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[SibueyJiaLat]

Prepare for the cost of raising a child



BY
RICHARD HARTUNG
[email protected]ISHED: 12:56 AM, MAY 15, 2016

Estimates of the cost of raising a child in Singapore range from around S$200,000 at the low end to a seemingly astronomical sum of nearly S$1 million at the high end, with about S$360,000 as a middle-range average.

Looked at as a total amount, S$360,000 for raising a child for 20 years seems large. Yet it’s not nearly as daunting as it seems. The amount represents S$1,500 per month, which may seem more reasonable. That amount may also vastly overestimate the actual impact on families.

Curtin University Associate Professor Alfred Dockery analysed costs of raising children in Australia and found the estimates averaged A$537,000, even higher than Singapore. Using a “net wealth approach” rather than looking at total cost, however, he found that families only decreased their savings accumulation by A$1,300 per year and that children may even provide a net financial benefit.

The key reason is that spending patterns change, as parents spend nights at home and daytimes at parks rather than going to places such as fancy restaurants or on overseas holidays. “Children may be seen as complementary to activities that are not income intensive,” he concluded.

The costs may also drop significantly once parents factor in government support and take steps to reduce their spending.

PLANNING FOR EXPENSES

Even though that lower actual cost is good news, parents still need to make sure they have enough money. One of the first steps is for parents is to start planning to pay the expenses, and the next is to start saving.

The starting place for planning is estimating your income and, along with everyday expenses such as clothes and food and healthcare, the larger expenses for schooling. Costs parents should plan for and ways to spend less include:

Pregnancy and Delivery: Parents will have expenses for visits to doctors and for delivery of their baby in a hospital. These fees can range from about S$4,000 to more than S$20,000. Subsidies and Medisave can cover some of the cost.

Daycare and Kindergarten: More than 99 per cent of children attend at least one year of preschool, according to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA). While ECDA says full-day programme fees average S$1,004 per month, actual costs vary tremendously and can exceed S$2,000. Parents of lower-income families can use subsidies to reduce fees to almost nothing, and other families can select perfectly fine and less expensive childcare or preschools.

Primary School and Secondary School: Although fees for most schools are low, parents need to pay for uniforms, school trips, meals, tuition, enrichment classes and other expenses. Total costs for up to 10 years of schooling can range from several thousand dollars to S$100,000 or more.

Tertiary Education: NUS estimates costs for tuition and expenses to be at least S$14,000 per year, and total costs could be higher once a child enrolls nearly two decades from now. Going overseas for university can easily cost nearly S$500,000. Saving is essential.

GET SUPPORT

One of the first places to look for help to pay these costs is government grants, which include:

• Medisave Maternity Package and Enhanced Medisave Grant for Newborns

• Enhanced Baby Bonus

• Tax Reliefs and Rebates for Parents

• Subsidies for Centre-Based Infant & Child Care, and MOE Financial Assistance Scheme

Parents should look carefully for these grants and other schemes so they can benefit from everything available.

SPENDING AND SAVING

The costs for raising children vary tremendously depending on lifestyle, parents’ income, family support, schools selected and a multitude of other factors. Once they’ve added up all the costs and calculated their income, though, parents can set up a budget and decide how to manage spending and saving so that they can provide for their children’s needs.

In addition to grants and money-saving practices mentioned earlier, expenses can drop if parents live a simpler lifestyle. Parents can also share ways to save money with friends and pick up ideas online, such as having friends lend them items, shopping online for discounts, or buying at second-hand stores. Choosing the right school for the child can, despite social pressure to attend top-name schools, make a difference.

For saving, parents can total the actual amounts they’ll need for expenses and then set money aside every month. Putting money into shares, bonds, ETFs or other investments with a long-term perspective can help make sure money grows so it is available when you need it.

PLANNING FOR THE LONG TERM

While there are clearly extra expenses that come with having children, the even-higher benefits are intangibly tremendous. As the Brookings Institution put it, “parents do not see these costs as a penalty. Instead, children are valued for their own sake, with the understanding that the joy of parenthood comes with explicit commitments of both time and money.

[ScoreBoard]

Not sure where they get all these figures.

• Medisave Maternity Package and Enhanced Medisave Grant for Newborns
• Enhanced Baby Bonus
• Tax Reliefs and Rebates for Parents
• Subsidies for Centre-Based Infant & Child Care, and MOE Financial Assistance Scheme

All these not available during my time.

Originally Posted by SibueyJiaLat

Prepare for the cost of raising a child




Estimates of the cost of raising a child in Singapore range from around S$200,000 at the low end to a seemingly astronomical sum of nearly S$1 million at the high end, with about S$360,000 as a middle-range average.

