alone. MAS or the big uncles got the doubt as well.
For example, if I see a camcorder from Sony,

Singapore price from Sony, Singapore  is SGD 1,199.00
Amazon price from Amazon, USA is USD 499.00 or SGD 611. What the $$$$? Almost half the price. It is exactly the same box. If we're to compare the price in showroom price in USA, or Sony, Singapore is USD 599.99 (+100 credit) or SGD 732.

Another example is simple Vitamins, some lotions which I found half the price in HK. The list is endless. Why and what is the main reason?

If I look in to what's included in the cost of a item/product? I can think vaguely,

1. Manufacturing cost
2. Shipping cost
3. Taxes
4. Cost of business (rental, display, employee etc)
5. Profit margin

So if we see individual categories, I'd think manufacturing cost should be the same across for "similar" quality items. Almost all the items are manufactured in China anyways.

Shipping cost shouldn't be a big difference too as we're pretty close to the manufacturing places ;)

Taxes - Singapore is a low tax nation.

Cost of business - Rent is high but not as high as in HK or NY; Staff pay is damn low here..Interest rates, taxes are pretty low too.

Profit Margin - ???

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