Rip off Britian...is it really ?
- Thread starter RimBlock
- Start date
Wow,
Quite a response.
That is ok, apology accepted. Well that is what comes from typing something adding to it every now and then as work will allow and then hitting the posting it before running out the door to get home to my newborn. Spell checked for the most part. Hopefully you can now enjoy reading it. I will ofcourse refrain from pointing out the lack of correct punctuation in your reply, oops did I actually type that......my bad.
Absolutely, but it seems that the reduction in COE's being available dropping from 3% to 1.5% to start from May next year (auctions for COE's are held monthly) is too little too late. There are commonly major traffic delays here and although a lot of people have been complaining I am sure none of them would be in the line to volunteer to give up their cars to help solve the problem. The last time they dropped the number of COE's available prices were shooting up to S$100,000 each. The number of COE's available each month is made up of the number of cars taken off the road plus a percentage increase. It is only the percentage increase which is changing. We are looking at getting a car at the beginning of the next year. With the two kids now it makes a bit more sense to us but it may be out of reach.
Another influence on more people buying cars now is that loans are pretty cheap and cab prices have just shot up 30% for peak times. Cabs are also almost impossible to get at peak times and you could end up waiting in line for 30mins to 1hr. The MRT runs until around 12am or so.
Not as bad as you may imagine but I guess it depends on what you are used to. Coming from London where the winters are getting milder and the summers are just spreading out, the heat isn't really an issue. Most shops / malls are fully air-conditioned, the MRT and most busses also have aircon. What I miss more is the change to the landscape that comes with the changing seasons.
How long ago was that out of interest. Prices have sky rocketed here for accommodation. I rented a 2 bedroom place here in Feb last year and it cost me S$1,400 / month in a nice area but pretty far from the central area. When looking around in December as the landlord was looking to sell in this housing boom all the landlords were now asking for S$2,000 / month.
The problem has come about due to governments push on rebuild and renew. Most places you look in Singapore there will be a building site in view. This may be for replacing something old or just improving the area. I get a feeling with all this renewal that there will never be a time where people can enjoy all the new stuff without another building site going up. Anyway, part of this policy is to knock down some of the old blocks and rebuild them with smaller flats but with better facilities. Most property here is mainly government owned HDB (housing development board) blocks based on concrete slab construction and arranged in housing estates. Each flat is privately owned so there is pride in keeping the property and area clean (unlike the UK's estates). Our current and newly bought flats are both in HDB estates just like 80% of Singaporeans and it is fine although I miss not having a garden. The other 20% is made up of Condos and landed property. Condos are like hotel complexes where there will be a communal pool and gym and barbeque pits etc. Prices are determined here by getting a valuation on the property and then the owner will usually ask for a cash sum on top. The cash sum is an indication of desirability and availability of the property. The HDB 2 bedroom property we bought was valued at S$200,000 (ground floor so not so sought after but bigger than most as there is a small courtyard area). We had to add S$40,000 on top to secure the sale. Same size condos are going for a minimum of S$750,000 and landed properties are going for S$1mil upwards. My 2 bedroom rental in London was the same distance from work and cost me GBP700/month.
Is that $600 including New York State sales tax or is it the standard advertised price which does not usually include state sales tax? Are you also including UK import duty and tax (especially if you are not including sales tax in the US) ? I suspect not as I would just take it in and hope I didn't get stopped therefore saving me a chunk of cash. I bought a laptop here on a visit prior to moving here. Nice HP job. Took it back to the UK after reclaiming the Singapore GST and not declaring in customs like most people but when I finally got home I found the price I had paid was the same as the UK price without VAT. I therefore only saved the VAT by buying it in Singapore. I did the same with a Canon Ixus I bought in New York again only to find out that the price I paid in the US was the same as I would pay in the UK without VAT.
Depends on what you like. You can get it for your own coffee makers like the UK or there are Starbucks (where are there not Starbucks
), coffee Bean and a number of other coffee joints. There are also the coffee houses which is a generic term for a open fronted shop with lots of little stalls inside selling different foods. These are the S$3.50 meal places. Plastic tables and chairs fill the rest of the space. They sell a version of coffee called kopti which is coffee with condensed milk.
