[salomon7]

Hi,

Within the coming week I have to make a difficult decision. My compay offered to send me to Honk Kong for two years. They are offering to pay me HK$19,000 after tax. The flat is already taken care of. If I decide to go I will be moving with my wife. I am 29 years old. QUESTION: WOULD 19k/month after tax, be sufficient for us to live from?

Appreciate quick reactions- thanks.

[KnowItAll]

People live in HK on a lot less and also a lot more. If you've got rent taken care of and no kids, your fixed expenses are virtually taken care of.

You can essentially vary the rest of your expenses like eating out, bus v/s taxi etc.

[fly]

When you say flat is taken care of, I assume you're including utilities, furniture, management fees, in addition to the basic rent, right?

You'll need to consider the size of the apt. and location as well, or your transportation fees may be quite high and your standard of living may be quite different than what your're normally used to.

At a very high level, if you consider that you basically have HK19K as your disposable income, that's just over HKD600/day. Depending on your standards, that's enough so you shouldn't be scraping by for food and transportation, but you may find it difficult to save a significant amount at the end of your 2 years.

[Max]

If your apartment is going to be taken care in the manner Fly suggests, then you could get by with 19k after tax.

As KiA implies, if you don't have any kids and other 'incremental' costs and are the kind that prefers to live thriftily then it should be OK for the two of you.

Good luck, and welcome to HK!

[salomon7]

Thanks for the quick replies. As I can gather, I will not be able to save any money, so what my company is offering me is not really a salary increase. From your experiences, would you go for a two year assignment in Honk Kong with an offer that was not a salary increase? Will it bring any added value to my career? Wouldn't it be better to develop my skills in other areas of business for the same amount of salary? Everybody says that if you worked in Hong Kong you have a big advantage over others. Is that still true?

[fly]

Salomon,
I can tell you that my original company offered me a straight conversion of the exchange rate as my original salary. Search on the web and you will find information on the different cost of living between A and B (HK I mean). After you have the facts, go back and ask for a reasonable COLA (cost of living adjustment). On top of that, your company may or may not add some incentive for you to go overseas, but you at least need to make sure you won't be worse off here than you might be otherwise.

Your other question is more difficult... It really depends on what you want out of your career - is there any opportunity in Asia for what you do? Without knowing your industry or position, you have to decide if there is a future in staying where you are, or taking a leap of faith overseas. Lots of folks have stayed on after 2 years and reaped rewards they couldn't get from staying on in their home countries. If/when you go back, your mindset will undoubtedly have been affected by your experiences here, so any advantage you make out of that is up to you. There is the cultural aspect as well that may or may not appeal to you.

As if that wasn't enough for you, your wife may be giving up some opportunity costs if she relocates without an offer at least similar to yours. I don't know if she's presently working or if you may plan for any kids in the 2 years that you may be here, but you will have to consider your family as well, naturally.

Good luck with your decision and let us know whatever happens.

[fly]

btw, here's the link to the calculator:
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/cal...E.src=homefair

[berryplucker]

I'm sure that time of database is sponsored the the people who benefit from inflating the cost of expat life. It is certainly complete rubbish that you would need to earn a gross salary 30% higher in HK than you would in London for the same standard of living as that site suggests. (This would equate to an after-tax increase of 70% or more given average tax rates of 35% and 15% respectively.). There is no doubt that if you exclude the cost of accommodation Hong Kong is cheaper to live in than Central London.

[fly]

good point, but it is useful to show to your employer :-)

(Happy Canada Day eveyone!)

[fiana]

Happy Canaday Day to u 2 Fly! =)