I thought it was enough and then I spoke to an international tax attorney who used to work for one of the big consulting firms and has a lot of HK experience. He basically said we were getting screwed without a raise and a COLA.

My husband works for a small company and this is coosting them a lot. They have just asked him what he needs and he does not want to ask for too much becasue that increases the pressure, expectations and he also does not want to become a burden to his company.

The bottom line is that we are losing a lot of money on our house- We just moved 8 mos. ago and that real estate deal cost us in transaction fees and moving as well. We need to save money and we are hoping to make enough to save USD 3000/month, which is what our US mortgage has been.

Hopefully, we will be able to work something out tax wise.

Sleuth,
Where did you end up living with your family? We are coming in a week to find our apartment.

[animalmom]

'I thought it was enough and then I spoke to an international tax attorney who used to work for one of the big consulting firms and has a lot of HK experience. He basically said we were getting screwed without a raise and a COLA.
'

Agree completely - I moved from NYC to london with a full xpat package and was overwhelmed by how much more expensive everything was and how even the generous package I was getting wasn't enough to fully make me qhole.

[freeier]

that surprises me.
if your housing is all paid for and education all covered, i don't see how you can say hk is more expensive than the states.

[Sleuth]

Originally Posted by inprov

Sleuth,
Where did you end up living with your family? We are coming in a week to find our apartment.

We will be in the Royal Ascot in Fo Tan, starting in December; actually more like January after the furniture arrives via the slow boat. Currently we are in the Horizon Suites serviced apartments.

If you are going to try to save your US mortgage on a monthly basis, HK becomes expensive. I don't think we would be able to save the mortgage every month. Or, if we did, we wouldn't do much else. If your spending in the US is primarily eating out and entertainment, HK could be expensive; if you are primarily spending by accumulating stuff in the US, HK should be less expensive.