Whilst Singapore is possibly the cleanest city in the world it is not spotless by any means. It is not unusual to see discarded burger packet in stairwells etc. I think the difference is that finable to litter here and it is enforced. Most adults are good with their litter and I suspect most of the littering is done by teenagers and foreign workers / tourists.
You are absolutely right about crime. There is crime here and the odd body will be found floating in one of the reservoirs or a bag of chopped up body parts will be discovered in a trash bin somewhere (a couple of news stories that have happened in the last year) but petty crime and drink related crimes seem to be pretty much nonexistent. All the bars and clubs are in a central area away from residential areas. You do get people not paying taxi fares and stuff like that sometime though. Penalties are harsh and range from lashes from a rattan cane to imprisonment to death for drugs related crimes and I would guess murder. Most small crimes are I believe usually committed by teenagers thinking they are invincible and the laws do not apply to them and then it jumps to really big crimes like murder (for the body parts one, the maid did it apparently). There was an incident recently where a factory owner had hired some foreign workers and they had to live in the factory, locked in overnight. The owner then one weekend went on holiday and left the workers locked in the building. The owner would probably get a telling off after the police were called to let the workers out but not much more than that. Different culture.........
One final point I would like to make is although I am now living in Singapore I would never think for a moment of giving up my British nationality. Singapore does not accept dual nationality. I love England but decided it was time for a change and moved to be with my wife and kids.
Cheers
RB
Quite a response.
That is ok, apology accepted. Well that is what comes from typing something adding to it every now and then as work will allow and then hitting the posting it before running out the door to get home to my newborn. Spell checked for the most part. Hopefully you can now enjoy reading it. I will ofcourse refrain from pointing out the lack of correct punctuation in your reply, oops did I actually type that......my bad.
Absolutely, but it seems that the reduction in COE's being available dropping from 3% to 1.5% to start from May next year (auctions for COE's are held monthly) is too little too late. There are commonly major traffic delays here and although a lot of people have been complaining I am sure none of them would be in the line to volunteer to give up their cars to help solve the problem. The last time they dropped the number of COE's available prices were shooting up to S$100,000 each. The number of COE's available each month is made up of the number of cars taken off the road plus a percentage increase. It is only the percentage increase which is changing. We are looking at getting a car at the beginning of the next year. With the two kids now it makes a bit more sense to us but it may be out of reach.
Another influence on more people buying cars now is that loans are pretty cheap and cab prices have just shot up 30% for peak times. Cabs are also almost impossible to get at peak times and you could end up waiting in line for 30mins to 1hr. The MRT runs until around 12am or so.
Not as bad as you may imagine but I guess it depends on what you are used to. Coming from London where the winters are getting milder and the summers are just spreading out, the heat isn't really an issue. Most shops / malls are fully air-conditioned, the MRT and most busses also have aircon. What I miss more is the change to the landscape that comes with the changing seasons.
How long ago was that out of interest. Prices have sky rocketed here for accommodation. I rented a 2 bedroom place here in Feb last year and it cost me S$1,400 / month in a nice area but pretty far from the central area. When looking around in December as the landlord was looking to sell in this housing boom all the landlords were now asking for S$2,000 / month.
