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RAISING CHILDREN
<!--close .kicker, if any-->[h=1]Dollars and sense[/h]
Published on Feb 18, 2012
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I WRITE as a father of three who is a professional, middle-aged, recently unemployed - and still saddled with a sizeable mortgage ('More not mentally ready for babies: Poll'; Monday).
Obviously, there are not many like my wife and me who consciously chose to have more than two children. Perhaps, we were young and reckless.
There was never a question of doing our sums then but in hindsight, I can understand why Singapore has just about the worst case of a 'baby problem' anywhere.
Singapore's Budget measures provide only temporary relief, mostly during the early stages of the life of a child.
But raising a child is at least a 20-year slog financially. When the temporary government relief wears off, what do we do?
My maturing children are no longer content with watching TV or jogging.
Temporary incentives help, but they may also help to make sceptics of the next generation who observe how their parents have been hoodwinked - that is, temporarily incentivised - into giving birth to them, only to perpetually struggle to obtain a good job to pay the mortgage and raise their children.
The relevant and genuine incentive that can help a couple raise their children is to help them pay for the 25-year housing mortgage.
Policy wonks must be honest and courageous enough to admit that the single biggest mismanaged economic factor that has brought us our dismal population figures today are the sky-high land and property prices that impact all other costs.
What we need is a structural solution to a structural problem. Budget measures can only help at the fringes, temporarily.
Are leaders prepared to take another look at the 'blind side' of their asset- enhancement strategy of the last three or four decades?
Asset enhancement at ground zero only means higher mortgage payments for me, not a bonus tied to growth of the gross domestic product.
Law Kim Hwee
<!--close .kicker, if any-->[h=1]Dollars and sense[/h]
Published on Feb 18, 2012
Purchase this article for republicationBuy SPH photos<!--close .storyLeft-->
I WRITE as a father of three who is a professional, middle-aged, recently unemployed - and still saddled with a sizeable mortgage ('More not mentally ready for babies: Poll'; Monday).
Obviously, there are not many like my wife and me who consciously chose to have more than two children. Perhaps, we were young and reckless.
There was never a question of doing our sums then but in hindsight, I can understand why Singapore has just about the worst case of a 'baby problem' anywhere.
Singapore's Budget measures provide only temporary relief, mostly during the early stages of the life of a child.
But raising a child is at least a 20-year slog financially. When the temporary government relief wears off, what do we do?
My maturing children are no longer content with watching TV or jogging.
Temporary incentives help, but they may also help to make sceptics of the next generation who observe how their parents have been hoodwinked - that is, temporarily incentivised - into giving birth to them, only to perpetually struggle to obtain a good job to pay the mortgage and raise their children.
The relevant and genuine incentive that can help a couple raise their children is to help them pay for the 25-year housing mortgage.
Policy wonks must be honest and courageous enough to admit that the single biggest mismanaged economic factor that has brought us our dismal population figures today are the sky-high land and property prices that impact all other costs.
What we need is a structural solution to a structural problem. Budget measures can only help at the fringes, temporarily.
Are leaders prepared to take another look at the 'blind side' of their asset- enhancement strategy of the last three or four decades?
Asset enhancement at ground zero only means higher mortgage payments for me, not a bonus tied to growth of the gross domestic product.
Law Kim Hwee
