A quick thought on the NDR

I missed most of the NDR as we were on our way home from the grands' and there were evening and bedtime duties etc... I sat down only when PM was talking about integration of foreigners in Singapore. But Sito said the government was going to give out loads of money.

This morning, I read the news. Finally, support for parenthood, not incentives!

We started on the support narrative way back but Baby Bonus - which I dislike - was by then so ingrained that it was tough to shift the idea from incentives to support. Doing away with Baby Bonus is very loud and clear - we're not giving parents a bonus for having a kid. Naming the new one "child support" puts it across plainly - we're supporting child raising.

I'm also pleased with the leave even though I have nothing to do with leave anymore. If anything, I don't get leave! Giving parents eight to 12 days of leave a year is great, coz mandatory child care centre closing days (the dreaded CCCC!) are already six days! 

If the kids don't fall ill (they shouldn't after a while coz immunity :p), that leaves parents with two to six days to really spend time with the kids on their own schedule, rather than on the centre's schedule, especially for those with older kids who can only go on holidays during MOE term breaks. My experience was that CCCCs did not happen during MOE term breaks *.*

The lower preschool fees are very welcome too even though once again, they've got nothing to do with me. But I cannot forget that for a period of time, with two kids in child care and one in infant care, half of my pay went to the centre 😭 It was more expensive than uni! I wonder how the non-anchor operators will cope with the competition... Ah well...

And finally, the BTO chances. Just on Thursday, Sito was jokingly saying, give two BTO to large families! I said no way that's going to happen, but higher chances at the ballot possible. Really! I'm good. Hahahaha! Oh, and bigger flats please! Well, nothing to do with me coz I'm NOT moving! 

I also read comments on social media. The dissent was mostly about those without kids having to cover for parents at work given the more days of leave.

Actually, before I had kids, I covered my direct boss not once but twice when she went on maternity leave two years apart. I didn't mind coz it gave me more opportunities to do things that I otherwise would just happily leave it to the boss to do! But I can't say for those who have to cover a peer. Maybe that would be more work... In the end, it's a give and take? I used to go on long vacations before kids and my colleagues with kids had to cover :p

Covering for maternity leave is harder - probably need a temp or intern... More opportunities for youngsters to learn?

I also think at some point, there also has to be greater support given to caregivers of elderly parents, besides parents who care for kids. It's how our population is heading - old...

And then some wondered about the cost of the package. Sito did a search and told me that back when I was working, IRAS collected $30b in taxes; last year, they collected almost $90b. So just the tax alone can more than pay for the annual cost of the new package, which is about 40,000 kids x 16 cohorts x $2,000 + 30,000 newborns x $25,000 = $2b

Based on the $70,000 support per kid from birth to 17yo, the package estimates that each kid will return more than that in taxes as an adult. Assuming 40y of working, $70,000 of taxes mean under $2,000 a year, which is very low and so hence the returns are almost guaranteed. 

But of course, this is beyond the money. It's "existential".

I heard a bit on the part about Singaporeans remaining the majority and integrating foreign-borns. I thought it is helpful to put it out there - births not looking promising but we'll support parenthood AND we'll need to continue to import people while ensuring Singaporeans this 👆 I talked about new citizens being newfound births before.

Ok, very hot in the study and Yu is 虎视眈眈-ing my laptop as he wants to read my holiday posts so I'll end here.

More on having (more) kids

Read on the news on Thursday morning that the workgroup for a marriage and parenthood reset had started its work. While I'm glad to see that it comprises mostly new faces with hopefully new ideas, I'm not entirely optimistic about it raising our TFR though.

Let's start with getting hitched.

Sito told me about a Reddit thread he saw, where a woman in her late 20s asked for a seemingly regular guy - at least 173cm (reasonable for her height which is same as mine), income at least $70k (same as hers), ok looking, +/- 4yo. 

Sounds reasonable until someone pointed out that, 173cm already eliminated half of the men in Singapore. And for those age groups, $70k a year is median income or above, which eliminated another 50%. That left her with the top 25% of men even if she's not fussy with looks. But remember, we need to eliminate those married or attached so in reality, her reasonable requirements meant she was looking at the top 10%??

Of course these are simple maths. But I doubt the reality is that far from above. What it means is that... I'm very lucky! Hahaha! (But that's not the point of Sito telling me that though he puffed up a bit, hoho!)

More seriously, it means you need to find someone during school days or have a really, really large social network. 

Ok, what now when hitched? I assume the couple will get married and then they'll decide between a dog and a kid. Or none. For kids, see my other post.

(Meanwhile, down there at Mdm 孟婆's, the poor chap also gotta choose between a dog and a baby?!)

Honestly, kids can be a handful. Even one kid can be a handful. But I look at our boys, I cannot imagine not having them. 

Of course sometimes Sito and I do imagine not having them :p "What would we be doing?" 

• Continue working
• Get a pet
• Buy more bags, eat out more, hang out more with friends, etc
• Go on more holidays

The answers aren't all that appealing... 

Work was never a rat race for me but I don't know how meaningful it could continue to be. I have been watching loads of cat videos lately but honestly, after wiping bums for 10y, I really don't think I want to clean up poop all the time! As for the rest, I don't know how meaningful they are after a while... 

Inevitably, this discussion will lead back to our everyday life. Yes - tiring (wake at 6.10am for school), chaotic (fighting for toilet etc) and frustrating (why cannot read P1 Chinese words?!). But also - cute (each in his own way), sweet (hugs) and satisfying (each has his own achievements).

So ya, won't have it any other way now :)

I wouldn't encourage everyone to have (more) kids though. Coz I'm not the one supporting your kids :p

But to support those who want more kids, I think the following areas could be considered by both government and society. 

HDB

Even 5-room flats and bigger have only three bedrooms, i.e. one for parents, one for boys and one for girls issit? I don't understand why we're still expected to live like in kampung. The young boys and girls are going to grow up and need privacy. 

For those with kids of the same gender, one for sleeping and one for studying issit? Hasn't COVID WFH and HBL taught us that it's very difficult to work and, worse, do Zoom discussions in the same room even with earphones?! Same gender also needs privacy... Or even if they don't need privacy, especially boys who can run about the house naked (roll my eyes), I would want to separate the kids or no one gets any sleep!

There's the renovation route - I have seen creative solutions effectively separating one room into two but with bunk beds. Not the friendliest when it comes to changing bedsheets. Taller kids may find it claustrophobic to work at the desk under the bed. And older kids may not appreciate bunk beds that much. 