The problem has come about due to governments push on rebuild and renew. Most places you look in Singapore there will be a building site in view. This may be for replacing something old or just improving the area. I get a feeling with all this renewal that there will never be a time where people can enjoy all the new stuff without another building site going up. Anyway, part of this policy is to knock down some of the old blocks and rebuild them with smaller flats but with better facilities. Most property here is mainly government owned HDB (housing development board) blocks based on concrete slab construction and arranged in housing estates. Each flat is privately owned so there is pride in keeping the property and area clean (unlike the UK's estates). Our current and newly bought flats are both in HDB estates just like 80% of Singaporeans and it is fine although I miss not having a garden. The other 20% is made up of Condos and landed property. Condos are like hotel complexes where there will be a communal pool and gym and barbeque pits etc. Prices are determined here by getting a valuation on the property and then the owner will usually ask for a cash sum on top. The cash sum is an indication of desirability and availability of the property. The HDB 2 bedroom property we bought was valued at S$200,000 (ground floor so not so sought after but bigger than most as there is a small courtyard area). We had to add S$40,000 on top to secure the sale. Same size condos are going for a minimum of S$750,000 and landed properties are going for S$1mil upwards. My 2 bedroom rental in London was the same distance from work and cost me GBP700/month.
Is that $600 including New York State sales tax or is it the standard advertised price which does not usually include state sales tax? Are you also including UK import duty and tax (especially if you are not including sales tax in the US) ? I suspect not as I would just take it in and hope I didn't get stopped therefore saving me a chunk of cash. I bought a laptop here on a visit prior to moving here. Nice HP job. Took it back to the UK after reclaiming the Singapore GST and not declaring in customs like most people but when I finally got home I found the price I had paid was the same as the UK price without VAT. I therefore only saved the VAT by buying it in Singapore. I did the same with a Canon Ixus I bought in New York again only to find out that the price I paid in the US was the same as I would pay in the UK without VAT.
Depends on what you like. You can get it for your own coffee makers like the UK or there are Starbucks (where are there not Starbucks
), coffee Bean and a number of other coffee joints. There are also the coffee houses which is a generic term for a open fronted shop with lots of little stalls inside selling different foods. These are the S$3.50 meal places. Plastic tables and chairs fill the rest of the space. They sell a version of coffee called kopti which is coffee with condensed milk.Whilst Singapore is possibly the cleanest city in the world it is not spotless by any means. It is not unusual to see discarded burger packet in stairwells etc. I think the difference is that finable to litter here and it is enforced. Most adults are good with their litter and I suspect most of the littering is done by teenagers and foreign workers / tourists.
You are absolutely right about crime. There is crime here and the odd body will be found floating in one of the reservoirs or a bag of chopped up body parts will be discovered in a trash bin somewhere (a couple of news stories that have happened in the last year) but petty crime and drink related crimes seem to be pretty much nonexistent. All the bars and clubs are in a central area away from residential areas. You do get people not paying taxi fares and stuff like that sometime though. Penalties are harsh and range from lashes from a rattan cane to imprisonment to death for drugs related crimes and I would guess murder. Most small crimes are I believe usually committed by teenagers thinking they are invincible and the laws do not apply to them and then it jumps to really big crimes like murder (for the body parts one, the maid did it apparently). There was an incident recently where a factory owner had hired some foreign workers and they had to live in the factory, locked in overnight. The owner then one weekend went on holiday and left the workers locked in the building. The owner would probably get a telling off after the police were called to let the workers out but not much more than that. Different culture.........
One final point I would like to make is although I am now living in Singapore I would never think for a moment of giving up my British nationality. Singapore does not accept dual nationality. I love England but decided it was time for a change and moved to be with my wife and kids.
Cheers
RB
Hard to compare as I know the speeds have been ramping up in the UK.
I subscribed to a 5MBit connection over her which they have just upgraded to 8Mbit. The highest domestic cable offering is 100MBit at S$125/month, the highest ADSL offering is 10Mbit at S$70 / month with 2 year contract and 1st year half price. Also included is free access to their Wi-Fi network in Singapore. There is only one cable supplier and one ADSL supplier and both offer mobile phoned, TV and home phone packages along with internet access.
The media is controlled here but it is not as repressive as most would make out. If it was then I wouldn't be able to browse the BBC news or Sky new websites.
Cheers
RB
You can get it for your own coffee makers like the UK or there are Starbucks (where are there not Starbucks
In other words, you can't get a proper coffee for love or money.
Man of Honour
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- Chelmsford
I accept that but what about the infrequent or one off user? The 90p single trip should be available to everyone, regardless of your usage.
