$5 doesn’t take you very far in Singapore. It’s a sum of money you can spend without even realising it—on a tasteless meal at some cookie cutter food court that...

The Christmas season brings to mind wintry scenes and happy families, chestnuts roasting on an open fire and presents under the tree.

Most Singaporeans have some awareness of how expensive falling sick can get here. But guess what—it seems like, for all our complaining, we’re still not fully aware of the financial...

Considering the amount of time Singaporeans spend buying and then renovating their homes, they don’t get to spend as much time in them as they might like.

Singaporeans are very proud of the fact that theirs is one of the safest cities in the world, often citing as proof their ability to walk around at 3 in...

In Singapore, you might not find scammers at street markets who’ll try to charge you five times the actual price of an item, or street hawkers who harass you to...

As much as Singaporean parents are (I hope) happy to let their kids de-stress a little during the school holidays, if both are juggling full-time jobs, having the kids at...

When I was at school, local JCs and secondary schools were notoriously bad at providing career guidance. Poly and university courses were pretty much chosen by default, meaning everyone just...

Retail businesses have had it bad in Singapore. Once-bustling malls now look like Lim Chu Kang on a Saturday night, and many once-ubiquitous retailers like John Little have left or...

When you have a friend who doesn’t know the difference between company stock and chicken stock, beware when he proudly announces he’s just bought something as an investment. Chances are,...

One of Singapore’s biggest claims to fame has been the fact that, well, the country’s pretty wealthy. On the surface, it looks like everyone’s either comfortably middle class or rolling...

There are many Singaporeans who rarely see the sun. No, they’re not all vampires or working the graveyard shift. These are many people who start work at 9am, but only...

Job interviews are pretty awkward. You show up all dressed up in that suit you only wear to wedding dinners, ready to impress, and your potential employer knows that if...

Ask anyone from Hong Kong, Mainland China or India what they think of Singaporeans, and you’ll often hear the words “gullible” or “naive”.

Tell a Singaporean to DIY something—cook his own meals, change his car’s engine oil, or even walk down to the McDonald’s outlet and buy his own meal, and he’ll tell...

When you’re a rookie just starting out on the corporate ladder, you’re hungry for experience—any kind of experience that will pull you up a rung or two. But there comes...

When you got your first “grown-up” job, the way to career success seemed like a straight, uncomplicated path, just like a bowling lane. So long as you kept moving forward...

Your parents put you through years of piano, violin or flute lessons, and now the only thing you can play is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If that’s the case, then...

Remember the old days when Singaporeans used to head to Orchard Road in order to shop till they dropped? Well, all that’s changed now. Judging by the number of vacant...

A trip to Europe usually ends in maxed out credit cards and a pile of shopping bags from Chanel and Prada, at least when Singaporeans are involved.

The school holidays have come and gone, and how did you spend yours? No, you didn’t take off on a backpacking trip across Europe, nor did you volunteer to teach...

Walking around shopping malls is a classic Singaporean past-time that’s not changing any time soon. Shopping malls provide free air conditioning, lots of food options and a myriad ways to...

So you’ve dutifully spent your $500 SkillsFuture credit on courses that claimed they’d help you upgrade your skills and get ahead at work. You take care never to be spotted...

Recently, I came across this interesting little tidbit on the internet. The Business Times conducted an experiment by asking their interns to track their spending for a month. And while...

When Singaporeans go to Beijing for the first time, they spend their days visiting megamonuments like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. But when they go to Shanghai, they...