SG mum says parents must earn S$30-40K/month to give their children ‘more options’ in life

SINGAPORE: A woman has gone viral for saying that a family needs to earn around S$30,000 to S$40,000 a month to give their children “more options.” While some commenters appeared to think that this was code for an exclusive lifestyle, others agreed and even thanked her for being “realistic.”

The woman, who goes by @ThatAsianMama on TikTok, describes herself as a Financial Services Manager & Entrepreneur in her bio. Her Jan 31 video, where she answers, “How much do we actually need to raise 3 children in SG comfortably?” has since been viewed over 114,000 times and has gotten over 200 comments.

@thatasianmamaboss

We are talking bout per month expenses. Thats why we need 2 income in each household… unless #sgmummy #mumtok #momofthree #womenoftiktok #standardofliving #sgbaby #sgbabytok #moneysense #finance #income #jobavailable #sghire #sgpregnantmoms

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She explains that by “comfortably,” she means living in a condominium, having a car to shuttle the kids, and not having to think too much about price tags. And if one of the children wants to “pick up a hobby,” parents can just go ahead and say yes without hesitating.

This is what she defines as “having more options.”

The mum then goes on to say that sending one’s children to a “mid-range private school” can cost about S$1,800.

As she has three preschool-aged children, she spends around S$5,500 monthly for their schooling. (That amount alone is just a bit higher than the median income in Singapore, by the way. Just saying.)

And if the child wants extracurricular activities such as martial arts or other skills, these costs even more. Add to this some weekend activities, such as time spent at an indoor playground and eating out as a family, expenses skyrocket!

The mum clarified that it doesn’t have to be meals at a restaurant, as even hawker centre meals can set the family back around S$30 to S$40. And at Old Airport Road Food Centre, she added, this amount could go as high as S$50 to S$60.

Holidays twice a year “even to Australia”, using budget air tickets and staying at service apartments could cost between S$8,000 to S$10,000, the mum said, while Royal Caribbean cruises could cost around S$10,000 to S$20,000.

“Essentially, if you want to raise your children with more options… and if you don’t want to shortchange any of your children and if you still want to have some money to pay for yourself, plus pay for the house, car, insurance, or giving allowance to your parents, doing some savings, planning for retirement, you definitely need about S$30,000 to S$40,000.

If you’re raising three children (and you’re making) under S$10,000, good for you. I also suspect you don’t have much cash on you.” /TISG

Read also: MOM: Real median income fell by 2.2% in 2023