HK Monthly Budget, Need Advice.

[KnowItAll]

>> But in my case, I will only get the full share of employer contribution if I
>> stay for 10 years! is that standard?

That was what my company had in place. My contract stated that the 10 years on a sliding scale which started at 20% at 5 years, would be the entire amount of time I was employed with them and not just Hong Kong .. or the MPF setup time.

[Mat]

Believe the ORSO scheme is only available to those who joined before MPF was in place. Thus new recruits can only join MPF (I maybe wrong here.)

The ORSO plan is still proposed nowadays.

As for Coolgirl yes it is based on the scale
1 year 10% of your employer contribution + 100% of yours
2 years 20% of your employer contribution + 100% of yours
3 years 30% of your employer contribution + 100% of yours
..and so on

[freeier]

i don't think there is a seggregation between your contribution and employer's contribution.
u only get back watever percentage along the sliding scale of the whole sum in the account.

but again i think it depends on company and prob each company has their own policy.

[coolgirl]

i joined only recently but i can choose between the 2 schemes.
for orso, u only get back 10%, 20%, 30% of watever in the scheme in a upward sliding scale.. i.e. 1year u get 10%, 2yeras 20%, etc.etc. that's how coolgirl need to stay 10years to get back all, but u can get back some.. 8-P

exactly. i estimated the breakeven between MPF and ORSO to be around 2 years...

so it's standard then, not just my employer's way of ripping us off, hehehe...

back to topic, it really depends how your lifestyle is. what you posted are minimums. The studio apartment rental is quite generous actually.

[mjk]

My company told me that I can forget about MPF as long as I am contributing in any other way for my retirement (in another country). On the MPF website it states that you are exepmt if you work here for less than 13 month or if you "are member of retirement schemes of a place outside Hong Kong".

[coolgirl]

i don't think there is a seggregation between your contribution and employer's contribution.
u only get back watever percentage along the sliding scale of the whole sum in the account.

but again i think it depends on company and prob each company has their own policy.

actually, Mat is correct. You get your share. It does not make sense that they would even earn money from you

[ckone]

Really thanks for all your input.

1. About the VP title:
I worked in treasury dept in IB as derivative sales. Basically, every sales here are VPs. The senior VP with at least 7 years working experience can earn about HKD1.2 Mio. So the bonus based on your deals are quite important.

2. About the lifestyle: Your advise on the food and entertainment expense are very useful. Eatingout+Weekendhangout+Gym will cost lots in HK. I will bump them up to HK 8000.

Many thanks for your replies. They are extremely helpful

[Mat]

i don't think there is a seggregation between your contribution and employer's contribution.
.

Don't know for all companies in HK but at least in few banks, it does work that way (ie: seggregation between ur contribution and the employer's.

[freeier]

actually, Mat is correct. You get your share. It does not make sense that they would even earn money from you

hmm.. not sure if its logical.
in the states if u quit a job u lose your pension. so i'd expect pensions to be structured that way. that's why they give u an option not to pay anything at all. if i can get back all those i paid then i'd definitely have gone for the max contribution and effective i get a 10% pay increment from the company. even if i work just 3 years i'd get 3% extra pay over 3 years.

also, to compute 'getting back 100% of employee contribution and 30% of employer' is not easy, because the sum of money are growing and the contribution is uneven. i.e. u'd have to do an ellaborate equation to compute everything... who's got that equation ?

[coolgirl]

hmm.. not sure if its logical.
in the states if u quit a job u lose your pension. so i'd expect pensions to be structured that way. that's why they give u an option not to pay anything at all. if i can get back all those i paid then i'd definitely have gone for the max contribution and effective i get a 10% pay increment from the company. even if i work just 3 years i'd get 3% extra pay over 3 years.

also, to compute 'getting back 100% of employee contribution and 30% of employer' is not easy, because the sum of money are growing and the contribution is uneven. i.e. u'd have to do an ellaborate equation to compute everything... who's got that equation ?

hmm.. going to ask HR now, or else I'll bump down mine to zero! that's a losing proposition!