sunsolaris

I'm currently living in the States and have been offered a job in Abu Dhabi with a starting salary of AED26,500 per month, car allowance of AED 5000, an accommodation allowance of AED 21,000 and a school allowance of AED6700 each for my two kids only I have total 4. So I will be paying for 2 my own.

Phone/Utilities= 900 permonth, they also offer me AED 55,000 One time for relocation plus they will pay all Visa fees and Air Tickets ....Plus 35 days vacation and flight to home etc...

Is this enough to live a comfortable life with my wife and 4 kids and still put enough away to save for the future?

Can anyone give me an actual breakdown of what I could expect to pay monthly. I do not need a life of excessive luxury, but I do like my creature comforts.

Millhouse

Will you have to pay Uncle Sam some dues when you are away?

sunsolaris

No tax becuase tax only apply if your basic salary avove 100k.

Millhouse

Is the 5k car allowance and the 6k school allowance per month or per year?

sunsolaris

These are per month allowances, So I will get a check for 60,000 AED included all allowances.....

xpatadventure

Try to negotiate your base salary higher as this will affect your end of service gratuity. Schools in Abu Dhabi are quite high compared to Dubai. Depends on your kids' age, you can spend a fortune for their education.

Do they offer your annual tickets home allowance? It's standard.

Good Luck

soukie

Difficult to comment on salary and benefits unless we know the area of work.

Ethos83

I seem to have found this a bit too late.

Your package is 720K for the year which is just about $200K USD. By American standards that's a nice income. Of course if you live in DC or New York or Boston or California, it's a very ordinary income.

You will have to pay *some* taxes as I think the cut off limit is 180K for a couple, so anything above 180K will be taxable. School fees and housing allowances are deemed income by Uncle Sam and cannot be exempted from your income.

All in all, you will be ok in Abu Dhabi. But you won't save as much money as you may anticipate, especially not after factoring in the cost of two more school fees.

Bahtatboy

Dunno about the tax issues, but I second Ethos' view that you'll be ok. BUT it does depend on how you live your life--one man's frugal is another man's lavish. It would certainly be easy to burn through all your money (extravagent second car, club memberships, plenty of meals out, jet skis and so on), and equally possible to live conservatively and save some money (but almost certainly not as much as you expect). Make sure the company pays for (or gives you an allowance for) medical cover for all your family.

Good luck

busybee2

in abu dhabi the company has to provide medical cover for all the family but only for 3 children i believe.

xpatadventure

Dear Busybee2,

Just to confirm, health insurance is free for employee and his family if work in AD? Do you know that it includes dental?

Thanks

busybee2

not necessarily dental, a lot of them do not. they have to provide medical cover but it doesnt have to be good, just basic thats all. but each company is different, we have been here years and have been through many providers as they keep switching them to get a better deal. but no they have to provide you medical insurance but it may only cover at government hospitals etc nothing fancy

Millhouse

I'd say 60k / month isn't enough to live in AD with 4 kids even if schools fees are covered for 2 of them.

Housing and school fees are expensive. You will be wanting a big house for all those kids with a garden. Nothing here will compare to what, I assume you have, in the US.

BB2 will jump in at this point and say ... "but you can live in MBZ for 160k". If you are coming from the US you will not be prepared to live in MBZ... if you are coming from SE Asia you will be.

busybee2

some of the places in mbz arent that bad. but you could live in al reef for a lot less.

sunsolaris

Thanks for everyine prompt response, here is some more information. Medical is covered for the whole family, I already discussuing renting a Villa in Al-reef for 135k Yearly. Kids are not going to American School so the fees will be little less.. I think for 130K Yearly for the all 4 kids. We are bringing our own cars from US along with with ever we can fit in one 40 ft and one 2o ft container. My company is paying for all relocation costs.

So this is what I have line out my fix expanses:

Housing 11250 AED Monthly
School 11250
Car Patrol / Maintenance = 6500 (2 cars)
Monthly Groceries = 5000
Phone= 1500
Club = 1500
Misc = 5000
_____________________
Total 48,000 AED Monthly

I think possible saving may be 5-6K AED Monthly........

Any Thought?