Besides the limited number of jumbo flats, I've only known private housing to have more bedrooms but not everyone can afford that. I wonder if HDB can offer bigger BTO flats with more bedrooms and allow only bigger families to select them. If there are no takers, they can convert to smaller flats for the actual building and offer them as balance of sale.

Taxi

We've given up on cabs already. Starting from maybe two years ago, we could hardly fit into a regular taxi as Kai was the size of an adult and Yu was getting too heavy to sit on my lap. But a six-seater taxi is quite ex - about 50% more ex! - so just use it for airport trips or heading home late or going somewhere far, which are all thankfully rare occasions for us.

But there are families who may find public transport challenging, e.g. younger kids are super tired from a day at the zoo - I totally feel that coz it happened to us before. No choice but to take two cabs or just brave public transport with potentially cranky kids and pray for sympathetic fellow passengers who could either bear the noise or let the kids have a seat to sleep in or, preferably, both. Maybe this is more under "social"...

(No matter what, I don't think owning a car is a necessity for bigger families but this is a separate discussion.)

Education

I recall we had a sibling discount when we signed up for something. Was it child care or some enrichment? Free registration or uniforms for subsequent kids, not recurrent fees. It was a really nice gesture though and we appreciated it. Every bit helps.

Coupled with above point that no car is necessary even for bigger families, it might be helpful to offer school bus discounts for siblings in the same primary school. After all, it's the same pick-up/drop-off point. 

Social

I remember some 10years ago, family packages I saw were for two adults and two kids. Just did a quick search and it seemed like it's no longer so limited, except for hotels which usually don't allow more than four per room *.* Our little clan hasn't had a staycation for years coz no point if we go on a staycation but stay in two rooms and the parents also don't fancy paying through our nose for a big suite. .

Another part under "social" is people. Over the years, I have at times felt like some kind of exhibition, thanks to mostly old aunties who would point out that we have three boys, like wow. Wonder what they say to even bigger families! Eh please, don't 大惊小怪 can??

Or worse, auntie will add - have a fourth one la, girl. I roll my eyes...

How to encourage people to have kids?

I look at One HV downstairs - probably the only mall with more dogs than kids??!

Those who want kids will have kids; those who don't want them won't have them. But there's probably a huge group in the middle who are either undecided or need to fulfil some conditions before they would have (more) kids.

What are these conditions? Maybe these:

The economics

Very real considerations here. Like I always thought my parents shouldn't have three kids - or any at all! - coz they could ill afford it. But there was pressure for a boy *.* Mother decided to tie her tubes when she miscarried after YQ. That was her fifth pregnancy and second loss. 

So yes, if a couple hardly have any savings every month despite a simple lifestyle and there is no prospects of earning more, I'll be very practical and say don't consider children; just plan for your own retirement. Don't make other people - kids, grands, extended family, taxpayers - suffer.

There are a few things here: 

• Stable employment - I believe this is possible for everyone regardless of educational qualifications. I consider zero entry barrier jobs like delivery personnel and fast food crew stable employment, though the latter probably offers a more...
• Stable income - True, those jobs mentioned above don't offer very high income and there's little wage progression. The prospect of raising a child could be quite daunting. But then it really depends on how much the individual is willing and wants to progress to a better job, plus...
• Ability to save regularly - If the couple can hardly save regardless of income, they would have no spare money for the necessities of having a child in the first place. 

Which begs the questions: how much do you need to raise a child? Well, that really depends on your income and lifestyle.

Sito just read an article where the journalist claimed it costs $30k per child per year, including holidays. I don't know how much an adult is expected to spend but let's say $20k coz no enrichment programmes? Our family of five certainly did not spend 30x3 + 20x2 = $130k for the whole of last year including holidays!

Estimates based on our spreadsheet - I have been keeping records since uni time (!):

• Dining out = $12k
• Groceries = $8k
• Utilities = $4k
• Kids specific = $8k (largely tuition and chess tournaments)
• Transport = $2k
• Medical and dental = $2k
• Insurance = $12k
• Money to our parents = $10k
• Holiday = $12k
• Other discretionary = $2k

Total = $72k per year or $6k per month

I think we are probably average in terms of spending, especially for tuition (only one subject each for two kids), insurance (almost done with commitments) and even holidays (nothing extravagant needed). If we have kids in preschool, it would be more expensive. Infant care is especially so, more ex than university, adding maybe $18k a year per kid! Gosh, so glad no more infant care for us!

Thinking back to when we had three kids in child care, that was about $21k a year in total fees. So younger families could face more stress in this area. We didn't qualify for additional subsidies then but the current income ceiling for subsidies at $12k, just under the $14k income ceiling for HDB BTO/grants, means many families can get such subsidies. 

If we work in town and take lunch outside, that would add another $5k - we are cai fan people, no need to spend $25 on ramen + service + GST. And maybe add another $1k on transport coz we have only kah (Hokkien for legs), no car.

I don't know how much a car would add coz we had never owned a car. I just used to drive Mum's car to her place when she parked it at our place every two weeks. Most places we go to are accessible by public transport anyway, even when the kids were small and liked to run the length of the Circle Line trains when it wasn't crowded *.*

Piano lessons? Art class? Taekwondo lessons? Discretionary.

What else is there to spend on? We don't collect shoes or bags or labubu toys or any funny thing. Kids do not need new toys all the time. The single most expensive item we bought for Kai is his iPhone 13 (not the latest model then), and we expect him to use it for a few years.

Oh, we don't have a mortgage. But you want a house with or without kids right? Kids only determine the size you need. We birthed three kids in our old 3-room flat - they shared a room. If we had no helper, there was a small room for a study. But the crunch was the single WC for five persons coz it was the old type; Mother's old 3-room flat is a little bit newer and has two WCs.

Anyway, taking a $1m 4/5-room HDB as an example, a $800k loan for 30y would mean a monthly repayment of $3k at 2% interest (higher than now) or $4.2k at 5% (not in the past 10y at least). Add $1k for 20y loan. So that could add some $36-$60k a year. 

Eh... Buy within your means ok... I checked out BTOs - some are priced like resale (my beef with pricing is another issue for another day) but there are also way more affordable ones. 

There's also some economy of scale with more kids. Not to say the more the cheaper but having a second child will not cost double. Clothes can be handed down, as can books and toys. Small things but still worth a mention. Even holidays - adding a second child will not add a second hotel room. But adding a third would, as I have found out. Then again, the fourth wouldn't add on, haha!

