“It will never be enough” – Netizens advise Singaporean who asked if 2 kids can be supported on $5k pay

SINGAPORE:  Concerned with high living costs, a local Reddit user wanted to know the financial level a person needs to reach in Singapore before deciding that they can afford to have children.

In an r/askSingapore post on Tuesday (Aug 20), u/Electrical-Salad-369 wrote, “With the rapidly rising cost of living in Singapore (like mad inflation), I’ve heard it’s hard to get by with even $5,000 a month (1 income) to support 2 kids,” and asked if anyone in the Reddit community was actually making it work on that salary.

The post author also confessed that she doesn’t know how to support children at this point in their lives.

[deleted by user]
by inaskSingapore

She added that if she does decide to have a kid or kids, she’s likely to be a single parent who’ll have S$5,000 monthly from “investment returns/income (3.5% swr), net of housing costs (mortgage + general HDB expenses) and taxes.”

Additionally, as she will be the one not only bearing offspring but being a full-time parent, she does not know if she’ll have active income in the future.

A number of commenters told her that while it’s important to have a steady income, focusing on only money is unhelpful when a person wants to become a parent.

“If money is a concern you’ll never have kids,” wrote one Reddit user, while another chimed in to say, “It’ll never be enough.”

The commenters on u/Electrical-Salad-369’s post who have decided to have children wrote that they can’t buy everything they want, but neither are they in lack.

One commenter wrote that what children need more are the intangibles: love, time, care, patience, adding, “Some people say having kids when ‘not enough money’ is irresponsible.

But setting the finance bar unrealistically high isn’t responsible either. Not for your own and others’ emotional and mental health — because it’s detached from reality.”

Another pointed out that the post author is in better financial shape than most because her housing costs are taken care of, and assured her that there are numerous subsidies she can avail of. The commenter also advised her to not wait too long to have children.

Others offered practical tips for saving money on childcare, food, transportation, recreation, birthday parties, and the like, for which u/Electrical-Salad-369 was very thankful.

“I’m not saying it’s cheap to raise a child, cos it’s not. But it’s also not as expensive as you might think, as long as you manage your expectations,” wrote a commenter. /TISG

Read also: ‘Great parenting there!’ — Netizens tell parent who scolded an uncle after he patted her 3-year-old daughter on the head

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