[Poll] Stay or Leave Hong Kong

bdw · 05-07-2018, 03:41 PM

Original Post Deleted

I love Japan and would go back there in an instant for the food, fresh air, friendly people, etc. Not sure about the loans though, don't the banks turn away non-Japanese, even if you live there with an alien card and a good job? Or has the situation improved in the last 10 years since I was living there?

Also now in HK you can get multi currency loans. Standard Chartered offer JPY loans with 1% interest rate to HK residents earning HKD income, with the flexibility to switch the currency of the loan between HKD/JPY and a bunch of other currencies anytime you want using online banking. I have parked a lot of my debt in JPY now to enjoy this low 1% rate. So I still think HK is hard to beat financially!

er2 · 05-07-2018, 03:42 PM

Original Post Deleted

You forgot the 'have just left' option. At least a number of posters seem to be in this boat.
For me, not being constrained by kids/education etc yet, the core driver was 'jobs' - HK is just a shitty place for anything tech related. Anything tech related happens north of the border, which isn't an option for a variety of reasons. Singapore does this massively better.

Will be back at some point though. After 10+ years, it has become home to me.

Mat · 05-07-2018, 03:56 PM

Original Post Deleted

Lol on that one.

shri · 05-07-2018, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Mat:

Lol on that one.

There is an amount of truth in it though. And as a city state, certainly more multicultural than HK (politics).

hullexile · 05-07-2018, 04:09 PM

Original Post Deleted

Have I been downgraded from platinum?

Mat · 05-07-2018, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by shri:

There is an amount of truth in it though. And as a city state, certainly more multicultural than HK (politics).

Mulit cultural yes. Political system is far far from great. Point is SGP does better than HK on some stuff (Pollution, housing etc) - I wouldn't have use politics as a comparison point, both are pretty bad in my view (HK and SGP).

freeier · 05-07-2018, 04:15 PM

Original Post Deleted

Perception is one thing, but actually..
Taxes in singapore is no longer low, you have income tax that's almost equivalent with hk, but also a 7~9% GST on consumption. Utilities like electricity/water, which we usually write off as cheap, is expensive like hell in Sg.
Transport, if you use Uber/Grab extensively, is arguably better than hk, but trust me the MRT and Buses are really not that impressive.

freeier · 05-07-2018, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by hullexile:

Have I been downgraded from platinum?

btw, for whatever conception you have, platinum has been cheaper than gold (by a few hundred dollars) for the last few years!

freeier · 05-07-2018, 04:48 PM

Original Post Deleted

if you have a private banking account, or in a way, sufficient sizes, you can indeed get a jpy loan for anything that you want to buy, e.g. a property in hk. however, bear in mind your asset is in hkd, your cashflow (assuming you work in hk) is in hkd, and you have a JPY liability. The last time i saw alot of guys doing that, they ended up getting burnt badly when JPY appreciates against their home/asset currency and they have to pay more.

if you choose to hedge away the currency risk, you would end up paying more interest than your original hkd loan.

MerMer · 05-07-2018, 05:05 PM

I'm due for a holiday and know that my feelings about HK are clouded atm, but I'm ready to move on. We've amassed a lot financially, and it's got to the point where you ask yourself, how much more do we need? Thanks to HK, we are in an incredible financial position, so now it's more important to think about lifestyle - slower pace, clean air, being around friendly people. The countdown is on.