Archive for the 'Southeast Asia' Tag

I get this question a lot from my non-Singaporean friends. My most recent friends who have asked me this question are from Myanmar and Thailand. Both of them asked me why are there loads of old folks working in fast food restaurants and food courts in Singapore. Although Singapore is above Thailand and Myanmar economically, the way we treat our elderly is a big disgrace compared to most countries of Southeast Asia.

This complicated question can be answered with the following explanations:

• Singapore has the worst pension scheme in the Asia/Pacific region in terms of its replacement rate as reported by OECD. OECD’s definition of a pension’s replacement rate as the value of the pension for specific individuals as a percentage of their earnings when working. The average Singaporean cannot expect to receive a sizeable pension from the CPF scheme to live a decent life.
• Singapore has an unbelievably high cost of living. Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey 2008 reported that Singapore is ranked the 13th most expensive city in the world, ahead of big cities like Sydney, New York, Dublin and Melbourne. It

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Tagged As: Singapore, Southeast Asia

Categories: Vincent's Updates | No Comments » |

I think John Jonas and I must have been reading the same books. I have read the E-Myth and I am reading the 4-Hour Work Week. I love these books as they are teaching me to free up my life to do the things I want to do. However, I have experienced a lot of problems putting the knowledge from these 2 books into action.

That is where John steps in. He’s done it and he is sharing with us how he did it. I have outsourced work to Singaporeans as well as freelancers online but I have had mixed results. I have had terrible experience with freelancers from India just like John did. Singaporeans are a bit too expensive for me at the moment. John recommends hiring people from the Philippines to work for you full time from their homes for about USD $250 per month, which is a pretty decent wage in the Philippines.

I know for a fact that Filipino maids earn about SGD $360 per month in Singapore, which is about USD $250 per month. Filipino maids are on the higher pay scale of domestic workers in Singapore probably due to their superior English language skills and their …

Tagged As: Filipinos, freelancers, Outsourcing, Southeast Asia

Categories: Outsourcing | No Comments » |