TikToker claims S$1,900 a month is enough for survival in Singapore

SINGAPORE: After a local content creator said in a video on TikTok that earning S$1,900 a month is enough for survivability in Singapore, many commenters pushed back, appearing to believe that this amount is not nearly enough.

To be fair, the post author, Jeff (THE PRINCE) Wang (@jeff_wang_jun), underlined again and again that he was talking about survival, with a person having the basics and practically nothing less.

He explained this by providing a breakdown of a single person’s monthly expenses:

For food, he said that if a person ate three hawker meals a day at the cost of S$6. At S$18 daily, this would equal around S$540 per month.

Meanwhile, for transportation, in Mr Wang’s experience, the best option is a transport pass, which costs S$122 monthly for unlimited train and bus rides.

As for housing, he said a single bedroom without an ensuite bathroom would cost around S$900 monthly, which already includes utilities.

The final item in his budget was miscellaneous, under which he included telecommunications for S$10, and insurance for S$300.

“Add everything together, and we come up with the figure S$1872 per month, but let’s just round it up to S$1.9K. This is the rough figure that you need in order to survive in Singapore,” he said.

His video, which was posted at the beginning of August, has since gotten more than 78,000 views, but not all commenters agreed with his estimated survival amount

“That’s not enough,” wrote one, adding, “What about essentials like a toothbrush or shampoo? I think at least 2500 a month.” 

“Taxes, household daily necessities, give parents money… at least need $2,500 a month loh,” wrote another.

“What food is $6? My drink alone is alr $5,” a commenter opined.

A TikTok user wrote that S$1,900 is more than enough, but for someone who lives in Indonesia.

“With SGD 1900 in Surabaya, you can rent a landed house with driver and assistant. And Starbucks every day. Feel rich ya.”

Another wrote that with S$1900, “to strictly survive, you rent a bed, no room. Transport pass is a luxury. You cycle/walk and have occasional MRT rides. 2 meals a day.”

One commenter, however, agreed with Mr Wang, writing, “Actually you are right, if I count just my basic needs with rent, food, transport, insurance, mine is also just 2k-2.1k.” /TISG

Read also: Fresh grad earning S$3.2k reveals he ‘can’t stop feeling anxious’ about money, even though he budgets carefully and has no loans