Hi thanks for looking at the post! My situation is as follows:
- 30M from the UK. Currently working in London.
- I’m currently being headhunted by a design agency in Singapore.
- The salary I’m expected to be offered is £70 - 75,000 (Roughly 120K SGD)
- I love a pub/bar and a bit of socialising / Also love nature
I’d love to get over to Singapore and make the most of the travel opportunities. I would also be joined by my girlfriend later down the line. My main questions are:
- Is my salary enough to live a comfortable life in Sing? (I currently save around £800 - 1200 a month in London)
- As a UK native where would be the best area to live?
- What’s the working culture like?
You must log in or register to comment.
The tax rate is low, so you’re likely paying ~10% tax rate. So around $9k SGD take home per month.
Rent is stupid expensive in Singapore, but seems to be coming down a bit. Expect to pay $4,000 SGD per month for a 1-bedroom condo close to transit and not in the hinterland. That leaves you with $5,000 for everything else which is more than enough. Food is very affordable as is transit.
The foreigners who can afford it tend to live in the river valley - Newton, Orchard and further north. It can be a bit insular, so i’d suggest looking elsewhere. You can live in CBD but it’s pretty empty on weeekend. Anywhere within ~8 MRT stops from city center is usually a good place to live as it’s easy to get to the interesting parts of Singapore.
Working culture is intense. People put in long hours, there is little regard for work-life balance or your own time. But of course that depends on the company, it can be more or less relaxed. But don’t expect it to be like Europe. I’d say it’s even more intense than the US.
If you love nature, then you better get used to the heat. It’s pretty hard to spend all day outside when it gets to 32C with 60% humidity (feels like 38C). Most people are outside early morning and late evening. There are some areas that are closer to nature, but it’s mostly just city.
I think the other posters already covered the rest so I will just address this part.
I love a pub/bar and a bit of socialising / Also love nature
Outside of expat circles, my personal experience has been that there is not a strong pub/AW culture. A lot of locals that I’ve worked with don’t drink at all and they have had their own cliques that they socialize with. Compared to for example Japan or Korea where I do think there is a lot of working professionals that will head out for drinks regularly.
SG who worked in the UK for a while.
Your pay will definitely be enough to enjoy yourself if you don’t overspend on rent (which will be the main issue really)
As someone has mentioned earlier, tax is much lower so you’ll be taking home a lot more.
Search PropertyGuru.com.sg for an idea of what you’ll be getting for your money. Look at HDBs which offer more bang for your buck. It depends on where you work but I like Queensway / Alexandra for the vibes. Tiong Bahru is adored by expats but I think it’s been overcommercialised / ruined. Novena is near the city centre and more expensive. Holland Village is another popular area, my advice is to look at Dover or one-north (near enough to walk, cheaper than HV itself).
A warning that Singaporeans work much harder / longer hours so you’ll need to get used to that.
There is no comparable drinking culture compared to the UK, and alcohol is prohibitively expensive here.
If you want to drink and experience bar culture, you’re probably better off going to Thailand or Vietnam.
For nature, Sabah / Sarawak / West Malaysia / Indonesia / Thailand are less than 4h away. Changi is a world-class airport and has tons of flights across SEA and of course the world. Enjoy Jewel at Changi Airport on your short trips out!
Now for the great things about SG!
Public transport is wonderful here. Cabs / ride sharing is much cheaper than in London. If the sign says the bus comes in 4 minutes, it will come in 4 minutes. Bid a fond farewell to flooding / electrical issues / leaves on rail / other biblical calamities affecting your underground transit!! People are polite and the bus / MRT is clean and well-serviced.
workmen and associated services are responsive, cheap and efficient. Example: I can get my house properly painted within a week of contacting a contractor, 1000 square foot place done for 300GBP with full cleaning services and within my stipulated time frame. No over quotes, disappearing workmen, stuff stolen, etc.
You can eat delicious food very cheaply and excellently, and there’s a large variety of international food including British pies, fish and chips etc.
minimal culture shock compared to the rest of South East Asia. People speak English.
The government is fast and responsive to feedback - I can report a broken amenity online via an app, and typically within 48hours I will get feedback on what has been assessed and planned; and within 2 weeks I will get a message in that same app reporting that it has been fixed. You can apply for almost everything online.
Banks and shops actually function until 9-10pm. No more taking a day off to go to Natwest or HSBC only to find that the ATM or counter is closed!
