dutchy

My husband has had a job offer from a company in Abu Dhabi. We would want to live in Dubai as this is cheaper. The salary package is:
Basic Salary: 14.000 AED
Housing allowance: 84.000 AED
Transportation allowance:2.000AED
Privat health insurance
30 days holiday
1 flight a year

We have no children.. we do like to go out for a meal once a week. Would this be enough to have a reasonable standard of living till I get a job too?

Bob

Welcome to BE!

But, have you tried looking at previous threads on this subject? It is something that pops up almost daily, so I'm sure you'd get a fair idea of things from what other people have said.

kittycat1

It's low for a couple to be honest. You could live on it but I don't think you would save anything at all. if you would be working as well it could be ok. All depends what your husband does for a living- if he's a toilet cleaner its a brillliant package :-)

Any bonus would be based on your basic so its better to get the basic increased rather than the expences.

Flights home, insurance and 30 calander holiday are standard here so nothing special about those.

TGFKASE

Agree with KC...

Low. You'll get an apartment at the right end of DXB for the AD commute, dunno how many beds you'd get tho.

If you are both going to have transportation, you'll need to dig into your salary to get them and, that, with your DEWA etc won't leave a hell of a lot for anything..

mentalist

If you actually get the Dhs84K housing allowance in cash rather than being provided with housing up to the value of Dhs84K, you could save quite a bit by commuting from Discovery Gardens. Otherwise, it does seem to be on the low side.

dutchy

Thanks all for your replies. It looks like we have a lot of negotiating to do before this move will be made.

co durham boy

The deals rubbish

TGFKASE

Agreed, but felt the earlier replies were more constructive....

Bahtatboy

Yeah but no but... Depends what he's earning in UK. If he's not earning--or has the prospect of not doing so fairly soon--and is in an industry that's in the dumps and he has few transferable skills, then take-home pay of GBP 2,400 pcm may be attractive. Stay like Spugsy in Discovery Gardens (33k?), so even with utilities that should give another GBP 600 pcm. Assume that the transportation allowance pay for the car, and something relatively frugal shouldn't cost more than about GBP100 pcm in fuel. That still leaves around GBP3k pcm take home. (I've done this in GBP for the OP's ease.)

If you look at other threads you'll realise that the cost of living is higher here than in the UK, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly. So let's get back into AED (at, say, GBP1 = AED5.8). You'll have AED 17k disposable each month after accommodation and transport costs. Assuming you'll have no expenses in UK, the only essentials you'll need here are food and comms. If you're willing to be frugal two of you can eat well for AED1-2k; a mobile shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred a month. That'll leave, say, AED14k pcm for saving and non-essentials (if you class your social life as non-essential). Only you know how much you need to save / put in a pension, so deduct that and you'll have your discretionary monthly amount.

Going out once a week can cost anywhere between AED200 and 2,000+. I don't know Dubai, but in AD there's a Vietnamese restaurant where you can eat really well for less than 100, a Japanese/Korean for 100, Italian for 150, Lebanese for less than 100, Chinese for less than 100, fish 'n' chips for 60, Indians for 50-150 and so on. All those are per head, without booze (most retaurants aren't licenced); all the (albeit un-named) restuarants I've quoted are excellent (in their own right). Booze prices range from AED20-35 per pint / glass of wine in pubs (several of which have excellent food), 30-50 in some restaurants, bottles of wine from 150. The are plenty of off licences, with prices 10-20% higher than UK supermarkets (but good deals to be had in in-bound Duty Frees).

scrubbedexpat141

What does your husband do?

84k could get you a very nice apartment in the Marina and easy to get to AD from there.

commander

Does the Marina have some kind of Job criteria that needs to be met in order to live there?

TGFKASE

Good grief yes!!!

Don't want it becoming another International Shitty, Disco Gardens etc, do we???

Also, as well as what he does, can we ask what your racial origins are?

dutchy

My husband is an aircraft engineer, he is British and I am Dutch

TGFKASE

Well, job ticks the Marina box...

Hold on tho, what ethnicity?

dutchy

I don't see what this has to do with my original question