The UK really isn't that bad to live and work.
The Czech Republic although is a great place and has pretty much everything the UK has it does have quirks that make things annoying.
Like the OP said banks charge for using other banks machines, if I can't find one of my bank's machines I have to pay a fee. My bank account's aren't allowed to drop below 1000CZK and if you make any requests of the bank staff they are usually reluctant to as it means work for them.
The country is still suffering from a post-communist hangover. Luckilly I don't suffer too much from this being an EU citizen but my girlfriend has to jump through hoops to get visa extensions and things. For example for a visa she needs to get a number of documents from government offices and the rental contract for the flat we're in for example, fair enough but they also need a document from the equivilent from the land registry to say that the flat exsists. Then you need to get documents notarised which involves waiting around and then paying someone to sign the document to say it's real. Once you have your documents you need to wait in line at the foreign police offices (a bit like the FCO back home) for a day, going from window to window for trivial things, like queuing and getting a document from one window, then having to queue at another one to pay to have it stamped, then having to go back to the original window to show the woman that you've got the stamp for the document!!! It's red tape for the sake of it and there are documents for everything, to make it worse you can't do things or apply for things by post or online like back in the UK.
I have to carry a passport around as if the police stop me and ask to see ID and I don't have any I'd have to pay a fine, nice way to treat your EU neighbours especially as Czechs in the UK don't need to carry ID with them. The other thing is police bribary, you don't need to pay a fine if you slip the plod some money.
VAT of 19%
Electronic goods are pretty expensive comapred to back home which is compounded by lower wages and buying power but the exchange rate is in my favour right now being paid in Czech Crowns so I buy my stuff from home.
Business is affected by red tape too and there are hoops to jump through, permits to get and and other headaches.
On the plus side public transport is great, I pay about £40 for an unlimited 3 month transport pass within Prague and for about £10 i can get a train to the other side of the country.
I live in a good area next to the river in a modern flat and pay £500 a month including utilities. Internet is about £20 and that's for 20Mbps (2Mbps up), weekly anytime data cap of 40Gb and no throttling or filtering
Hmm I'm not the best writer and this doesn't flow well but you get the idea
The Czech Republic although is a great place and has pretty much everything the UK has it does have quirks that make things annoying.
Like the OP said banks charge for using other banks machines, if I can't find one of my bank's machines I have to pay a fee. My bank account's aren't allowed to drop below 1000CZK and if you make any requests of the bank staff they are usually reluctant to as it means work for them.
The country is still suffering from a post-communist hangover. Luckilly I don't suffer too much from this being an EU citizen but my girlfriend has to jump through hoops to get visa extensions and things. For example for a visa she needs to get a number of documents from government offices and the rental contract for the flat we're in for example, fair enough but they also need a document from the equivilent from the land registry to say that the flat exsists. Then you need to get documents notarised which involves waiting around and then paying someone to sign the document to say it's real. Once you have your documents you need to wait in line at the foreign police offices (a bit like the FCO back home) for a day, going from window to window for trivial things, like queuing and getting a document from one window, then having to queue at another one to pay to have it stamped, then having to go back to the original window to show the woman that you've got the stamp for the document!!! It's red tape for the sake of it and there are documents for everything, to make it worse you can't do things or apply for things by post or online like back in the UK.
I have to carry a passport around as if the police stop me and ask to see ID and I don't have any I'd have to pay a fine, nice way to treat your EU neighbours especially as Czechs in the UK don't need to carry ID with them. The other thing is police bribary, you don't need to pay a fine if you slip the plod some money.
VAT of 19%
Electronic goods are pretty expensive comapred to back home which is compounded by lower wages and buying power but the exchange rate is in my favour right now being paid in Czech Crowns so I buy my stuff from home.
Business is affected by red tape too and there are hoops to jump through, permits to get and and other headaches.
On the plus side public transport is great, I pay about £40 for an unlimited 3 month transport pass within Prague and for about £10 i can get a train to the other side of the country.
