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I was reading the papers today when I came across a very interesting article ("Should pre-schools be nationalised"? The Straits Times, 10/10/2009, Pg A38). The poignant point which was raised in that piece was the glaring disparity of childcare cost in Singapore. The upmarket pre-school establishments command a fee of more than $1000 per month, while the mass market ones charges around $520 per month. That works out to be at least $36,000 ($1000 per month for 3 years)for the former and $18,720 ($520 per month for 3 years) for the latter. The 'investment' in human capital is heavy indeed.
This article brings to mind one aspect of child education that has been routinely ignored by financial planners when discussing about child education. Usually the focus goes straight to saving up for the university education, which is about 18-20 years down the road. But the expense that is that coming in 3 years' time - when the child is going onto pre-school - is not being addressed. Read more...[caption id="attachment_3586" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by Wonderlane"][/caption]
I was reading the papers today when I came across a very interesting article ("Should pre-schools be nationalised"? The Straits Times, 10/10/2009, Pg A38). The poignant point which was raised in that piece was the glaring disparity of childcare cost in Singapore. The upmarket pre-school establishments command a fee of more than $1000 per month, while the mass market ones charges around $520 per month. That works out to be at least $36,000 ($1000 per month for 3 years)for the former and $18,720 ($520 per month for 3 years) for the latter. The 'investment' in human capital is heavy indeed.
This article brings to mind one aspect of child education that has been routinely ignored by financial planners when discussing about child education. Usually the focus goes straight to saving up for the university education, which is about 18-20 years down the road. But the expense that is that coming in 3 years' time - when the child is going onto pre-school - is not being addressed. Read more...
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I was reading the papers today when I came across a very interesting article ("Should pre-schools be nationalised"? The Straits Times, 10/10/2009, Pg A38). The poignant point which was raised in that piece was the glaring disparity of childcare cost in Singapore. The upmarket pre-school establishments command a fee of more than $1000 per month, while the mass market ones charges around $520 per month. That works out to be at least $36,000 ($1000 per month for 3 years)for the former and $18,720 ($520 per month for 3 years) for the latter. The 'investment' in human capital is heavy indeed.
This article brings to mind one aspect of child education that has been routinely ignored by financial planners when discussing about child education. Usually the focus goes straight to saving up for the university education, which is about 18-20 years down the road. But the expense that is that coming in 3 years' time - when the child is going onto pre-school - is not being addressed. Read more...