The practical

Sito sent me an article calling for men to be dads, not duds, so that women need not be the one to make the most sacrifice when it comes to having children. Made me wonder how come I let Sito sleep in while I cleaned the house on Sunday mornings when we first got married?! Now he regrets sending me the article, haha!

Jokes aside, it's true how the wife/mother is usually the one handling the bulk of home affairs. Around me, I only know one father who would take the night shift after his day job to care for his infant so that his wife would have enough rest to take care of the kids in the day!

The village that used to raise children is now just the parents, and increasingly older grandparents, if the former are lucky. All parts of the village have to come in to support. Some families may engage a helper. But I know a few rejected that totally.

The suggestion of keeping some child care centres in housing estates open until later so that parents working in town could fetch kids in time sparked debates ranging from children's needs for sleep and parental care, to child care teachers' personal and family needs, and to costs.

 
I don't understand - these parents who need to rush to fetch kids from child care probably work regular hours. Their bosses also have kids right? Why can't the parents all leave work earlier and work at home later when the kids are sleeping?

I have greater pity for parents who are both in shift work. Child care centre hours don't work for them at all. But who is speaking for them?? Anyway, I think they have either family support or a helper, else cannot.

But regardless of the type of child care, it is important for both parents to put in efforts. Maybe with one kid, it's possible to have just one parent running the show, as I did for Kai's first year, with a part-time cleaner coming in once a week. But when Yang came into the picture, it got exponentially crazy managing basics such as sleep (they don't sleep well), play and work. I must add that it didn't get much crazier when Yu came along; I guess systems were in place by then.

*** *** ***

Sito added that people must feel that their children will have a better life than them in order to have children. I guess the wars, economy, ever-increasing flat prices and inflation just don't inspire much confidence.

Maybe they're responsible. Or practical. Or cautious. Or pessimistic. No matter which way, no amount of money and practical support can change the mind of this group who are concerned with things beyond their control.

How about us? I've always wanted to have kids. Four. No kidding. It just got tempered down over the years. Sito never really thought about it, haha! 

To be honest, if I were not sure that our income could support three kids, I wouldn't have gone ahead. Before having Yu, I was doing well at work. I projected myself to cruise plateau at two grades above and be economically comfortable though time poor. Sito changed jobs a few times by then but he can do anything coz my laogong very smart :p

Actually that was it. Growing up, money was always the issue. Before having Kai, I certainly did not think about whether my husband would be hands on (answer: not when they were young!), whether we would need a helper (answer: no at first, eventually yes), or whether we would be able to manage children and work (answer: ok for many years).

Yes, in the end, I left my job. But I also have friends - in both public and private sector - who manage full-time demanding work with children. 

So back to the title question - how to encourage people to have kids?

A work place that is supportive of personal time

And this is not just about parents. Employees who are not parents deserve support too if they have other caregiving duties especially in our ageing society.

I always read comments on social media. It seems like people are working too much and too hard to imagine adding kids and their myriad needs to their life. 

Work is a such a necessary evil but can society as a whole work towards making it less evil? When will people - from those at the lowest rung to the big boss as well as customers - recognise that everyone deserves personal time if they work hard during working hours? 

Yes, I must stress the last bit of working hard during working hours. Good work ethics build trust, trust that everyone knows everyone puts in their best at work so that they can be at their best at home too. But this needs everyone to put in the effort.

Yet, I see so many social media posts and comments timestamped during working hours. Truth be told, some of my earlier blog posts were written during office hours - think I was bored when some things didn't move but single childless me didn't mind OT for some flexibility in the day so nothing to complain about. That is, if you do leisure things during working hours, be prepared to use personal time to do work.

But now social media can be very addictive. If you read one post, you'd likely go on to the next. If you read one comment, you'd likely read more. No wonder works eat way into personal time?! No wonder boss wants you to work more?!

I used to have this handwritten sign on my office desk after returning to work as a mother - focus at work and go home. Or something like that. So no social media. Not even WhatsApp - I would respond to only work messages and easy/urgent messages like from helper. Everything else - random chit chat, shared instagram posts - could wait.

And the whole WFH thing? Many people like it after experiencing it from COVID days. It certainly gives a lot of flexibility but who knows whether this flexibility results in same or higher/lower productivity? It saves travelling time for sure but I certainly didn't find myself very productive when I kept getting interrupted by the kids during the circuit breaker in 2020!

So, maybe everyone need to work hard first. Toilet breaks - without the phone! - are good enough breaks. 

This one, to be honest, is very hard. Some people are luckier than others. I was lucky to have good bosses and colleagues who understood that I had to leave by 5.30 pm; they were also lucky coz they knew I would be back at work at 9 pm after settling the kids *.*

A change in priorities

Last night I read a NUSWhispers post (I don't know why it appeared in my Facebook feed!) of a woman in her 20s worrying about paying for BTO, car and kids with a household income above $12k. Yes, $12k. If $12k cannot cover BTO and kids, it's covering discretionary items already. I roll my eyes.

Something's gotta give. 天上是不会掉馅饼的！

Lifestyle creep and spending beyond means are the usual culprits here. These are within each person's control. But I guess it's difficult to make people change their lifestyle for a couple of crying brats who pee and poop and puke on you?

A more relaxed education scene

Eh, I don't know how to put it. Some people say they don't want to give birth to kids only for them to join in the rat race starting with good preschools, good primary school, then going on to exams, especially PSLE, coupled with enrichment and tuition for every subject and topic etc etc etc. Very stressful etc etc etc.

I don't get it. If you don't learn how to manage stress growing up, how to manage stress as an adult? Or perhaps they - parents-to-be - find it stressful for themselves to raise kids?

In the olden days, girls who want to marry well also need to know how to play piano very well, play chess very well, write very well and paint very well（琴棋书画）, and after marrying, they still must stress over the husband's concubines! Ok, watch too many period dramas... 

Again, something we can control. Some parents let their children settle themselves to varying degrees and results. Here, we choose to be very involved - to push them, to motivate them, to teach them eventual independence. 

Stress is inevitable. Stress is not bad on its own. Stress is also something to learn from. We cannot shelter children from stress forever. Sometimes we end up stressing ourselves. Is it worth it? Yes, if we see them grow well.

*** *** ***

Anyway, after my work stint in encouraging marriage and parenthood and my personal experience, and considering external factors not within individuals' control and the nature of people (re priorities), I think we, born and bred Singaporeans as a species, can prepare to go extinct eventually. I probably won't be here to see it. For now, I don't mind all the Sichuan food thanks to immigration though :p

Joining in the TFR talk

Recent news of TFR hitting a new low made me reach for the spreadsheets again!

The overall direction of the TFR trend (downwards) is indisputable but I already talked about how the actual TFR number needs to be taken with a pinch of salt - here. Quick recap, TFR is affected by numerators on number of babies and denominators on number of women; some years with an increase of resident babies do not have a corresponding increase in resident TFR.

Today, I want to look at births vs. immigration coz we have taken to importing people when we don't produce enough.

Overall, the number of Singapore citizen (SC) births had been declining for the past six years after a slight uptake between 2018 and 2019 (+1.3%). The latest decline between 2024 and 2025 was the worst at -10.4% since 2001 (-12.5% from 2000).

So 20-30y later, we won't have enough local workers. At this rate, native SC population will start to shrink at some point.

But fear not, we can import new SCs! Ready made workers! SC pop won't shrink (as much?)!

The SC population as at end June 2025 was of an older profile compared to the new SCs granted in 2024. In particular, the two largest groups of new SCs are at the prime working ages of 31-40yo and up to 20yo, probably children of the former. This should be the case since immigration is meant to augment the young and the working population. 

Note: The age group categories are different for the SC pop data and for the new SC data, but no choice, those were the only data I could find. But close enough to compare.

But what is the impact of immigration on TFR? Does it really help?

Firstly, I was curious about the TFR among the new SCs. If I assume the new SC children were all born in 2024 and that 50% of those aged 21y and above were women of childbearing age, their "TFR" would be a ghastly 0.85 in 2024, lower than local TFR of 0.97 in the same year. But the first assumption is not sound and the second also dubious. So maybe look at the number of added births rather than TFR. But before that, I want to look at correlation between TFR and SC population.

I plotted TFR against SC pop, new SCs granted and a derived variable assuming no new SCs from 2007, created by subtracting new SCs granted from 2007 onwards (that's the first available number) from the SC pop each year. 

Now, I'm departing from facts to inference. 

Visually, there seems to be some correlation between the increase in all SC numbers and the decrease in TFR. It's probably maths as highlighted in my previous post. 

But - visually again - TFR seems to decrease more in recent years, when the delta between SC pop and SEC pop less new SCs becomes greater. Dare I propose that besides maths, this also suggests that new SCs have a lower propensity for children? But then again, many may come here already parents so they don't add to the TFR. If they conform to local norms, they are unlikely to have more children than the average SC. So I guess that brings me back to number of added births.

By added births, I'm referring to how the new SC kids add to local birth cohorts of previous years. 

Since it takes time for a foreigner to become a PR and then an SC, I assume the new SC children are at least 5yo and they are evenly spread across the ages. So the annual average of 6,600 kids since 2012 (when age data were available) covers 15 years of births or 440 per year. Let's call these births "newfound births".

As we get new SCs every year, each cohort of new SCs bring 440 newfound births in each of the first 15 of the past 20y. This means:

• In 2021-2025, there are no newfound births from the new SCs granted in 2025.
• In 2020, there were only newfound births from the 2025 cohort of new SCs, i.e. 440.
• In 2019, there were only newfound births from the 2024-2025 cohorts of new SCs, i.e. 440 x2. 
• Thus, in 2006, there were 440 x 15 = 6,600 newfound births from the 2011-2025 cohorts of new SCs combined.

6,600 represents a 20.7% increase in the number of SC births in 2006! I thought that was significant. 

So to answer my earlier question, I think immigration can bolster our low TFR but only if we're selective about it. 

A similar calculation can show that new SCs of working age can be considered newfound births decades ago and are useful to augment our current working pop. But as we have a greater dearth of births recently, it is more worthwhile getting new SCs who already have children to augment our current younger pop and future working pop. Bonus: These children will grow up like native SCs. 

Conversely, it's not worthwhile getting new SCs who do not have children at the point of being granted new SCs because they will likely conform to local norms, i.e. not likely to have many children, if at all.

Of course, don't add to our ageing pop!

The other part of the TFR discussion is on increasing local births. I feel like this is another discussion altogether. Maybe next time..

References:

• New SCs before 2012: Population in Brief, NPTD 
• All other data generated in early March 2026: DOS search by theme

If I were an educator...

Sito met some friends for dinner recently some weeks ago. One topic came up - education. Two of us had a brief discussion over breakfast. I want to put down some thoughts here.

Two ideas:

1) Dedicated form teachers

Why:

Two reasons - (a) reducing admin of teaching staff for the staff's benefit, and (b) having a main teacher who truly knows the form kids for the kids' benefit:

a) This started off from the topic of flexi-adjunct teachers. The work scope is to be agreed upon between the school and the teacher. So the teacher could effectively just teach, no CCA etc. And they're apparently free to teach tuition unlike MOE teachers. 

That sounds a lot more attractive than to be a regular MOE teacher with all the admin, CCA and committee work (e.g. organise children's day cele) on top of teaching responsibilities.

Over the years, we've heard of teaching staff being burdened by admin. The recent findings from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey showed that full-time teachers in Singapore spent four hours a week on admin work, above the OECD average of three hours. 

I don't know what this admin work entails but I think there is bound to be some amount of admin no matter what. I thought things should be much better these days with the PG app. Perhaps the admin pertains more to the lower primary kids and even Sec 1 kids coz new to school, new to a lot of things?

Actually, as I write, I think this dedicated form teachers idea is more for the kids' benefit, haha! Ok, I move on...

b) During my school years, the form teachers taught the whole class at least one subject, spent a lot of time with us be it teaching in the classroom or taking attendance at the assembly area. Think we also had this thing called contact time or something.

Now? 

Let me consider this in the primary school context, as I'm more familiar with this level. 

Kai had three form teachers in P5-6, and only one of them taught him. The other two taught the GEP kids in his form class - his was a mixed form class comprising mainstream and GEP kids who are in different classes for English, Maths and Science. So none of three form teachers knew all kids equally well. After they changed the format from parents-teachers meeting to parent-child-teachers-conference involving only the form teachers, we couldn't really get much out of the session. 

Oh, and now with subject-based banding in secondary schools, Kai's form class has G1-3 kids so the form teachers do not teach all the kids unless they teach DnT, FCE, music, art or PE.

Back to primary school. Yang is in a mainstream class (i.e. no GEP kids) and Yu is still in lower primary, but it's a 50-50 chance that their form teachers teach them in any subject at all coz students are split into groups for the four academic subjects. Based on what the kids told me and parent chat groups, there are usually two groups - one regular and one for those who need more help. For Chinese, I have seen four different spelling lists so could be four groups - foundation (from P5 onwards), 核心班，深广班 and higher Chinese. 

