This is really impressive, a tutor who managed to make S$500,000 a year and paid S$85,000 in taxes!

I understand Momoeagle also tutors? Is it easy to make this kind of money as a full-time tutor?

Sep 26, 2010
Top private tutors raking in big bucks
Many in tuition- hungry Singapore say that incomes are up by at least 30%
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent

Private tutor Janice Chuah, 36, earns up to $15,000 a month teaching maths to primary school pupils. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

When Ms Janice Chuah first started her private tuition classes in January last year, she had only five pupils.

She earned $1,000 a month.

Her pupil base has since grown tenfold - and she now earns up to $15,000 a month teaching maths to primary school pupils.

Ms Chuah, 36, who has won several awards from the Ministry of Education, had quit teaching in a primary school to become a private tutor. She wanted to spend more time with her three young boys, aged between three and nine.

She now puts in half her previous 40-hour work week while earning more than double her previous salary.

When she quit her job, she was prepared to give up a paid employee's perks like bonuses, medical benefits and annual leave.

'I was willing to initially sacrifice income for more flexibility,' she said. 'I've been lucky to marry work with passion, have flexible hours, and earn a respectable income.'

She has since also registered her own private education centre, employing five tutors. She hopes to list the company on the stock exchange some day. 'The sky is the limit for me,' she said, beaming.

Indeed, with parents in Singapore spending $820 million on private tuition in 2008 - nearly double that a decade earlier - private tutors, especially those in the top league, are raking in big bucks.

Half a dozen well-established tutors The Sunday Times spoke to have all seen incomes rise by at least 30 per cent over the past couple of years.

It is a business that seems to be recession-proof, with some tutors earning upwards of $1 million a year, said Mr Tong Yee, a former junior college teacher.

Mr Tong is one of the founders of School of Thought, an education consultancy that provides affordable tuition and which also aims to see private tuition done away with, as schools improve on their teaching methods.

'I reckon there are at least 10 top tutors who earn upwards of $1 million a year,' he said. He estimates that there could be another 25 earning more than $200,000.

An economics tutor he knows, for instance, coaches 70 students during each weekly session. With six such sessions, he has at least 420 students. This person, Mr Tong said, earns around $55,000 a month.

Such tutors rarely have to advertise; students mostly hear about them by word of mouth.

The Sunday Times understands that this discreet method - in which they typically get paid in cash - also means they are not on the taxman's radar.

But one super tutor who is not shy about his income is Mr Phang Yu Hon, 43, who teaches physics to upper secondary and junior college students.

Mr Phang, a former Mindef research engineer with a first-class honours degree in electrical engineering from the National University of Singapore, earned more than $522,000 after expenses last year - or more than $40,000 a month.

He declared all this and paid $85,000 in taxes. This year, he expects to earn between $600,000 and $700,000.

When he began giving tuition full-time in 1997, he earned less than $10,000 in his first year. 'It was a big pay cut and people thought I was wasting my education,' Mr Phang said. 'But I liked to teach and wanted to control my own destiny.'

From just eight students at the end of 1997, he now has 200. Fees for secondary school students start at $320 a month; those in junior college pay $340 upwards.

Ms Celine Loi's business is another success story. The maths tutor's income has doubled since she was featured in a Sunday Times piece on super tutors in 2008.

The NUS maths graduate declined to say exactly how much she earns, but her takings have increased by a 'six-digit' figure in recent years.

Ms Loi, 35, claims that she is able to help weak students attain good grades in maths. She has around 160 students currently and another 40 on a wait list.

Mr Kelvin Ong, meanwhile, has carved out a niche - in tutoring children who want, or whose parents want them, to get into the Gifted Education Programme.

Mr Ong, 35, runs his own academic enrichment company AristoCare.

He takes in only 10 pupils every year, works just 32 hours a week, but earns 30 per cent more than what he did as a gifted education teacher at a well-known boys' school.

But he is quick to advise aspiring tutors that not everyone makes it to the top league, that they should consider the high stakes and 'big stresses' involved.

'There are no bonuses,' he said.

'Unlike the schools, you can lose all your students if you don't deliver good results,' he added.

Indeed, the vast majority of tutors here are unlikely to earn anywhere near six figures.

