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.

Our MSM seldom portrays the positive side of countries other than Singapore, and even with the Internet, it may not necessarily be easy to find Singaporeans who have been in Singapore and out of Singapore to share their personal experiences. I’ve decided to cut and paste the comments (with some minor formatting) in that discussion thread into this post so that everyone can be a little more well informed, and hopefully become a little more daring in venturing overseas. We are not stuck in the well of Singapore forever.

Many thanks to those who have kindly shared their experiences. On a personal level, it helped affirm my personal belief that it is important to get out of Singapore and live somewhere else for a few years. While Singapore is indeed an excellent place to live in, with good law and order, education and relative lack of disasters, I’m not sure whether staying in this “test-tube” where conditions are so well controlled is good for me in the long term. I will not know whether Singapore is better than other countries until I venture out, but at least the experience of others show that it’s not exactly bad out there either.

From superman:

However, in a globalised ecnonomy, companies need more workers with international experience and exposure. You could be a professional, mid-manager, sales or any field, but if you have the ability to work across different geographical regions, there is a demand and value, regardless of age. To gain that experience, you need to start early and make some sacrifices early in the career. A choice which many Singaporeans are not prepared to make.

Instead of buying HDB flat, I took my savings and invested in an overseas education and found myself working abroad for a few years. I picked up another language and now see myself travelling across different countries. That early sacrifices paid off handsomely later in my career.

Likewise I am a NUS graduate but now based in HK and China, working for a European company. I was hired because of my qualifications from a European University and I doubt I will ever return to Singapore because of the low pay and limited opportunities back home.

When foreign talents go to Singapore work, they are basically clocking in their mileage to show on their CV that they have overseas experience. Likewise for Singaporeans, we should go overseas and build up our CV on international business experience. I don’t think it is an option anymore, it is a basic requirement if you want to stay viable or be valued in the market.

From J S Tan:

Look at your expenses and your expectations. In Singapore, I used to spend what I earn. Even when my paycheck increased from $2k+ to $3k+/mth, I will always be able to find something that I want to buy. I had an alphanumeric pager (very advanced in 1995) for example. Basically, I was into the latest gadgets. I am part of the consumerism you mentioned. And I was unhappy at most time. Books by Eckhart Tolle “the power of now” and “a new earth” described this condition. From these books, I was recently (2005) enlightened towards some of the concepts taught in Buddhism. Arriving in Canada 6 years ago (2000), I started to rein in my expenses. I realized that all these while, buying newspaper, mentos, taking cab, eating out, sugar cane juice, etc. these are luxury items that I can do without in Singapore.

Maybe it is the culture of the place but I managed to be happy without these material goods in Canada. Rather, I was awed by the beauty of the nature around me that I do not have to depend on the newest gadget to feel happy. ……….Another thing. Many Canadians “ta-pao” their lunch to work. Put your lunch box in the fridge (provided by employer) in the morning, warm it in the microwave (also provided by employer) during lunch and eat.

By doing these, my expenses could be zero for a whole day! My main expenditure is at the supermarket buying food. I managed to keep my expenses to $300-$500/mth. So in my opinion, if you want your material goods now, Singapore is a good place for you, cos you could find them relatively cheaply. But if you plan to bite the bullet today, saving for a better tomorrow, the culture in Singapore might not be conducive enough for you to do much. Read the above 2 books to help realize your situation (I recommend “a new earth” by Eckhart Tolle).

You mentioned about family and having kids a couple of times. Allow me to share again. My wife and I talked about it earlier this year. We both agreed that if we have not taken this path (going overseas), we probably will not be having kids now, and most likely our marriage will be rocky, and my job will have been long gone. By going to Canada, while I was pursuing my phd, we managed to have our first baby in 2002!

You are probably wondering how we managed to have the money for that, considering that delivering a baby at KK + checkups and diagnostics etc will come up to $5k-$10k easily. In fact it is very cheap to have a baby in Canada. That is where the system is different in Canada. As a family of 2 then, we must pay $64/mth for a medical insurance. This covers for all doctor visits, scans, tests etc. Only prescription drug is not included. So for having the baby, the total hospital bill for us was $0. Yes, zero dollars. We had to pay $12 for a one week parking pass at the hospital though! We had a friend in Singapore whose new born was hospitalized for extended period and they went broke!

This will never happen in Canada, as the system takes care of the people equally, rich or poor. The down side is a higher tax, which you hear about in the papers about western countries, but not the good side of it. With a Canadian baby, we were given tax rebates, gst rebates and child tax benefits. It comes down to receiving a cheque of about $200+ every month! This pays for the diapers easily, while breast milk is free. The advantages of having a baby in Canada is well known among the Korean that they have an industry arranging for expectant mothers to deliver in Canada, get the passport, return to Korean and the baby not have to serve NS later. To take advantage of the system, we had our second kid in Canada too!

In my opinion, the system is very pro family and compassionate and caring in Canada. In my experience, it does not mean that going overseas will imply delaying marriage and having a baby (you seem to allude to this in your comments). Rather, if you have to remain in Singapore, then inevitably the baby will have to wait until you are financially more stable.

From Vikwek:

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……