I don't know if they split the 核心班 into regular and those who need more help... But I know that for any subject, those who need a lot more help would be offered remedial after school - I asked for English remedial for Yang and was told it was to help those scoring below 40% 😱

The kids then take all the non-examinable subjects together as a class, with the exception of Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) which is taught in mother tongue languages. 

So if the form teacher teaches non-examinable subjects, lucky for the kids coz the main teacher actually teaches them and has more time to know them. Otherwise, it's as good as having no form teachers.

Idea:

Since form teachers already may not teach their form kids, why not have a dedicated form teacher for each class, supported by a subject-form teacher? This would be similar to P1 and P2, where the form teachers teach all the kids and know them very well.

There are already designated slots for Form Teacher Guidance Period (FTGP) and Programme for Active Learning (PAL) in the timetable, currently taken by the form teachers. A dedicated form teacher can also take on some subjects common to all students, e.g. Social Studies and even PE - see my next point far below. Music and art may be challenging... But well, see below too..

Further, academic teachers need to complete the curriculum. The form teachers can devote more time to psychological and social wellbeing, and be the kids' cheerleaders in school. They work at a manageable ratio of 1:30-40, compared to the one or two school counsellors who cannot possibly be everywhere. Students are probably more familiar with their form teachers too. Of course, serious cases will still need to be referred to counsellors.

Ultimately, the aim is to have someone who is the main point of contact for the kids, who know everything about them be it academic or otherwise, who will find out more about them from other subject teachers, who will liaise with parents and the community when necessary. The dedicated form can follow their classes as they progress through the school, like how the kids don't change classes from P1 to P2 and from P5 to P6. As such, they become sort of a surrogate parent in school, which could be very beneficial for the kids. 

While this would require significant additional manpower resources, such resources may be quite different from the usual teaching requirements which require a degree in maths to teach it, for instance. I would argue that this may not require a degree but someone with the heart to guide young people.

2) Review teaching for non-academic subjects

Apparently, it is difficult to hire teachers for certain subjects like music, art and PE. Even the languages - not just mother tongue but also English. 

Ok, put the languages aside - maybe I'll talk about them another day coz I sometimes imagine myself a Chinese teacher, haha!

I took a look at Kai's timetable, which is in a document with the timetables for all classes. There are as many PE teachers as there are classes per level but only about three each for music and art. I think it's coz there are more periods of PE per week vs. the other two subjects. It's similar for the primary school kids based on the teacher list online.

Now, music, art and PE require some technical knowledge. Not everyone can teach them properly - and safely too when it comes to PE. So they are not easily replaced. But truth be told, apart from the handful of MEP/AEP kids and those taking lessons outside school*, how well can we expect kids to do in the aesthetics? 

* Somehow, many kids learn piano in Singapore... How many truly enjoy it? Yang tried a few months and stopped coz not interested anymore.

Look at me - love to sing, yes, but can't read notes or play any instrument. Yup, not even the recorder that we were made to play in school. And don't talk about my art.

Kai had a music WA last term which required him to write notes and play a tune on a digital keyboard. He has probably forgot all about it right after that. 

For the aesthetics, I think it is more important to expose the kids and teach appreciation. There are many music and art enrichment schools out there. Why not outsource the aesthetics? I can't find the info but I believe swimming lessons for primary school kids are already outsourced, with the PE teacher present during the lesson. My kids have their swimming lesson in school but I once saw a lesson at Delta Swimming Complex where parent volunteers were present to help the teachers with the kids.

If swimming can be outsourced, so can entire PE lessons. And PE lessons can take a different form - besides the usual physical training to prepare for NAPFA tests, students can be brought to different sports facilities for exposure to different games. Schools cannot all be equipped with squash courts or gym, for instance, and the many well equipped Active SG sports complex will be even better utilised throughout the day.

MOE can still retain curriculum control. The dedicated form teachers can be the school reps present in outsourced classes to be responsible for the kids and external coaches. 

Granted, outsourcing would be extra work for school admin - tender or framework agreement under MOE! But if hiring is a perennial challenge, this is a possible solution. More importantly, back to the first idea, it gives the dedicated form teachers more time with their charges, and be more involved in their school life.

That's all, folks!

Navigating Singapore's health sector

Apart from giving birth and the many A&E trips (see list in annex :p), I have not used our health services much, thankfully, until lately.

As a kid, we mostly went to a GP for common childhood fevers, colds and coughs. The middle age doc nearby who gave bright green strange tasting syrup, the old Yoda-lookalike doc near Grams who wore a tie and gave bitter powder, and from my teens onwards, the two pretty docs nearer Yan's place (but still near me) who gave me much comfort.

We went to the polyclinic too. All I could remember was waiting, waiting and waiting! Probably went there for baby wellness coz YQ's childhood glaucoma was first diagnosed there.

So I never went back to polyclinic as an adult. It was always GP.

But now the polyclinics are so good. Ok, I don't know about Singhealth or NHG but my area is under NUHS, and all I need to do is to click a few buttons to make an appointment, check in for my visit, check number of patients before me, check where to go next, pay and retrieve bills and reports. The wait time is very acceptable and sometimes surprisingly short.

How do I know? How do I know indeed!

We started using the polyclinic coz a new one opened in Bukit Panjang, but more for injuries etc, in case need referrals for further treatment. Like Yang fell and hurt his shin in school. I think we still went to Raffles at the mall downstairs for regular illnesses and to grab MC for work purpose. 

But I never found a GP I'm comfortable with while staying at BP. The doctors at Raffles are all on rotation. Once I even had one who spilled my blood on the floor when drawing blood, goodness! So I went back to Dr Gill at HV for health checkup and PAP - not having a random doctor for the latter!

Guess it's good that we're making home at HV again?!

Anyway, polyclinic. We went to the polyclinic even more after moving to HV. Sito cut his toe on the metal gate and went for a tetanus shot. I also had a tetanus shot given my frequent brushes with the kitchen knife...! I had a skin issue on a toe - forgot the name - and had to go burn it off with silver nitrate. Yang had a rash on his face and got a referral to the Skin Centre. And of course my intestinal issue.

This intestinal issues opened my eyes to our healthcare sector. Here are some thoughts:

First - how do things work?

Hint: Not everything is automated

I was referred to a specialist at Alexander Hospital who sent me for a CT scan and then scopes. I paid for the CT scan using Medisave and cash.

But I have been paying for an Integrated Shield Plan (ISP) with Great Eastern (GE) since 2014/2015. Even if Medishield doesn't cover outpatient CT scans, wouldn't the GE portion cover? 