I live in a good area next to the river in a modern flat and pay £500 a month including utilities. Internet is about £20 and that's for 20Mbps (2Mbps up), weekly anytime data cap of 40Gb and no throttling or filtering
Hmm I'm not the best writer and this doesn't flow well but you get the idea
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NY sales tax is only about 5%, and many shops will pay the tax for you like Ritz camera since you don't have to pay sales tax if the HQ of the company is outside the sate of purchase.
Your point about paaying import tax is completely irrelevant. An American buying a camera in New York does not pay for UK import tax! 99% of Americans could buy the lens at the $600 list price
It is!
Man of Honour
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- Chelmsford
Only to those who know about or own a oyster card in the first place (ie, Londoners). So any irregular user of the underground system would pay the £4.00 probebly unaware of Oyster card (torrists and out of town visitors etc). This thread is about being ripped off and this is a rip off because they are trying to catch their customers out.
o.O where in Leeds you working? hope its not near the bus station of delightful people
ColiN
I work up near the Merrion Centre. I'm not sure which is worse
Rubbish. It's ridiculously well advertised all over the London Underground, you'd have to be blind not to see the signs for Oyster cards, and that's not including the countless adverts and signs out and about on bus stops and billboards advertising the fact that a journey without an Oyster card is more expensive than a journey with one. In no way shape or form are they trying to catch people out...
To take a quick example, look at the website fare finder:
If that's not as clear as day I don't know what is.
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i think Britain is seen as rip off because of the pound next to the dollar and the way things in the US.
example
since MMO's decided to charge in the UK in pounds for UK customers, for some games American monthly subscription is cheaper than a UK one.
Warhammer is cheaper in America
its things like this that tend to be sold at fixed rates (unlike DVD's and electronics whos rates tend to vary from week to week and outlet to outlet) that make Britain seem a rip off
P.s. i am aware im a geek but im sticking to what i know
example
since MMO's decided to charge in the UK in pounds for UK customers, for some games American monthly subscription is cheaper than a UK one.
Warhammer is cheaper in America
its things like this that tend to be sold at fixed rates (unlike DVD's and electronics whos rates tend to vary from week to week and outlet to outlet) that make Britain seem a rip off
P.s. i am aware im a geek but im sticking to what i know
Well that is interesting, and something I was not aware of concerning the HQ location in the US and sales tax.
I will try to make my self a little clearer as I don't seem to have got my point across on the bit about import tax. Colinuk was making the point that he could fly to New York and buy the lens and bring it back to the UK for less money that he could just buy the lens in the UK. I was pointing out that he had not factored in import duty and vat on bring the lens in to the UK which are meant to be (but are often not) paid.
If the statement had been more along the lines of someone living in the US can buy it for XXX price and it costs me YYY price then import tax would be completely irrelevant as you say. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that as person in the US earns AAA / month and pays BBB in taxes and has CCC living expenses / rent / travel and works DDD hours. Taking the cost of the lens as a percentage of disposable income after including these factors and making allowances due to different working hours / month etc would give a more accurate result (not totally accurate but a much more realistic comparison).
I was looking at the Canon f2.8 70-200mm IS USM lens not so long ago here.
Quoted price was around S$3,000. A quick search of UK web prices give a random sample price of GBP1,200 (I am sure people could find it cheaper but this is just a quick sample).
So on converting them both to GBP prices going with an exchange rate of 3SGD -> 1 GBP and ignoring commission and exchange charges we get Singapore price of GBP1,000.
Great, GBP200 cheaper if bought in Singapore. Now if bought by someone from the UK to take back to the UK then they would also take off 7% GST on departure but should pay 17.5% VAT and import duty (after trawling around on the C&E website it seems you can only get the import duty tariffs if you subscribe. Not exactly transparent is it......). I seem to recall import duty on an expensive SCSI card I bought in the US and had shipped over when added to VAT came to around 40% (Yeah, I was pretty shocked) but lets give a basic 10% for import duty and I will amend if people can give a more accurate figure.
