Damn Rich Americans....

Last night, I got to know of a friend, who might be migrating back to USA.

Let me give a little history, in case you are wondering why I said "migrating back".

His father is half-Thai, so I guess that makes him 1/4 Thai. His parents were US citizens.
They came to Singapore for holiday, when his mother was still pregnant with him. Little him realized that Singapore is a fine country, and decided to pop out way ahead of schedule.

Thus, that earned him his Singapore Citizenship. I realized also, last night, that his parent's have no choice but to accept that their son is a Singapore Citizen and has to fulfil his NS duties ; that or suffer the consequences of the whole family being banned from stepping into Singapore soil ever again. So he has come back to Singapore in time to serve is NS duties with the Home Team and has worked here ever since.

So here he is today, 27 years old, married for almost a year, staying in a brand new HDB flat in Punggol. He has applied to LAPD (not sure if it is indeed that PD) to be part of the homicidal detectives (and no, I do not mean detectives going around killing people). So he has to choose, within a month or so, whether to accept the offer.

He likes that job but is worried about his wife not willing to go over. He also has his house (less than 1 year) and his mother-in-law to worry about. But his pay will be able to let his wife not be working, yet still able to cover for the payments of his HDB, even if he can't sell it.

Yes, I asked and his offered package is US$150k per year.

To say I was surprised is an understatement. Now I know how prestigous an officer of the law is in the USA. I mean, granted their McDonald's meals and Krispy Kreme donuts are most probably 2.5 times what they cost here (with current currency exchange rate), their house and cars and land is going to be much cheaper.

He did mention that the price he is paying for his Punggol HDB flat, he is able to buy 2 houses (something that most Singaporeans can only dream of) in LA.

I mean, I am sure less than 10% of our Home Team earns more than S$150k !
And that is his starting pay ! He is still entitled to pension after 10 years - an amount that he doesn't wish to tell me, but says that it is "huge".


So did a check on LAPD Salary Scheme.
Assuming he has additional allowance based on language, and prior experiences in our Home Team, allowing him to go direct to a detective 3 or lieutenant, that is close to US$100k. Assuming he has "inflated" his package, putting in benefits and other allowances (hazard allowance, etc) to make the actual pay close to US$130k, which is also not far off.

Compare to our CNB pay and Singapore Home Team pay.

Even without currency conversion, it is pathetic.

Of course, we have to factor in the risk involved. Being an officer here is a sissy compared to a simple constable in LA.

But still...Damn Rich Americans... Damn... Even their police constable earns more than I do.. damn...