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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-21...e-low-2015.html http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/ec...s-low-till-2015

ever wonder why interest rate is sibei low .... http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/...E86208S20120703 CHAIRMAN, CEO, COO ... all quits ... all crows are DARK ... i maintain my stand that BANKS are XXXXX

The policy makers are going bananas over the present low birth rate or the total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.2 amongst us which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1. As such, they are advocating bringing in immigrants of 25,000/yr to be on the safe side. Of course this is an emotive issue which does not really go down well with many citizens... Anyway having children to me is mainly a personal choice and I dare say many parents are not thinking of the BIG picture of having kids for the sake of the future of Singapore. I have friends or relatives who are mostly having at least 2 kids so the TFR of 1.2 is not prevalent amongst folks I know. In fact there are 4 young couples I know of having 3 kids each and tellingly they are affluent, with three of them staying in landed properties and with in-laws and maids helping out in the care-giving. There are of course couples I know who are adamant about not having kids and wanting to enjoy living out the DINKs aka 二人世界 lifestyle. To them personal freedom and enjoying their undisturbed lifesyle beats the h*ll outa having to have babies and painstakingly nurturing them to adulthood. Then there are those singles who does not even habour the thought of settling down or whom have not met the right one and like the DINK couples are earning their keeps and enjoy singlehood life as they know how. For us, we have two naughty chewren and is the best thing that has happened to us and though we are not staying in swanky condos or driving big cars, we are happy and contented with the HDB living and having a beat-up B&B car for transport. Life is not luxurious but we get by. Holidays are short family getaways to Malaysia and Thailand. What about you? For those who are married or cohabiting, care to share why you have kids or do not wish to have one? How is it affecting your lifestyle?

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/th...r/2127rank.html Singapore's fertility rate hit an all time low of 0.78. It is now ranked #222 in the world out of 222 nations according to preliminary CIA estimate. Oh no, is this not year of the DRAGON when more births are expected?

anyone can give advise as i am thinking of buying golf GTI thanks

Gng overseas with family for 4 days, deciding to taking Taxi from Woodlands to Budget Terminal or Drive and park there for 4 days. Flight from Singapore @ 7+am (so if Taxi will be mid-night charges @ 5am + call-taxi charges ) Returing Singapore touch down @ 7 to 8pm Pls advise : a) the parking rate(per days) at Budget Terminal (vs Taxi charges 2 ways) b) or otherwise Drive & park at other terminal at cheaper rate & safer c) park at open Air car park at Budget Terminal any concerns ?

hi, just findout if u have a property paid up, but u need $ to finance certain personal project. mortgaging ur property, how much do the banks charge for interest ? i trying to find to fin this info from various banks, but all end up only info for home loan.

