facebookAnyone taking home 3k a month and is the sole breadwinner of a family with 1-2 kids? Any financial advice to give to a potential single-income earner with regards to expenses & savings? - Seedly

Anonymous

07 Jun 2019

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Anyone taking home 3k a month and is the sole breadwinner of a family with 1-2 kids? Any financial advice to give to a potential single-income earner with regards to expenses & savings?

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HC Tang

07 Jun 2019

Financial Enthusiast, Budgeting at The Society

I'm sorry about the situations and also our system is not fair to single parent, where living in a high living cost society, single parent were still being penalize with no CDA, no subsidy, no tax rebates is given though 1 or 2 MP has bee fighting for it.

Let's just hope that one day situations change for the better and be fair to single parent.

A few things can be done as shared by my friend:

  1. Check out Ministry of Social and Family and find as much financial assistant as possible: https://www.msf.gov.sg/assistance/pages/default...

  2. Apply for the blue CHAS card for defraying some medical (GP/Specialist/Dental cost): https://www.chas.sg/Default.aspx

P/S: Not a lot but ranges from $15 to $35 (not sure the upper limit) but at least some help monthly.

  1. If your kid still very young, can sign up for NTUC Good Start bundle for some goodie bags of rice, formula and some other goodies:
  2. https://www.chas.sg/Default.aspx

and child care subsidies and assistance:

https://www.ecda.gov.sg/Parents/Pages/CCLS_Home...

  1. If kid is in kindergarden, can apply for KIFAS to defray cost : https://www.ecda.gov.sg/Parents/Pages/FAQs-on-Kindergarten-Fee-Assistance-Scheme-(KiFAS).aspx

    Finance Budget:

Assume that you'll be living one roof with your parents on have the whole flat by yourself (fully paid for) or with maintenance income:

Below is the breakdown on how to manage 2 preschool kids with 3k income:

Summary:

Note: Costing is based an article by Dollar and Sense.

(1) Expenses for 1 preschool child = Orange $340 . So can x 2 if is 2 child and row 12 $85 for some etc cost to be shared by 2 kid.

(2) Basic protection for yourself at row 13 - Term insurance for you, and good to have accident / term insurance for kid (as a add on / tag to your insurance as a rider) is also important as it is the basic protections.

(3) Savings as row 15 though only manages $400 ( to save at least 6 months of total expenses as emergency savings). Can be subsides by year end AWS or bonus of 2 to 3 month worth of salary less CPF

(4) Monthly direct investment (not ILP) is minimum for those Regular Savings Plan (RSP) such as POSB invest savers or others of your choice to have some investment for future.

(5) Do save up the year end AWS or bonus of 2 to 3 month worth of salary less CPF for the purposed shared in red.

As you can see above it is still possibel to manage 2 preschool kid with 3k income alone. If you have to pay for HDB flat, can use CPF OA to pay for but try to avoid as much as possible so that when retire you have $ for yourself and when kids grow up, can use some of the funds as study loan for Poly / Uni. Furthermore, in OA it also earns 2.5% to 3.5% interest.

Hope this is good information for you.

Happy Parenting :)

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My dad is the sole breadwinner of my family, with 2 kids. His take home pay is about $3000, and my mum is a housewife = $0 income. An advice would be to cook whenever you can. It'd be cheaper than eating out, especially if you cook often (so ingredients can be shared between days).

I would also suggest not having a car/expensive telco plans/TV subscription plans etc.

Also make sure your kids know the importance of moeny, so they will not spend unnecessary :)

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Loh Tat Tian

22 Sep 2018

Founder at PolicyWoke (We Buy Insurance Policies)

As a Sole breadwinner,

Your take home income is $2,400 each month. You definitely need a 10% saving...

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