I asked the staff at the CT scan. They said only Medisave, and were not sure about the ISP. So I went back to ask my agent. He advised me to ask the hospital staff to do e-file at my next visit since I was going back for more stuff.

However, the financial counsellor for my scopes said over the phone that she couldn't do e-file for CT scan. I tried again at my next physical visit to the hospital, which was for the gynae consultation. The registration counter said they did not do e-file there and told me to pay first and then claim from insurance.

*.*

After my first scopes in June, I still had to pay using Medisave due to deductible and co-payment. There was no ISP payout as I hadn't met the deductible. After my second scope in September, Medishield kicked in and I paid a little for the co-payment using Medisave. The GE portion did not kick in.

I wondered why so I did some digging - coz I forgot details told to me when I signed up! - and found that:

• Medishield does not cover pre- and post-hospitalisation. So the CT scan and all the consultations were outpatient, not hospitalisation = not covered.
• GE (or whatever insurer you have) kicks in only when the hospitalisation exceeds Medishield limits and when Medishield does not cover the specific procedure.
• GE also covers pre and post relating to the hospitalisation. So I found out how to claim pre- and post-hospitalisation bills. 

After my final visit in October, I put together all my receipts and relevant reports from the hospital, and sent them in. I was pleasantly surprised that I got $1,259 in claims within two weeks, largely cash and some Medisave, from the GE portion of the ISP. 

Recently, I put together all the expenses in an Excel sheet, with details from CPF statement, hospital bills and GE statements. Of my total bill of $3,675, I paid $1,798 using Medisave and $56 using cash, the remainder of $1,820 was covered by the ISP, of which only $560 was via auto e-file at the hospital. 

The amount is more than what I had paid for the GE portion in the past 10 years ✌ Later, I discovered I should have included the polyclinic bills too but too late, gone from the system + much smaller amount.

Point is - now imagine if someone less savvy didn't know about pre and post claims. That's good money out of pocket!

Next - time:

When we talk healthcare, we often think money. But there's also time. By the time I was done with my final consultation with the gastro specialist, it was almost a year since I went to the polyclinic. 

There was a lot of time between appointments. I think it was because I opted for subsidised treatment and I didn't have a nasty prognosis.

Now that's scary if I had something nasty! 

But while researching the ISPs recently, we found that in the case of critical illnesses, the wait time for subsidised treatment should not kill you, haha! Indeed, a friend went to polyclinic which told her to go straight to A&E as they suspected meningitis. It was ruled out at A&E but she had a blood culture taken. Next thing she knew, the hospital called her back to be warded immediately for a bacteria infection.

Third - of course, finances:

Cost of healthcare depends on the individual, e.g. type of ward, public or private hospital. But it also depends on the healthcare provider.

I have already chosen subsidised care to minimise my costs as covered in my first point. But does the healthcare provider think about minimising cost to patients as well, besides providing financial counselling?

I recall in previous conversations with XY, she mentioned over treatment in the US. I don't think it's an issue here. Or at least I have not witnessed it. Our polyclinics also kind of make sure that we get a referral to a specialist only if they can't handle - I mean, I went to the polyclinic twice before I got referred to gastro! Same for Yang's rash.

But I have this other issue - over the years, I get prescribed the same types of medicine for my colds etc. Those little packs accumulate in the medicine cabinet and expire, some nearly untouched. After clearing up my medicine cabinet one day some years ago, I've learnt to say no to the usual paracetamol and lozenges. But it is usually at the point of getting medicine, just before paying. 

I remember only one instance where the GP told me exactly what he would prescribe for me - I was surprised but very happy as I was able to ask questions and say no to some before they started packing the medicine. Other times, I was probably too ill to think until the medicine was placed in front of me.

For other ailments, the doctors would generally say this cream or that coz must explain how to apply etc. Anyway, for Yang's recent pus-in-toe (not ingrown in the end), I brought along my own antibiotic cream to ask the doctor if he could use that coz those tend to accumulate too!

Knowing my medicines, I save money and clutter and waste.

But this may not be the case for other patients, especially those with very good insurance coverage - insurance will pay, so just consume max. And this begs the question of whether healthcare providers think the same - insurance will pay so just provide/charge max.

Raffles and even my old GP in later years would ask at the point of registration if the fees would be covered by insurance. And my delivery fees went from $2k for Kai to $4k for Yang - for Yang, I had to ask the doctor to sign some documents for Sito's company insurance. I changed to another OBGYN for Yu.

So....

Years back, I wrote about healthcare costs in SG vs. Evanston. I don't know with all this insurance business, whether our healthcare costs will remain affordable in the long run. 

Fourth - healthcare for all

I only had three points until I learnt of an incident lately which got me wondering... This is not my personal experience but I thought I should highlight it too.

I mentioned above that a friend was admitted for a bacteria infection. She was supposed to stay for five days for IV antibiotics. Due to bed crunch, the hospital wanted to send her home before the five days were up, for home care for 14 days, during which she would not be allowed to leave home. 

When she wanted to just stay in hospital for 14 days instead, the hospital changed its mind and discharged her anyway but she had to return daily for four days of IV and then take seven days of oral antibiotics. 

Maths tells me that the number of IV + oral antibiotics days has been reduced. Was her healthcare compromised? At the end of it, she did recover. But the process, to me at least, wasn't very pleasant.

I understand the need to cater to everyone. All the talk about our ageing population taking a toll on the healthcare system isn't just talk. It is understandable to ask less critical cases - or cases that are no longer critical - to make way for critical cases. But it should be done with finesse, no? I think bedside manner is just about as important as the treatment itself, if only to seek greater understanding from patients and their family.

Aftermath

Anyway, after going through the bills and GE statements, Sito and I dug deeper into ISPs. So besides what I mentioned above, our A/B1-type ISP was meant for (a) non-subsidised components such as choosing a doctor, and (b) A/B1 ward stays with less/no subsidies.

Now that Medishield has increased its coverage, and we are going for subsidised treatments and ward stays, we figured there was no need for our A/B1-type ISP. So we downgraded our ISP to the standard one, covering B2 and below ward stays - we are ok with no aircon.

The delta in premiums between these two is not much at this point, as the bulk is still Medishield itself. But with age, the GE part will increase a lot. So it makes sense for us to just switch based on our needs. Seriously, I also don't know why we took the more expensive plan last time - Sito's was from eons ago whereas mine was a copycat of his. Ya I know, I didn't do my research...

But it's never too late!

And we just got ISPs for the kids as well, since we're already paying for Medishield. They're young and the premiums are low. The Medisave interest will take care of everything.

