Bro, Singapore working life seriously becoming one giant scam already.
Every morning we wake up at 6am, squeeze into the MRT like canned sardines, rush to office, answer emails until brain fried, pretend to care during Zoom meetings, then still kena “friendly reminder” from boss at 11:38pm asking why the Excel sheet not updated.
And after all that suffering? Salary gone in like three working days.
First, CPF vacuum cleaner come and inhale one chunk. Then rental, insurance premium, broadband bill, mobile plan, electricity tariff, transport cost, streaming subscriptions, and somehow even cai png nowadays can silently become S$9.80 because you accidentally point at fish.
Singapore inflation really got no chill.
Last time our parents could raise entire family on one salary, buy HDB flat, own car, still got money for holiday. Now? Dual income also struggling. You earn “above average” salary but somehow still feel one medical emergency away from financial disaster.
And don’t even start on property prices.
Everywhere people talking about investment portfolio, dividend stocks, cryptocurrency, private property, passive income, high yield savings account, retirement planning, wealth management, side hustle, AI business automation. Wah bro, hearing all this online makes me feel like if you never earn money while sleeping, you are considered failure already.
LinkedIn also another comedy show.
Some guy post one selfie holding Starbucks and suddenly become “thought leader”.
“Honoured and humbled to announce…”
Brother, you changed job only. Not elected President of Singapore.
Then got those finance gurus telling everyone:
“If you stop buying bubble tea and avocado toast, you can retire by 40.”
Ya lor. Because the real issue in Singapore is clearly my occasional S$4 kopi peng and not the fact that housing loan looks like 25-year prison sentence.
And somehow every app now wants subscription.
Photo editing app? Subscription.
Gym app? Subscription.
Cloud storage? Subscription.
Even productivity app also got AI premium upgrade.
Soon toilet paper also probably monthly plan:
“Upgrade to Premium Wipe+ for enhanced user experience.”
Honestly ah, sometimes I think Singaporeans are surviving purely through sarcasm, kopi, and sheer spite.
But despite all the complaining, next morning we still wake up, wear office clothes, tap our EZ-Link card, and continue the grind because what choice do we have?
Singapore dream nowadays feels less like “financial freedom” and more like:
“Hopefully nothing breaks this month.”
Anyway thanks for listening to my TED Talk. I need go check my bank account and pretend not to panic.