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  • 6 Post By shri
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Job offer - is it enough for a Family ?

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  1. #1

    What is a good salary for a family ?

    We are looking at moving to Hong Kong, what is a good expat salary if you want to live say Happy Valley or Discovery Bay in a management role ? If they add schooling and housing into your salary but pay for dental and insurance what would be a good figure. We have one child at secondary school.

    Last edited by Alicefour; 13-06-2014 at 06:07 AM.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    Depends on your current standard of living and where you are now?


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    Let me pluck a random figure from the air. 1 million dollar!! On a serious note, calculate how much is your living costs now and convert it to HKD.

    Last edited by WMDS; 13-06-2014 at 06:45 AM.

  4. #4

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    Before you worry about salaries - figure out how you're going to get your son into a school. Secondary is generally easier than primary 1, but there will be some significant hurdles and costs involved.

    Management salaries - very much sector specific.

    Dental and Insurance are pretty insignificant if you're moving from the US. A good insurance policy will cost less than USD1K per year a top end policy will run around USD5K+ a year. This should ideally be paid for by your company.

    Schooling + Housing will be your major costs.

    Housing - depends on how high in the sky you want to live. Happy Valley - budget for 40-60K+ depending on the size of your family and how large / posh your space needs to be. I think DB should be in the similar range.

    Schooling - budget for USD$2K per month at an international school on the high end. PLUS debentures / levy (start up / one time costs) which can be pretty significant.

    Food - Again, depends on how much you want to spend. Organic / freshly flown in food from exotic locations costs a lot more than say "china chicken". Fair few cost saving options, but best to review some of the grocery sites like parknshop.com and wholesalers like leosfinefood.com to get an overview.

    Public Transportation - Bet it is cheaper than anywhere you're moving from.

    Private Transportation - Parking is expensive. You may want to factor in an apartment with a car park. Cars are useful if you've got to play chauffeur to a bunch of kids.

    Eating out, holidays around Asia, random purchases gadgets, utilities, clothing.... all variable.

    So.... no real short answer to your question, other than ... you're going to get paid as much as the company that wants to pay you....

    kimwy66, ghkg, LifeInHK and 3 others like this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    Wrong side of the door to hell
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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Before you worry about salaries - figure out how you're going to get your son into a school. Secondary is generally easier than primary 1, but there will be some significant hurdles and costs involved.

    Management salaries - very much sector specific.

    Dental and Insurance are pretty insignificant if you're moving from the US. A good insurance policy will cost less than USD1K per year a top end policy will run around USD5K+ a year. This should ideally be paid for by your company.

    Schooling + Housing will be your major costs.

    Housing - depends on how high in the sky you want to live. Happy Valley - budget for 40-60K+ depending on the size of your family and how large / posh your space needs to be. I think DB should be in the similar range.

    Schooling - budget for USD$2K per month at an international school on the high end. PLUS debentures / levy (start up / one time costs) which can be pretty significant.

    Food - Again, depends on how much you want to spend. Organic / freshly flown in food from exotic locations costs a lot more than say "china chicken". Fair few cost saving options, but best to review some of the grocery sites like parknshop.com and wholesalers like leosfinefood.com to get an overview.

    Public Transportation - Bet it is cheaper than anywhere you're moving from.

    Private Transportation - Parking is expensive. You may want to factor in an apartment with a car park. Cars are useful if you've got to play chauffeur to a bunch of kids.

    Eating out, holidays around Asia, random purchases gadgets, utilities, clothing.... all variable.

    So.... no real short answer to your question, other than ... you're going to get paid as much as the company that wants to pay you....
    Should be a sticky.
    Fiona in HKG and Cwbguy like this.

  6. #6

    Join Date
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    We are working on a cost of living thingy for 2014.