Looked at as a total amount, S$360,000 for raising a child for 20 years seems large. Yet it’s not nearly as daunting as it seems. The amount represents S$1,500 per month, which may seem more reasonable. That amount may also vastly overestimate the actual impact on families.

Curtin University Associate Professor Alfred Dockery analysed costs of raising children in Australia and found the estimates averaged A$537,000, even higher than Singapore. Using a “net wealth approach” rather than looking at total cost, however, he found that families only decreased their savings accumulation by A$1,300 per year and that children may even provide a net financial benefit.

The key reason is that spending patterns change, as parents spend nights at home and daytimes at parks rather than going to places such as fancy restaurants or on overseas holidays. “Children may be seen as complementary to activities that are not income intensive,” he concluded.

The costs may also drop significantly once parents factor in government support and take steps to reduce their spending.

[racghu]

No wonder so many couple dun want to have children.

Originally Posted by SibueyJiaLat

Prepare for the cost of raising a child



BY
RICHARD HARTUNG
[email protected]ISHED: 12:56 AM, MAY 15, 2016

Estimates of the cost of raising a child in Singapore range from around S$200,000 at the low end to a seemingly astronomical sum of nearly S$1 million at the high end, with about S$360,000 as a middle-range average.

Looked at as a total amount, S$360,000 for raising a child for 20 years seems large. Yet it’s not nearly as daunting as it seems. The amount represents S$1,500 per month, which may seem more reasonable. That amount may also vastly overestimate the actual impact on families.

Curtin University Associate Professor Alfred Dockery analysed costs of raising children in Australia and found the estimates averaged A$537,000, even higher than Singapore. Using a “net wealth approach” rather than looking at total cost, however, he found that families only decreased their savings accumulation by A$1,300 per year and that children may even provide a net financial benefit.

[skyleon]

ICA officer caught on video shouting at motorcyclist at Woodlands Checkpoint



Photo: Video screengrabs

ASIAONE
Friday, May 13, 2016


SINGAPORE - A uniformed officer has been filmed shouting and gesturing angrily at a motorcyclist at the Woodlands Checkpoint.

In a video shared on Facebook page Roads.sg, the officer can be seen shouting at a motorcyclist, telling him to apologise and indicated that the barrier would not be lifted unless he did so.


While it is unclear why the officer got so worked up, he can be heard saying that the motorcyclist had thrown something at him.

His colleague then asks the motorcyclist for his passport and when there was no response, the officer said: "Eh, give la, don't understand ah?"

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapo....ZXTciCJY.dpuf

[SibueyJiaLat]

Looks like more twists in this rape case.

Man accused of raping maid in Pasir Ris flat claims she followed him and 'undressed' herself

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The New Paper
May 13, 2016

His maid had accused him of rape, but Chin Swee Chung said the sex was consensual.

Chin, an alcohol distributor, said she did not resist his advances, had undressed herself and even gave him oral sex.

The 45-year-old Malaysian allegedly raped the Myanmar national twice in his Pasir Ris flat on Dec 20, 2013 - once at around 1am and another time about six hours later.

On the third day of his trial, Chin's lawyer, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, revealed in court yesterday his client's version of events when he cross-examined the maid.

According to Chin, before the first sexual encounter, he met the maid, now 38, outside her room and held her hand.

She did not pull it away, said the lawyer.

The Singapore permanent resident also told his lawyer that when he kissed the maid's cheek, she did not resist or pull away.

After that, she followed him to his bedroom where she undressed herself before they had consensual sexual intercourse, he said.

Based on what Chin had told him, Mr Sudheesan said that the maid then smiled shyly when asked if she enjoyed the session.

The maid, who is no longer working in Singapore, denied all of these in court yesterday. She maintained she had been raped and that Chin was the one who had removed her clothes.

And as for the second encounter, Mr Sudheesan said that according to Chin, the maid had performed oral sex on him in his bedroom before they had consensual sexual intercourse for the second time.

Again, she denied that these had taken place.

Chin was a married man when he allegedly raped the maid, a mother of three. He is now divorced.

Yesterday, the court also heard that Dr Smita Lakhotia from KK Women's and Children's Hospital examined the maid hours after the alleged rape.

The doctor testified she found no fresh injuries on the maid.

EMPLOYER

The maid had earlier testified that Chin's then-wife was her second employer in Singapore.

The Myanmar national arrived in Singapore in September 2012 and worked for her first employer until June 2013.

But she later ran away and lodged a complaint to Singapore's Ministry of Manpower.

When Mr Sudheesan asked why, she said: "There was not enough food and sleep and there was outstanding salary."

The maid did not reveal in court the outcome of her complaint.

She returned to Myanmar in June 2013 and came back to Singapore the following month to work for Chin's family.

The trial will resume next Tuesday.

If convicted of rape, for each count, Chin can be jailed up to 20 years and fined or caned.

[rocket_boy]

Who says govt never help Singaporean ?


Annual take-up of HDB’s Lease Buyback Scheme more than doubles

By Liyana Othman and Sara Grosse, Channel NewsAsia
Posted 15 May 2016 13:00 Updated 15 May 2016 17:25


SINGAPORE: Five hundred and forty-one households have taken up Housing and Development Board’s Lease Buyback Scheme within a year of enhancements, with 233 households owners of four-room flats.

HDB noted that this annual take-up had more than doubled compared to previous years. Since the launch of the scheme in 2009, 471 households signed up in the first four years - averaging at about 117 annually. A further 494 took up the scheme following modifications in February 2013 over a period of about two years, an average of slightly less than 250 a year.

The Lease Buyback Scheme is catered to elderly home owners living in four-room flats or smaller. They can sell the tail end of their flat’s 99-year lease back to HDB, in exchange for a cash bonus.

On top of that, the proceeds from selling their flat’s lease will be used to top up their CPF Retirement Account. This provides them with monthly payouts, while they continue living in their flats.

Among the 541 households who took up the scheme is Mr Abdul Rahman Kemat. He and his wife have been living in their four-room flat in Jurong West for since 1985.

In January, the 68-year-old decided to sell about 34 years of the remaining lease of his flat to the Government under the Lease Buyback Scheme, giving him a payout of about S$1,000 each month. HDB then sold a new 35-year lease of Mr Abdul Rahman's flat to him at S$228,900 under the Lease Buyback Scheme.

Because the security officer expects to retire soon, he said the extra income is useful. And that the Lease Buyback Scheme was the best option for him, as he did not want to downgrade to a smaller flat or rent out his apartment.

"Because I love this place so much," he said. "The people here, I know well. My children are all grown up, they've got grown-up children. So I think it is not suitable for me to stay with my children. So I prefer to stay independently here with my wife."

The latest round of enhancements, which kicked in in April last year, saw four changes to the scheme to benefit more elderly citizens and make it more flexible:

The scheme was extended to 4-room flats, covering 75 per cent of elderly households, up from 35 per cent previously

The income ceiling was raised from S$3,000 to S$12,000

Households with two or more owners will only need to each top up their CPF Retirement Account to the basic age-adjusted retirement sum, instead of the full age-adjusted retirement sum. This gives them more cash in hand

Elderly households can choose how long they want their lease to be retained, from 15, 20, 25, 30 or a maximum of 35 years. But it must cover the youngest owner until he or she is 95 years old. Previously, flat-owners only had the option of keeping a 30-year lease
'STILL A SMALL PORTION OF ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS': ANALYST

Since then, around 5 per cent of the 541 households who signed up had income exceeding S$3,000. Nearly half, 261 households, chose to retain a lease length other than 30 years.

"Perhaps one of the reasons is that retirees in four-room flats may feel that the value of their flats is a bit larger," said Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director of SLP International Property Consultants. "So if they were to join this scheme, they would be able to unlock a larger part of cash that can help them in their retirement planning."

Mr Mak said while there was a significant increase in the take-up of the Lease Buyback Scheme, it is still a small proportion of the eligible households.

"When we look at over 500 households that have taken up this scheme, and we compare this islandwide, with all the HDB flats that's available out there, the number seems to be very small. I estimate less than 1 per cent of the eligible households have actually taken up this scheme," he said.

Mr Mak said that perhaps more awareness of the scheme was needed to encourage more households to take part. HDB added that it will continue outreach efforts to help elderly households better understand the monetisation options available to them.

HDB is providing financial counselling for applicants of the Lease Buyback Scheme. During these counselling sessions, the various monetisation options available are explained to those interested. They are also given an estimation of how much total payout and monthly income they can expect to receive.


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...s/2786430.html

[rousch]

Originally Posted by 99099

Both also jailed. Funny people around.

They are partners in crime.

[SibueyJiaLat]

Thank you for all your kind support.

Please post here to share all your jialat stories.

[Paypal]

Now who says female are weaker sex.

Originally Posted by SibueyJiaLat

When the third party that causes a marriage break-up is a same-sex partner



In this day and age, the third party that causes a marriage break-up may not be the usual "other woman" or "other man".

