The International Schools Review Forum

Would love to hear from someone who currently works at CIS, or worked there in past. A couple of questions: SEARCH website indicates a 70,000+ salary and then indicates a potential savings of only 5,000 a year. This makes me wonder if housing allowance only partially covers rent? even with taxes....why only 5,000 ?

Some friends who teach in Singapore indicated that to have a decent lifestyle, apartment and savings similar to what you would have at a good school in the Middle East, you would need to make 250,000 singapore dollars before tax...that was for a teaching couple. Less, means you compromise on housing (biggest expense in Singapore) by either living far away from your school, but paying in either more time or more money to get to school, or by living in a smaller, less suitable place. It might mean you don't travel. It might mean you don't buy lots and eat very frugally. There are ways to save money in Singapore but there are also lots of ways to spend spend spend!

The housing allowance wont cover all your housing and utility costs. To get close to what they give you'd have a very long commute. Its possible to get a small HDB apartment on their allowance.

They quoted more near the top of their salary scale, closer to admin salary. You could save more then 5000 on a 70k salary even with making up some of the housing expenses. When filling out the form, they quoted high on the salary (top of their scale) and were more realistic about the likely saving potential.

It is very easy to spend money in Singapore, and most teachers dont save very much. You have to make the choice between living very frugally, to save or living a comfortable (though far from extravagant) quality of life.

The salary quoted is in Singapore dollars, I found out. I knew that teachers get paid in Singapore dollars, but it seems like Search wants the salary to be listed in US dollars on the form. Bit of a difference (25%) between US and Sg dollars.

Have to wonder about a school that cant follow directions, of course CISS could have just converted SGD into USD, but they didnt because then it wouldnt look as impressive. SGD has been a pretty stable currency, so they cant claim currency fluctuations would make it inaccurate.

I have worked in Tokyo ( hailed as the most expensive city in the world ) and to be quite honest, I saved a great deal of money on a 4.6 million yen salary ( $ 48, 000 USD ) per year. Every month, I was able to save $ 2000 USD. So, I recently got offered a position at CIS and the salary they gave me exceeded the 4.6 million yen ( $ 48, 000 USD ) by far. I will be making around $ 79, 000. Singapore is significantly cheaper than Tokyo in everything but rent. However, the $ 2200 housing allowance covers a very nice apartment indeed, very close to the school. I am not sure what they mean by " small " but I have an apartment that is 2 bedrooms, large livingroom, balcony and central location.

I don't live frugally at all. I didn't live frugally in Japan either ( think $ 300 USD / weekend shopping trips or a $ 400 night out in the city ) and still managed to save approx. $ 12 k - $ 14 k a year.

The point : You will save money in Singapore. If it was done in Tokyo, it can be done in Singapore.

Thanks for that info. Just to clarify: you mean you are making 79,000 sg dollars, right?

$ 79, 000 USD? Altogether, with the housing allowance, I will be making a bit past $ 100, 000.

I disagree on the saving potential of Singapore vs. Tokyo. There are more inexpensive and "free" things to do in Japan (outside of simply staying home). Everything has a cost in Singapore. The only way to really save money in Singapore is to not do anything.

@SighGuy

Explain how you can disagree with mbovi? He is not offering an opinion...but he is telling you how much money he saved in Tokyo and how much money he is saving in Singapore.

Thank you, lifeisnotsobad.

I just ignore Psyguy actually. It's quite funny how artful he is at concocting stories or egging people on with disagreements. It doesn't take much to figure out that he's probably an unemployed educator who sits at home all day, reads the forums, reviews, internet material and artfully constructs it together to put it on here as " fact ", thus, providing self-affirmation that he still matters in the profession....because there's a mental disorder that lies behind the obssessive compulsive need to comment fanatically at EVERYTHING.

It's sad really. One has to wonder what type of mental disorder he might actually have. It's actually fascinating. I mean, after all, the moderators have kept him on here for so long. He must be a cause of entertainment. It's like, " Hey, look what kind of fantastical crap Psyguy has come up again ( guffawing ) ".

What's seriously troubling is this though : There are many newbies who go on here who would take his advice or " knowledge ". For us "old" international educators bounding around the world, we laugh at him. But for the bright-eyed newbies...I fear the worst.

@lifeisnotsobad

His/Her experiences arent typical, and i disagree with the implication that because he/she is saving, that approach and outcome are neither typical or a reasonable expectation.

@ LIEGUY : What if it's simply bc I only care to share my experiences and not the experiences of all the other staff members at my school or the many other foreign educators who actually get paid better than the staff at my school?

If I must, then here goes : Yes, 80 % of the staff at my school save an exorbitant amount of money in Japan that a few of them actually have purchased homes as they are married to Japanese people.