*** *** ***

Annex

Sep 2005: my tummy

Jan 2007: my thumb

Jan 2013: Kai's fever

Feb 2013: Kai's fever

Jun 2013: Kai's HFMD

Jul 2013: Kai's fever

(Ya, first-time parents... No more A&E for fevers for the brothers!)

Jul 2015: Yang's fall

Jan 2016: Yang's febrile fit 1

Jun 2016: Yang's febrile fit 2

Jul 2016: Yang's febrile fit 3

Nov 2016: Sito's tummy

Mar 2019: Yu's eye

Apr 2019: Sito's ribs

May 2019: Yu's scalp

Aug 2021: Yang's tummy

Jan 2022: my head

Feb 2023: Yang's tummy

Flexible work arrangements - it's a give-and-take

Recently, the government rolled out mandatory guidelines for employees to formally request for flexible work arrangements (FWA) and for employers to fairly consider and respond to such requests within two months.

The intent sounds right. FWAs could allow workers to better manage work and caregiving duties. But from what I read in the news and online comments, there seem to be plenty of misunderstandings and misgivings. And it's not just the employers feeling nervous. More admin, fear of higher business costs, fear of losing employees, fear that employers will hire foreigners instead, fear of upsetting boss and colleagues, fear of taking on more work due to colleagues on FWAs, etc. 

Seems like we have not matured as a society to give moral support to one another. At some point, all of us will face caregiving duties - for the young, for the old, for spouse, for siblings, and even managing our own health. Don't forget pets too! I truly believe that with good support from employers and colleagues, workers can integrate work and family needs.

And many people seem to think that FWAs are just working from home (WFH). But that's not true. The news explain it all but I guess people don't read everything *.* 

But thanks to the pandemic, we're all very familiar with WFH, or more generally, flexi-place, which became the norm for non-essential office workers. Before COVID, my office already allowed it on both ad hoc (e.g. when expecting delivery at new house) and, upon request and approval, regular basis (e.g. every Monday and Thursday). In fact, many office workers already WFH after office hours aka OT *.* Back in the day when I had only dial-up at home, I even worked in Macs for its free WiFi when I got too hungry to continue in ulu office!

 

Now, some offices have embraced the whole flexi-place thing and allow workers to WFH a couple of times a week. And some go further - hotdesking to reduce office space requirements or to accommodate a growing workforce since not everyone goes into office every day. 

I was at RI's place for Raya gathering last last Saturday, and heard that my old haunt would have "permanent hotdesking" in the new office, i.e. you have a fixed seat but it's shared with another chap from other division who comes into office on a day different from you. There was even talk of jacket hooks coz how to put own jacket over chairs when chairs would be shared??

Wa, that totally put me off going back to work. I'm the odd ball who prefers to work in office - more desk space, easier to discuss things with colleagues and aircon. And I'm territorial. I don't like hotdesking. And I don't mind the commute where I could read or just blank out.

See my last office desk - so nice right?

And I stole a stool from a meeting room to put next to my pedestal cabinet (not in picture but at a wall corner on my left) so that people who came to find me could sit there instead of on the floor! My desk then became known as the clinic :p

Ok, I'm digressing... Back to FWAs.

So WFH or flexi-place is probably only applicable to office workers. Client-facing roles for one would not be able to WFH. But there are other forms of FWAs.

My fave is flexi-time. I have been lucky that my work allowed me great flexibility - I used to reach office before 8 am after sending Kai to school and leave promptly at 5.30 pm when my phone alarm went off so that I could fetch Yang and Yu from child care and have dinner with the kids. If an internal meeting over-ran, it was ok if I just up-ed and left. For the rare external meetings past 5.30 pm, I would be there. Once, my alarm went off in a ministerial meeting, oops... 

My bosses had all been very accommodating to my hours. One key reason was trust. And of course, when I left office at 5.30 pm, it didn't mean work ended for me that day. As a full-time office worker, I could leave office but the office would not leave me. Work continued after the kids went to bed... So I switched to flexi-load in my last two years of work.

Actually, it's fixed part-time la - six hours a day, five days a week. Unlike flexi-place and flexi-time, this involved a pay cut. Since there was a pay cut, I guarded my hours too so no more logging in at night for sure! But I would still be there for important meetings, even in the evening. I also took short WhatsApp calls during my off hours if needed.

I was lucky that my bosses and team were supportive. Unfortunately, this is people-dependent so when my direct boss changed and my team also moved on, part-time became unsustainable. So I left work :p

While flexi-time may or may not result in pay cut, flexi-load almost certainly affects pay and in fact, also progression.

However, I do believe you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Really, cannot. If you want to manage work and family needs, something must give. With flexi-time, I had less leisure or even sleep time for myself. When I was on part-time, I was very aware that while I could keep up my quality of work, I was unlikely to be promoted not lest due to the longer time to achieve the required years-in-grade but also because others were putting in double the effort. And that is fine by me.

I was thinking about this on my way to the supermarket last Friday and wondered whether there were jobs that simply could not do FWAs. At first, I thought of teachers - school hours are more or less fixed; timetabling based on students' subject combinations is already challenging. But then I recall YC who told me her school let her skip assembly so that she could send her children to child care, which started ops from 7 am. She was still taking full load.

Point is, FWAs don't have to mean huge changes; small changes or some flexibility can already be helpful. 

Itchy brains

These days, I try to read news during my morning coffee. Today, I saw that our TFR has fallen to 0.97 in 2023. 

Statistically speaking, TFR, total fertility rate, is the average number of children born to a woman over her reproductive years (15-49yo in Singapore; I seem to recall some countries go up to 44yo) if she were subject to prevailing fertility rates. Something like that - I regret dumping that old population stats book when we moved.. Actually I didn't finish the book but I attended an illuminating lecture by the author on TFR...

Formula-wise, it's five times the sum of the number of births to women of five-year age group / number of women in same five-year age group, for the five-year age groups between 15 and 49 inclusive. 

From the two statements above, you can see (or I tell you la) that the TFR is a theoretical number. But it suffices as an indicator to tell us where the trends are headed.

But it is only an indicator and one that should be read together with other population numbers and also our cultural context. 

The easier one to understand is cultural context - in Singapore, the majority of kids are born after marriage but the TFR base includes women of all marital statuses. So the TFR among married women, if there is such a thing, would be slightly higher, considering that some 70% of women aged 15yo and above were ever-married.

Now, numbers. Our TFR is stated as "resident TFR". Since residents refer to citizens and PRs, I should think that the TFR is based on births to residents and on number of resident women. 

We had 32,290 resident births in 2022, dropping to 30,510 in 2023 (DOS). As for resident women aged 15-49, we had 986,990 in 2022, rising to 1,001,023 in 2023 (DOS). It's expected that TFR dropped from 1.04 in 2022 to 0.97 in 2023.

Does it mean that if many more people decide to have a kid this year, the TFR will increase? Hard to say... TFR can be affected by not just the number of births but also the number of women. So if the number of women increases more than the number of births increases, the TFR can drop despite more births. Conversely, TFR can increase if the number of women decreases more than the number of births decreases! And it's possible for the number of women of reproductive age to decrease, e.g. more turned 50yo than entered 15-49yo coz ageing population.

Anyway... The number of resident births has been 30k-38k in the past 10 years, mostly decreasing y-o-y (DOS). 

The number of women aged 15-49 has also been decreasing by under 10k y-o-y for most of the past 10 years. There was a large drop of 30k between 2020 and 2021, likely due to PRs leaving due to COVID? But the numbers have picked up in the last two years, by 14k-17k y-o-y (DOS). 

Resident deaths stand at about 18k-25k in the past 10 years, roughly increasing y-o-y (DOS). Based on births and deaths alone, the population should increase a little each year. But the overall population increases by 18k-86k in the past 10 years, with the highest in 2022.

(At this point, I have five excel files opened, and realised I have dug a rabbit hole for myself - but I have started so I will finish, even if this becomes more and more incoherent... Nvm, I'm not behind any government policy!)

In 2022, we had 21,802 naturalised citizens and 34,493 new PRs (source). So the 86k increase must be also due to residents returning to Singapore. Now, any kids the naturalised citizens, new PRs and returning residents had before entering Singapore are not factored into the TFR calculation. (But if the kids come to Singapore too, they are included in the overall population count.)

Point is, the TFR cannot tell us everything. But there is no denying the TFR trends - people are having fewer children.

I really dislike the Baby Bonus cash component. Or rather, I dislike how people thought of it as an incentive for having children. At the rate we’re going, I think we should not increase spending in this area to encourage people to have (more) children. Not that we do not spend - we should still support parents in child-raising coz there are those who want (or sadly, just have - recent news of abuse make sad reading) children regardless of government support. 

It is just difficult to fight the trend. Giving more cash or leave will not make people have (more) children. Working is hard. Not everyone can work during child care centre hours. Not everyone has access to affordable child care options. There are always things cropping up at work and with the kids, and work and kids do not arrange not to clash.

Then, housing, education and healthcare are expensive. HDB flats are smaller than before. Education and employment are more competitive than ever. Good healthcare helps us live longer and hopefully more healthily but brings about my next point.

Government spending should be focused on care of the elderly. By 2030, one in four will be aged 65 and above. That's on the society level. What about at the family level?

Now I'm not estimating for 2030. 

Among ever-married women aged 50 and above in 2023, 8% had no children, 19% one, 39% two, 23% three and 11% four or more (DOS). For now, the majority still has at least two children. These children are lucky - they can spread out elderly caregiving for their parents. But over time, we can expect the numbers to shift more towards zero and one. More single children will need to bear the full weight of elderly caregiving. From the elderly perspective, more elderly will have fewer children to care for them.

Another reason for not increasing spending simply to encourage having (more) children is that, those who are not married also need support. I doubt the single/childless groups will outsize the parents but the numbers are, or will grow, significant enough such that there will be increasing pressure to support them as well. 

Elderly caregiving often falls on the unmarried sibling(s), based on anecdotal sharing. Singles also need support, and more when there will be fewer or no siblings to help out.

In 2023, 6% of those aged 70 and above (cannot find 65yo and above) are unmarried (DOS). Again, we can expect this number to increase. In the context of our society, singles mostly do not have children. Married or unmarried, elderly without children still need caregiving in the later years. If they are lucky, nephews and nieces, however few, may step in. This means heavier burden for the children today - they have elderly parents and elderly uncles and aunts, and for some, their own young children. 

Let's not have children then, don't give birth to them only to burden them?!

Then society has to step in.

First of all, I think everyone has to plan for our own caregiving in later years. You may be single or married. You may have no children or 10. Plan to support yourself.

But society has to provide the infrastructure to allow individuals to plan for themselves.

Ideally, elderly can age in their own homes until they pass. But it is likely that at some point, they cannot safely live on their own. There are only a few options:

1) Hire a live-in helper if the elderly can still communicate. MOM says employer must still have the mental capacity to be the employer. So at some point, this may not be viable. 

2) Move in with children or other relatives/friends. Discuss early with your family. This can put a strain on relationships as the elderly will still need help for daily activities. As I mentioned, HDB flats are smaller these days. How can society support willing children to care for their elderly when living space is limited and there may be a need for a special bed or wheelchair?

3) Move to a nursing home. This can be costly and there may not be available spots. Sito and I plan to check into a nursing home when we can no longer take care of ourselves. I don't want to stay in my boys' homes and have them (goodness, no!) or a live-in helper wipe my wrinkly bum! But will there be good nursing homes? Will there be spots available when we need it? Can we afford it? 

Any other options? I can't think of any.

Ok, kids home now. Busy so abrupt ending - just die before getting too old and weak la! But must live healthily until at least 80yo to max out CPF life ok, haha!

Note: The DOS links refer to latest data so will say different things next year but the data series can be downloaded from there.

So hard to get HDB now

I'm feeling very nervous with the latest property cooling measure of a 15-month wait-out period for private property owners to buy unsubsidised flats.

It's not clear whether this applies to us as we have an OTP already. I also want to kick myself - and my agent - for not submitting the application right after exercising the OTP! Why?? My COVID? Seller's divorce final judgement?

Anyway, I just submitted my end of the application. Now wait.

I'm so nervous I'm feeling dizzy and pukish. Can only sit here and type - better to vomit words than actual vomit.

If kena rejected, we will appeal. We have some financial considerations. It's not like we're selling high so no issue if we buy high as well. It's also not about the cost of renting for 15 months. Yes, will be high coz rental market is crazy now and we need a big enough space in either of only two specific neighbourhoods to facilitate safe access to school. Cannot emphasise more on "safe" access.

The key thing is - will there be a suitable unit two years on?? I doubt so. There are only that many big flats in that area. And the price by then, cannot imagine.

I don't understand this policy. This is different from the 30 months for subsidies; this is outright saying no, cannot buy any HDB at all. Healthcare is means-tested but everyone can access leh!!

Wa really feel like puking...