It is difficult to assess median incomes of private tutors, given the unregulated nature of the business. But at some private tuition centres, the pay for full-time tutors starts at $1,800 a month.

Untested tutors aiming for the top league have to prove themselves first, especially as appraisals in many tuition centres are linked to how students perform.

And many home tutors are dropped the moment students don't perform.

Ms Chuah said there is a 'preconceived notion' that tutoring is easy work.

'To be a good teacher, I need to make the effort to understand what and why my students don't understand. I must have the patience to explain to them until they do, even for the zillionth time,' she said. 'And that's not easy at all.'

radhab@sph.com.sg

My opinion is that whether used car or new car, it's still very expensive ni this small island of ours.....

Sep 25, 2010
Used cars in fast sales lane
Second-hand car sales overtake new car sales on the back of high new car prices, COE premiums
By christopher tan, senior correspondent

Used cars might not have the sheen and the smell of new leather but, for the first time in nearly 10 years, secondhand sales have overtaken those of new models.

In the January-August period, more than 35,000 pre-owned cars changed hands, versus 30,780 new cars.

More buyers have been driven to consider second-hand after a drastically smaller COE supply led to higher COE premiums and prices of new cars.

According to Land Transport Authority records, the last time used car sales exceeded new car registrations was in 2001. For all the other years in-between, new car sales have routinely accelerated past those of used cars - sometimes by more than five times.

But with the supply of COEs cut to less than half of that in the last two years and with premiums doubling - with no relief in sight in the near term - used car sales are likely to continue pulling ahead in the next few years.

This trend has prompted the big boys - authorised new car agents - to either move into the pre-owned turf, shift an existing second-hand business a gear higher or re-enter the used car trade to make up for falling sales of new vehicles.

They include agents for Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Opel, Mini and Honda.

Their trump card is that the big boys have the name recognition, infrastructure and expertise. Carrots such as warranty, spare parts and well-equipped workshops help lubricate sales too.

Most used cars sold by authorised agents come with a minimum warranty of one year. This is one up on the old-time second-hand dealers which offer warranties of six to 12 months, if at all.

Which is why used cars from authorised agents can cost 5 to 10 per cent more.

Says Audi agent Premium Automobiles' chief operating officer, Mr Marc Singleton: 'We do a lot of work on the cars, such as giving them a 100-point check- up and sprucing them up, so I'd like to think we can get a bit more for them.'

Sales at Premium's used car division, Audi Approved Plus, average 25 to 30 cars a month. 'We expect it to grow and contribute more to revenue,' Mr Singleton says of the year-old venture housed in a dedicated showroom in Kung Chong Road.

Entrepreneur Karsono Kwee is equally upbeat. His Eurokars Pre-Owned has delivered about 150 cars, mostly Porsches, since it started in April last year.

'So far, it's been profitable, I'm quite happy,' he says. From three showroom units at the Alexcier in Alexandra Road, the business has grown to five.

Besides handling used cars from his franchises (Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Mini, Saab and Opel), his outfit sells other makes too.

While business models differ from one player to the next, all of them have direct equity stakes in their second-hand businesses. They have either devoted sections of existing showrooms to run the second-hand operations or set up separate facilities elsewhere.

Typically, a company will keep the choiciest trade-in vehicles for themselves, with the rest sold wholesale to traditional used car traders.

Toyota agent Borneo Motors will be the latest to hop on the bandwagon, in November, though it will not be its first attempt.

In 1995, it started a used vehicle unit but closed it three years later after new car prices softened in the wake of tax cuts and growing COE supplies.

Its used car operation will be based in its Leng Kee Road showroom and focus on Toyota and Lexus cars.

Borneo managing director Koh Ching Hong says things will be different this time: 'We will be modest in our approach. We will start with baby steps. We're going to be selective in our choice of vehicles in terms of model, age, mileage and service history.'

Honda agent Kah Motor's used car venture is not its first either. It quit the scene around the same time as Borneo in the late-1990s, but made a re-entry two years ago.

Like Borneo, it is keeping the operation modest for now. It sells only used Hondas and only those sold originally by Kah.

Product manager Vincent Ng says it sells about a dozen cars a month and believes the business will grow.

The caution with which the two big players are re-entering the used car trade underlines the difficult nature of the business that has kept many away.

