Thanks to Singapore being in constant competition with Hong Kong as the country with the highest cost of living on the planet (and winning this time), the presence of inequality in society is hard to miss. With the prices of land and homes soaring in Singapore as well as the heavy taxes and payments, it’s always a wonder for ordinary citizens how the 1% who live among us here go conduct their lives.
According to a world report by the World Inequality Database, Singapore ranks second in pre-tax income in 2018. Despite the insane cost of living in our country, there seem to be a lot of the 1% who make this country their home. The report says that the average income for the members of the 1% in Singapore is at USD 694,000, which is just shy of a million SGD.
Who is the Popiah King Sam Goi?
The United Arab Emirates is the country with the most people in the 1%, with their average income there soaring to USD 891,000
Singapore is home to a lot of billionaires, one of these is Kim Lim’s father, Peter Lim, who owns a soccer league, and the famous Popiah King Sam Goi, who recently lost his son Ben Goi to an aneurysm.
How do the 1% in Singapore spend their money?
According to a report in Bloomberg people in the 1% still spend on the same things that normal mortals do, but they have better purchasing power so they get luxurious accommodations or even access to the best parts of the city. But readers should remember that while Singapore still has the highest cost of living, the cost of schools and child care still vary across different countries. So even if he 1% earn a lot from their various sources of income, how they spend that money varies.
The Bloomberg reports that Monaco has the highest costs when it comes to housing and child care. The mere fact that the same amount of money that could get you a mansion or manor in Singapore only warrants a quaint flat in Monaco speaks volumes about the inequality in the world.
Here are the rich kids of Singapore and how they spend their parents’ money.
For schooling, the 1% spend on average USD 49,000 a year per child, which means an exclusive private school and even tutors. That still pales in comparison to the financial requirements for a wealthy person in Monaco to school a child which goes over the 60,000 dollar mark.
Childcare, which is something that all social classes have to pay for, isn’t that expensive for Singaporeans. On the average, extremely wealthy people spend almost USD 30,000 year for a live-in nanny. Monaco, still with the highest cost for a nanny requires a yearly allotment for USD 120,000.
As for housing, rich Singaporeans have to fork over USD 5.3 million dollars for a house. Hong Kong residents have us beat at about USD 6.8 million for their housing entry point while Monaco residents need a whopping USD 26.4 million.
Read about the richest kids in Southeast Asia here and realize how poor you are.
Taxes
In theory, people who earn the most should be taxed the most, but different governments have different ways of collecting and deciding on tax measures. Singapore is actually not keen on taxing its wealthy residents as much as France is. The French government takes 50% of their 1% citizens’ income while Singapore asks for just over 20%.
What do you think of childcare, schooling, and home costs for the 1%? Let us know in the comments!