Family lawyers say they have been seeing more marriages unravel on account of an affair with someone of the same sex.

[Logout]

Originally Posted by Paypal

Now who says female are weaker sex.

Read recently 50% of divorce are due to unfaithful wives.

[naan1974]

Originally Posted by Logout

Read recently 50% of divorce are due to unfaithful wives.

Really? So do these unfaithful wives get protected by the women charter too?

[sailsingapore]

Originally Posted by skyleon

ICA officer caught on video shouting at motorcyclist at Woodlands Checkpoint

Upzzz you back bro SKYLEON Huat arh from Sailsingapore

[SibueyJiaLat]

Originally Posted by naan1974

Really? So do these unfaithful wives get protected by the women charter too?

Adultery: It's not just the men

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...t-just-the-men

About 50% of cases now involve cheating wives, according to veteran family lawyers

A noticeable number of marriages in Singapore break down because of an unfaithful spouse: the wife.

Twenty veteran family lawyers and private investigators told The Sunday Times that out of every 10 cases they handle in which a spouse cheats, about half are because the wife strayed from the marriage.

A decade ago, only two to three out of the 10 unfaithful parties were the wives. And 20 or 30 years ago, an adulterous wife being cited in divorce proceedings was quite unheard of, they added.

Lawyer and former Member of Parliament Ellen Lee said that back then, divorce was not an easy option as women were financially dependent on their husbands.

Divorce was also less socially accepted. "If a woman committed adultery in the past, she would have been condemned and ostracised by society for breaking up her family and bringing shame to them. The condemnation is not as strong now," she said.

There also appeared to be acceptance of men having a mistress and that this was something wives had to tolerate, she added.

But that has been changing, with more women becoming financially independent, educated, assertive and vocal, said lawyers, private investigators and counsellors.

Counsellor Jonathan Siew said: "In the past, women were expected to sacrifice for their families. But now, there is a greater sense of individualism. Women are less afraid and more willing to pursue their own needs, compared with their mothers' generation."

There are also opportunities to fall for another man at work or through social media, lawyers said of the cases they handled.

And contrary to popular perception, unfaithful wives are not only found among professionals and corporate types, or white-collar or higher-income earners. They come from all walks of life, including housewives and low-wage earners, and many have children.

Lawyer Louis Lim tells of a client, a hawker's assistant in her 40s, who was physically abused by her husband. The mother of two teenage daughters fell for a man who delivered vegetables to her stall and filed for divorce.

While most of the women in divorce cases handled by the private investigators and lawyers were in their 30s and 40s, there were also grandmothers in their 50s who strayed. Private investigator Raymond Lim had such a case. A woman in her 50s, who runs a small shop, had an affair with a businessman. The pair would have meals and check into budget hotels almost weekly.

And there are key differences between men and women when it comes to affairs.

For one thing, an unfaithful woman is more likely than a man to end the marriage, said counsellors and lawyers.

In their opinion, this is because women do not necessarily seek an extramarital affair. They may have been unhappy in their marriage, till someone comes along and offers them the emotional intimacy they find lacking in their marriage.

Said Mr Siew: "When women cheat, they are, to some extent, already thinking of divorce. So they allow themselves to go into the affair, which they see as a long-term commitment."

This is unlike men, who often want to keep the other woman on the side for a variety of reasons.

Lawyer Koh Tien Hua said: "Some men see sex outside of marriage as no big deal and just as a matter of sexual release. Or they may have an emotional attachment - but one that is not strong enough for them to leave their wives."

So it is rare to see women who are "serial" adulterers, unlike some men who have one affair after another, lawyers said.

That is not to say there are no women who "go around shopping for better husbands", lawyer Ellen Lee said.

The wife of one of her clients cheated on him repeatedly. The man forgave her time and again for the sake for their two young daughters. But after her fourth affair, he decided enough was enough and filed for a divorce.

Between 2004 and 2014, based on data from the Department of Statistics (DOS), 1.3 per cent to 2.1 per cent of those who filed for divorce under the Women's Charter cited adultery as the main reason.

Of this group, between 27 per cent and 34 per cent were husbands who claimed their wives had been unfaithful, the DOS explained when asked about data obtained from the Statistics of Marriages and Divorces.

Lawyers said official data from the courts does not reflect the reality of what they observe - which is that between a third and half the divorces they handle involve one cheating spouse.

But few cite adultery as grounds for divorce as that requires evidence of an affair, and the third party must be named in divorce papers.

So most choose to cite unreasonable behaviour instead.

This is also because it can be costly to hire a private investigator to gather evidence. It costs between $5,000 and $8,000 for one week of surveillance.