So...... ((((1000/107)*100)*1.175)*1.1) = GBP1207.94 (2dp).
So if you are a good boy / girl and pick this item up on holiday in Singapore and pay all your taxes on arrival to the UK you would still be paying around 8 quid more.
If we look at the impact of buying the lens to disposable income to both a Singapore resident and a UK resident we need to take other factors into account. I will use my own experiences as the job I am doing here is the same as I was in the UK for the same company. I will change the income figures but keep then in the same ratio. I will also use only the biggest basic outgoings for cost of living (rent / work travel).
UK
Income GBP40,000 - ((Rent GBP700 - Work travel GBP160) * 12)
Disposable = GBP29,680
Lens price (random shop I know in London) = GBP1,200
As percentage of disposable = 4.04%
Singapore (converted to GBP on 3 SGD to 1 GBP basis).
Income GBP20,000 - ((Rent GBP470 - Work travel GBP20) * 12)
Disposable = GBP14,120
Lens price (cheapest reported in Singapore high street shops) = GBP1,000
As percentage of disposable = 8.49%
So my conclusion from this (very) rough calculation is that even though the price in Singapore is cheaper than in the UK the impact on disposable income is over double to someone living here than it would be for the same person buying in the UK doing the same job and travelling the same distance to work using the same methods to do so. It also show in this example that even though the price in Singapore is cheaper for this item, if the rules are followed, it works out slightly more expensive to buy it here for someone visiting from the UK.
…and yes, if anyone is wondering why I am using the GBP rather than the pound sign then it is because they use US keyboards here which does not have the pound sign on. I use my good old UK keyboard at home though.
Please feel free to point out any flaws in the calculation / assumptions / figures listed above, and there could be many as this is off the top of my head as I sit at work (in a nice rather than in a ‘you’re a thick as a brick' way), and I will update / amend.
Cheers
RB
Kowloon
I often travelled quite a way when I was in Hong Kong, upwards of 100 miles a day by train and Taxi and only spent about £15-20 in a week.
A single cab trip here of a similar distance (10m each way) would cost about the same.
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Caporegime
- Joined
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IN the end you're mostly showing that Singapore isn't the cheapest place on earth, though you didn't take into account the 40k/20k going down only 15% for the singapore, and 35% ish in total on the 40k which changes stuff up.
but that might be one expensive item, but all the food makes up for the difference anyway. Also it might only be your job/area that doesn't pay great in Singapore, its very difficult to tell from basic info and not knowing the area.
But for instance, the states, electronics stuff is only cheaper as mostly you can simply buy your kit online from outta state. AFAIK theres normally places you can buy from that let you not have to pay sales tax at all which saves a little. Even with the states, tax might be less, but is offset by paying for private med insurance. even if your company covers it and gets you a great deal you're still paying for it with lower wages than you'd otherwise have. the reason america is cheap is food, going out, travel to wide ranging types of area, snowy mountains, sunny beaches, desert, forrest, anything really is a day or twos drive, a cheapish train journey or a quick flight away. infact if you live in california you can stay in places thats an hour one way to the beach and sun and an hour the other way to snowy peaks for snowboarding with national parks not far off and vegas not to far. I spent 4 days in new york, staying in one of the best hotels, in time square, buying food, loads of alcohol, comedy shows etc and it was ludicrously cheap. You would only have to assume that new york and manhattan specifically would be pretty damned expensive, its the London of america, tightest packed, highest population city in the country where a lot of the financial power rests which normally leads to increased costs.
infact new york might be a bad example, it might be cheap to go out there as housing in manhattan is INSANE in pricing. you get government money towards rent even if you're making $75 or something ridiculous in newyork because apartment costs are so incredibly high. As i understand living in a smaller city, suberb type area life can be very cheap in america, huge house, cheap fuel, lowish tax, very good healthcare with private insurance, good earnings.