I cant imagine what will be the COE like in the coming future.... SINGAPORE: Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew has said that Singapore's annual vehicle growth cap would be cut further from next year. Mr Lui did not say how much lower it will go. The quantum, he said, would be announced in October. Mr Lui said this in an interview with the local media ahead of the opening of the new Parliament sitting next week. The annual allowable vehicle growth rate now stands at 1.5 per cent. One way Singapore manages its vehicle growth population is through the vehicle quota system. Under it, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) determines the number of new vehicles allowed on the roads. It takes into account the prevailing traffic conditions and the number of vehicles taken off the roads permanently. The last time the quota was cut was in 2009, when it was halved from three per cent to 1.5 per cent. Explaining the reason for the upcoming cut, Mr Lui said one consideration is the fact that Singapore's road network will be considerably scaled down in future. "In the recent decade, I think the roads have grown by about one per cent and going forward, we think it probably will grow only about 0.5 per cent per annum, this is the road network," Mr Lui said. "You can't allow it (the vehicle quota) to grow at the rates in past years simply because the road networks are not expanding as what we have done before. "And there is also a limit to what we can do with regard to congestion pricing. So it's really trying to find a balance to these two measures". Mr Lui ruled out the possibility of a zero-per cent population growth for vehicles. "It is a combination of both ownership measures as well as usage measures that is most ideal," he said. "You could theoretically bring it down to zero or even below zero but I think it will bump up against the aspirations of some who want to own a car. "Notwithstanding whatever it is, we try to improve on the public transport system and there are those who feel that they really need a car. "They have elderly, sickly parents around and it is a lot more convenient, so we understand all that." One expert said any drastic cuts would not make sense given that the average speed on expressways last year was about 62 kilometres per hour (km/hr). It was 28 km/hr along arterial roads and within the CBD. In 2002, the average speed on expressways was 64.8 km/hr. It was 63.3 km/hr in 2010. Along arterial roads and within the CBD, the average speed was 24.6 km/hr in 2002. In 2010, the speed improved to 28 km/hr. Associate Professor Anthony Chin, director of the Economic Executive Programme at the Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics, said: "Are we saying that 62.3 km/hr is not acceptable? That we have to cut ownership? "Secondly, do we understand usage behaviour well enough to just go for this blatant cut in the ownership?" "It's not just a question of ownership but it's the usage, because we are now tackling the usage problem -- congestion is a usage problem. "You can own cars but if everybody uses it at the same time, at the same location, well, you don't need a professor to tell you that you will get traffic congestion because you are just loading it into the system." Assoc Prof Chin added: "At this particular moment, the road speeds seem to be acceptable, unless you are saying that in the future, that this road space will not grow by one per cent and you don't do anything, you don't do any traffic management, you don't do any of these policies that would affect the behaviour of the motorist. "Then I would agree that you would have to cut -- that makes sense, does it not? If the space is not going to grow by so much and you want to maintain these speeds, then of course something's got to give." Industry players said the cut in vehicle growth will very likely push up car prices. Tan Chong Motor general manager of sales and marketing Ron Lim said: "Based on vehicle population numbers of 925,772 as at end-August 2011, 1.5 per cent vehicle growth would translate to 13,887 Certificates of Entitlement (COEs). "Thus, every 0.5 per cent cut will translate to 4,629 fewer COEs. "Given the total COE number to be released is dependent on the growth allowed and the replacement of deregistered vehicles, even if we assume de-registration numbers remain constant, as per numbers from January-June 2011, every 0.5 per cent cut in the population growth will translate to a cut in COE numbers by around 10 per cent compared to the current COE quota. "This situation occurs due to the already record low number of COEs released currently. "All these only point to higher COE prices which will further impact purchases, causing further delay in people replacing their vehicles, thus, not addressing the whole purpose of curbing vehicle population growth. "As the reduction of COEs will be across the board, businesses will also be impacted due to higher operating costs from commercial vehicles. "Thus, overall, this will mean an even tougher time for the auto retail industry and eventually higher ownership cost to car buyers and business." But there is some good news for motorists -- evening Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) surcharge at some gantries such as along the CTE, Chinatown and Boat Quay areas may be tweaked. Mr Lui said the tweak will involve the timing of evening ERP, not doing away with the surcharge. He said: "This is something I have asked LTA to study -- whether it's possible to tweak the timings a little bit during the evening period. "Frankly, I think there are some drivers who are prepared to pay a certain amount for ERP in order to have a smoother drive home, particularly in the evenings. "There are some who would say, 'why should I pay?' I think there is room for some re-look into the evening peak ERP, not to do away with it, but to tweak the timings." Details will be announced in October. -CNA/wk

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/-stop-at-two-poli...fertility-.html The policy to encourage families to stop at two children in the late 60s "had nothing to do" with Singapore's current ageing population and low fertility rate, said former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on Wednesday. He noted that low fertility is a problem most developed countries face, partly because more women, educated and facing equal job opportunities, do not view their role solely as a mother. The "Stop at two" policy was introduced in 1969 to control the nation's rapid population growth. Lee was responding to a question by a Singaporean student from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at a dialogue held by the school, in conjunction with its 7th anniversary celebrations. The graduate student asked how the country could better manage its population policy, adding that Singapore which used to have the "Stop at two" initiative now faces an ageing population.

So where do we stand? How many more immigrants are we taking in from now till then? This is a hard question our top dogs have to answer and will no longer be based on cold hard "end-justify-means" old way of doing things purely from economic sense of achieving an attractive GDP. From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1151560/1/.html Low fertility rate, no immigration will lead to S'pore's population decline By Tan Qiuyi | Posted: 07 September 2011 1105 hrs SINGAPORE: Singapore's resident population will decline and become extremely aged if the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is extremely low and if there is no immigration. This is according to a landmark study on future population growth and change for Singapore published on Wednesday by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). The study produced four population scenarios based on varying TFR and immigration levels. The study said with TFR at 1.24 births per woman and zero net migration, Singapore's population will decline to 3.03 million in 2050. With 30,000 migrants added annually, the population projection is 4.89 million in 2050. And with 60,000 migrants added annually, the population projection is 6.76 million in 2050. The study also looked at a situation where TFR can be raised to 1.85 births per woman by 2025 with no new immigration. With such a scenario, the study said population size can still only hit 3.37 million in 2050. The ratio of working people (between the ages of 15-64) to the elderly will also decrease. For instance, with low fertility and 30,000 new residents a year, the ratio drops from 8.6 in 2005, to 2.7 in 2050. A key conclusion obtained from the study is that without immigration, the total population will decline, even if Singapore's total fertility rate rises from the current 1.15 to 1.85. The number of working people available to support each elderly person is also set to drop in all the scenarios. However, Dr Yap Mui Teng, who is a senior research fellow at Institute of Policy Studies, said immigration can reduce the dependency burden. Dr Yap said: "Under the scenario with higher net migration, there will be more people of working ages to support each elderly, compared to the scenario with low migration or scenarios with zero net migration." Amid growing concerns from the ground about overcrowding and stiffer competition from foreign labour, some asked if population growth is absolutely necessary and how much is enough. Associate Professor Paulin-Tay Straughan from the National University of Singapore said it is important for the government to determine how much population growth is needed to ensure a balance between a vibrant economy and the social health of society. She said: "That's why these projections are so important. For us to understand how the projections are made, so that as a community together, we agree that these are the opportunity costs we're willing to accept because we all want to strive for this quality of life." The government had earlier said it does not target a specific population size. The study also projected that there will be fewer young people in Singapore if fertility rate remains low. The number of young people under 14 years of age will go down by more than half from 699,000 in 2005 to 274,400 by 2050. - CNA/fa/ac

