SINGAPORE: CK, who works at the ‘investing school’ Piranha Profits, wanted to find out if people in Singapore are “really rich and happy” because, after all, this is how Singaporeans were portrayed in the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.
Singapore was also recently ranked the happiest country in Asia for the second year in a row, and so CK wanted to find out if this is true.
“We hit the pavement to hear directly from residents about their perspectives on wealth, happiness, and the unique lifestyle in the Lion City,” the YouTube video about it says.
The interviewer asked several people to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10. While the lowest answer was 5 and the highest was 10, most people said 8.
CK then asked them if the results of the 2024 World Happiness Report, released in March and showing the Little Red Dot coming up on top in Asia for the second year in a row, match their personal experience.
Most people said yes, but some qualified this by noting that living costs in Singapore are high, although one woman was grateful that the country is safe and that people are friendly.
A man interviewed said he wished that housing were more affordable, and another said he’d like for working hours to be reduced.
When asked if they think about money a lot, all the respondents said yes, they do.
When asked whether they believe there’s a correlation between money and happiness, one man said that people need a certain level of financial security to fulfil one’s needs.
But “beyond that, happiness is more internal than (dependent) on the outside things,” he added.
Perhaps the most interesting question concerned how much money one must earn to live comfortably in Singapore.
Some said around S$4000 or S$5000, but one young man said that for a single person, it’s S$10,000, and for people with families, S$20,000 is needed to live comfortably in Singapore.
The subjects were also asked if they are doing anything to grow their money, and a number of them said they put their money in equities, Singapore or US stocks, and one woman said she puts her money in their company salary scheme.
CK ended the video by noting:
“While money cannot buy us happiness, it can definitely help solve our day-to-day problems and elevate our quality of life. So as you can see when we talk about happiness, many Singaporeans tend to relate this to their financial successes as well.”
Learn more about Piranha Profits here./TISG
Read also: Singaporeans show the greatest interest in personal finance management across Southeast Asia