csdf

To be fair we'd probably reduce our groceries bill by 30% if my other half stopped using Spinneys and Waitrose.

Discovery Bullet

All seems reasonable, but you need to budget for fun, kids expenses, beers and whores....then savings.

I'm with your other half, one look at the funny looking Brazilian meat in Carrefour and it's straight back to Waitrose.

Ilovegregggs

of course, just needed to look at the basics first. Quite a bizarre time with salaries in my field atm.

Discovery Bullet

What's your field?
Bizarre good or bad?

The race to the bottom in the UAE is insane at the moment. People posting jobs for buttons and getting so much interest. The desire to be here seems to outweigh sense for a lot of folks.

Ilovegregggs

urban planning/design.
This is what I'm seeing also. Currently I've got a pretty good package, but in the UAE it seems to be about a 50% reduction for a horizontal move, needing to find a director level position to come close. Though some hope on client side to not quite match, but not as serious a reduction as a consultancy role. One I'm ok with given the improvement to quality of life from rural Saudi Arabia..

Discovery Bullet

How rural are you? Up in the North West?

Saudi to UAE is a tricky one, used to command a nice increase going the other way, but people never liked the decrease to come back to Dubai. Maybe some of the bigger boys like your Aecoms etc are worth looking at? Atkins have a lot here, or whatever they're called now.

jagcv4

Hi have you now moved to Abu Dhabi and how are you finding it? I am a single person and planning to move to Abu Dhabi on a similar package at 40k AED per month including medical insurance. Some of my friends mentioned that to live a decent life expenses would be like around 20,000 AED split as follows

rent - 9000 AED
Food - 1500 AED
Maid - 500 AED
Petrol - 1000 AED
TV BB - 600 AED
Elec - 500 AED
Mobile - 300 AED
Eating out - 1000 AED
Car rental - 1000 AED
Other costs - 2000 AED

Can you share your thoughts please as to how are you finding this now? Appreciate your help.

UKMS

A couple of observations, some of this will relate to your own lifestyle and expectations.
Petrol @1000 could be high but depends how far your commute is
Maid @500 what are your expectations ? Just an occasional cleaner or a live in Maid ?
Electricity @ 500 could be a little low across the year but will depend on your apartment and what is/isnt included also need to factor Water
Eating out - Depends where and how often
Car rental @1000 could be a little low

jagcv4

Thanks for your response. I will be mostly commuting in Abu Dhabi with weekend travel to Dubai. But may scale this down to 500 AED as Petrol is cheaper. The Maid is just an occasional cleaner once a week or so. I may bump up Electricity to 1000 AED. Please kindly suggest as to what should I set aside for car rental? Thanks

In terms of Pay here in the UK, my salary is close to £100k but the amount of taxes and cost of living were stressing me out. But with 40k AED per month salary, I was hoping to save a bit more than I normally do in the UK.

UKMS

For a realiable car I'd budget around 1500 minimum upwards for a rental

Just a couple of other things to keep in mind as the grass isnt always greener. Factor in your setup costs here, which can include agents fees (usually 5%) security deposit usually another 5% plus depending on the popularity of where you rent you will have to find some of the rent up front depending on how many payments you negotiate with the LL Its unusual to have 12 payments that you would have in the UK.. Dont overlook your tax liabilities with HMRC, you are not tax free as soon as you step off the plane really depends on your circumstances and the time in the tax year you will move. Also you will have no pension contributions here so its all down to you to manage that, likewise no NI contributions towards your future UK state pension, you need to pay this yourself.

Whatever your calculations on a spreadsheet add at least 10% for things overlooked or cost more.

Also dont ignore a Plan B if its all goes wrong, so have a fund available to reverse the move if it doesnt work out for you.

Discovery Bullet

3-4k for something half decent on the car front.
100k in UK or 40k in Abu Dhabi isn't actually an easy choice in my opinion. Depends where in the UK you are

jagcv4

Hi

Thanks for your message, with all my spending in the UK I am just saving £1200 per month, but in Abu Dhabi I will be saving about £3000 per month which I am hoping as a start is not bad. Hence I am considering this seriously.

Regards

Discovery Bullet

You need to budget more in AD for whores and beers.

jagcv4

That's where my savings are I suppose!

UKMS

Beer etc aside

Whilst you are saving £1200 per month now, also factor in how much is going into a pension from your UK employer and how much is going into the NI pot. you might find you are not much better off in the UAE financially. Whether the lifestyle is better is another matter, some love it some hate it. . Dont get 'wowed' by the seemingly larger post tax salary because at the figures you have given it will be pretty even and not as clear as saving £3k. No income tax but tons of indirect taxation.

Im not trying to put you off but just being realistic.