About Jeremiah Say

Numbers.sg is written by Jeremiah Say, a Singapore-based founder and researcher who breaks down local salary, CPF, housing, car, childcare, and cost-of-living decisions using public data, stated assumptions, and realistic household scenarios.

What Numbers.sg Does

Numbers.sg breaks down the real cost of living, working, and building a life in Singapore. Salary after CPF. What housing actually costs month to month. How much a car, a child, or a condo changes your budget.

Everything uses specific numbers — not vague advice like “save more and spend less.” The goal is simple: you read the breakdown and say, okay, now I know where I stand.

Every article uses specific Singapore figures — CPF rates, HDB prices, COE premiums, childcare subsidies, hawker food costs. Not global averages. Not US-centric advice repackaged for a local audience.

Who I Am

I’m Jeremiah, the founder of Numbers.sg. I’m based in Singapore and I write practical breakdowns of how money actually works here — salary, CPF, housing, car costs, childcare, and the bigger picture of what things cost before you commit to a major decision.

I started this because I kept having the same conversation with friends, colleagues, and people planning their next big move — and it always came back to the same problem. They didn’t know their real numbers.

Someone earning $7,000 felt broke and didn’t understand why. A couple planning to buy a resale flat had no idea what their monthly cashflow would actually look like. A family considering a second child hadn’t added up the full cost beyond just “childcare fees.”

These are not careless people. They just never had the numbers laid out in a way that made sense for their actual life in Singapore.

I am not a licensed financial adviser and I do not claim to be one. My focus is on helping readers understand real cashflow before big life decisions — so the numbers are clear before you sign anything.

Why This Exists

There is a lot of financial content out there. Most of it falls into one of two problems.

The first is overly optimistic. “Invest early and you’ll be fine.” “Just follow the 50/30/20 rule.” That sounds clean, but it ignores the reality that CPF already takes 20% before you start budgeting — and a 4-room resale in Queenstown costs twice what it did a decade ago.

The second is too complicated. Long pieces about asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing that assume you already have surplus cash to invest. Most working Singaporeans are still figuring out whether they can afford their current life.

Numbers.sg sits in the gap between those two. Practical. Specific. Grounded in what things actually cost here.

How Numbers.sg Uses Data

Every breakdown on this site is built from specific sources and clearly stated assumptions. Here is how each major topic is handled:

• CPF figures are checked against CPF Board published contribution rates and the Ordinary Wage ceiling. Rates are updated when CPF Board announces changes.
• Housing examples use HDB flat prices, HDB loan rates, URA transaction data, or clearly labelled market range estimates for resale and private property.
• Car costs include COE premiums (from LTA bidding results), loan repayments, insurance, road tax, petrol, parking, ERP, and maintenance. The full monthly figure is shown, not just the sticker price.
• Childcare costs separate Anchor Operator fee caps, government subsidies from ECDA, and private centre estimates — clearly labelled for each tier.
• Household income figures reference SingStat’s annual household income reports, including the median and percentile breakdowns.
• Estimates are always labelled as estimates, with the assumptions explained. If a number is derived from a range rather than a single source, that is stated.

Source links are included inside individual articles so you can verify the figures directly.

Editorial Principles

Numbers.sg follows a consistent set of principles across every article and breakdown.

What Makes This Different

I do not tell people what they should do with their money. I show them what their money is already doing.

When I write a breakdown of a $5,000 salary, I include the CPF deduction, the parents’ allowance, the insurance, the food, the transport — and I show what is left. When I compare BTO versus resale versus condo, I use actual price ranges and realistic mortgage assumptions, not best-case scenarios.

The goal is clarity. If you can see the real numbers, you can make better decisions. You might still choose the car, the condo, or the second child. But at least you know what it costs before you commit.

Where This Comes From

The breakdowns on this site use public data from Singapore government and official sources, including:

• CPF Board — contribution rates, OW ceiling, CPF allocation by account
• HDB — resale transactions, loan eligibility, mortgage assumptions
• URA — private property transaction data and rental data
• LTA / OneMotoring — COE bidding results, vehicle registration figures
• ECDA — childcare fee caps, Basic Subsidy, Additional Subsidy tables
• SingStat — household income surveys and cost of living reference data

Where I use estimates — because a cost varies by location, provider, or individual circumstance — I say so and explain the assumptions behind the range. Source links are included in individual articles so you can verify the numbers directly.

I am not a licensed financial adviser. Nothing on Numbers.sg is personalised financial advice. What it is: a clear, grounded picture of what things cost in Singapore, so you have a better starting point for your own decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions