meonline

I moved to start a new job in Dubai 3 weeks ago but I am already finding it hard to see if it will work for me and my family here or not on a cost basis. I have not yet bought a car either as I am in doubt.

I have a small family back in the UK. There is my baby daughter, my wife, my mother and my sister. I want to move all here by the end of the year but reading all the scare stories and hearing of some of the costs of living in Dubai, I am freaked out. My wife works in a building society back in the UK but has a good level of experience in banking and financial services before that working in other countries holding several high position posts. Only me and my wife would be working. I currently earn 15000 AED monthly. My wife has an MBA so I really do not know what kind of salary she could expect to earn. The biggest worries I have are daycare/childcare facilities, and cost(s) of renting a small family villa as my Mum and sister would be moving too. My sister would be working a job of her own but I would need funds to look after my mother who is a diabetic, and a heart patient. So three weeks in, I am wondering if it all going to be possible. I work in the financial services industry, and although the company is solid, I am beginning to doubt that as well. The only plus side is that I am earning 10 times more what i used to earn in the UK.

I have a 4 bedroom house that I will let out, and the rent for that will pay the mortgage. We had a good life in the UK but we struggled to pay bills, and as a result have quite a bit of credit and overdraft debt which I am now paying off.

pauldxb

Are you paid in Dirhams ? Or are your wages pegged to the £ ?

NorthernLad

You're OK sponsoring your immediate family, but I don't think you can sponsor your mother to live here...have you checked this with your company?

You say you earn 15,000 a month (10 times more than UK which equates to 1500dh a month in UK if I read that correctly???)...is that include housing, medical etc...?

If you are earning 15,000 a month in total and have housing, childcare and medical care for your mother I'd say you will struggle.

Did you not check all of this out before moving across??

shiva

you were making 1500aed a month in the uk ie £286/m

seriously though if 15k is your total earnings then doing what you want will be near impossible. to do it you could forget the villa you'll need an apartment instead, probably in ajman, rely on govt healthcare only, you'll need to sponsor your mother which will cost about 10kaed, you might be able to sponsor your sister but its unlikely. you could do it but to be honest it would be a fairly shitty life.
it would work only if your wife could get a job within weeks earning at least the same as you ideally a lot more

Hello.Kitty

Also, it'd be worth looking into whether or not any medical insurance companies would cover your mother, as her conditions could be counted as pre-existing and therefore NOT covered = HUUUUGELY expensive. I'm also not sure if your insurance would cover her. This is where we stop complaining about the NHS! lol!

Childcare is on a par with the UK in terms of cost... hmm, well, maybe. My local nursery does 5 days a week childcare for 10500AED/term. In terms of standard of care, it varies hugely and can be quite, er... not up to scratch.

You could also choose to sponsor a nanny (more sponsorship!) which would be cheaper, but then again (some would disagree with me here) they are generally untrained in any kind of childcare and so are glorified babysitters with often poor english.

meonline

No, the priority was to move to Dubai in the short term to help pay the bills back in the UK. My mortgage back in the UK is my biggest expense at 1008.50 per month. I guess then, I will focus on paying my debts and moving back to the UK.

Spugsy

that was one reason why me and the wife came over, but once you find somewhere to rent, furnish it, get yourself sorted, get a car etc you'll be lucky to start saving anything for at least 6 months,

after a year I've started sedning cash back, about £1,500 a month, but I could pay more if I reined my drinking in.

B Bear

Leave familiy in the UK.

Share accommodation or studio flat.

Minimise outgoings.

Save every last penny.

pauldxb

reined my drinking in - LOL

Spugsy

reckon I've spent over aed 2k in the last week on drink as we had mates over, thats quite a bit.

lionheart

I find it hard to believe that you are earning 10 times what you did in the UK. So you were earning less than GBP3,375 per year? How did you manage to secure a mortgage on that salary? You need to review your figures as I think your arithmetic is way off.My advice would also be to leave your family at home if you are only paid AED15,000 per month, presumably without any housing allowance.

Bison

That's what I do and is the best advice you will get, take it.

Bison

Mischief Queen

Not sure what Dubai rents are like but your entire salary wouldn't cover your rent on a 4 bedroom villa in Abu Dhabi!!! You're going to end up collecting more debts, not paying them off... dangerous stuff in a country where you get jailed for non-payment of debt.

chiciquita

I agree that you need to do some serious thinking and some background work, maybe your wife could look up/apply for a job before she joins you or maybe you should take her CV into some recruitment consultants that specialise in banking/finance jobs