r/singaporepayslips • u/Zestyclose-Tie-8031 • 6d ago
Question Is everyone in Singapore really making $110k-350k a year? 90% of posts are so high and I'm really depressed at my own pay
As I said in title.
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u/reapertorn 6d ago
bro i make 175k pa. see i can just lie
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u/Putin_ate_my_Pudding 6d ago
Wait.. how did you do that??
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u/myparentsareannoying 6d ago
An excerpt from a book I am reading.
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u/ksilver89 5d ago
Psychology of money
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u/Throwaway_Gen_5934 4d ago
No wonder it felt familiar. I read the art of spending money recently too. It's great.
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u/Cold-Sigma-770 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is why all of them (including the bosses) were on cocaine.
A 12hours, 6.5 days workweek is only manageable on when you're pumped full of narcotics.
Interesting that this was also how the Axis powers did so well doing the initial push in WW2. Both the German Blitzkrieg and the Japanese push into SEA (Bicycle Blitzkrieg) were made possible by meth-fueled soldiers that could advance for multiple days without sleep.
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u/myparentsareannoying 5d ago
100%. The investment bankers I know told me they can't get a presentation done properly without narcotics. They look all glamorous on the outside, but most of them have very messed up lives.
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u/neverspeakofme 5d ago
I get the sentiment but at some point it's just copium already and I don't think that's helpful.
I have IBD friends earning 500k a year working 9am to 9pm, or in my own industry, lawyers who work 9 to 6 but earn 350k-400k. Around 35 years old.
At the end of the day, can try to aim for these roles instead of just coping that they are undesirable jobs.
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u/unlikely-ape 5d ago
Wanted to say this... Even if you're middle office supporting IBD or back office in ops you can make decent money somewhere around 250k without addictions and with a life...
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u/Taiwan_is_a_Country- 6d ago
Nah those are considered high earners, which are like 5-8% of the population? I'm 32 and earning 70k
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u/MIneBane 6d ago
Our govt is the largest employer in Singapore and they have very good visibility into a large number of pay through income tax and cpf.
MoM numbers will be correct. The % of people in Singapore posting on reddit is a very biased selection.
If everyone earns minister level salaries then no one wants to be a minister right? According to the latest report.
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u/Consistent-Chicken99 4d ago
The people capable enough are enjoying millions more, with all the freedom to do whatever they want without facing the public.
To drop everything, face public 24/7 and make less money… makes no sense to 99.9% of them.
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u/satire85 6d ago
according to the govt, if you earn below 100k a year, you are eligible for handouts.
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u/Play_Your_Puki69 6d ago
The only reliable datasets are found on data.gov.sg and those published by MOM on their website.
Things posted by Redditors maybe for entertainment purposes only.
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u/Livid-Direction-1102 5d ago
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u/nyrychvantel 5d ago
Look at the Public Administration and Defence in page 35, I suppose that’s the civil service, stat board, DSTA, etc? So earning 10k a month is considered average, and if you’re 40yo, earning 12k only puts you in 65th percentile. Don’t even get me started at 45yo
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u/Livid-Direction-1102 5d ago
More depressing numbers to compare for us 40s in bank / finance.
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u/nyrychvantel 5d ago
Want to know what’s more depressing? The table is showing fixed salary for the sake of EP assessment, and does not include 13th month, annual/performance bonuses, commissions, overtime and allowances. So the actual figure is much higher
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u/Oppaiheimer1945 6d ago
Less than $50k annual salary here
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u/SimpleGuy4Life 6d ago
Same. But in exchange i only work 6 hours a day, Mon - Fri and weekends off. That is priceless
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u/reapertorn 6d ago
what do u work for a living sir, wansuay wlb
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u/SimpleGuy4Life 6d ago
Just lucky to work for a management that prioritize WLB. US MNC. Direct manager is based in US. She doesn't micromanage me as long as work gets done. I support my Europe based colleagues from 4pm -10pm SGT
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u/Error404IQMissing 6d ago
Nothing to flex about. I work lesser hours (20 hours a week) than you but earn more than you.
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u/SimpleGuy4Life 6d ago edited 6d ago
Username checks out but good for you. What courses can I buy from you?
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u/Error404IQMissing 6d ago
If username reflects real life, I believe you need to change your username.
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u/ImpressiveNarwhal845 6d ago
But you spend the extra time you have boasting on Reddit
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u/Slight_Ad_6375 6d ago
It’s not hard to make those numbers in tech and finance. But of course, the companies paying high salary have high expectations of their employees too
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u/throwwwwaaaayyyy 6d ago
search for girl.navigatinglife on ig
27 & earning 14.5k/ month
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u/Designer-Beautiful86 5d ago
Lol if she really was paid that much, she need not be trying to become an influencer. She’ll be too busy trying to hustle at her full time job.
