8 pragmatic reasons to be Singaporeans.

A reader, JK, shared his perspective and he has graciously allowed me to publish it here after some editing.

Why a Singapore citizenship?

1. Pay less in HDB Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC)
 Most of the town councils have increased the rates for S&CC. Singaporeans don't have to pay the higher rates. Our 4-room HDB flat pays a monthly rate of S$51.60 instead of S$61.50 which means an annual savings of S$118.80.

2. Plan to have children? You will get a cash gift called Baby Bonus from the Singapore government. You get S$4,000 for your 1st child. It is free money for you to use as you like. It was raised to S$6,000 for the 1st child starting from end of August 2012.

3. More money for your child? Sure, you could get an additional $6,000 from the Singapore government if you save $6,000 in a Child Development Account (CDA). It is a dollar for dollar matching program by the government.  There are only two banks offering the CDA, Standard Chartered Bank and OCBC Bank.

OCBC CDA gives 0.5% interest, if you keep a $20,000 balance in the CDA account, the interest rate is 0.8%. I upgraded my OCBC CDA to OCBC CDA Extra, agreeing to a contribution by GIRO of S$50 per month. This option will pay an interest rate of 0.8% per annum too. 

Money in the CDA may be used by all your children for fees at Approved Institutions (AIs) which have registered with MCYS under the Baby Bonus Scheme. These include child care centres, kindergartens, medical clinics, licensed pharmacies and optical shops.

4.  Parenthood Tax Rebate. Get a one time tax rebate of S$5,000 for your first child. Second child?  S$10,000. 3rd child? S$20,000. For some, it is like not having to pay any income tax for the next 20 years. Why don't Singaporeans want to have more kids ?

5.  Working Mother's Child Relief (WMCR). For the first child, a mother can claim 15% of her earned income. There is a lot of savings come from here. Do the maths and you would be shocked too. For those who have 3 children or more, they could claim up to 25% of the mother's earned income which translates to huge savings!

6. Qualifying Child Relief (QCR). Either the father or mother of a child can claim QCR which is S$4,000 per child. With WMCR and QCR, there will be huge savings in taxes paid per year. 

7. Only Singaporean households can keep their HDB flats if they should purchase private residential properties. Singapore PR households MUST sell their HDB flats 6 months after the purchase of private residential properties or 6 months after the T.O.P. date of the private residential properties.

8. Singaporean households are also allowed to rent out their entire HDB flats after obtaining the relevant approvals. Singapore PR households are NOT allowed to rent out their HDB flats.

For the pre-edited articles, follow the links below:
"Singaporean Benefits (Part 1) and (Part 2)."

In the past, I would wonder why some people want to be Singaporeans. After all, our homes and cars are notoriously expensive. However, I do know that the Singapore passport is well respected and that we have a good and safe environment to bring up children.

Now, after this blog post, I have a better appreciation of why some PRs would like to become Singaporeans. For sure, there are many benefits which are for Singaporeans and Singaporeans only which I did not appreciate before.

Related posts:
1. Why I don't feel proud to be Singaporean?
2. CPF-HDB scheme to trick Singaporeans!
3. Take the good with the bad retiring to Malaysia.
4. Something only Singaporean males know.