Comments on: Middle class graduate sandwich

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By: Hear ye! Hear ye! » Blog Archive » No venture, no gain

Hear ye! Hear ye! » Blog Archive » No venture, no gain — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 04:08:17 +0000

[...] There was an active discussion by some Singaporeans who have gone overseas in one of my more recent posts, middle-class graduate sandwich. Almost all the sentiments expressed are the same: Singapore is a pressure cooker society where one works long hours but have little quality of life. [...]

By: Aaron Ng

Aaron Ng — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:43:20 +0000

Hi Vikwek, thank you for sharing your overseas experience. There is a serious lack of knowledge of the world outside, even though we have the internet. Your story will be an inspiration for other Singaporeans to follow.

By: vikwek

vikwek — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:31:07 +0000

I have enjoyed reading this blog tremendously. I would like to share my overseas experience.

I am a Singaporean graduate who has lived overseas for the last 6 years. I was earning a decent income in Singapore but left with my husband when he decided to go overseas for his graduate studies without any scholarship. When we arrived in the new country, we lived on a shoestring budget. Our standard of living dropped (no eating out at fine restaurants, no movies, etc). We didn’t even have a TV at home. I “upgraded” from becoming a manager of a department to “queen of the household” (ie home-maker).

Earlier this year, upon my husband’s graduation from his studies, we sat down and calculated our opportunity costs. We weren’t scientific about it, just a rough estimate of how much we would have earned without any pay increase or promotions if we had remained in SG assuming we still had our jobs all these while and it came up to more than half a million! Our total income from his graduate studies stipend from the last 6 years was less than 20% of that.

But both of us agreed that our quality of life was way much better than when we were in SG. When we were in SG, we were working long hours, even on weekends. Our free time together was spent either the movies or shopping. But when we were overseas, the amount of time we spent with each other and our kids increased tremendously. The kinds of activities we could do as a family without travelling was uncountable. The abundance of nature around us was inspiring and humbling. We grew and matured, not financially, but emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. I found myself becoming more compassionate, more generous, more caring of others and more environmentally friendly. These gains are not measurable in financial terms. I believe that what we have experienced is something money cannot buy. Even if we had earned that income in SG, I doubt we would be a fraction as happy as we have been the last 6 years. Our families in SG thought we were making a huge sacrifice by lowering our standard of living, but my husband and I feel we are wealthier than most.

Was our opportunity cost worth it? You bet!

Afternote: We went back to SG after my husband’s graduation and stayed there for a few months. I was horrified to find that our overseas exposure has changed me so much I couldn’t really fit into the SG culture anymore. I felt guilty that I was actually thankful we were only visiting SG and not returning for good……

By: gen x-i

gen x-i — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:34:26 +0000

“Why tie ourselves down with singaporeâ€™s definition of success and feel the â€™squeezeâ€™, we should define our own.”

Superman, excellent! I certainly second this.

Why chase after 5 Cs when there are so many other equally if not more worthwhile things to pursue in life?

Why select your schools or degrees based on what have been recommended by the government rather than your own interests/passions?

Why are we so constantly anxious about tomorrow when we haven’t live the present to the fullest?

Ok last one’s a little overboard – I’m just kinda pissed at times by the overly celebrated conservatism that seems to permeate all aspects of Singaporean lifestyles.