Hello all, was told I was better off posting this thread in this section.

we are family of 4 living in Dubai for almost 4 years now. Hubby works as a senior technology consultant for a global company based in Dubai and earns around 46k per month. His role means he is constantly involved in traveling around the ME, mostly KSA and he’s now reached a point where he is getting pretty fed up and burnt out.

He believes that the cost of living in Dubai has become too high and we are now in fact better off moving back to London in the near future, even if he found a job with less pay back in London (say around 85k in pounds per year).

He is unable to put away any savings here and says we made a big mistake moving abroad knowing that the school fees weren’t covered by the company. Im not sure I agree as I feel that other than uprooting the kids from their school, we are better off staying in Dubai because we would be paying a significant amount of tax in the UK even on £85k per year, let alone £100k. This is in addition to the cost of renting a 3 bed in a good school catchment in west London which would work out to be between £1800-£2000 per month.

Here’s a list of our current yearly outgoings:

115k in school fees for two primary aged children

175k in rent for 4 bed villa in a nice area (we are paying more on rent in order to be much closer to the school and save on getting a second car)

42k on car related outgoings

33k on groceries

24k on utilities/bills

8.4k on weekly cleaning and garden maintenance


The remainder is on recreation, eating out, annual trips back to the Uk, gym membership etc..


Just looking for some feedback, please no harsh comments. I am not very good in dealing with money management generally and leave it to the hubby but in this case I’m perplexed at what is best for us. Thanks!

christmasoompa No I would struggle living outside London as all our family and friends live in West London. That’s the only real appeal for me to go back with the children. I’m the complete opposite of you, I shrivel up in any temperature under 15 degrees:rofl: I’m not saying we have to live close to central London, I’m talking about living in the very outskirts of, such as zone 5 and 6 right next to the M25 where rents would be cheaper anyhow.

Moses2013 do you mean Dubai or Dublin?? Are you saying he should have more job options in Dubai if he’s unhappy in his current role? Because hubby is saying he has looked around in Dubai and cant find a job that is offering him any better pay then what he is on now or even same pay but at least without the constant travel.

NorthernLad Yes I already know where we stand emotionally, now I just want to know in which city we are better off financially if he earned GBP 100k per year, London or Dubai? If we can ageee on finances it’s a start isn’t it?

Also just wanted to add for what it’s worth that I’m no Jumeriah Jane, off shopping in Dubai Mall while the kids are ‘taken care off by a nanny’. I’m at home all week running the household , school runs, after school activities, cooking, volunteering at my kids school, helping out with homework (one of my kids has additional needs) etc....it’s bloody hard work and I’m exhausted end of the day but I’m happy.

I worked part time in London before we moved to Dubai, and I miss that as I couldn’t find that balance over here but I don’t believe in nannies taking care of my kids needs.

ompan thanks for your feedback. Yes in terms of MY personal standard of living I would be downgrading from a 4 bed villa to a 2/3 bed house in the outskirts of London. Not to mention the poor weather which is a big deal for me personally. (Plus the headache of uprooting the children once more, and being worried what kind of schools we get in, no easy feat you must know).

The real issue as Millhouse has figured out, is that my husband has had enough of the nature of his job here. He couldn’t care less about this lovely villa we are currently renting.

I get that he would be able to appreciate it more if he could in fact live inside it more often as he said, and not just on the weekends :p

Neither does he appreciate the ‘good’ schools here. He would rather pay the high income tax in London as he feels they are paying for much needed council services that he benefits from, than for a profit school company. He also wants his kids to experience ‘real life’ and not the bubble life over here.

So basically he can’t see no positives to Dubai and on top of that as carcajou said maybe it’s the end of the road for us :((

My post was trying to understand and get confirmation if we would be better off financially on 85k per year in the UK, compared to 100k per year here in Dubai.

Because the cost of utilities, clothes, groceries and even car related expenses in London (if we get a regular car, not a 4x4) are that much cheaper than in Dubai. Then it ends up being such a marginal difference between 85k London vs 100k Dubai for a family of four. ‘Not worth it being abroad if we cannot put away any savings, and we are better off on home ground’ says hubby. How to argue with that??? Are we satisfied living a comfortable luxurious lifestyle if we cannot in fact save for a rainy day?? He wants to be able to pay off the mortgage on our small flat (which we’re renting out), not just the interest and he cannot.

But my worry is that on 85k back home, we would have downgraded drastically (well for me), and still not be able to make any savings even whilst living in London. But at least we’ll have a better work life balance? Maybe, can’t be any worse than this nonstop travel I suppose.

In terms of job satisfaction I have tried to ask him to talk to his seniors about his constant travel, but he doesn’t want to threaten to leave because it might damage his future job prospects esp if he hasn’t got anything lined up yet. He doesn’t see his position with them open to change as someone said on here, the majority of the work is with Saudi clients, hence ‘all roads lead to Saudi’ in his line of work.

Best of luck for you in Muscat, I hope you enjoy it and it’s financially viable for you as well, certainly will be more than Dubai :lol:

Millhouse love the dog suggestion, if in doubt get a dog :rofl:

I do have a BA in English Literatue from a non-uk uni and a CELTA certificate in teaching English with teaching experience in London. However never found anything part time that fits around my kids school hours esp with husband not home during the week.
Looked into private tutoring as well as I’m bilingual in English and Arabic but that lasted only a few months.

When we first arrived I had actually applied for TA jobs in my local area without much luck. Might be worth looking around once again if that would sway hubby towards staying in Dubai, now that it’s come to this. A job part time like that would be ideal for me as it works around the children’s school hours and means I can be back home without needing a nanny.

Thanks all, unlikely he will find a job in Dubai better than the one he’s in now, it’s been such a slow start to the year.

Am considering moving back to the UK with the kids on my own for a year before hubby joins us. Hope we are making the right choice and that it gives us a chance to save up abit.

Moses2013 possibly in a few years after moving back to London we might consider moving out of London. It all depends where hubby finds work. I see no point in him being stuck in a longer commute and me living somewhere and being miserably lonely. Would feel like I still was living abroad minus the great weather. Would rather in that case we all move back into our tiny flat in London (all squashed up), and save on rent instead.

Millhouse that is unfair to say. I’m the one who’s agreed to move back to his home country despite being happier in the Middle East where I’m from originally. When I married hubby at just 25 years old, I left my all my friends and family to start a new life abroad in the UK. It was hard for me but I adjusted. Now I’m being forced to move back because he’s so unhappy over here in Dubai. Even if we downgraded, he would still be unhappy and want to move back to London, if not this year then in the next three years. I’m not going to ‘live it up’ don’t u worry, I’ll be too busy trying to be in catchment of oversubscribed secondary schools to go drown my sorrows at the local pub.

Also if you read my post he would be staying back in Dubai for ONLY a year at most in order for us to save up some money to transport our belongings back to the UK and hopefully find a secure job in London.