Holding stock is costly because used cars are already registered for use and taxes make each vehicle at least double the holding cost of a new pre-registered equivalent.

There is depreciation cost and values can fluctuate too. A drop in COE premiums could wipe out hundreds of thousands of dollars from a used car inventory overnight if the cars were bought when COE prices were higher.

New cars do not pose such a risk as taxes have not been levied yet.

Which is perhaps why BMW agent Performance Motors chose to partner long- time used-vehicle trader Tanglin Cars to set up Performance Premium Selection.

While the joint venture dates back to 2004, it picked up pace only in May this year, when it moved into its dedicated showroom in Kampong Arang.

Performance Premium Selection's managing director Foo Tee Boon describes the partnership as 'a good mix of corporate and entrepreneurial skills'.

The set-up turns over 200-plus cars a month. The volume is a blend of European cars, which it sells to end-users, and other makes, which it sells wholesale to traditional used car traders.

Motor traders say a used car operation makes sense for authorised agents because the business offers synergy and, if executed well, an additional revenue stream.

Besides helping the authorised agents sell more cars, used car operations offer other benefits.

Big boys enter pre-owned turf

Mr Foo says the used car venture helps support Performance Motors' new car sales by taking in trade-in cars. And it supports its workshop business because many of the used BMWs it sells are under warranty - as are most used cars sold by authorised agents.

This evidently is a selling point. Senior sales manager Michael Soh, who bought an 18-month-old Audi A4 1.8T from Audi agent Premium Automobiles, said the deciding factor was 'the assurance that the car is in good condition'.

At about $130,000 (versus $150,000 for a new car then), it was pricier than some equivalent cars sold by other used car dealers, but 'the difference was not too great', he says.

'It's been close to a year now and I'm happy with the car,' the 53-year-old adds.

Businessman Sanjay Samnani, 39, says he would go to an authorised agent the next time he shops for a used car.

He recently bought a second-hand Subaru that he suspects was tampered with.

'The trip meter showed 41,000km. But when I sent it to the agent for servicing, I was told that it had already clocked 53,000km in 2008,' he recalls.

Meanwhile, traditional used car traders, which number about 300, are feeling the heat from the new-found competition.

Mr Raymond Tang, secretary of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, a body of used car traders and parallel importers, says the emerging trend will 'definitely have an impact'.

He says: 'There will be far fewer cars available and we will find it harder and harder to find cars for ourselves.'

Nevertheless, he notes that the used car business on the whole 'will be stable for the next two years at least'. Beyond that, COE supply may begin to rise once again, a development that could dampen the demand for second-hand rides.

Even so, Mr Singleton of Premium Automobiles reckons that used car divisions will become a prominent part of the motor business.

'In Britain or the United States, new car dealerships can't survive without a used car business. New car margins are just too thin,' he says.

And on that score, things are headed that way as more carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi assume the role of importer and distributor in Singapore.

The move has relegated local players to become dealers, which typically have thinner profit margins than distributors.

christan@sph.com.sg

New thread to update on COE prices during each bidding.

This article relates to the bidding for today, Sep 22, 2010.

Sep 22, 2010
COE prices fall across board
By Christopher Tan

COE prices fell across the board at the latest tender on Wednesday, but car premiums remained above the $30,000 level.

Certificate of entitlement for cars up to 1,600cc ended at $30,001, down from $33,089 two weeks ago.

The premium for cars above 1,600cc closed at $42,501, down from $44,129. And the Open certificate, which can be used for any vehicle type but ends up mainly for cars, finished at $43,290, down from $44,001 previously.

Commercial vehicle COE ended at $31,001, from $33,000; and motorcycle premium landed at $1,452, from $1,502.

Motor traders attributed the lower prices to weaker demand in the last two weeks as higher prices kept buyers away.

I think this is preposterous! Whatever happened to filial piety? I repaid my father for my Uni Education within 3 years+.

Aug 26, 2010
Grads not repaying parents' CPF for studies
7,500 default in repaying to parents' or own account
By Leow Si Wan

He had tapped into his parents' Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to pay for his education at a local university.

But, instead of repaying the money owed to their accounts when he secured a job after graduation, he used his salary to first satisfy his own material needs - purchasing branded fashion items and a car.