Englands a rip off because taxes, and hidden taxes are increasing on a yearly basis, but services are ALL getting far far worse. People would have a different attitude of the NHS, policing, education, roads, traffic, public transport and crime rates were all improving, but they aren't. they are throwing more and more money at the wrong problems with the wrong solutions, we've ground our economy into the ground, we produce very very little anymore, we create more tax paid jobs by the year to curb unemployment, pension schemes are getting to the point of being in massive problems soon, crime is going through the roof, we're getting less and less educated people coming into jobs. everything is turning for the worse, we might be "ok" just about now, but if everything continues in 10 years we'll be paying massive taxes, pensions and the NHS will have all but collapsed, we'll have loads of poorly trained docs, police and everyone else working in jobs all over the place. Because of the way we're going new business doesn't want to open here, we can't bring in new manufacturing plants for whatever product because theres absolutely nothing worthwhile going for us at the moment. We're at the breaking point and theres not a single thing being done about it.
but that might be one expensive item, but all the food makes up for the difference anyway. Also it might only be your job/area that doesn't pay great in Singapore, its very difficult to tell from basic info and not knowing the area.
But for instance, the states, electronics stuff is only cheaper as mostly you can simply buy your kit online from outta state. AFAIK theres normally places you can buy from that let you not have to pay sales tax at all which saves a little. Even with the states, tax might be less, but is offset by paying for private med insurance. even if your company covers it and gets you a great deal you're still paying for it with lower wages than you'd otherwise have. the reason america is cheap is food, going out, travel to wide ranging types of area, snowy mountains, sunny beaches, desert, forrest, anything really is a day or twos drive, a cheapish train journey or a quick flight away. infact if you live in california you can stay in places thats an hour one way to the beach and sun and an hour the other way to snowy peaks for snowboarding with national parks not far off and vegas not to far. I spent 4 days in new york, staying in one of the best hotels, in time square, buying food, loads of alcohol, comedy shows etc and it was ludicrously cheap. You would only have to assume that new york and manhattan specifically would be pretty damned expensive, its the London of america, tightest packed, highest population city in the country where a lot of the financial power rests which normally leads to increased costs.
infact new york might be a bad example, it might be cheap to go out there as housing in manhattan is INSANE in pricing. you get government money towards rent even if you're making $75 or something ridiculous in newyork because apartment costs are so incredibly high. As i understand living in a smaller city, suberb type area life can be very cheap in america, huge house, cheap fuel, lowish tax, very good healthcare with private insurance, good earnings.
Englands a rip off because taxes, and hidden taxes are increasing on a yearly basis, but services are ALL getting far far worse. People would have a different attitude of the NHS, policing, education, roads, traffic, public transport and crime rates were all improving, but they aren't. they are throwing more and more money at the wrong problems with the wrong solutions, we've ground our economy into the ground, we produce very very little anymore, we create more tax paid jobs by the year to curb unemployment, pension schemes are getting to the point of being in massive problems soon, crime is going through the roof, we're getting less and less educated people coming into jobs. everything is turning for the worse, we might be "ok" just about now, but if everything continues in 10 years we'll be paying massive taxes, pensions and the NHS will have all but collapsed, we'll have loads of poorly trained docs, police and everyone else working in jobs all over the place. Because of the way we're going new business doesn't want to open here, we can't bring in new manufacturing plants for whatever product because theres absolutely nothing worthwhile going for us at the moment. We're at the breaking point and theres not a single thing being done about it.
Interesting, my ex-wife was Czech and that is where we got married (in Hluboka Chateau) but came back to live in the UK. We had to get a couple of docs stamped in the Czech embassy in London and had to sit in the British Embassy in Prague for a while whilst they checked my details but it all went quite easily and she got her leave to stay in the UK by post after another trip to government offices in London after the honeymoon.
