nickmax1

I am being offered a job with an insurance company in the DIFC. I live in London with my wife and 1 year old boy.
Package being offered: US$100,000 a year, car,accomodation and utilities allowance (undisclosed) healthcare, 1 trip back to the UK. Are these satisfactory terms? Can I live on that?

I am english, wife Brasilian.

Where should we live? We would like a secure complex or a safe flat but close to the DIFC. I am used to a 15 min bike ride to work but i dont think thats possible in 40 degrees!! But still want to be 20 mins away or so. Preferably somewhere near a park?

Is there any life there? is it any good for housewives?

kittycat1

Hi Nick,

Ok, you need all the details, knowing what some people earn out here it sounds to me like a mediocre package for a guy of your age and family commitments. Would you be on a bonus scheme as well?

However if the package includes full accommodation covered ( i get an allowance but it does not cover my rent), and you should look at school fees as well as this isnt cheap here so you would want those covered too. Before you can really consider this you need to know what they are offering with all the extras to work out if its worth your while.

Make sure flights are for the family not just you.

Check the level of healthcare being covered- mine doesnt include dental which is expensive out here, and also mine is a very basic cover.

They dont have compounds in Dubai- its normally living have a look at www.dubizzle.com for the sort of living available.

It all comes down to what you are used to and what lifestyle you want.

Im sure there are some on here with similar size families that will be able to give you a clearer idea, but I would ask for all the information before you can make a considered decision.

Yes plenty of housewives out here so Im sure your wife would be fine.

Welcome to the bored btw

Kittycat
xxx

nickmax1

kittycat1

Yes i would be on a bonus scheme (10-20%)

You think this isnt enough to live comfortably? That is disappointing. The accomodation is an allowance and as i understand it would cover most of a fancy villa. School fees havent been discussed but as my boy is just 1 that is a few years away (and i plan on making Dubai a 2-3 year deal)
Flights are for the whole family.
Healthcare is a complete package excluding plastic surgery, so yes dental is covered.

Hopefully there are others in my position who can give me more of an idea as to what salary I should be getting for a comfortable lifestyle. In london i am in a simple 2 bed house (small), no car, cycle to work, earning 48,000 pounds gross salary, so i thought this would be a jump up the career ladder!!

kittycat1

I just think there are better offers about- if the offer includes all the accommodation paid for hen its a good deal but if it only covers some of your accommodation then its not so good.

The thing here is contracts can be misleading- if they are offering you a 3 bed apartment in international city or if they are offering you 60K towards rent or perhaps 150K towards rent they are all very different offers. Id get it clarified before considering it. My allowance is about 2/3 of what i actually pay so you may end up paying some of your salary towards it.

Im accounting for the fact that your wife won't be working so you all will live off the one income, which is fine but if you want to save I dont think there will be loads left each month.

Its not a bad offer but you just need all the details clarified. Sorry Im a bit hungover today so perhaps not as clear as I was trying to be- I wouldnt say dismiss the position- just get the full offer first.

nickmax1

Hehe fair enough kittycat, will get the full offer first, i was expecting on that salary to have loads of cash left at the end of the month for savings, so i will better get it in writing what they are offering.

Thanks

nick

PS - hope you recover from your hangover, that must have been an expensive night!!

kittycat1

Nick,

Just to give you an idea I earn around 70 US$ + bonus a year and I am in my mid 30's no kids. However I have to pay everything out of that- my rent is about a quarter of my salary, and i still save about 2500 US$ a month. I'm single but dont live an extravagant lifestyle.

Actually it wasnt too bad - ive been off the booze so was my first drink in a while so a pretty cheap date lol

xxx

kittycat1

also remember you need to be here for a full financial tax year to avoid paying tax.

Millhouse

Hang on...

You 100k USD = 30.5k AED/month
+ Housing= if a villa, I "assume" 140-160k AED year = 11-13k AED / month
+ Car = c.3k / month
+ utilities = c.1k /month

Package ... 46k / month (ish) + bonus that may not come.

For insurance that isn't too bad. It's not banking after all.

You could easily live on that with only one pre-school kid. Even when the time comes you would be able to cover the school fees easily.

I reckon with the main costs covered you would be spending 10-15k of your 'salary'. Hence saving around 15-20k AED / month. That isn't too shameful for sure. Check our the polls on what people spend and save here. You'd be inline with everyone else.

Like KC says - just check out the details on the allowances.

Millhouse

Oh, no reasonably priced villas within 20mins of DIFC. 25 mins to the ranches / springs by car. Loads of flats nearby which are cheap though.

nickmax1

interesting Millhouse,

My package band is US$140,000 if i fought for it, looks like that will have to be the way forward if they want me out there badly enough!

Millhouse

140k USD = 42k AED / month. If this is "all in" then that is perfectly doable. Not ground breaking but OK.

If it's + accommodation then it's a quite a good package. Look at the construction bods with 20 years experience on 35k AED/month all in.

Look at it the other way... you are doubling your current salary and getting it tax free.

nickmax1

Yes tax free is effectively trebling my salary - i will find out what the company means by rent/car/utilities allowance and see how much that adds up to as well.

I need to have some money left over for beers to cool down over there!!

nickmax1

Has anyone used this calculator?

http://crap-free.com/dubai-expat/cos...llars-gbp-aed/

even being quite optimistic with my needs (ie a 3 bed villa, a 4x4 car, famaily size of 3 the calculator says i will need US$68,000 a year leaving the rest for luxuries/drinks??

Blue Cat

you need to find out if that salary is broken down into different allowances and get back to us.

Use www.dubizzle.com to check out property prices. Someone said there were no villas near DIFC, Jumeirah is a 15 minute car drive, concentrate on Safa Park area. I saw a three bed single story on a compound there for 160 k just to give you an idea.

Good Luck

Millhouse

Was it nice? I said reasonable... I couldn't see anything worth living in for under 200k there.