He even incurred credit card debts to support his extravagant lifestyle and ended up having to borrow more from his parents.

The graduate, whose story was told to The Straits Times by a counsellor, is one of the more than 7,500 students who have defaulted on repaying monies - taken from either their own CPF accounts or those of their parents - to pay for their education.

Since it was made possible in 1989 for CPF members to use up to 40 per cent of their accumulated Ordinary Account savings for their own or their children's full-time local diploma and first-degree courses, 153,000 students have successfully applied to the Fund's Education scheme, as of 2006.

Of these, 5 per cent, or more than 7,500, have defaulted on the repayment of their loans and have failed to return money to CPF accounts for at least four consecutive months.

Education Minister Ng Eng Hen had referred to this group during a community visit on Sunday when he explained why the ministry had no plans to extend the scheme to students who want to pursue an overseas education.

He said that if the Government allowed the CPF to be used for education in a foreign university, 'a lot of parents will use that money'. If children do not repay the money, parents will be left with little retirement savings.

Applications made after 2006 are excluded because these students are likely to be still studying and their repayments are unlikely to be due yet.

Under the CPF Education scheme, those who have tapped on CPF savings for their education will need to start repayment only a year after graduation or upon leaving the course.

There are flexible repayment and instalment plans ranging from one year to 12 years, with a minimum monthly repayment of $100.

For defaulters, CPF helps members recover their money by sending regular reminder letters to those in default and encouraging them to repay the amounts owed promptly.

Several counsellors The Straits Times interviewed said they have seen more of such cases in recent years.

Besides the son who failed to top up his parents' CPF savings and who had to get more money from them to pay his credit card bills, the chief executive officer of voluntary welfare organisation Ain Society, Mr Md Yusof Ismail, said he had seen cases where children stopped paying because they had other commitments such as preparing for their wedding or paying for a home.

He said: 'I have seen a handful of such parents, mostly in the last few years. Such a trend could be because of the erosion of values such as filial piety, and the growing needs of youngsters nowadays to pursue a certain type of lifestyle.'

Parents, he said, complain and are upset, but are unwilling to take action against their children because of their love for them, or out of fear of embarrassment.

'I have asked some of them to go straight to the parents' tribunal but they do not want to,' he said.

Added Christian Care Services' executive director Edward Job: 'Some parents end up having to work for a longer period of time because their children are not repaying the money. It is a different environment now - children are more pampered and parents are willing to spend on them.'

One such parent is Mr J. Zheng, 56, a technical officer.

He had paid for his son's studies using his CPF savings and has since requested successfully for a waiver of repayment.

He said: 'As a father, paying for my son's education is my responsibility so I have never thought of getting him to pay back.'

His 28-year-son, who declined to be named, said: 'I have recently bought an apartment and a car so I consider myself very fortunate.

'But of course, I would pay my dad slowly, but without the pressure of interest rates and monthly payments.'

Meanwhile, the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education chairman Josephine Teo is of the view that the rules governing how the CPF can be used should not be changed easily.

She said: 'Based on figures, we are looking at easily more than 300 people a year who do not repay monies to their CPF accounts. This is a number which I would still be concerned about.'

She added that children should voluntarily offer to repay their parents.

She said: 'I suspect in most cases, the parents tell their children that it is okay but the child should pay their parents because we are talking about a sense of responsibility.

'If they do not even do so, there is no guarantee that they will take care of their parents in future.'

siwan@sph.com.sg

Aug 24, 2010
More Singaporeans own at least two cars
More than 34,000 people with more than one car to their names
By Cheryl Ong & Maria Almenoar

This may be the world's most expensive place to own a car, but it is not stopping more people from buying a second one or even a third.

Land Transport Authority (LTA) figures show 6.8 per cent of car owners here have two or more cars, up from 5.5 per cent just four years ago. This translates into 34,226 people with more than one car to their names as of June.

This has caused a crunch on the number of parking spaces available.

It is not just the well-off who own more than one car. Parking spaces in the car parks in Housing Board estates are also getting hard to come by. Increasingly, residents have to park farther away from their flats or park illegally.

When the HDB looked into complaints over this, it found 36,370 households owning more than one car - 60 per cent more than in 2006, when 22,700 did.