These b------ds say want opinion but disable comment in their original youtube video. Above is from the web a rendition of the same video with comment turned on, OMG look at the number of unhappiness on the ground. They must be daft not to do something about it. And after you see this remember below: VOTE CAREFULLY!!!

Probably by 0.5% or 0.75%. If you are thinking of buying big ticket items, factor this into your calculation. It is going to happen................... Cheers.

Noticed that pumping petrol in SG station like taking forever but it's very fast in MY station this is because the flow rate at MY pump is much faster if u notice the number on the display jump faster too But y the pumo here in SG so slow??

A lot of people has been complaining about CPF and also we pay so much tax but standard of living is 3rd world as compared to other 1st world countries. I have did up a poll with a few 1st world countries tax structure and the personal income tax we be paying based on our current annual income. I chose the 4 most popular countries and nearest to us as comparison. Those with high tax rate has great welfare but are you willing to pay for those that do not work and laze around the whole day? Also, knowing MCFers, they will say the govt median salary is bluff one and only MCFers won't lie, won't speed, will give way, won;t take unecessary loan etc... in short SAINTS... RICH SAINTS in fact (judging by the median i got) so i use a MCF poll instead as comparsion to get the median salary. Attached are the links below MCF income poll Income Pax Total 2500 73 182,500 3500 46 161,000 4500 42 189,000 5500 41 225,500 6500 36 234,000 7500 26 195,000 8500 11 93,500 10000 86 860,000 Total 2,140,500 Median: 2,140,500 / 361 = 5,929 Annual Income SGD 71,152 Currency Convertor Japan Japan Income Tax Structure Annual Income: YEN 4,506,750 tax 473,850 national level 180,270 prefectural level 270,405 municipal level total tax YEN 924,525 or 20.51% or SGD 14,596 Australia Australia Income Tax Structure Annual Income: AUD 54,287 total tax 2010-11: AUD 9,836 or 18.11% or SGD 12,891 New Zealand New Zealand Income Tax Structure Annual Income: NZD 71,331 tax 14,000 1755.6 34,000 6643.6 22,000 7048.8 1,331 466.3824 15914.3824 total tax NZD 15,914 or 22.31% or SGD 15,874 Hong Kong Hong Kong Income Tax Structure HKD 430,320 tax 120,000 8,400 310,320 52,754 61,154 -6,000 total tax HKD 55,154 or 12.80% or SGD 9,119 Singapore S'pore Income Tax Structure Annual Income - cpf = 65,752 tax 40,000 3,400 25,752 3,605 SGD 7,005 or 10.65% (based on 65,752) + CPF 5,400 SGD 12,405 or 17.43% (based on 71,152) I choose SG............ i am not paying for any Lazy Farkers welfare thats for sure... at least 50% of my tax allows me to buy a house.... and i have not included the additional 13% or 14% employers contribution and the interest rate we getting on our CPF

How much do you give your kids per day?

Can any bro explain why the exchange rate for RM$ here is better than in JB? I saw the exchange rate for RM$ at Eastpoint money changer this morn at $231.50 but when I went to JB City Square this afternn, it was $230. Strange rite, all along I thought the rate in Msia is higher. Is it due to the fact that there are too much RM$ in sg becos many Msian gambler brought them over to sg casino.

For weekend (saturday) is $3/entry?

As per topic

may i know what's the market rate for towing 2-wheel-drive cars (locally)? thanks in advance.

Heard from some SE car loan interest rate up on 1 March 2010. (2.68%)

As above, any recommendations as to who can do deed poll at the best rate (so far google returned one at $70)?

Dear all, What is the lowest interest rate you know of now for a)new car b)used car ?? Say for a typical 7 year loan, with no cash rebates whatsoever.

Hi all, Need to check with financial gurus, if I want to quote the Inflation rate for the past 5 yrs, it is just by adding up the yearly Inflation rate ? here are the official figures http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/ec...y/hist/cpi.html

Not talking about BIG scale forex but just normal exchange rates for travel purpose or pasar talk only. Looking at it, the USD has been going up & down against SGD over the month or so from 1.5+ to ~ 1.46 recently. I wonder how will it go this month? Down somemore or up again? Thinking of when to change money for the June holiday travels ...