Even small town America has good places to eat. And how much dining out can you do?
And I’ve never known anyone to travel to SF for the opera or symphony unless it’s travel from other parts of the Bay Area. People come from all over the world to catch really good performances in New York, Boston and many European cities.
Here are America’s “Big 5” orchestras.
OMG, reaching for the “orchestra” card??? Lame…
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If you just want mediocre culture why not pick some place where you don’t come back to your car to find it broken into?
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I have been to quite a few small towns and no, they don’t have the food I like the most. And I dine out much more often than I ever go to orchestra. Frankly I couldn’t care less about dead white men music.
But if you are really into that stuff, SF isn’t bad.
From that Big 5 article you cited:
People still refer to the “Big Five”, but many deem the classification outdated.[10] Several critics have suggested that the top echelon be expanded, including Michael Walsh in Time magazine in 1983;[3][11] and Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times , 2005.[12] Among the orchestras proposed for inclusion are the Los Angeles Philharmonic,[12] the San Francisco Symphony,[12] the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,[13] the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,[14] the Houston Symphony,[14] the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,[15] the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.),[15] the Minnesota Orchestra (Minneapolis),[16] and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.[17]
I never said SF has the best dead white men bands. It has one of the best ones.
Instead of dead white men music, kids are more into kpop nowadays. And look at where Blackpink tours. Pretty sure there are kids flying in just for the concert.
I like the classic rock I grew up with. I don’t like paying a Sirius subscription to listen to it. Here there are lots of good classic rock stations. The Bay Area, at least when I left, had very few I could receive clearly.
I should add that Tucson had a couple good contemporary bands last year like The Hu (Mongolian folk metal) but crazy masking and vax requirements being a Democrat stronghold so I never went to see any.
OT Arizona lost a giant in February of this year. Justin Schmidt of Tucson, creator of the Schmidt Pain Index. Check out his descriptions and verses.
Good to know some people are still really into dead white men music.
Some people said NYC and London have more culture, but do their orchestras give you full body orgasm?
No idea how he computes those net average salary per month.
Two expensive items in Singapore: Landed property and cars. Other than that, pretty reasonable. From another perspective, stay in HDB flats (bought directly from HDB) and use public transport, pretty good life.
Saw somewhere SG people are forced to save almost 40% of their salary to retirement account. Something like 20% of their pay check and then their employers have to pitch in 20%? Is that true?
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Number keeps changing. Need to check CPF website for the latest.
CPF Contribution Rate: All You Need to Know About the Latest CPF Contributions Rates For 2023 & CPF Contribution Cap
Singaporeans use CPF (for downpayment and monthly contributions) to buy houses. For resale HDB which sellers demand COV (cash over valuation i.e. asking price is more than assessed price by banks), need to pay cash for the COV… usually pay by parents except for well heeled professionals who can afford to pay themselves. Wealthy kids and well established professionals don’t buy HDBs.
So the number I saw was correct: 37%.
That’s comparable to taxes in the US, even though it’s not classified as a tax in SG. Even though SG people can use their retirement fund to buy houses, but the flip side is that they have nothing to retire on, ie pay their living expenses after retirement, if they stay in that same house they bought with retirement fund. That may explain why so many SG people are eager to retire in Malaysia. Sell their SG house for living expenses in Malaysia.
That’s what I read from some articles but they are incorrect. Tax is money taken away from you. CPF is your money… before retirement, can use for buying houses and investment… get interest paid on your CPF… after retirement, can buy annuity, draw out all, …
Not entirely the same. But similar in spirits to social security here. Not exactly the same as SS only somehow relates to income but not exact. So a poor person don’t get zero and high income people don’t get millions. But in spirit it’s also a retirement account funded by a portion of a person’s paycheck.
How many SG people end up house rich and cash poor when they retire?
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Many possibilities. Obviously, I am not the majority so can exclude my way.
After retirement.
… got children, children usually give month allowance to their parent.
… no children or children don’t give monthly allowance, can rent out 1-2 rooms.
… got savings, usually enough.
No idea. Can easily sell and rent 
or stay with children or rent out 1-2 rooms. Btw, HDB has plenty of 1-2 bedroom HDB units for rent to elderly for dirt-cheap price.
For those who own Condo, just sell the condo and buy resale HDB (yes, jack up HDB prices 
)
What? Want to go to Malaysia to buy bungalows… single family homes with a yard! Want to live luxuriously!
CPF is your money. You choose what to do with the CPF money.
Follow Mr. Loo from Singapore as he buys in Austin Heights (rich area in JB, Malaysia) a semi-D home for vacation/weekend use!!!
I follow some of his videos to track what are happening/ hot issues in Singapore.
Mr Loo He can’t afford to buy SFHs/ Landed property in Singapore, best alternative is to get one in Malaysia. My statement is vaguely referring to people like the Loo family.
I don’t have to follow Mr Loo because I have a private condo in Singapore and live in a SFH in USA. He stays in a HDB.
Right, and he readily admits it that if someone tried to rob his Austin Heights place he is the poorest guy in the development with his Honda. Apparently some of his neighbors drive Benzs and Lambos.
Cooking in Singapore and SE Asia in general. Why leave the bay for a hellhole like that?