Transport researcher Lee Der Horng of the National University of Singapore said the trend is a sign that people have come to see a car as a necessity, not a luxury.

He said he had expected the demand for cars to fall, given the Government's drive to promote public transport and the expected hike in certificate of entitlement (COE) prices because of the limited supply of COEs available now.

He said: 'If people believe in this lifestyle of having more cars, to satisfy that, they'll convince themselves that the price of a COE is an acceptable percentage of their disposable income.'

He added that this suggested the Government's message to people to use public transport may not be getting through.

COE premiums now stand at $30,000 to $40,000, higher than in recent years, when they dipped below $20,000; but they are still cheaper now than when they hit $100,000 back in the 1990s.

Car dealers and owners cite a slew of reasons people have more than one car: Couples may each need their own car to get to work, or a non-working spouse may need one for errands.

And then there are parents who register a second car in their names but let their children drive it, to save on insurance premiums for newer drivers.

Sometimes, people buy another car because they can. Take for example a man who indulges himself with a second car, usually a sports car, said managing director Eddie Loo of used-car dealership Car Times.

Another factor is the launch of cheaper China-made cars, which make for affordable second cars.

The HDB said it will add 5,000 more parking spaces to the existing 500,000 in the next three years to ease the squeeze.

Pasir Ris resident C. Ong, 23, drives her family's second car, which her father bought when she started her studies in Nanyang Technological University.

Parking spaces are scarce by the time she gets home in the evening though she has a season parking ticket, so she sometimes parks illegally and risks a fine.

Sembawang resident Valerie Toh, 23, also an undergraduate, said her parents each drive their own car and see their wheels as a necessity. Parking spaces are a rare find after 6pm, but they put up with it, she said.

Those who own just one car are also vexed. Engineer Henry Chew, 38, of Tampines Street 71, said the multi-storey car park near his block is always nearly full by 10pm on weekdays.

The squeeze is on in condominiums and private estates too; some condo managements have resorted to making residents ballot for spaces or charging them for a second parking spot.

In a private estate in Lorong Marzuki last week, cars were parked on both sides of a road with double yellow lines. To avoid parking fines, residents parked just outside their gates, so motorists using the road had to inch their way forward.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport and an MP for Sembawang GRC, suggested raising carpark charges, which Associate Professor Lee said may work to discourage people from driving to work or downtown.

A survey last month, comparing parking charges across 145 cities, found Asia's most expensive parking spaces in Tokyo and Hong Kong - at $74 and $38 a day respectively.

It costs an average of $29 a day to park in prime areas such as Shenton Way and Orchard Road.

Prof Lee said that in the suburbs, parking charges could be pegged to the number of cars one owns, with multi-car owners paying higher rates.

But Ms Lee Bee Wah, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, doubts this will work. She said: 'If residents spend so much on a car, they'll pay for parking even if it's expensive. The solution is twofold - we have to improve public transport and manage the car population.'

This means ensuring that even private estates are served by buses and trains, and further reducing the supply of COEs.

'If people think public transport is more affordable and efficient, they will consider it a more viable alternative to buying a car,' she said.

ongyiern@sph.com.sg

mariaa@sph.com.sg

I can't see the point of this RazorTV article in ST. To make people feel envious? Or to let these "lucky" undergraduates boast about their spankingly beautiful cars? Yet another blatant sign of materialism being "promoted" by our dear ST!

Sep 16, 2010
First car before graduation
By Shivali Nayak, Multimedia Journalist, RazorTV

UNDERGRADUATES are not just chasing degrees these days. Some of them they are also chasing milestones, like owning their first car before graduation.

One such person is Nur Ilham, a first-year student from National Institute of Education, who has yet to graduate but has already gotten his first car. The 21-year-old owns a Chevrolet Aveo 5 that cost him $57,000 and is fully paid - by him. He had worked part-time to finance his car payments.

Other undergraduates are even luckier. First-year undergraduate Asri drives a Volkswagen Beetle, while final-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering undergraduate Wong Kah Wai drives a Lexus. These cars cost well over $100,000 each, all paid for by their parents.

RazorTV staked out the car parks at Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore, and found many luxury cars on campus - all owned by students.