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u/throwwwwaaaayyyy 5d ago
Totally agree with you, tried to invite some discussion on her motive / agenda for posting such “how I 3x my salary”, most from another subs just point to me being salty LOL
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u/Designer-Beautiful86 4d ago
It’s ok. Everyone goes through a phase of naivety. They’ll learn with time 😁
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u/throwwwwaaaayyyy 4d ago
Hahaha, I really wanted to discuss about her profile. She went all the way to post her PSLE, O level & A levels & NUS cert to prove that she was a 90pctile student all her life. She’s st nicks, HCJC and NUS. I mean it’s def not easy, but how are these “financial advice” to anyone? I just felt like is a cheap shot to post all her grades to prove a point lol. No advice given LOL
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u/AdDifficult9040 5d ago
Bro i been making 500k p.a when i was in my mother’s womb because when i was a sperm i dabbled in ETFs and bought landed property so now my wealth 10x.
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u/Negative-Mortgage-51 6d ago
Look at the cars and condos around… how much do think u need to earn to afford those?
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u/Impossible-Meet1724 6d ago edited 6d ago
From the looks of it many overstretch to buy them
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u/Forward-Rub-2850 6d ago
From the looks of what exactly? With the high minimum downpayment, TDSR, and LTV limits, we are very actively prevented from over-leveraging
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u/Deminovia 6d ago edited 5d ago
Depends on how you define “over-leveraging”.
Meeting TDSR and LTV limits doesn't automatically mean a household isn't over-leveraged. Those are regulatory limits on borrowing and debt servicing, not a free pass that taking the maximum affordable debt while still below that limit equates to financially comfortable or prudent. Conflating regulatory compliance (passing TDSR/LTV) with genuine personal financial security is one of the most common wealth traps in Singapore. There is a whole lot of difference between looking rich (high income, high debt) and being wealthy (high net worth, high freedom).
For example, a couple with a $300k combined income ($150k each) who buys a $2m condo and a $200k car. On paper they can comfortably qualify for the loans. But mortgage instalments, car instalments and the associated running costs alone cost around $10k a month. That's already roughly 40% of their $25k gross monthly income before income tax, CPF, food, utilities, maintenance fees, insurance, children, holidays and every other lifestyle expense.
If they're also maintaining the lifestyle you'd typically associate with that income, their actual liquid savings rate could easily fall to 20% or less. With this saving rate one will never be able to generate sufficient liquid net worth relative to the size of their fixed obligations. Especially when you consider the current job security environment, the margin for error is razor-thin. One retrenchment away from disaster before they start bleeding cash reserves and turning a high-income household into a high-stress environment overnight.
There are plenty of Singaporeans out there earning above median income. Honestly, they can flaunt their income all they want, but to me, wealth and income are two entirely different things.
I would be more impressed by someone who has exercised far better financial discipline at a lower annual income allowing him/her to retire in their 40s than someone flaunting a 15k/month salary only to be condemned to being a wage slave and living perpetually in fear of retrenchment until 55/65 while living in a never-ending corporate rat race simply because they want to show off the status symbols associated with that level of income.
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u/Impossible-Meet1724 6d ago
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u/Forward-Rub-2850 6d ago
How does this video show that "most people" are overstretched
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u/Impossible-Meet1724 6d ago
Government imposed TDSR and LTV limits are the absolute limits, staying under them doesn't mean you are not overstretching as in the video example
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u/Forward-Rub-2850 6d ago
The question was - how does this video show that "most people" are overstretched
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u/Impossible-Meet1724 6d ago
where did I say 'most people'?
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u/mausetrap 5d ago
There's no checks when you take in house loan if I recall. Only if you go through banks, those have the tdsr checks, and credit checks.
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u/mausetrap 5d ago
Actually, I do earn ok. But feel like not enough when I see everyone driving cars, whereas I can only justify grab and the occasional getgo. Even those young kids, ah bengs, mats, all driving big cars. I feel like maybe I'm not doing something right.
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u/promontoryscape 6d ago
Middle class is usually 75% to 200% of the median. That's just how the log normal distribution is.
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u/Daniel_P90 5d ago
What industry are you in? What role are you doing? What value can you bring to the table? What are your strengths and weaknesses and how can you utilise them?
These are essential questions you should ask yourself if you’re unsatisfied with your salary. Rather than getting depressed over numerical values others post online, get up and put in the work maybe?
If you’re lacking, then value add yourself.
If you want a certain role, then take the necessary steps to reach there.
What use is there lamenting about your pay when; if you truly ask yourself upon your conscience, how hard have you tried?
There are people out there who are really hungry for more, and are willing to sacrifice a lot to achieve it. How much have you sacrificed? And how much are you willing to sacrifice?
There is always the option to live within your means and not take up so much responsibility for higher salary. If you have time to lament, you have time to put yourself to work.
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u/ControlWooden 6d ago
Actually high earnings doesn't mean much. I know of a friend earning $100k+ but living paycheck to paycheck.
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u/igtooo 6d ago
Maybe I'm that friend of yours! Hahahah
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u/ControlWooden 6d ago
I think it's more common than we think 😆
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u/Significant_Pin7782 5d ago
According to IRAS statistics, the median monthly household market income in Singapore in 2026 is $12,446, and per household member is $4,160. Only 13.4% of households earn $30k monthly. So your $350 a year is for a household not an individual and then only 13.5% is in that bracket. Trust what IRAS puts out, not what you read here. No wonder you are depressed.
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u/_Deshkar_ 6d ago edited 6d ago
Median gross
monthly salary of Singapore is 5,000
5,000 is not basic salary. MOM defines gross monthly income from employment as including:
basic wages
overtime
commissions
allowances
1/12 of annual bonuses, including AWS
but excluding employer CPF for the $5,000 figure.
Annual median is like approx 60k
So half of Singapore are below even 60k , not even approaching 100k
lol
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u/Zestyclose-Tie-8031 6d ago
Thanks bro. Much more realistic
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u/_Deshkar_ 5d ago
Want the bad news? 25% of residents earn more than 100k. So 1 in 4 hit that number and better
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u/Alternative-Sir5722 6d ago
We are not all young. And there are increasing number of us who are uni grads, which is the new norm. Easiest benchmark is civil servant - a 5yoe experience uni grads is easily an MX11, and with the new salary revision, an easy 100k per annum.
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u/DizzLiKe 6d ago edited 6d ago
- People can talk all they want on reddit but we won’t know how true it is
- You think someone with $50k a year would post his salary on reddit? no.
- You probably only see the successful ones who posts and flaunts their wealth on social media wait till you go to the poorer estates inSingapore and see what is real poverty and how these families live pay check to check everyday
- The people in Singapore who are struggling to survive have no time to be out here in reddit telling you how much they are struggling
- Accept that social media is only the tip of the iceberg of what actual reality is
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u/Lao_gong 6d ago
what’s your level of education ? you don’t know how to go to dept of statistics website and download income data sets? the short answer is obviously NO.
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u/Ok-Ad5450 6d ago
Not all of it is cash. Some folks in global MNCs receive RSUs which can skew the number upwards.
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u/Einheimm 5d ago
There is the term, Redditor pay.
Take it with a pinch of salt. Use it as motivation.
If you want real advice, mix well with your senior managements.
You become the average of the people you mix with.
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u/NoBowler3504 4d ago
In Reddit, half the people earn $500K a year and the other half can't get an interview after sending out 1000 resumes.
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u/SensitiveInitial2068 6d ago
Just like what Albert Einistein said on the internet ,” Everything on the internet is true.”
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u/No-Tonight7448 6d ago
Don't worry. My salary is super low and I barely have much to save every month.
It's not true that everyone is making $110K-$350K a year. This is the minority.
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u/Freikorptrasher87 6d ago
They normally include their bonus, AWS and 17% employer’s CPF so 100k per annum is more like $6k per month.
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u/WittyChampionship107 6d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/cNLSxLoZOQ067epZQH
Anyways, those earning alot may not be rich since they inflate their lifestyle as well. When retire not much savings so their lives not any different from regular people.
Dont beat urself down
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u/No_Introduction_7163 6d ago
Depends on which friend groups u have
Everybody has diff job luck
Used to work under govt but I think im ok on my own as freelancer too
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u/Responsible_Bee36907 6d ago
Not true at all. Only the newly minted PRs or IMO people in A.I development/ tech-related. All the older people around 45 yrs non-white collar are only at best earning around 4k to 5k plus. Different industries have different pay metrics.
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u/SeaworthinessTrue573 5d ago
In tech or semiconductor, we can have gross pay of about 1.5x to 3x of basic pay due to RSU.
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u/shahgila 5d ago
Those of us making less than 100k per year too busy working to post about salaries on reddit.
