Haggis68

Hi there,

thought I would start a brief thread on salaries and money, yes i know its private, when im about to leave all i know and travel half way across the world i want to know if what we as a couple are going to have enough to enjoy all of those exotic places we keep seeing on the internet.

me and my other half are going to be living in Ipoh from August for two years or more (depends if we like it).

i have looked at the cost of living i know most costing around rentals etc etc and car leasing.

our combined salary will be 15,500 per month gross.

are we just going to survive?
are going to be seeing nice places when on holiday?
are we going to be living in a nice pad ?

or are we going to need to be careful and take as much stuff out there as we can so we dont have to re buy when there.

This post is in no way supposed to irke people if they earn less, it is all we will have and i need to know what it will do for us in general, we will if honest have to send some home at first a well. Also she will be working very hard for that money.

thanks in advance.

kingoflostfools

For Ipoh, this will be more than adequate to rent a house or apartment, lease a car for two years, do weekly shopping and have money for weekend getaways and vacations around the region.

My typical monthly spending living in Penang (which is more expensive than Ipoh) is about 4,000 RM, although I forgo a car in place of a motorcycle because of the awful congestion here. Ipoh does not have this problem.

bakedbean

15,500 ringgits a month sounds like plenty to me, though I note you have put GROSS. Presumably there won't be much tax taken off? I presume you will know how much? I wouldn't know as I don't do tax

Britmal

I think RM15k per month is nowhere near enough, particularly if that is your combined income.

You should look for a minimum of RM25k pm.

kingoflostfools

Where in Malaysia are you living then? Sure 25kpm is much better than 15kpm if offered the opportunity, but this was more about cost of living including rent, car, utilities, groceries and vacation money.

I would honestly struggle to spend 10,000 RM per month, let alone NEED 25,000 RM per month.

Britmal

Well let's have a look shall we: A reasonable, decent apartment in KL is 5k pm minimum, car rental 2k pm (or car purchase 1k pm plus initial deposit) utilities 1k pm.

So approx 7k pm left to pay for your kids education, shopping, incidental expenses, eating out and etc.

You think 15k pm is enough? How much are you going to save out of your RM15k pm minus local income tax?

Expats who accept underpriced work here effectively destroy the market for those of us who have lived and worked here for many years, and who understand the true cost of living and working here.

If you are happy to work for RM15k pm then please earn it in the UK or EU, don't come here on underpriced contracts and screw things up for the rest of us.

bakedbean

Ditto. This seems like a very odd figure to me. We are two of us. Ok no rent...we have our own home but we drink, run cars, run aircon and we usually get away with 5000 to 6000 ringgits per month. (Excludes medical/hospital stuff)

kingoflostfools

Jesus - that's more than double what I pay in Penang and Ipoh is cheaper still.

Equally, my utilities (Water, Power and Internet) are in total a couple of hundred RM a month.

I know Kuala Lumpur is expensive, but that's extortionate. Glad I don't live there.

Haggis68

Britmal,

you semed irked by all of this, if i can help slightly, we have no kids, so forget the education costs, we know that rents here for a nice place (look online) are between 1300 and 2000 per month luxury place 2500 max all furnished and with extras thrown in and you can still haggle on the price apparently.

cars and leasing trough the school are (as being paid an lived through currently at todays rates by school members) between 1300 and 1600 depending on luxury of your car choice. so your figures are for KL clearly and not Malaysia in general.

your comment about ''dont come out here on questionable valued contracted rates cos it screws it up for the rest of us'' seems a tad harsh and i am sure will garber debat for all who see it and it says a little about you really, its also the same wage youd get for the same job in the UK at a rate of 5.5, but there are very few jobs in the UK its is saturated with over employed people and companies looking to get cheap employment from inexperienced people instead of paying for quality, so the world became a little smaller in our search for work.

my concern not being an earner was more about could two live on it and survive ok. others seemed to have helped in that matter.

cheers all again.

Britmal

Well there you go, that is the going rate.

Rm15k pm is in no way a realistic salary for any western expat who is considering a move to Malaysia, in fact I would regard that amount as a positive insult.

With all due respect to 'bakedbean', we are talking here about coming to Malaysia to work and to earn money, and not simply retiring here in a house which you already own.

The fact is you are not going to save any significant amount here on a salary of 15k pm, you will get by but that's about it.

All things considered, I believe that Rm25k pm should be the minimum salary baseline for anyone considering a move to Malaysia.

ex reg

The opening question can be considered 'pointless' inasmuch as many people will spend differently.

We ourselves tend to live quite simple lives although we enjoy ourselves very much but might be considered to spend little.

I know many people in similar situations to us who spend double or more than we do.

It is horses for courses.

InVinoVeritas

Hi Haggis68.

It seems your post has stepped on a landmine!

As KoLF and BB have said, RM15,500 gross pm is going to be more than enough to live well in Ipoh. In fact, you could start looking at some pretty nice holidays around SE Asia during the school holidays.

Now that would make for a fun thread, picking out some choice spots in Bali (hello Davita), Singapore (hello exreg) as well as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Personally, I would like to check ouit Burma but BE doesn't seem to have anyone in place there as yet.

bakedbean

And with all due respect to you too, I think we have ascertained that there is a comparison between apples and oranges here. Haggis won't be moving to KL (like you) and doesn't have the burden of kids. It's just two folks.

But carry on.....great discussion.

bakedbean

I think you can get some ball park figures on the big numbers:
rental for accomm
Car costs / rental
Utilities (KolF gives a good ballpark figure.)
Then you add the social stuff .....booze, holidays.
Are med costs covered? Quite important
Tax? Seriously are the tax rates good? I suspect it's quite low income tax ,no?

Haggis68

Thank you all,

Britmal - if we could earn more that would be great maybe in the future when she is settled in she may get an improved offer but its a start, but its good to know that better offers can be negotiated.

Ex Reg - we also live simply if honest, we are a been there done that sort of age and chill most of the time, im also Scottish so pretty tight and well we dont need for much either so we are not aggressive spenders, we love music and art and so these things dont cost a lot, lying on the beach or by the pool is by its very nature cheap, the most expensive thing for me will probably be joining a golf club if at all possible as this seems a nice hobby to get into in Malaysia. eating from Hawker stalls is something i cant wait to do as well, i dont eat in posh places here so wont need to there.

in verito - critical thinking honest and open discussion is what the world need rights now...landmines or not, i dont think i have insulted anyone...and have no intention of doing so, just looking for honesty and clarity to help me on my way. as you were talking about trips and nice places does any one know how much that eastern orient express costs and is it fun to train it up and down the country - love trains me.

thanks again for honesty form everyone.

regards