Adultery is also seen as shameful. So the offending party tends to negotiate with the spouse not to cite adultery as the reason, said lawyer Malathi Das.

[SibueyJiaLat]

More people asking for prenatal DNA testing

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...al-dna-testing

Pregnant women who are uncertain if the husband or a lover is the father of the unborn child are using prenatal paternity testing to help them decide on their next course of action.

A number of firms have been offering such prenatal DNA tests here for some years now.

Easy DNA Singapore, which was set up in 2012 and has offered such tests since 2013, said the number of people asking for tests has more than doubled every year. Director Sharifah Khairiyah Syed-Mohamad said: "I think the increase has to do with greater awareness of prenatal paternity testing. But it could also be because there may be more extra-marital affairs going on."

In the first four months of this year, it conducted 12 tests - the same number as the whole of last year. Each test costs $2,350 and involves drawing blood from the pregnant woman and extracting the baby's DNA from the blood. This is because fragments of fetal DNA can be separated from the woman's genetic material in her blood. This is then checked against DNA material from the man, obtained with a cotton swab applied to the inside of his cheeks.

Dr Kenneth Wong of Obgyn Centre, who also performs prenatal paternity tests, says most women who ask for the test are married professionals in their 30s and 40s who have had flings or affairs. They abort if the baby is not the husband's, he said. On average, he performs one to two prenatal tests a month. Each test costs $5,000 to $6,000.

Unlike Easy DNA's method, Dr Wong gets tissue samples for DNA testing from the foetus through procedures known as chorionic villus sampling, or through amniocentesis. This can be done from as early as the 10th week of pregnancy. But the woman has to bring her lover for his blood sample to be taken as well. If there is a match with the baby's tissue sample, then paternity has been established by exclusion, he said. This means that if the lover is not the father, then the child is the husband's - who is none the wiser about the wife's affair.

Dr Wong cited the case of a patient who had a fling with her tour guide when she went trekking. She later arranged for the guide to fly here for tests. It turned out he was not the father, so she continued with the pregnancy.

The Health Sciences Authority's (HSA) DNA Profiling Laboratory also processes prenatal paternity tests, but handles fewer than 10 such tests a year.

Demand for conventional paternity tests after the birth of a child is also growing, according to Easy DNA and another firm, Baby DNA.

Easy DNA carried out 93 paternity tests last year - a figure which has increased by about 30 per cent a year since it was set up in 2012.

Baby DNA declined to give figures, but said demand for paternity tests has been rising each year.

A basic paternity test costs around $500 at both firms.

The HSA, which started processing paternity tests in the mid-1990s, says that in the past decade, it had handled between 180 and 220 paternity tests a year .

Lawyers say that for husbands, establishing paternity means that those who file for divorce can argue against having to provide maintenance if the child is not theirs.

Lawyer Louis Lim had a client who not only found out that his wife was unfaithful, but also discovered, through paternity tests, that both his sons were not his. He was heartbroken, Mr Lim said, adding that the man filed for divorce.

Theresa Tan

[SibueyJiaLat]

Neighbours confront serial 'nudist' flashing at Pasir Ris apartment balcony

Posted on 16 May 2016

AsiaOne
May 15, 2016

The peace at a Pasir Ris neighbourhood was shattered on Saturday evening (May 14) when a group of neighbours confronted a serial 'nudist' who had been flashing at his balcony at Blk 629 Pasir Ris Street 3.

Around 10 irate neighbours had gathered outside a unit on the fifth floor at 6pm and starting shouting at the unit occupant, Lianhe Wanbao reported, demanding that the man exit his house.

Angry at the man's refusal to leave his house, one of the neighbours shattered a tile outside the apartment and flung a shoe from the corridor, a witness by the name of Mr Guo told Lianhe Wanbao.

The police told Lianhe Wanbao that they were alerted to the incident at around 6.30pm, and a man in the group was later arrested for causing public disorder.

"When the police arrived, the group had shrunk to 5, and they later scattered in different directions", Mr Guo, 26 said.

Neighbours told the Chinese evening daily that the middle-aged man had a habit of wearing thongs at his balcony.

They added that the man's queer habit started about seven years ago when he would stand by his window in full view of his neighbours, clad only in an underwear.

The man later 'upgraded' to a thong recently.

Another neighbour who confronted the man was ignored, and many female neighbours felt distressed and uncomfortable at the man's indecent exposure.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said: "He would be at his balcony almost daily, smoking in his thongs. When he sees his neighbours, he will purposely tiptoe. It is almost as if he wants to catch their attention."

Police investigations are ongoing.