Well this is more or less what I did.
ME: Boss can I work remotely from Australia doing the same job I do now in IT and supporting the whole Asia Pacific region as I do now?
BOSS: No, fuck off.
ME: But if you say yes, you can save $250k/year in international school fees you pay for my 2 kids in Hong Kong. Then just pay around $120k/year in flights and hotels and I promise I'll come to HK and work in the office for one week every month.
BOSS: OK sounds great.
This was in Jan 2020. I've still got the job now, just the travel bit never quite worked out as planned.
Well we have a grown up kid, he studied at Eton and now happily back in HK studying to be a doctor..Original Post Deleted
Yeah for me was the same. Even though my company agreed to let me work remotely and pay a similar salary, I took an effective cut due to Australian taxes. But it was the right move for me and definitely worth it. Also was a decision I had come to before NSL and COVID, but the 2019 political drama definitely helped solidify my decision making and rule out any second thoughts I had in my head at the time.Original Post Deleted
It’s incredibly dependent on where you leave to. Our home city in the US was a Covid hotspot and schools were closed for more than a year. So leaving for schooling simply wasn’t an option.Original Post Deleted
They’ve been back fairly normally now in HK since spring and my friends at home are fearful of sending their own kids back in the next few weeks due to rising delta cases. In some US states public schools cannot require masks or vaccinations for students or teachers.
Bit odd to see the need to convince anyone one way or the other whether HK is a good place to live. Different strokes for different folks. Even if it's something as crude as tax residency ... don't really see that much difference as a factor as ultimately money in pocket has direct quality of life impact. Everyone makes their own trade offs
We’re not rich enough to move somewhere with no jobs and no ties to family and friends. So yes first stop would be where we own a property and our companies have offices already.Original Post Deleted
What’s with the snark?!
You need help if attacking people you don’t know on a forum for a city you left years ago is your main hobby.Original Post Deleted
When wondering why someone would stay in HK when they could afford to live elsewhere you cannot ignore the pull of 'home'
There might be many reasons why people call a place home and they are not always rational or easily definable.
We could have stayed in HK longer, the money was good and we lived in a nice place but it didnt feel like home. When we came back to the UK we could have lived anywhere but instead chose where we had lived for the previous 25 years even though it is quite unremarkable in many ways. Why? Because friends are here and we know it well. It's comfortable. HK lacked Al lot in terms of culture/entertainment that we wanted. At our stage in life getting a lovely house on a Greek island or whatever really doesn't appeal. Long hours of travel do but we'll still come home.
It's pointless criticising those that choose to stay put even if they have means to leave. We are all different. Accept it.
and for some of us who grew up as TCKs, nowhere really feels like 'home'...