Do you know what’s scarier than paying taxes?
Having a child in Singapore.
Not only will all your time revolve around this tiny human being, but so will your money.
It’s a no brainer that living in Singapore is not cheap even when you’re just trying to support yourself.
Throw in a screaming, living little human baby that eats up diapers and you’ve got a recipe for bankruptcy.
Okay I’m kidding, but in all seriousness, it is pretty expensive and this local financial site seems to think so too:
Local Financial Site Calculates That a Couple Should Earn About $11k A Month Before Having a Child
According to seedly.sg, the calculations are made based on the idea that you would want to maintain your existing lifestyle and financial situation.
This means that you won’t have to decrease your personal budget for your favourite things in your current lifestyle and eat into your savings.
All that while also ensuring these:
- Avoid eating into emergency funds and existing savings
- Maintain current lifestyle standards
- Maintain retirement goals
- Maintain financial contribution to parents
Wait what? I didn’t realise that the list was so long.
The total estimated monthly expenses while staying in a 3-room flat roughly amount to $4,427.
Here’s where it gets fun:
The total cost of a child in its first three years in this world amount to roughly $31,541.
Sounds pretty doable right? Probably costs lesser than your wedding too.
But did you know that it costs around $285,468 to support a child until they graduate university at around age 23?
Ouch. The good news is that this expense will occur over the span of around 20 years. The bad news is that it’s still a lot of money.
Broken down, this amounts to an average of $11,894.50 per year over 24 years, which includes your pregnancy.
This then translates to around $916.67 a month.
Disclaimer: Do take this figure with a grain of salt though because note that there will be some large upfront payments such as ultrasounds and cost of delivery.
At the end of the day, if you tabulate them all together, i.e. maintaining your current lifestyle while having your first child, this amounts to requiring a combined income of $11,328.84 every month.
All that being said, you certainly can’t put a price on a baby. The amount of joy and love a baby is said to bring is irreplaceable.
But it is still important to ensure that you will be able to afford a child if you do decide to have one.