Amidst considerations over the cost-of-living, there has additionally been extra authorities assist and money payouts this yr. Have you ever used up your advantages but?
As a part of the sandwiched era having to assist a number of dependents, I’ve been paying attention to the varied advantages that I get this yr, notably within the following areas:
- To assist combat inflation
- To buffer in opposition to rising healthcare prices
- To stay aggressive within the workforce and upskill
- For my household, the younger and the outdated
The best approach to test your advantages can be to make use of this Support for You Calculator to calculate the whole estimated advantages that you simply and/or your family could obtain from the Authorities.
Advantages for households
Dwelling in a HDB flat signifies that we obtain U-Save rebates each quarter. With extra rebates given in 2024, we might get between $550 to $950in whole to offset our utilities payments. In line with the federal government, in Monetary 12 months 2024, the U-Save rebates will on common, cowl about 8 months of utilities payments for these dwelling in 1- and 2-room flats, and about 4 months of utilities payments for these dwelling in 3- and 4-room flats. In fact, being aware of your electrical energy and water utilization will assist too.
HDB households can even obtain as much as 4 months of S&CC rebates altogether in 2024 to offset our S&CC payments.
We’ve additionally used our $800 CDC vouchers – which have been disbursed in January and June this yr -to pay for our meals at collaborating hawker stalls, in addition to for groceries at collaborating supermarkets and heartland retailers.
Psst, your $800 CDC vouchers expire on 31 December 2024 so don’t neglect to assert and use them in case you haven’t already executed so! Singaporean households also can sit up for one other tranche of $300 CDC vouchers that can be disbursed in January 2025!
Underneath the Assurance Bundle Money payouts, my husband and I every acquired $200 through PayNow, whereas our dad and mom acquired $600 every as a substitute as they earn a decrease revenue.
Advantages for households
My youngsters attend full-day childcare at MyFirstSkool (an anchor operator), so I’m definitely trying ahead to paying decrease childcare charges subsequent yr (which we’ve already acquired the notification for)!
Beforehand, I used to be unable to assert the Guardian Reduction on my dad, as he labored part-time and had an annual revenue of $4,800. The annual revenue threshold for all dependant-related tax reliefs, together with the Guardian Reduction, has now been elevated from $4,000 to $8,000. Because of this for these of you supporting dependant members of the family who’re doing part-time work, this could enable for extra of you guys to assert the tax aid.
To assist buffer in opposition to rising healthcare prices, there are the CPF MediSave top-ups from Funds 2024 and we’ve got additionally made additional voluntary contributions by ourselves.
My husband and I are supporting aged dad and mom of their 60s – 70s, who every acquired the Retirement Financial savings Bonus (as a part of the Majulah Bundle) of $1,000 or $1,500. And since 3 of our elders are nonetheless working, they’ll profit from the Earn and Save Bonus to get $400 to $1,000.
Help for mid-careerists to reskill
If you happen to’re aged 40 and above, you need to use the $4,000 SkillsFuture Credit (Mid-Career) top-up for round 7,000 chosen coaching programs that meet business and employment wants. The wide selection of programs consists of each part-time and full-time programmes.
The SkillsFuture Mid-Profession Enhanced Subsidy additionally gives larger subsidies of as much as 90% after all charges for an extra publicly funded diploma.
In case you are seeking to make a profession change and pursue full-time coaching, you’ll be able to take a look at the brand new SkillsFuture Mid-Profession Coaching Allowance, which gives a coaching allowance of as much as $3,000 a month for a most of 24 months over a person’s lifetime (computed as 50% of your common month-to-month revenue, primarily based on the newest accessible 12-month interval of revenue knowledge).
If you happen to haven’t been monitoring your payouts and rebates beneath the Funds 2024 Assurance Bundle, right here’s the timeline so that you can observe again on:
A lookback at 2024
There’s little doubt that 2024 has been a yr of speedy adjustments.
Macro elements together with world provide chain disruptions and the continued conflicts in numerous elements of the world have led to inflation stress on economies.
And due to this, throughout the board, prices are usually rising, whereas we’re seeing more job layoffs and retrenchments happen on the similar time. There’s additionally a really actual concern about whether or not artificial intelligence will take away our jobs within the close to future.
In instances like these, we will make use of assorted authorities assist advantages and payouts to deal with larger prices within the brief time period, whereas upskilling ourselves in the long term to make sure our incomes energy continues to climb.
Reasonably than simply depend on authorities payouts, I’ve also shared various tips on reducing costs resembling saving with member reductions and reducing down on meals deliveries and snacks, and many others.
What’s extra, I’ve been persistently nagging my readers (on my Instagram) to construct extra sources of revenue through facet hustles to take care of larger prices all through this yr. Whether or not it’s from earning Shopee affiliate commissions or doing paid government surveys on CrowdTaskSG, each little bit counts.
It’s now changing into more and more apparent that we must always all begin to look significantly into find out how to equip ourselves with AI in order to stay aggressive and be ready for the altering panorama of labor. I personally signed up for just a few AI lessons this yr to learn to use instruments like ChatGPT higher, and am seeking to develop my repertoire to extra AI instruments within the close to future.
As I watch my mates world wide complain about rising prices of their nations too, it’s clear that the challenges we face shouldn’t be occurring in Singapore alone. My US mates have additionally quipped that they want they get as many authorities advantages as we do right here, which was a terrific reminder for me to not take what we’ve got with no consideration.
Whereas the federal government assist measures have positively been extra beneficiant this yr, I don’t anticipate to at all times be spoon-fed so I’m taking it upon myself to hustle, hold upskilling and earn extra.
Now, earlier than 2024 involves an finish, don’t neglect to make use of your CDC vouchers earlier than they expire! Declare your CDC vouchers digitally by visiting go.gov.sg/cdcv
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Discover out the estimated authorities advantages you could obtain by utilizing the Support for You Calculator!
To test your eligibility for the varied authorities disbursement schemes for Singaporeans, visit this govbenefitswebsite right here!
Disclosure: This text is delivered to you in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance. All opinions are that of my very own.
