[Vrindavan]

the lowest one for me now

[Meerkat]

Originally Posted by RastaMan

I am surprised to see how little (as a % of their incomes) people pay for rental. So I wonder what you people are earning (a month).

I mean personal salary, not household salary.

If you don't know exactly because you earn a commission, how much did you earn last year, or how much do you think you are going to earn?

Why didn't you ask what percentage of our salary do we spend on rent? What this a previous post? edit - oops found it now

The percentage choice is an interesting one:-

If you are assuming that one's choice of rental is primarily driven by money first then other factors afterwards, then I reckon the percentage of your monthly package you pay on rent would depend mostly on:
1)what you were previously accustomed to - Londoners pay a lot for the roof above their heads .
2)whether you get a housing allowance or not - use it or lose it.

Really to get a decent stat you should not include people at the top and bottom of the income scales, because the people at the bottom do not have a choice and the people on megabucks aren't necessarily able to spend high percentages even if wanted to.

[muse07]

[quote=Meerkat;147859]Why didn't you ask what percentage of our salary do we spend on rent? What this a previous post? edit - oops found it now

The percentage choice is an interesting one:-

If you are assuming that one's choice of rental is primarily driven by money first then other factors afterwards, then I reckon the percentage of your monthly package you pay on rent would depend mostly on:
1)what you were previously accustomed to - Londoners pay a lot for the roof above their heads .

Agree - I came from Australia but was used to a lot more SPACE. The bedrooms here, especially, are quite small. I ended up needing a pretty large (by HK) standards bedroom plus another one to put all my stuff in, and am paying for it.

[RastaMan]

Do you think that the distribution of income of the users of this site (as above) is 'fair'? (using your own definition of 'fairness'?)

[funnie]

Originally Posted by RastaMan

Do you think that the distribution of income of the users of this site (as above) is 'fair'? (using your own definition of 'fairness'?)

are you implicitly suggesting to redistribute the income to have fairness

[climber07]

Originally Posted by RastaMan

Do you think that the distribution of income of the users of this site (as above) is 'fair'? (using your own definition of 'fairness'?)

What exactly do you mean by fair? (cough, cough....Commie)

Competition in the free markets drive compensation. There is always going to be a wide discrepensy between skilled & unskilled labor and then a wide discrepency in those two sub-groups.

The scarsity of talent in a particular job family will naturaly drive up wages. Additionally, highly intellectually specialized positions will also warrent higher compensation (proportionalized with experience, training and education) due to the limitation of such resources.

In any capitalistic system, compensation often serves as one of the incentives to continue development of skilled labor. Else...what's the motivation? Socialistic Ideals only work whilst there's "bread on the table," once that's gone all is out the window.

Equal distubution of wealth is a fairy tale which is impossible. Unless you eliminate such human trates as corruption, greed, jealousy & materialism. Good Luck.

[Skyhook]

Originally Posted by RastaMan

I am surprised to see how little (as a % of their incomes) people pay for rental. So I wonder what you people are earning (a month).

I mean personal salary, not household salary.

If you don't know exactly because you earn a commission, how much did you earn last year, or how much do you think you are going to earn?

On a % basis, although I don't rent, 25% of my income pays our mortgage, 50% if I contribute double payments, halving the length of the loan duration.

It suprizes me so many high income earners rent, it would be interesting to see what percentage are long term versus short term HK employees. I imagine most of the long termers wouldnt/shouldnt be renting, right ?

I was always under the impression that rent money is always dead money.

As to how much I earn, I am a little above mid field on the list.

[freeier]

interest paid to the bank for the loan is also dead money.

[Skyhook]

Originally Posted by freeier

interest paid to the bank for the loan is also dead money.

That's why we only borrowed to 40% of the value of the property purchase. In 5 months we have already made more capital gain than the interest, thanks to the recent 1.2 billion dollar property auction in our neighbourhood, and considering I claim the interest as a tax deduction anyway, why is it an issue ? I don't see it as dead money, its money for jam.
We like the Hong Kong taxation system, especially when it works in our favour.

[freeier]

so that's when you have the cash right.
on the same note, the spare cash cld have been invested in the stock market in blue chips and made 30% within the last 1 year ?

u can only compare apple to apple. tax breaks are fair. but claiming rent money is dead money is not conceptually correct because nobody else remember the interest they pay on their 90% house loan.