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Salary v/s Cost Of Living in HK

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  1. #111

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgoodkat:
    Easy to spend 150k per person. A first class ticket to Europe on Cathay is that much alone.
    This is not typical even among high earners. Of course it's possible but is it the norm in the HK expat community? No - it's not. Even the richest people I know fly business and use the miles they earn from work travel to upgrade half the time.

    OP is comparing himself to the extremes of spending and saying that's proof that you can't survive on $80K.
    kimwy66 and MABinPengChau like this.

  2. #112

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    Just validating that it is easy to spend 150K on holidays. And yeah, keeping up with the Chans is very much part of why living in Hong Kong makes one feel as if they are being ripped off. Let's see, 200 SQFT (already wrong to begin with) matchbox for a minimum 3,000USD. What a laugh. Let's not forget the lack of food options under $10. No I don't count rice/ noodles with a bit of vegetables and meat as good value.

    Did I trigger you in anyway?


  3. #113

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    This thread can best be summed as Some people earn more than me, some people buy things I would like, Girls with lots of money think I'm poor and laugh at my lack of things / flat / holidays.

    AKA Envy.

    One thing I do think is quite important to have as a personality trait when living in expat-favoured cities is resilience to being judged. In my experience people here tend to judge a person's worth more on material possessions, if you are sensitive to being judged as lesser because of that, then HK is likely to make you depressed. People with a stronger sense of their own worth, and goals can shrug / laugh it off, people that don't may tend to overspend and seek out wealthy friends to give them the appearance / illusion of being wealthier. Which will, of course, lead to them feeling even more unhappy with their lot.

    Get a grip and find goals that you can satisfy within the constraints of your income level.


  4. #114

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    Pffft

    Im on less than 80k and doing perfectly fine.

    MABinPengChau likes this.

  5. #115

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    Oct 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by DimSumBond:
    Just validating that it is easy to spend 150K on holidays. And yeah, keeping up with the Chans is very much part of why living in Hong Kong makes one feel as if they are being ripped off. Let's see, 200 SQFT (already wrong to begin with) matchbox for a minimum 3,000USD. What a laugh. Let's not forget the lack of food options under $10. No I don't count rice/ noodles with a bit of vegetables and meat as good value.

    Did I trigger you in anyway?
    I'm not triggered. I'm trying to help you. You're spending above your means because you think everyone else earns $300K a month and so if you don't try to chase that standard of living, they will look down on you.

    The info I'm sharing with you is that the bulk of people earning that kind of money are not single, they are married with children and a significant chunk of that money goes on housing and schooling because the banks etc. don't have good expat benefits anymore. I know people at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan whose wives gave birth at Queen Mary because the health insurance cap didn't cover enough to pay for a private hospital. It's laughable to think that same person is going to drop $100K per person on a holiday - they don't. So what I'm saying is you are wrong about what is normal to spend and how is normal to live among working expats in this city.

    I am hoping it will get through your skull and you will stop moaning about how hard your life is but I suspect that's not going to happen. Anyway maybe someone else will read this and find it useful.
    shri and HK_Katherine like this.

  6. #116

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    is dimsumbond and dimsum88 the same person ?
    dont think they are


  7. #117

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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trebor:
    Pffft

    Im on less than 80k and doing perfectly fine.
    Of course you are. This thread is NUTS.
    shri, jgl and chingleutsch like this.

  8. #118
    Quote Originally Posted by freeier:
    is dimsumbond and dimsum88 the same person ?
    dont think they are
    Nah, just two single girls looking for a rich expat who will take them to Europe for handbag shopping.

  9. #119

    Join Date
    Apr 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by civil_servant:
    Nah, just two single girls looking for a rich expat who will take them to Europe for handbag shopping.
    Hahah good one. I did laugh out loud at this. Actually I would prefer a local billionaire.. they seem to have much more money than the poor expats.

    Jokes aside, I do agree with some of the posts here about perspectives and how the unhappiness is triggered by myself. Maybe I also need to avoid the douchebags who view me as 'cheap' or 'poor' if I choose not to buy a bottle at the club, fly biz class, own a car, or go on 5000 Hkd dinners.

  10. #120

    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    1,693

    I tried the handbag shopping in Paris, queued up for 3 hours outside Hermes a cold early morning. We were too late, we didn't even get a ticket to get the chance to buy a handbag. People that got the tickets, most of them still did not get a Kelly or Birkin, I saw several grown up men (western & asian) with tears in their eyes from dissapointment afterwards. They so much wanted to surprise their wife with a new bag.

    It was a highlight of my trip, the madness had reached such a level that I found the whole experience utterly rewarding.

    (Full disclosure, if we got a ticket I would have bought a Kelly or a Birkin for 100k+ on the spot and most likely re-sold it in HK for 130k+)