My time in the Czech Republic was limited to visits rather than living there though so it is interesting to hear what we would have had to go through. I used to enjoy going to the club at the end of Charles Bridge on visits and remember the underground system was pretty good. Not speaking Czech was a bit of an issue as in Prague at the time some people spoke some English and outside of Prague most people spoke no English. Myself and an English friend went to a pool bar one time with my wife and her friend. They left us there after a while as my Wife’s family lived very close and we could make our own way back. We ran out of pool tokens so my mate went to get some more from the bar counter. A few minutes later he came back carrying two pints but no tokens and a puzzled look on his face. I then went up with the pool cue trying to explain with much pointing at the cue and ended up with another cue ball and no pints. We then decided to finish the pints and stagger home
. This was all around 1999 so things could have changed a lot. I know prices were rising significantly. Oh and lots of the girls there were really hot. They also had a number of 'interesting' shows on at various clubs but taxi drivers are not to be trusted. This was proven to us (me and a friend visiting Prague before I got married) when we asked to be driven to one of these clubs to catch a show
and ended up in the suburbs dropped off at a townhouse, ordered out the cab and after paying an entrance fee found ourselves in a brothel 
..... After a while sitting at the bar seeing blokes come in and then disappear with their selected 'special friends' we decided to leave only to find ourselves in one of the red light areas outside the city centre with deserted streets, limited cash as we had been drinking beers in the place and after finding our way to the main river running through Prague ended up jumping into the road to stop a lone taxi which then managed to get us back to the hotel.Anyway, back on topic..... I did find it strange that you needed to pay to rent a knife and fork in some resturants though
.RB
I'd have to agree with this. I live in Edinburgh, and I've got an Oyster card, for the very rare occasions I end up in London - maybe for a party or a one off visit if I'm down south seeing family anyway. Takes no time at all to get one, saves a lot of money and it's dead easy to top up. I could understand people complaining if they were forced to buy one of a certain value, with an expiry date, which they'd never use in time - but you can just do it pay as you go, as and when you need it. Oh, and you never pay more in a day than the price of a travelcard, something I've been caught out on before when buying singles and making spontaneous detours.
Why moan about it instead of getting one and saving a couple of quid on every journey..? I love it
Ha-ha. ok so others have been using this sort of calculation for ages and I gone and re-invented the wheel
.Nuts. Yep, that was the obvious missing piece....... income tax etc
. Also Singapore has CPF deductions which is a compulsory savings scheme where a percentage is paid by yourself and another percentage by your employer into an account which can be used for pension, medical or home buying expenses. Contributions are 20% by employee and 14.5% by employer.So the above now becomes;
UK
Income GBP40,000 -
Tax (35%)
Rent (GBP700) * 12 months
Work travel (GBP160) * 12 months
Disposable = GBP20,120
Lens price (random shop I know in London) = GBP1,200
As percentage of disposable = 5.96%
Singapore (converted to GBP on 3 SGD to 1 GBP basis).
Income GBP20,000 -
CPF (20%)
Tax (15%)
Rent (GBP470) * 12 months (paid for by CPF contributions so removed)
Work travel (GBP20) * 12 months
Disposable = GBP13,360
Lens price (cheapest reported in Singapore high street shops) = GBP1,000
As percentage of disposable = 7.48%
As is seen here the CPF makes a massive difference. It is good for saving for a house deposit and monthly mortgage repayments but is mandatory so you cannot avoid it if you wanted to.
Yep which is why I made the point that this is a very rough guide only. Food will help to level the field but it would be hard to give a like for like set of figures without going out and researching as I only needed to buy for myself in the UK and am now buying for 4 here in Singapore. My job is well paid by local standards in both countries (IT in financial sector). Whilst it is only one item given as an example I have also given a few other items average prices in the first post which could also be compared if people wanted to.
Yeah, I remember looking at prices when my ex(girlfriend this time) was looking at places to move to. She was living in a fairly nice apartment in a block in Queens (which was quite a nice area when I stayed) and wanted to move back in to Manhattan. As she had bought the Queens place she made a tidy profit and got an apartment on the Upper East Side, first floor, no view, 20 mins walk from the subway, bedroom you could only just get a double bed into and a living room / kitchen so narrow you couldn't put a two person sofa across. She was paying through the nose in rent but loved the fact she was living in the middle of the action and easy access to work in Wall Street.
RB