brogers66

Hi All,

Apologies in advance for another thread related to the likely expenditure topic, but myself and my family (wife and 2 year old son) will be moving to Dubai at the start of October and I'd appreciate some validation or challenge on my sums!

Have already read through the "is it worth it" spreadsheet and think I'm on the right track, but as a sucker for comforting words, would be delighted if I can get some feedback on the below..

I'll be earning 300,000 per annum - 25k per month.

In addition, my son's nursery fees are paid for and medical insurance, annual flights home and mobile plans are provided as well.

So, to the monthly spends... I'm basing this on renting a three bed villa in Arabian Ranches. Agent fee and municipal fee I have already saved for, and shipping our belongings over is covered too..

Housing - 11667
water / gas / elect - 1200
savings - 6000
tv / internet - 500
Car - 1500
Leisure - 1000
food - 2000
Other misc spends - 900

Appreciate this is pretty high level, and to be honest, we're moving for the professional and personal experience, so am not overly precious about saving a reasonable amount either, so there is some flex in the above.

Any thoughts, feedback, sobering realities or comments would be great!

Thanks for reading,

Ben

Johnnyboy11

Factor in a pension for both you and your wife. You both want to be saving at least 15% of your income and I'd suggest you also look at paying voluntary National Insurance Contributions for your UK State Pension.

Also be aware of your Residency Status for UK tax purposes. April 6th 2019 is the earliest date you will be confirmed as Non-Resident. Your wife's circumstances may differ if she is not working full-time.

Be mindful that the GBP is very weak at present, so factor in a more normal exchange rate (say 5.5 - 6.5) into any comparison with your current UK package.

For a family, 25k/ month is way to low in my opinion. Out by a factor of two.

Millhouse

Spot on.

As a family of three living in the ranches (Inc school fees of 4k a month) we easily burnt off 35-38k a month.

scrubbedexpat141

25k with a wife and nipper? Why the Ranches?

Why not get a two bed somewhere sensible and save more?
Look at JLT or Business Bay or Silicon Oasis or JVT / JVC if it has to be a villa / townhouse (depends where your work is).

I'm also sure a 3bed villa in the Ranches will be more than 1200 a month for DEWA when you've hammered the AC through summer?

Will your wife work?

UKMS

As Scamp has alluded you might struggle to get a decent 2/3 bed in Arabian Ranches for your budget (by decent I mean in reasonable condition and with nothing else wrong that makes it cheaper). Plenty of other nice places to live here.

Your DEWA standing charge will be just shy of 600 (at the budget youve set) before you use any electric or water. Something else to consider is whether your employer covers education fully or is it just nursery fees to a certain age ? Temporary accommodation when you arrive ?

Your estimate on food and Leisure might be low especially with a family.

From my own recent experience setting up a home is not cheap and whatever your budget you will almost certainly exceed your estimates, at least while you are settling in and finding your feet.

Dont take the comments on here as negative ..... they are just realistic

DXBtoDOH

You are the first person I've ever heard of who received nursery fees as part of his package. Everyone else just gets school fees but not including nursery, assuming they get school fees.

Your offer of 25k a month is a decent offer...for a single in his 20s. Maybe pushing 30. That's by the standards of Western expat Dubai.

For a family with a newborn baby on your income this is what I would budget for:

Housing: 2-bedroom apartment in JLT: 90,000 AED (7500 month)
DEWA: 375 housing tax + water/electricity - 700
District cooling (air conditioning): 500 month average
TV/internet: 350 a month
Food: 3,000 a month
1 x rental car + petrol + salik: 2,200 month
Leisure: 1500 a month (And this is very tight)

Total: 15750 - 16000 a month

Now, in theory this looks doable as you still have 9,000 a month left over, but this is strictly in theory. You most likely will be spending closer to 20k all in as food, leisure, misc expenditures all adds up quickly.

Then what about holidays? Clothing? Babies are expensive, I believe?

Last but not least, the start up costs are enormous. To rent a property you need to pay a 5% commission to the agent (who does diddly squat), plus 5% deposit, and the actual rent itself is usually paid in 1-4 cheques for the year. Then there's deposits for the district cooling and DEWA and internet packages. Then there's furnishing the flat. It gets very expensive very quickly.

You can probably do it for a year or two if you don't mind being somewhat quiet and not living the high life but no matter what you think I would always be trying to save as much of your income for the inevitable rainy day. Which happens too much in the UAE

* I selected JLT as an example because it's a decent place with two metro stops your wife could use to keep herself from going crazy with boredom and it's cheaper than the Marina. But it's not the only place to live. I normally wouldn't pick JLT because you need to pay for a/c, unlike in the Marina, where a/c is included in your rent for most buildings. Someone on your income should pay attention to these little differentials because they can add up quickly.

brogers66

Hi all,

Thanks for the comprehensive replies, it's most appreciated!

I'm not too precious on Arabian Ranches, but from my research, it looked like one of the more pleasant places to live and - quite importantly -
It seems a bit greener, which is useful because we're bringing the dog too!

Any suggestions as to places to live that satisfy the 'pets allowed' criteria and provide reasonable outside space for exercise would be great!

Have already saved for security deposits, agent fees and the like, so just focussing on cost of living for the time being.

Thanks again,

Ben

Millhouse

leave the dog at home. he will hate you for bringing him here.

brogers66

Any particular reason? The heat aside obviously..

This has been something I've been toying with for a while. He's part of the family, so don't want to leave him behind, and was hoping that by coming over in November, he'd have a chance to acclimatise a little.

On the flip side though, I don't want to put him through the stress of the move if I can't give him the exercise he needs...

DXBtoDOH

Don't be daft.

Plenty of people have dogs in Dubai. The dogs are fine.

When it's hot just take the walks early morning and late night.

DXBtoDOH

If you want a "green" community look at the Greens. All apartments. Lots of pet owners and a lake to walk around.

You want an apartment, not villa. Apartments have lower monthly operating costs. With your income you really need to be careful on how much you spend for housing and going for an apartment is a big cost savings over a villa.

Greens is also "chiller free" so you pay nil for air conditioning usage. You'll have to up your budget a bit compared to JLT but the differential is partly eaten away by the lack of district cooling charges.

Another possibility is Motor City (right next to the Ranches). It's further out relative to the Greens/Marina/JLT but apartments are large and there's greenery. However, there's also district cooling charges (bleugh) and no easy access to the metro.

scrubbedexpat141

I honestly don't see 25k for family of three plus dog working.
Does / could your wife work?

Millhouse

Dogs don't like flying, it can screw them up.

Then there is the walking... well lack of, if it requires a lot of walking then it'll be trapped inside all day.

Millhouse

Correct - last thing you want is to shove them in a flat.

DXBtoDOH

You speak from personal experience?