u/TraditionalWait9150

I find it hard to convince myself to spend more than necessary while living in SG. Other than 3 meals, public transport, insurance and utilities, where possible, I will try not to buy anything in SG or procure any additional services (e.g. ride hailing, food delivery, haircut, manicure, massage, etc.) and rather travel overseas to spend. My rationale is because SGD is a strong currency and yet things here still cost more than overseas by between 1.5x to 10x depending on the goods and services you want to procure.

I know that in a healthy economy, there should be consumption to spur the economy but given the uncertainty of income and jobs these days, do you feel the same in that you only spend what is necessary while living here and make "additional" purchases only when you are overseas?

It doesn't matter if you pay more or less, hire IDs or some random individual from Carousell. Seems like really boils down to luck.

I had 3 major renos done. First one was with a contractor when I move into new BTO and did the general reno, i.e. floor, walls, kitchen, toilet, carpentry, wardrobe. Quality wise is 5/10. Quite a number of issues and have to go back and forth to get the contractor to fix. Price was in the range of $20-$30k

Second one was done a few years after as spouse wants better toilet fittings and I want Japanese style toilet bidet. Engaged a semi ID/contractor firm and they cover only installation, fittings ask us go buy from taobao / shops. Total, including fittings spend about $10k, including a $2k Japanese brand toilet bidet (that comes with remote control) which spoil in less than 2 years. The technician say because our (HDB) toilet is not dry toilet type so shouldn't have buy in the first place. Also, as we stayed, we begin to realise the sink keep choking despite very little use, except washing hands and brushing teeth.

Third one was done 2 years ago to refresh everything. ID came and review first before any work done and told us a lot of issues with the previous contractors. Then told us the price has to increase. End up fork out like $30k + have to live with my parents side while they do the reno. After done, also got issues and back and forth with the ID.

Seems like regardless which one we pick, the worksmanship or the workers like the same group / quality. Every contractor / worker will pick the easiest way out and do the bare minimum unlike contractors in other countries where they really put themselves to highest standard. Why ah?

Had an interesting conversation with my friend who's working in AI. He tells me there is this term called "permanent underclass" which basically describes all those people who fail to prepare for AI. The next few years will be critical in that either you got enough assets, money or skillset which AI cannot replace or you will be stuck in the bottom with hardly any opportunities to climb out.

He also feels that inflation may slow down and might even reverse, as people goes jobless, demands goes down and companies has less business so they have no choice but to reduce prices. So those with a certain level of wealth now will be the kings in future where robots and AI does everything for them cheaply while those without cash, savings or jobs have to wait for government handouts like CDC voucher to live.

Is it scary if that happens? How do you futureproof yourself from that?

Asking as a fellow HDB homeowner.

When we're young and staying in parents' home, we used to just carry down whatever we want to sun to the grass patch in front of our HDB flat to sun / air it out. But now with the new BTO layout, the service yard rarely get any sun and the windows are unsuitable for us as it becomes a falling hazard. I thought of just bringing it to roof top garden to sun in the afternoon but worried kaypoh people will take video and call it unglam/anti-social behaviour. So what is the best way to sun these items?

• Pillows
• Blankets
• Mattress
• School bags, shoes
• Suitcases, especially after travel to kill any potential pests like bedbugs

According to our gov website:

https://www.population.gov.sg/media-centre/articles/how-is-the-tfr-calculated/

The TFR is calculated with the number of women as the denominator. Does this number of women derive from just SCs and PRs or the entire female population of Singapore, including those on various work visas?

Also, the TFR might actually under represent the number of children because we also have migrant families with young children, babies that were born outside of Singapore but migrated here at a young age. If they are not included, then it will show a much lower number although there might actually be more children.

This creates a paradoxical situation where we seem to have low birth rate but the demand for child-related services, e.g. childcare, transportation, schools, playground, etc. is actually much higher. In the end, who suffers? local families with young children who wonder why TFR is so low yet all the child-related services are so in demand and hard to get.

Young time, no money to buy high end pc so every day go lan shop play with friends. Now grow up already finally got money to buy the best specs and original games. Yet no more friends left to play with.

Who still remember the days of Hamachi, Zion, Garena (before it became full of adware) and the games we played; Warcraft 3 TFT, Starcraft 2, C&C Generals, Warhammer 40k, Battlefield, CoD, CS 1.6, AoE, Doom, and all the good classics.

Nowadays gaming online with GenZ players just don't feel the same as with millennial uncles.

If any millennial uncles here still play lan party, do you still create your own VPN? Cisco AnyConnect? Juniper? Fortinet? Or visit each other offices to camp overnight?

https://www.douyin.com/video/7639010266823471546

https://reddit.com/link/1tb9t20/video/041787bdzq0h1/player

• 1999: Born a year after Asian Financial Crisis, when their parents are financially tight
• 2009: 10 years old (Primary 4) kena another Global Financial Crisis, probably kena deduct pocket money
• 2020: Post-NS/ University Year 1, depending on whether they JC or Poly, kena covid period.
• 2025/2026: Now graduate liao but hard to find a job.

Quite sian if you ask me.

The idea is something like this:

1. Suppose you are jobless for various reasons (fresh grad, retrenched, resign, etc.)
2. You sign up for all the government initiatives (e.g. skillsfuture, mycareersfuture, etc.) and actively find a job for 12 months.
3. You still can't find any job after 12 months.
4. Government offer you a base salary of say $2,000/month as Employer of Last Resort. You report to work at an assigned workplace related to your skillset where possible, and work on various roles for more experience.
5. When you get a new job or offering, then you just go for the new job. No contract to hold you back.

Why cannot have such a good thing? Is it because later will have budget deficit or people will complain waste taxpayer monies to feed useless bums?

Update 1: "Reddit Ask" AI Summary
Post comments suggest that the idea of the government as the employer of last resort is complex and faces significant challenges related to efficiency, economic principles, and the distinction between public and private sectors. While some envision potential benefits like universal basic income, others warn of economic stagnation and lack of innovation.

Update 2: Based on the comments, it seems many here agree that some people deserve to be unemployed.

I noticed a trend of more and more younger adults (25-40) eating lunch at the kopitiam in my neighbourhood since 2024 and they wear like home clothes, t-shirt, shorts, slippers, instead of the usual office attire. So are they unemployed or WFH?

From 2014 to 2019, it was mostly seniors, students and nearby industrial estate SME workers eating at the kopitiam.

2020, 2021 - covid

2022-2023 - back to seniors, students, SME workers

2024-now - more and more younger adults (25-40) that look like they should be in CBD than at home.

Our public agencies conduct a lot of balloting, ranging from NDP tickets, P1 school slots to BTO queue number.

These ballots require some form of randomness so how does our public agencies do that? Is it through computerized RNG (Random Number Generator) or someone physically draw a piece of paper for each application?

I came across this Instagram post of a zeh zeh who says that computerized RNG is not true random. So what is the impact of it on balloting systems if we used computerized based RNG? Should we be concerned? Any experts know?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXvFpdNjVnG/