[mintia]

Hi people, i'm in a rut here...

I was studying+graduated from London and was heading back to Singapore to start job hunting, when i went for a job interview in London for a job in Hong Kong.

I've now been offered the job, along with a starting pay of 14,500 pounds per year (to go up to 15,500pounds after 3 mths), 10% bonus after 1st year, one free flight home per year, medical insurance excluding dental.

The thing is when i convert the pounds to singapore dollars, it's quite a reasonable package, BUT everyone's been telling me that since they didn't offer any housing allowance/accomodation, i might not be getting that good a deal after all! Since rent in HK is so expensive....

I understand that for a fresh graduate the pay is good, but looking at it from an 'expat' point of view, it's not really right?

could anyone give me some tips or feedback? Should i negotiate my offer so i can get some housing assistance?

Thanks!

[Simatai]

I think you have a good starting salary, and don't have too much to worry about. I've spend several months in UK, and aside from rent, alcohol and upscale dining, everything else is cheaper here in HK. If you want to save money, there are many alternatives for living inexpensively.

You can get a decent studio/apt for yourself for $6000HKD/mo, to $15,000+ for more upscale accomodations. You'd probably want to live on Hong Kong island. Please note the spaces here are smaller in size, even bathrooms.

don't forget to negotiate your moving expenses to ship all your items here, along with extra costs built in for all the new expendables you will need to buy (cleaning supplies, brooms, garbage cans, etc. those add up to a lot!).

depending on what kind of company it is, you may be able to get some housing allowance. but it seems like less and less smaller companies are doing this now...i'm not an expert on this, others can probably offer better advice. What kind of job/company is it?

hope this helps!

[Simatai]

OOPS, my bad, I misread your salary! I thought you were making 14,500 pounds a month!

in that case, you are on a very tight budget and you should negotiate for more, or they must give you a housing allowance.

[Anthony Green]

Well, it ain't exactly a superabundance of wealth coming your way !

~HK$17K won't go *that* far per month ! Especially when a large percentage will be eaten up by grasping landlords!

One thing you *could* do to somewhat mitigate your HK Tax position is to have a "rent allowance" written in to any contract of employment & have the employER pay the rent - that way, that amount is taxed at a much lesser rate of personal tax for you.

Whilst I applaud your efforts to get out'a grotty Britain, you'd better realise that without sufficient financial returns to be had here, it would be a case of "Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire".... and taxed by HK as well as the **UK Taxman**.

If you quit at an inopportune moment - your HK remunerations will be subject to UK Tax as well if you return there.

[discobay]

Yep, that salary is equivalent to being employed on "local" not expat terms. Without housing thrown in you would struggle and could be on the street begging (even after the third month).

[Vix]

It's definitely liveable despite what people appear to be suggesting.
Like you, I'm also a recent graduate. I am getting a salary here of $15,000 a month with no housing allowance.
I share a flat in Wan Chai, my rent is $4300 per month which is pretty reasonable...and our flat is amazing compared to what you could get in London for similar money.
You will have to budget yourself if you are on $17,000 - $18,000 per month, but that doesn't mean to say you can't enjoy nights out, meals out, new clothes, overseas travel etc - you can without a doubt (Im managing to anyway!), just not ALL the time.
Look at it this way - when you have just graduated, 99 times out of a 100 you will not be on a particularly great starting salary, and it will take time before you are able to live an affluent lifestyle. So why not come to Hong Kong and begin your working life as opposed to staying in UK?! You'll love it, it's a great city!

[mrcheese321]

See, I was kind of wondering the same thing.

I'm about to graduate this spring and am starting to look for banking/finance jobs. In the States, I can expect a salary of about 40k USD/year (25,000HK/month), but when I looked at jobs here, they are about 15,000HK/month. I would love to live here, but I'm thinking that I won't be able to make it. i'm going to be taxed by the US and HK, and then rent here is crazy, so that wouldn't leave much money to do other things.

I'm thinking that I would have to get an expat package (probably not going to happen if I'm a fresh-grad) to make it here?!?

[nivantj]

Originally Posted by mrcheese321

I can expect a salary of about 40k USD/year (25,000HK/month), but when I looked at jobs here, they are about 15,000HK/month.

What about Tax in US (approx 30%) compared to HK (Approx 5% for that salary)?

>>> i'm going to be taxed by the US and HK

Not sure if you are going to be taxed both places for that amount of salary... Should pretty much under allowance limit... Better consult someone..

[mrcheese321]

Yea,I believe that you pay both taxes if you are over 80k, but I have investment income that will put me over that number. The problem is that the investment income that I receive I'm not allowed to use -the taxes are paid and then it gets reinvested. So it raises my tax bracket and I pay more % each year on the money that I do make.

[PDLM]

Er, that sounds like pretty crappy inheritance planning by someone MrCheese...