Medical Costs can be a killer in Singapore

These days there is so much talk about inflation. The prices of everything is going up. The cost of living is going up. First we have a pandemic and we're still in it. Then there is the war in Ukraine that made things worse as this affects supplies and costs of things. 

Medical Costs have gone up. It doesn't help that we have a family member who has fallen ill and will be under long term critical care. After the roller coaster ride of going through ICU, we learn that we might have to put our love one in a nursing home. To qualify for subsidies, we have to go through a means testing thingy. What it simply means is that they will take the total income of the household divided by the total number of family members in the household. Because of us, our parents cannot qualify for the full amount of medical subsidies. It is expected that we the kids should be able to afford to pay for their medical expenses. However the strain is really there. Firstly my parents CPF accounts have already depleted and they do not have much health insurance coverage. And it also doesn't help to know that my one and only sibling can be so irresponsible with savings. We simply do not enough money to fund our parents medical costs. Then there is the worry about how we are going to fund our own medical costs in future after spending on our parents.

I also want to rant about the housing situation in Singapore. It's so expensive to buy a home. We end up living with our parents because of this. Singles cannot buy BTOs in mature estates and prime estates. We can only buy a BTO 2 room flat which are located in some inaccessible corner of Singapore and there are not many such flats available. Although they have no restrictions on what resale flat we can buy, it so expensive to even buy a resale flat. 

In short Singles are badly shortchanged in Singapore. We are being punished for not being able to contribute to growing the Singapore population by giving birth But we are still contributing to the workforce. We also help to cover those on maternity leave. We are not recognized for our contribution to the economy at all. Does this mean they won't care if we leave the country and find jobs elsewhere? Singapore is my home but we don't really have much a place in Singapore.

Woes on buying a home at this time

I'm seriously finding it so expensive to buy a home. Actually I had not planned to even buy a home this year. But due to unexpected circumstances, I might be forced to buy a home. The housing market is so expensive. But it seems like we can never save enough to get there. Each time I save to get to the target, the price of homes have also increased even further. Inflation will always be there. I read from a website that we can never save enough for a house. Just go ahead and buy that home to lock in the price now as inflation will always drive prices of homes up. Perhaps I would be smiling in a few years time.

The fear of taking a mortgage or housing loan is there. It's a huge liability. What if I can't pay at all? What if something happens that I won't be able to pay for the installments? But on the other hand, I also googled what if I want to pay off the loan before a certain timeframe if I have accumulated enough cash? The answer is that we have to pay the bank a penalty fee. (What?) Yeah. You heard it right. A penalty fee for paying up your loan earlier. So they advised to apply for a refinancing of the loan instead to get a lower interest amount. Refinancing means to shorten the loan period and pay a higher installment per month so that this spare cash can be spread out nicely till the end of the new loan period. So there are people out there who apply to refinance their loans every few years to save money on interest payments. 

I've never owned a home before and there is so much to learn. I guess I will know more when I get there. I'll try to update this blog when I know more.

Is the housing market too expensive?

I'd say, yes!! It's way too expensive to afford a real home these days. There is not enough supply and demand is very high. Everyone needs a new home. So how then will I be able to afford a home at all? Most of the homes are going at nearly a million dollars. And just recently, even  banks are revising their housing loan rates. I really wonder how will I really ever going to afford a home for myself. The public housing market is so bad. The cheapest ones are located in areas that are so inaccessible and the flats are so old and runned down. Oh my goodness right? Horrible! Does this mean the only way to have a home is to migrate overseas and live abroad? At least they won't have age limits or strict laws on what sort of home we can get. Oh dear, what a thought. I'm sure there is a reason for the criteria set but some of us will never be able to afford a home. If we're single, we're so much worse off. Married couples stand a better chance. So what will I do? Will houses ever be made affordable especially to singles? How about having a singles village similar to a retirement village? Please give us a place to live.