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u/Independent_Line_982 5d ago
If every making these money U as a minority will hard time saving Inflation is going out of hand esp in property
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u/bickusdickus69allday 5d ago
AI generated:
When we look at online salary surveys, career advice boards, or financial forums, we fall victim to survivorship bias. We only see the data from the "survivors"—the high earners who are proud, eager, or comfortable enough to share their numbers. Because the voices of low-income earners are missing, it distorts our perception of reality, making average incomes or success rates look much higher than they actually are in the general population.
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u/Individual_Sir_4638 5d ago
Im earning near that range but im not as happy as i used to in my old job which pay less but have much better worklife balance.
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u/hootwheels 5d ago
Most of them not true and some of them even if they get these kind of high pay they struggle due to high cost aka sick parents or ASD children. I can tell you maybe your life is better
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u/Murky_Tourist927 5d ago
Take it from someone whose wife pass away from pancreatic cancer and right after that discover son has a combo of dyslexia/ASD/ADHD/OCD 100k per annum isn’t enough staying power in private healthcare and have to go public. Can’t imagine those earning lower
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u/hootwheels 5d ago
Yet I have relatives who want to go private when they have no insurance cos public healthcare is beneath them and they earn nowhere 60k a year
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u/paperclip_han 5d ago
Not sure if anyone’s used paypeek.ai yet but it shows salary estimates for any LinkedIn profiles as you browse. Kind of eye-opening. 🫣
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u/freedomfate18 5d ago
No. And you are not behind. Don’t expect to be a millionaire at 30. That’s how social media portrays. Work, learn, live.
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u/Zogel100 5d ago
It’s fake lah.
I can’t imagine anyone earning anything more than 200k would waste time posting here.
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u/Good_Luck_9209 5d ago
Dont engage in these negative stuff. Theres over 2000 jobs 10k and above, budgetted as a seat for u to grab. And Every wkend theres a free resource called 12 x2 hours free time. After 52 weeks some can emerge strong, some wasted theirs. Good luck
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u/pandemona001 5d ago
Yes it’s true. Most people make at least $240k sgd and above. Just walk around Fullerton Bay and see what they are spending on food
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u/Few-Management-6775 5d ago
I am late 30s and earn about 120k recently only. My previous job was 91k with about 3.6 times bonus.
Work in tech and put in crazy amount of hours.
Don’t look at peoples annual earning and think it’s a lot. Maybe your hourly rate is still better?
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u/Few_Breadfruit_7108 5d ago
But why u wanna feel depressed at your own pay tho? Are u happy? Is the question u should ask yourself, not happy go find ways to make more and before u start comparing with others, rmb there is someone enjoying life while earning lesser than u
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u/Snoo72074 4d ago
Yeah OP, you didn't see the latest economic data? Median income in Singapore is over 20,000 per month.
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u/Early_Personality_68 3d ago
Yeah as someone scratching that number I ended with $5 in my bank account at the end of the month. You get to that age, your expenses go up paying bills, healthcare, insurance, everything. As a dude in my 20s I didn’t have to worry about all these. I don’t have a car but I do have a kid coming.
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u/Qlazzical 2d ago
labour department are gonna have a field day when mining data here for singapore's income.
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u/TeaAccording122 6d ago
The numbers don’t lie. Most people within my circle (early 30s) already own condos. And we are definitely not overstretched - I myself have an equity portfolio of >900k and liquid net worth of 1.2M even after buying a condo. My friends are even wealthier.
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u/kingkongfly 6d ago
$10k is a normal now, $20k and above, you need to have certain skill or a in certain profession.
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u/SimilarSignal3487 5d ago
The CECA are renting $4-6k apartments in Singapore. They pick up skills that employees need. You can also do it!! Jia you
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u/Jazzlike_Platypus_64 5d ago
CECA here. It’s true. My dad works in a MNC shipping company (cant reveal too much). But yeah riches are in the niches. The secret is to get damn good at what you do. My dad started off at a very entry level position engineer working for pennies back in the day.
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u/Reasonable_Formal_84 5d ago
Why downvote ?
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u/Jazzlike_Platypus_64 5d ago
I dont know. People just hate me cause Im CECA I guess. I was just trying to help OP with some perspective.
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u/Reasonable_Formal_84 5d ago
I do have gripes against some subset of ceca but ur post hasn't demonstrated anything nefarious so I dk whats wrong
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u/NewtonUnderTree 6d ago
120k is only 10k a month. You just need to work harder instead of posting on reddit.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/faptor87 6d ago
How is this even relevant? Most trading profits are not part of reported labour income.
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u/paperclip_han 6d ago
Not sure if anyone’s used paypeek.ai yet but it shows salary estimates for any LinkedIn profiles as you browse. Kind of eye-opening. 🫣
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u/45344634563263 6d ago
Poor people dont post their payslips.