Which is why I said the advice may be appropriate to the OP. You can live on the island and not spend your social time having cocktails in LKF, my issue was generalising from what young, single, reasonably well paid to very well paid expats do to the majority of expats.Original Post Deleted
Oops here I go again, painting generalised pictures of guys and setting unrealistic expectations for newcomers
I personally think it is doable whilst living on the island. You can find a room in a shared apartment in SYP, Sheung Wan, Wanchai or CWB for around 10k per month. You could even get a small studio and not have to share for that price. Your tax will be 15% so you need to make sure you save that, plus your $1500 for MPF (retirement fund). Bills could be around $2k per month, which would leave you with around $23k which is not bad at all. Bills could be around
You might not be able to save as much as you are used to, but you can still have a decent expat life. Yes, you wont be able to have fancy dinners every day, but there are heaps of deals and happy hours out there, so you can certainly make it work.
Travel is also a lot cheaper from HK, and if you keep an eye on the deals you can have 3-4 small trips a year easily on that.
I guess it all just depends on the type of lifestyle you are used to and what you like to do in your spare time.
I know plenty of expats who live comfortably on that salary.
You have to factor in the tax rate as well, 43k/month if based on UK tax rate, where I'm from (which I'd imagine is similar to Aus/Nz) is the equivalent to earning £75k/annum which makes a massive difference.
One thing to bear in mind is that people are very savvy in hk, you may find a cheaper place on the island but there will invariably be a good reason for that (noisy neighbours, bug problems, condition of rooms). I havent rented for a while but try not to get locked into a long contract and sign a shorter duration rental term so you're not locked in if anything goes wrong with the property.
I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say Acho is generalizing Soho/LKF.
Yes the $30 noodles are very tasty but there are plenty of places in the area where you can get a pizza, burger, kebab roll, sandwich, salad, indian takeaway, etc. for under $100. If the OP is working late and doesn't cook those are all easy options for a typical work night dinner.
Even if she does go clubbing on a weeknight there are plenty of good deals to be had. Many places provide free antipasto/canapes so for the price of that $120 cocktail you get free food too. There are also a few places that do ladies night on different days where ladies drink absolutely free.
On weekends if you want to have a nice dinner and go clubbing afterward, yes it can be over $500 but there are only 8-9 Fridays & Saturdays a month so that would be only about 10% of her salary. Easily doable if you are young and single.
to be honest, places like tsueng kwan o (20mins - mtr source) and hung hom bay (21 mins - mtr source) is doable with that budget and depending on your lifestyle, do you want to live in high rise with decent clubhouse facilities? ie, 500 sq ft with swimming pool and gym, even mini bowling alley and some newer places have even private mini cinemas, or do you want to be close to the action for night life and drinking social life, thus, living within HK island and don't mind living in a 250 sq ft for the same price ?
How about living somewhere like this?
https://www.weavecoliving.com/our-property/