Singapore Budget - What is in store for us

Singapore Budget was announced on the 22nd Jan this year. What are the things the average Singaporean can look forward to?

Firstly, there is the doubling of the GST credits. This means that there will be more money in your pocket this year from the government. If you have debts out there, especially credit card or credit line, it might be wise to use it to pay down the debt. If you do not, congratulations, you might take out a bit to pamper yourself and invest the rest, save it for a rainy day.

Secondly, there is the twenty percent rebates on the tax payable subject to a cap of $2000. This will help to put in more money into the pockets of the middle class which forms the majority of the population. (Ain't it true for most countries? Hmmm....) Again, you might want to invest the extra money to build a bigger nest egg for yourself, using compounding interest to your advantage.

Thirdly, employers will try their best to keep Singaporeans in their jobs because of Job Credits, where the employers will get credits from the government. The size of it will depends on the number of Singaporean, paying CPF, in their payrolls. So it makes it 'harder' for Singaporeans to be out of job. But please do not be complacent, try to get yourselves reskilled if possible.

Fourthly, which is recently announced is that transport fares maybe coming down this year without any prospects of fare increase this year (now this is something NEW!! =) ) because of the many rebates and cut in corporate tax from 18% to 17%. The exact fare decrease will be announced at the end of February.

Given all these goodies from the government, it might be time to think through your personal budget and investment plans as more information and of course money flows in.

For more information on planning your budget and making investments, do check out the two webpages here.

Planning your budget and Investments

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