> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.equity-edit.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 3 in 4 of Singapore’s Top Earners Say Living Costs Are Biting - URL: https://www.equity-edit.com/top-earners-singapore-living-costs/ - Published: 2026-10-21T03:10:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-21T03:10:12.000Z - Description: A Sun Life survey found 76% of Singapore households earning at least S$250,000 say inflation has made monthly expenses harder to manage, even as most still feel financially secure. What is squeezing the affluent, and what would make enough feel like enough? - Author: Editor - Tags: Modern Lifestyle, Life, #custom-hero, #Import 2026-10-21 13:39 ![Shoppers inside a glass-roofed luxury mall at Marina Bay, Singapore.](https://www.equity-edit.com/content/files/images/2026/10/top-earners-hero.jpg) Marina Bay, Singapore. On paper, they are Singapore’s financial success stories. Senior professionals. Dual-income couples. Households earning a quarter of a million dollars or more a year. And yet, many of them are feeling the pinch. In June 2026, Sun Life’s Singapore Financial Resilience Index found that **76% of high-net-worth respondents, defined as households earning at least S$250,000 annually, said inflation had made their monthly expenses harder to manage.** Here is the paradox: **67% of the same group still said they felt financially secure.** They are not struggling in the way lower-income households are. But they are not as comfortable as their income might suggest. Call it the comfortable squeeze. ## 1\. The Squeeze Has Reached the Top Rising costs are being felt across Singapore. Among all of Sun Life’s survey respondents, 81% said inflation had made monthly expenses harder to meet. The categories causing the most pressure were not luxuries, but everyday essentials: groceries (cited by 95% of respondents), utilities (94%) and healthcare (89%). #### Where the pressure is felt Groceries**95%** Utilities**94%** Healthcare**89%** Share of all Singapore respondents citing each expense. Source: Sun Life Singapore Financial Resilience Index, June 2026. A high income cushions those increases. It does not make them disappear. And for affluent households, the larger pressure often comes from somewhere else: the cost of the life they have built. ## 2\. The Cost of Everyday Excellence In Singapore, the standard for a "good life" keeps rising. Enrichment classes. A condominium with a pool. A domestic helper. A car. Holidays that involve flights rather than staycations. None of these choices is unreasonable. One of the benefits of earning more is being able to spend on things that make life easier or more enjoyable. ![Two friends laughing over dinner at a restaurant.](https://www.equity-edit.com/content/files/images/2026/10/top-earners-dinner.jpg) Yesterday’s treat, today’s routine. The difficulty is that upgrades rarely stay upgrades. A S$200 dinner that once felt like a celebration becomes a normal Friday. Ride-hailing replaces the MRT. A premium gym, food delivery and a growing list of subscriptions quietly become part of the monthly budget. Yesterday’s luxury becomes today’s baseline. And once a lifestyle becomes the baseline, maintaining it can begin to feel less like a choice and more like a necessity. ## 3\. The Expensive Decade For many Singapore professionals, their 30s and 40s bring a particular concentration of financial commitments. A mortgage. Children. Childcare and enrichment. Insurance. Ageing parents. Family travel. Retirement savings. These commitments often peak just as careers and incomes accelerate. Consider a hypothetical couple earning S$300,000 a year combined, with two young children. Their monthly household spending might look something like this: A hypothetical couple · S$300,000 combined · two young children**S$13,000a month** - Housing instalment and maintenance**S$4,50035%** - Childcare, enrichment and school expenses**S$2,20017%** - Groceries, dining and household spending**S$2,00015%** - Family holidays, averaged monthly**S$1,50012%** - Transport**S$1,2009%** - Insurance and healthcare**S$8006%** - Utilities, subscriptions and miscellaneous**S$8006%** Illustrative budget, not a typical Singapore household. Housing payments may be partly funded through CPF; actual spending varies widely. That is S$156,000 a year before any additional investing or saving. After CPF contributions and income tax, roughly two-thirds of what this household takes home may already be spoken for. This is an illustrative budget, not a typical household. Housing payments may be partly funded through CPF, and actual spending varies widely. But it shows how a household can be both affluent and heavily committed. ## 4\. The Comparison Tax Financial comfort is partly absolute and partly relative. Early in a career, a six-figure salary can seem like the point at which money stops being a concern. Then you reach it, and the reference point moves. Colleagues buy private property. Friends fly business class. Former classmates become partners, founders and senior executives. In a city where success is often visible through housing, cars, schools and travel, it is easy to measure your progress against someone else’s spending. ![Cars queue at a junction lined with restored shophouses in Chinatown, Singapore.](https://www.equity-edit.com/content/files/images/2026/10/top-earners-street.jpg) Chinatown, Singapore. But you rarely see the full picture. You can see the condominium. You can’t see the mortgage, the family support, the inheritance or the investment portfolio behind it. Income is visible. Financial freedom usually isn’t. ## 5\. Golden Handcuffs There is another reason high earners may not feel wealthy: their lifestyle depends on continuing to earn that income. - Could they take six months off? - Start a business? - Move into a lower-paying role that offers more flexibility? If the answer is no, a high salary may provide comfort without providing much freedom. The Sun Life survey hints at how thin that cushion can be. **41%**of Singapore respondents said they could sustain themselves for more than six months without income or outside help.Source: Sun Life Singapore Financial Resilience Index, June 2026. Income**What you earn.** Wealth**What you keep and build.** Financial freedom**What that wealth allows you to choose.** ## 6\. What Enough Actually Looks Like There is no universal number. A single professional on a high salary in a modest home may have considerable flexibility. A couple on the same combined income with two children and a large mortgage may experience their finances very differently. So instead of asking how much you need to earn to feel rich, a more useful question might be: A better questionWhat would I need my money to do for me to feel secure? 1. Perhaps it is having a year or two of living expenses saved or invested. 2. Perhaps it is a mortgage you could still carry through a career break. 3. Or perhaps it is simply taking a holiday without mentally calculating how many working days it cost. Each is a different definition of wealth. And each points to different financial choices. ## THE EDIT Three in four of Singapore’s top earners say living costs are biting. Most still feel secure. Both things can be true. A high income offers real advantages. But the feeling of being wealthy depends on more than salary. It depends on how much of that income is already committed, how much has been accumulated, and how much freedom remains. There is nothing wrong with spending on a beautiful home, good food or memorable holidays. The question is whether those choices are improving your life, or simply raising the cost of maintaining it. > Wealth isn’t the number on your payslip. It’s how many of your choices that number has already made for you. *Source: Sun Life Singapore Financial Resilience Index, June 2026\. High-net-worth respondents are households with annual income of at least S$250,000 (104 respondents in Singapore). The household budget is hypothetical and for illustration only. This article is for general information, not financial advice.*