SMU Fresh Grads Make $4k to $10k

You earn more because you create more value. You don't earn more automatically without doing anything more. That's my message. Chicken rice seller earns more because he sells more plates of chicken rice. Or because he opens more branches. He don't sleep and wake up suddenly earning more.

al, the key phrase is "if you DO perform". I've been working for more than a decade now. When I go for reunions with my schoolmates, some of them have soared so high, and some of them, like wait says, are still earning 4-5k, and that's from their single-digit percentage yearly raise in the same company.
I totally agree with wait's "you don't earn more automatically without doing anything more". You have to be aggressive, perform, and sell yourself like mad, and jump when you see a good opportunity.
I have this friend who works as a programmer. He is very good at bullshitting and bluffing his way through interviews, but he really got exposed when he joined the bank I worked for.
He was then fired, and since then his salary has gone down from job to job (he kept getting fired), till he had to go back to his first company. Apparently the first company was operating at such a low level that his incompetence was never exposed. He is a hard worker though! Just the brains are not there (brains to do the real thing--brains for bluffing are fully there).
Quite poor thing--at nearly 40 he has no assets whatsoever, and his savings are in the low 5-digit range.

My econ prof. at my LAC once told me that if the ibanking sector is so good why do they need all the advertising?

peanuts: you sure ibanking even advertises? it's the unis that are advertising. if that's indeed what your prof says, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

hmm.. i don't think ibanking advertises.. the only time I hear of ibanking work in the media are the few sentences in Business Times stating so-and-so bank managed this M&A or IPO etc..

mango: Perhaps I am outdated. The last time I was back in Singapore and saw that advertisement by a BB was June 07. Also, I don't study in Sgp lah.

I work in a bank: pay > $5000.
I have 2 Masters, years of working experience.

But No car, no children, live in HDB.

And I am feeling poor.

Because if you think about feeding yourself til the day you die and cursing that your life ends at age 80 max, you would know that 'living comfortably' means having to save the $$$ for rainy days, and you can only do so in less than 20 years.

Good luck to all. Owning a car? That is suicide.

A starting salary of 3.5k is indeed very good, although i do get your point that it's not "fantastic" to the extends to be publish in the paper. To me, when i just gotten my 1.7 starting salary few years back, i feel rich enough to live comfortably + save a decent amount + giving some to my parents. I guess it's all about how you spend and save bah.

i think 3.5k is rather high for a first pay package. just consider this: the median family income of families in sg is only 5+k. if one earns 3.5k, the family income will be 7k already. means as long as it is a smu grad couple, they will be above the sg median. and this is not considering that their income will very likely increase. could easily be 10k, 15k when the couple get married.
if single and still living with parents, 3.5k is more than enough.

just a note: remember it's not just smu grads now; ntu and nus students are commanding similar salaries (see recent articles)

and regarding being above the median income, i personally don't see it as something really amazing or ridiculous. after all, that's the purpose of attaining higher education: high career prospects. (assuming we put in effort in our work)

meanwhile, let's not go into a debate about self-made millionaires in selling char kway teows, insurance or property and just concentrate on a generalistic view.