You’ll also find it extremely safe here- I routinely go running at 12am in shorts along the river and be absolutely fine! Crime is extremely low. There are no “rough areas” in Singapore comparable to London or the UK. This would be a real change for your girlfriend especially.
You may be aware that are some “draconian” laws that Westerners like to point out- such as fines for littering or spitting. Public order laws that disincentivise unsocial and unhygienic behaviour rely on ground enforcement, and usually there’s some leeway on implementation. However- I always ask people why they’d be worried about fines for spitting on the floor or littering - would they do that to their environment?
Also, drug offences are taken very seriously in Singapore. You will find that most Singaporeans are supportive of punishing drug traffickers. This may be very bizarre for Westerners. My personal take: having worked in the healthcare sector in the UK, it is really sad to see how much heroin, alcohol and other drugs have disproportionately affected the poorest and least well-off in society and trapped them in a cycle of poverty. Drugs and addiction mean that people no longer have the freedom or ability to choose not to hurt themselves and the people around them. Be careful with this and I would advise you NOT to dabble with illicit drugs in Singapore, or in fact in SEA.
Enjoy Singapore!
Fantastic amount of informational here I genuinely appreciate it.
My main current concerns after researching and speaking to people are healthcare, pensions, working culture. I suppose these are questions I can ask the employer directly.
I’d like to think I’m quite a conscious person so the whole drugs and spitting/littering etc shouldn’t be a problem.
Always happy to help!
Healthcare in SG is world-class - we consistently rank among the Nordic countries for healthcare system efficiency and health outcomes. I’ve worked in both systems and can confidently say you’ll be satisfied with the level of care we provide. You can walk into a private GP clinic for starters… never managed to even get an appointment with one in the NHS! We use medications routinely in my hospital that even tertiary hospitals in large Trusts don’t stock - that was a shocker for me.
Unfortunately it’s not free, so ensure you have adequate coverage. It’s more than 80% subsidised for locals, foreigners will have to pay a lot more.
Yes, speak to your employer. They will usually have healthcare insurance packages.
I see you’ve also cross-posted your question in asksingapore which is a great idea! You can also try r/singapore but I find the quality of answers to be poorer there in general.
Again brilliant info, these are all things that I think will definitely need to be addressed before I commit to the move. I’m currently going through this with the NHS at the moment. I’ve been waiting for almost 2 years on a list and at this point I’m willing to pay so that really is some comfort.
If I can get the employer to comment on those 3 things and I hear from people that my new potential salary would make me better off then I am in London, it feels like a no brainer. I’m not one for high rises, I’ve seen there’s smaller housing around, is this achievable on such a budget? I’m still open to the high rise life but I’ve honestly never done it.
Ideally I’d be living with just my gf as I currently do in London. I’ve been looking at Farrer Park I think it’s called. There’s plenty of climbing gyms around there for me to get stuck into as well
Yup Farrer Park is great! The bouldering and climbing gyms are great fun. Utilise the MRT services!
Look into HDBs, they’re much cheaper than condos. To be honest, landed property in SG is ridiculously expensive and I don’t think it’s worth the price premium. Most of us stay in apartments because there simply isn’t space on our tiny island.
Yes, you’ll do fine on the quoted salary, especially if you’re not a social boozer and eat at hawker centres rather than upscale restaurants.
On the topic of food- eating local is way cheaper than maintaining a more “western” diet (and arguably a bit healthier?) You might be very shocked at the prices of meat and milk in SG - just be aware that we import most of our raw ingredients so you won’t be getting the same prices as in the UK. That’s something I miss about the UK. Also, “western” vegetables are more expensive and smaller. Local vegetables and fruits are great though, and you’ll soon get to try lots of fruits I only ever saw at the Malaysian stall in Borough Market for ridiculously-inflated prices! However if you miss M&S and their frozen dinners, there’s a big M&S at VivoCity that does clearance sales on frozen lasagnes and pastas. Luv me some M&S!
Stock up on penguins and Double Deckers- Penguins rarely make it on the shelves in SG, and I’ve never seen Double deckers (elite chocolate bar, nobody can convince me differently!!)
I have friends who’ve worked in the NHS since graduation and they tell me their quality of life is decreasing year by year. One of them is a medical consultant and her child couldn’t even get seen by a paediatrician - the waiting time was 18 months! She flew back and saw a consultant in public healthcare within a week.
Other things been covered already so I’ll just add re your girlfriend - does she have an offer already? It can be hard to get a work pass so unless she already has one just something to consider.