Bibbju, No you are not too old. If what is said repeatedly in the papers everyday is true, then the HK population is aging....I've met more older expats than young ones since moving here. If you want to meet new friends, contacts, whatever who are around your age, try the American Womens' Association. And no, it is not for just American females, but all nationalities belong. It's a non-profit organisation that organises activities for women of all ages/nationalities, and it's great for networking.
I own an apartment in London because I've been based there for the last 15 years with just occasional short trips abroad. But late last year, my company asked me to move to Paris to help develop the Paris business. At first I stayed in a hotel during the week and commuted back to London at weekends but now I am staying in a serviced apartment and here full time. But my company pays my accommodation costs - and food/laundry expenses (within reason of course!) - and I'm still paid my salary in the UK. So, I'm slightly better off in France than I am in the UK - and definitely not worse off like I would be in HK.
The long term plan was that in a few more months, we will discuss moving me to a French contract i.e. no more accom, expenses etc but its already clear that I am too expensive for France lol. Salaries are lower but the cost of living is higher. Clients pay considerably less for consultancy here so its just not viable for me to stay here long term. I am the most expensive person in the entire Paris office - even more than the Global Heads - but hey, you get what you pay for ;-) So hence my US boss wanting to move me to HK...I can earn the company a lot more money in HK because the charge-our rates to clients are so much higher there.
to consider the implication, forget about your current paris package (i.e. housing and food/bev inclusive).. bring yourself back to the UK package then compare it with what you get in hk.
generally having a mortgage to pay in UK can show up as a consideration but not really a good quantitative value to add onto negotiation.
most companies would do a tax equalization and offer you a package based on these.
but also bear in mind having 2 years asian experience under your belt would give you alot more leverage when you next find another job... that's the message we are getting from alot of applicants from UK now.
Thanks for your comments - just to make it clear, I AM comparing UK to HK. Paris doesn't come into it, I was just responding to the question as to why I don't have accom costs in Paris.
From my perspective, my UK mortage most certainly does come into the equation since my employer is asking me to move (not the other way round!) for 2 years but without providing any HK accom. Its unreasonable to expect me to pay for accom in 2 countries to benefit the company - I work for a business not a charity lol - and it was agreed upfront that I will only consider the move if I am not financially worse off. Its key to be aware that they appraoched me, not the other way round.
Two years Asian experience may help me find another job in the future (particularly if I decide to stay in Asia) but to be frank, I already have international experience as I've worked in Paris, Milan, New York and Singapore and I get approached pretty much every day by recruiters (including HK ones - I actually have a phone interview with a HK based bank tomorrow...just testing the water lol). Last year when I changed jobs, I had 5 job offers within 2 weeks of trying to move, and even when I accepted my current role, they others kept making counter-offers. As Mat says earlier in this thread, I think once you get to a certain point in your career, if your experience is strong its not hard to find a decent job. Hence why I'm unwilling to be screwed by my current employer...right now they need me more than I need them. I'm not asking for more money, I'm just asking for the same money! Hardly unreasonable when they're asking me to move to the opposite of the world from my friends and family and work like a dog for them (or rather, carry on working like a dog for them but in a different country lol).
Not sure if you have mentioned it, but why don't you rent out your apartment if you come to HK? Not as if you are going back to the UK every weekend.
Bit complicated but there are some legal restrictions why I can't rent it out - for the first year I'm away anyway. Plus, even if I could, I'd be unwilling to take the risk of renting it out until I was confident that I was secure in HK and that my job was relatively stable (within reason in the current climate) with my own apartment in HK and that my company hadn't screwed me over - or indeed that I was happy and didn't want to come back to London and jack it all in.