Money Talks: I work two jobs just so that I can sustain a living as a creative in Singapore

Ever wondered what your salary and spending habits are like in comparison to your peers? Money Talks is a column by Her World that takes an honest look at how women spend their money. If you would like to submit a money diary anonymously, please email us at magherworld@sph.com.sg with the subject “Money Talks” in your email header, and one of our editors will get back to you.

In today’s column, we speak to a 34-year-old woman who works two jobs. One as the founder of her own multi-disciplinary creative studio in Singapore, and another as an adjunct lecturer at a local design school.

About The Diarist

Occupation: Creative/Adjunct Lecturer
Industry: Design/Art/Education
Age: 34
Education level: Bachelor’s Degree
Salary: $4,000 - $5,000

Average Monthly Expenses

Rent/Mortgage: N.A as I am still living at home
Utilities and Internet: N.A
Insurance: $1,000 (A one-time yearly payment as part of a family plan that covers hospitalisation and life insurance)
Investments: $399 (Can’t remember the exact plan, but it’s a 20 year-plan with DBS that I signed up for in my early 20s)
Phone Bill: $100
Subscriptions: $50
Transport: $150
Food: $300
Groceries: N.A
Entertainment: $200
Anything Else: $700 allowance for my parents
Savings: $500 - $1,000

On how she can’t sustain a living being a full-time creative in Singapore:

Singapore is already very small, so the amount of work to go around for creatives is not a lot, and my studio falls in a very niche category where we specialise in projects that intersect between design and culture. And if there are projects, they end up going to the bigger guys. It’s why I view my two jobs as a co-dependent ecosystem. I wouldn’t be a full-time lecturer, nor would I run my studio full-time. I feel they both help me develop different parts of my brain and how I process information. Whatever I do outside of school, I bring into the classroom and vice versa. But fundamentally on paper, the lecturing is what produces most of my income. If I didn’t have that job, I would have to work five times harder to get the creative gigs.

It’s very hard to save monthly because the amount I make per month is very erratic. It's dependent on the gigs the studio gets and my teaching schedule. So I usually look at my account at the end of the year, and if I have $10,000 or more, I just transfer that out to a savings account that I don’t touch.

Thankfully I still live at home so the bulk of my expenses are very low. I’m currently single and have no reason to move out yet. I’m also very aware that I’m not earning enough to allocate amounts to rent because I’d rather just save that amount so that I can buy property at some point. As a queer person in Singapore, realistically I’d probably only be able to get a house at 35. That’s what I’m aiming for at the moment, but who knows, maybe by that age I might have a partner whom I can split half the costs with.

I take public transport everywhere and I only splurge on the occasional pair of shoes, or on people, such as gifts for my family or treating my friends to a meal. I’m not struggling, but I definitely think thrice before spending because there’s a very real possibility of not being able to afford things.

On living with life-long financial anxiety:

I think when you don’t come from an affluent background, the last thing you do is draw attention to your financial situation. So you don’t proactively bring money up in conversations and you do whatever you can to survive. I’m always working numerous jobs because you just need your cash flow to come in. It’s a very survivalist mindset – people give, you just take. You never know when the next gig will come. Sometimes you have to take on projects you don’t want just for the money. I do have six months of savings to get me by if anything were to happen (but I have to caveat my expenses are VERY low), but I do consider myself as someone who is living pay cheque to pay cheque. 

My parents aren’t wealthy either, so everyone around me is constantly working and hustling to make ends meet. They’ve always ingrained in me to work hard and not be stupid about my money. But we’re not stingy. We still spend on people, and we like hosting gatherings at ours. It’s not about not spending money – it’s about being smart with our money. But I wished my parents had helped me out with my financial journey earlier (such as starting a savings account for me as a child and topping that up for me) rather than having to figure it out all on my own in my 20s.

A lot of my financial anxiety stems from both my upbringing and my current career path. I self-funded a creative project a few years back and blew through my entire savings. While the project received a lot of press coverage, I made a huge financial loss from it. This forced me to restart my savings at the age of 30. The event did end up launching my creative studio, and it’s gotten me the projects and reputation that I have now, so I guess you could count it as an investment. But it’s also the reason why I feel very insecure compared to my peers who’ve had a 10-year head start when it comes to saving.

On feeling unsure about reaching her financial goals:

I was working independently for a really long time so I only started contributing to my CPF in the last couple of years. The bulk of it comes from my teaching gigs as my creative studio wasn’t even making enough for me to draw a salary. I’ve never sat down with a financial advisor either to plan out my finances because it never occurred to me to do that. I’m of the mindset that “If I do X amount of things and save X amount, I’ll achieve X.”

At some point, I would also like to get my Master’s Degree so that I can level up to where I’m teaching and be able to teach at other schools such as Lasalle and NAFA. I already have to weigh the pros and cons between getting a house first or applying for my Master’s, so I haven’t even begun to think about retirement.

I feel like if I compare myself to the average person, I’m quite behind them. Compared to my relatives in Malaysia, everyone my age or younger already owns property or a car because the cost of living is so much lower. Living comfortably for me means getting your house payments out of the way and you’re just cruising through life. I don’t know what age that will be for me. I think when you’re so used to growing up with the discomfort of not having money, you really don’t want that for yourself. But at the same time that is my reality, so I just have to work really hard to see how much of that I can chip off.

Here are her expenses* for the week:

*The diarist generally works from home, so most of her meals are usually what’s in the fridge or what her parents cook. What she’s included are instances when it’s not the above.

Day 1

Credit: Joe and Dough

1/7

2:00pm: Spent the day catching up with friends and we went to Joe and Dough for some tea and snacks (my treat!) - $30

12:00am: Attended a party at night, free food and dranks all round woo!

2:30am: Grabbed a cab to and from the party - $50

Daily total: $80

Day 2

Credit: Mcdonald's

2/7

11:00am: One night out was TOO MUCH. Spent the day crashing at home and eating food cooked by my parents. Ordered a Mcdonald's Spicy Nuggets meal for dinner - $9.20

Daily total:  $9.20

Day 3

Credit: Nike

3/7

9:00am: Nike had a HUGE sale for the week! Snagged a pair of kicks for $69. Original price was $215!!!

Daily total: $69

Day 4

Credit: Unsplash

4/7

12:00pm: Was on leave. Did nothing but exist on the couch and eat whatever that was at home.

Daily total: $0

Day 5

Credit: Unsplash

5/7

5:00pm: Sent a bunch of snacks (cakes, jellies, cookies!) to my friend and her kiddos for their birthdays.

Daily total: $64

Day 6

Credit: Unsplash

6/7

10:00am: Had meetings at Sentosa for work and took public transport there. - $5

Daily total: $5

Day 7

Credit: Unsplash

7/7

12:30pm: Met a client for lunch. - $70

3:30pm: Went for threading and a facial after - $65

6:30pm: Back home now and considering buying a polaroid printer for $139.82.

Daily total: $135 (for now)