Dealing with Singapore's expensive lifestyle.

Singapore while being ranked as either the world's safest country or Asia's wealthiest (per capita), seems to imply that the citizens are living a happy and fruitful life , but that is far from the truth due to the income divide and ever increasing GST (coming to 20% soon including service charge.)

While Im fortunate to come from a family that is virtually immune to these issues, it doesnt change the fact that prices are still higher than ever and is getting increasingly difficult to afford a comfortable lifestyle .

To put into perspective, I frequently visit Jakarta, Indonesia and the prices there are almost less than half that of Singapore's prices, for the exact same goods & services .

(This burger is about 16 SGD, only slightly more expensive than a burger king in SG)

I also notice that even the average hawker centre food has gotten more expensive over time and back when I had my internship and ate out frequently, the average price for one meal without drinks was at minimum 6 SGD, with drinks most of the time hitting an average of 8-10+ SGD per meal .

Not to mention our MRT fares are rising as well, which could add an extra 1 or 2 SGD to our daily expense just to travel and eat.

All the while our average incomes have barely increased since 2022 (from 2017 to 2021 it barely rose either).

Luckily since my internships ended I've been eating homemade food, which would reduce the travel costs but do take some time to prepare, i think at some point eating out (with the insane service charge) will become financially redundant and most people will either order food or learn how to cook.

Nonetheless I'll definitely try not to eat outside in restaurants with service charge unless one of my family members is bringing us out.

(Note: Not financial advice or recommendation, invest via your own DD)

I believe this would mean rental incomes in general would increase, so at the very least my family will earn more from their rentals but as always, tax adds to living costs