{"id":1466,"date":"2026-07-21T01:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2026-07-21T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:00:00","slug":"living-in-singapore-when-your-currency-suddenly-flips-on-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/living-in-singapore-when-your-currency-suddenly-flips-on-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Living in Singapore When Your Currency Suddenly Flips on You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here’s something wild that’s been on my mind lately: the exchange rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I first moved to Singapore about 20 years ago, 1 SGD was sitting around 680\u2013750 KRW. Back then, everyone back home in Korea probably thought I was doing fine but nothing crazy. Fast forward to now, and the whole thing has flipped on its head \u2014 the Singapore dollar is pushing close to 1,200 KRW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I actually remember this happening once before, briefly, back around 2012, when it touched 1,200 for a bit. I remember it clearly because that’s when I wired $20,000 back to Korea. Funny how a number like that sticks in your memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, a strong SGD sounds like great news, right? More buying power back home, bigger numbers when you convert. But here’s the catch nobody talks about \u2014 living here has gotten brutally expensive too. It’s not like my paycheck magically feels bigger. If anything, it feels like I’m running just to stay in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices everywhere have gone up, obviously. Even the hawker centres \u2014 the food courts that used to be the one reliable “cheap and cheerful” option \u2014 have quietly bumped everything up by 50 or 60 cents across the board. Doesn’t sound like much until you’re paying it three meals a day, every day. Honestly, I’ve started opening my wallet with a bit of dread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s the whole visa situation. If you’re a foreigner living here solo, sure, $5,000\u20136,000 a month might get you by. But even that’s not an easy salary to land \u2014 Singapore ties your visa eligibility directly to your income now. The EP salary threshold has climbed a lot. These days you basically want to be in the $6,200\u2013$10,700 range to feel safe, and if you’re over 45, they expect $11,800+ before your application is even in “comfortable” territory. And even then \u2014 who knows if MOM approves it or not. Nobody really knows the actual internal logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m here with a family of four, and honestly, some days it just feels a little insane. The one saving grace is that as a PR, about $2,800 a month goes into my CPF \u2014 except, well, that’s money I can’t actually touch or use day to day. It just sits there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re not a citizen, raising a family here is genuinely tough. You basically need to be pulling in $15,000 a month just to live an average<\/em> life, not even a fancy one. That’s just… where the bar is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know what some of you are thinking \u2014 “well if you’re earning that kind of money, why not just go back to Korea and live comfortably there instead?” Fair point, except finding a job in Korea that pays anywhere near that is its own nightmare. The competition is fierce, and unless you’ve got something genuinely unique going for you \u2014 a rare skill, a standout niche \u2014 it’s really hard to make that kind of money there either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curious how much CPF I’ve actually racked up after 20 years here? Yeah, me too, in a weird way. I think I’ll do a full breakdown in the next post and just lay it all out \u2014 the good, the bad, and the “wait, that’s it?” moments haha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on the bigger question of what to actually do<\/em> about all this \u2014 whether to keep grinding here, or eventually move on to Korea or somewhere else entirely \u2014 that’s still very much on the table. Nothing wrong with working here for a while and then moving when the time’s right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on that soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6200\uc5d0\uc11c 10700 \uc0ac\uc774\uac00 \uc548\uc815\uad8c\uc774\uace0, \ub098\uc774\uac00 45\uc138 \ub118\uc73c\uba74 11800\uc774\uc0c1\uc774 \ub418\uc57c\uc9c0 EP \uc2e0\uccad \uc548\uc815\uad8c\uc778\ub370, \uadf8\uac83\ub3c4 \uc815\ubd80\uac00 \uc8fc\ub0d0 \uc548\uc8fc\ub0d0 \uc544\ubb34\ub3c4 \ubaa8\ub974\ub294\uac70\uc9c0. \ub09c 4\uc778\uac00\uc871\uc73c\ub85c \uc5ec\uae30\uc11c \uc0b4\uace0 \uc788\ub294\ub370, \uc880 \ubbf8\uce5c\uac83\uac19\ub2e4\ub294 \uc0dd\uac01\uc744 \ub9e4\uc77c\ud574, \uadf8\ub098\ub9c8 PR \uc774\ub77c \ub9e4\ub2ec 2800\ubd88 \uc815\ub3c4\uac00 CPF\ub85c \ub4e4\uc5b4\uac00 \uadfc\ub370 \uc774\uac74 \ub0b4\uac00 \uc4f8\uc218 \uc5c6\ub294\ub3c8\uc774\ub2c8 \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\uc790\uad6d\ubbfc-\uc2dc\ud2f0\uc98c\uc774 \uc544\ub2c8\uba74 \uc5ec\uae30\uc5d0\uc11c \uac00\uc871\uc774 \uc0b4\uae30\ub294 \ub108\ubb34 \ub108\ubb34 \ud798\ub4e4\uc9c0. \ud55c\ub2ec\uc5d0 15000\ubd88\uc740 \ubc8c\uc5b4\uc57c \uc798\uc0ac\ub294\uac83\ub3c4 \uc544\ub2c8\uace0 \uadf8\ub0e5 \ud3c9\uc218\uc900\uc73c\ub85c \uc0b4\uc544\uac00\ub294\uacf3\uc774 \uc2f1\uac00\ud3f4\uc774\uc57c! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\uc774\uc815\ub3c4 \ubc1b\uc73c\uba74\uc11c \ud55c\uad6d\uc5d0\uc11c \uc0ac\ub294\uac8c \uc5b4\ub5bb\ub0d0\uace0? \uadfc\ub370 \ud55c\uad6d\uc5d0\uc11c \uc774\uc815\ub3c4\ub85c \ubc8c \uc77c\uc744 \ucc3f\ub294\uac8c \ub354 \ud798\ub4e4\uc9c0 \uacbd\uc7c1\ub3c4 \ub354 \uc2ec\ud558\uace0~ \ud2b9\ucd9c\ud55c \uc544\uc774\ud15c\uc774 \uc544\ub2c8\uba74 \uc0b4\uae30 \ud798\ub4e4\uc9c0. \ud604\uc7ac\uae4c\uc9c0 \ubaa8\uc740 CPF \uad81\uae08\ud558\uc9c0? 20\ub144\uac04 \ubaa8\uc740 ? \ub2e4\uc74c\ud3b8\uc5d0 CPF \uc124\uba85\ud558\uba74\uc11c \ub2e4 \uae4c\uc57c\uaca0\ub2e4 \u314e\u314e \uadf8\ub9ac\uace0 \uc815\ub9d0 \ubb34\uc5c7\uc744 \ud574\uc57c \ud558\ub294\uc9c0 \uc2f1\uac00\ud3f4\uc5d0\uc11c, \uc9c1\uc7a5\ub2e4\ub2c8\ub2e4\uac00 \ud55c\uad6d\uc774\ub4e0 \ub2e4\ub978\ub098\ub77c\ub4e0 \uac00\ub294\uac74 \uc624\ucf00\uc774~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here’s something wild that’s been on my mind lately: the exchange rate. When I first moved to Singapore about 20 years ago, 1 SGD was sitting around 680\u2013750 KRW. Back then, everyone back home in Korea probably thought I was doing fine but nothing crazy. Fast forward to now, and the whole thing has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freelance","category-lifetip","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorekit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}