Man puzzled by how so many Singaporeans earn “around $8-10K easily”

SINGAPORE: A man was left perplexed after he came across Singaporean Redditors who claimed to earn large monthly salaries.

“How do you guys even earn 8-10k easily when household income is around 10.8k?” the man asked on r/singaporefi on Saturday (Feb 10). “It seems that readers in this sub are earning more than 10k as compared to the government statistic report??? Even realistic value for this individual reader is still well above 6k.”

The man also included a screenshot of an infographic from Channel News Asia showing the ‘median household income from work in 2023’ in his post.

“Average about 5% increment per year hovering around 2k~3k for individuals within 5 years period, while Reader here earns 10k within 10 years or more,” the man stated.

To back up his claims, he showed other Redditors a screenshot of every Singaporean who claimed to have a higher-than-average monthly income.

“I’m in my late 20’s with only diploma cert and my average salary is around the government statistic… Guys.. please enlighten me on how you guys even earn this much as compared to statistics??

Within 10 years pay jumps almost 8x.. I’ve seen this sub saying that the current median salary in sg is around 4-5k?

For SE i do believe is 4-5k, for other sector such as digital media,business accounting,etc, 4-5k seems to be very common also?” the man said.

‘A Reddit group is not representative of the society’

After reading his post, his fellow Redditors reminded him that not everyone in Singapore earns as much as they do and that those people most likely only posted their income because they felt confident and proud.

One Redditor said, “A Reddit group is not representative of the society. It’s not rocket science, you should be aware of that.”

While another commented, “People who post their salary are proud of it. Because they recognise it’s above average. People like me who know we are average or below Wong post LOL. Additionally the majority isn’t on Reddit. Frankly I bet most don’t know what Reddit is.”

Meanwhile, one Redditor cautioned him against believing anything he reads on the internet, saying, “Bro, this is Reddit. I also can say I earn 20k a month. Do you believe? Take it as a pinch of salt ya.”

Another Redditor also gave him advice, writing, “Good luck on your own path to 10k, focus on self-improvement instead of constantly wondering why others can earn 8 to 10k. All the best.”

While others rely solely on their monthly income from work, others resort to other means, such as investments, to achieve financial freedom.

According to Dollars and Sense, here are ten ways to begin passive income investing in Singapore, each with its own unique path to consistent returns.

Read more: 10 ways to start passive income investing to grow your money in Singapore