6 ways young Singaporean couples cause headaches for themselves

The choices you make have consequences.

He Ruiming| Medha Lim| September 01, 04:05 PM

Do you know how to get Singaporeans talking and bonding together? Say the magic words – “cost of living” – and everyone is an expert on the topic.

Figures show that housing costs have risen, food prices have risen (yes, that favourite $2 wanton mee cannot sustain itself unless you agree to pay $3 for the hours the elderly grandpa or grandma put in daily, no, your instagram post won't help them as much as real cash would). In fact, many costs of (something) have risen.

But let’s take a step back and think: Are we also the culprits causing our pockets to tighten?

 

Singapore Government Housing

 

1) Choosing to live in houses that we can't afford

House size

Singaporeans are having fewer children for a myriad of reasons.  That means families are getting smaller.

Logically, Singaporeans should be buying smaller homes. But the thing, is that many of us insist on getting bigger homes than your humble 3-room flat – 5 room flats, executive condominiums – essentially homes we cannot afford and tying us down to decades of debt.

A 3-room flat in a non-mature estate like Punggol starts from $182,000 (without grants). A 5-room flat in the same area starts from $364,000 (also without grants). Exactly double.

Of course, for those with big families, staying in a 5-room flat is a legitimate option. But if you’re only going to have one or two kids, and your parents are not staying with you, then why would you need those extra two rooms for?

Don’t even get us started on those condominiums that cost above a million dollars.

The $182,000 saved could go a long way somewhere else in your life. But you probably don’t need us to tell you that.

House location

It’s pretty awesome to stay in mature neighbourhoods, or somewhere central. But only if you can afford it, as flats there are significantly more expensive.

A five-room flat in Clementi will set you back around $576,000, some $212,000 more than the 5-room flat in Punggol we mentioned earlier.

Sure, Punggol isn’t exactly a central location. Your journey might be a little longer than others (plus some Westies will laugh at you for almost living in Malaysia).

Once again, $212,000 could probably allow you to take a cab every day for 20 years. Or could land you a nice house overseas for some nice passive income – which could go a long way into helping you with nice yearly vacations.

2) Getting a car when they don't really need one

A Vios costs $22,000 in Australia, but up to a whopping $118,000 in Singapore. A Vios costs $22,000 in Australia, and a whopping $118,000 in Singapore.

 

A car is a poor investment in Singapore. Like that expensive cup of $6.90 coffee that lasts a grand total of 10 minutes. Splurge some $100,000 out of your savings, and you’ll get a hunk of steel you can drive for 10 years.

Don’t get me wrong. Cars are great. They take us far away from the hordes of people in public transport. But if you don’t utilise it well, it’s more of bane than a boon.

What are some signs that you’re under-utilising your car?  Here are three red flags:

- You’re the only person utilising it

- Most of time the car is sitting in the car park racking up parking fees

- You only travel short distances

3) Frivolous things like expensive coffee and hipster cafes

Hipster with coffee

Don’t be the type of person who laments over the loss of hawker culture and angsting that your favourite bowl of fishball noodles now costs $3.50 (oh, the horrors!). We’re sure you won’t bat an eyelid at spending $20 on a plate of spaghetti carbonara, or $17.90 for that plate of organic scrambled eggs, gluten-free muffins and maple-glazed grain-fed bacon.

In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if many shop at higher-end supermarkets for gourmet items instead of say, NTUC Fairprice, which actually helps us save a little on necessities.

4) Keeping up with appearances

Lamborghini_Aventador "Yes, yes, you need  a Lamborghini Aventador to do shopping at the wet market."

Say it with me: A car is useful if it gets you from point A to point B. It is snazzy if the interior is silent, and your car can auto-reverse and park for you. But if your pockets don’t allow for the snazzier version, there is no harm done getting a practical option instead. You don’t spend your life in the car, do you? (this doesn’t apply to salesmen who need to drive around, please take care)

 

5) Having unnecessarily large weddings

wedd "Yes, let's spend our life savings sending everyone to our wedding in the Maldives. Only $100,000 la, we can earn back one. It's our special day, right? #YOLO"

30 tables because you want to invite your whole village, even when there’s not enough time for quality interaction. And you secretly hope everyone gives the right amount for the angpow, otherwise, you know who didn’t.

So what we’re saying is, make the right choices, not because someone else did it too, that’s why you have to keep up with the Joneses, or the Tans or the Lims.

You get the gist.