ruru

helpful

uk+kiwi

Well what would a high salary be? Would 100k be enough for a family including 2 kids at private school? Or does it need to be 150k? 200k? Some figures would be very helpful please.

awoodworth

I am currently living in Bermuda and would be happy to offer advice.

The cost of living makes it very hard to compare salaries with other places. The best source of unbiased info is http://bermuda-online.org.

With a $65000 salary, you can expect to live in a one bedroom apartment or shared accommodations. Rent is about $2500. Two bedroom will run closer to $3500. The further your commute, the lower the rent. You can expect to ride a moped/scooter to work.

If you socialize in expat circles, you can expect to spend a lot of cash on entertainment. Groceries and utilities are expensive - probably twice what you are accustomed to. Of course, if you are also used to paying half your salary out in taxes, your tax free status in Bermuda helps offset the additional living expenses. You should be able to take home about 85-90% of your earnings.

My wife doesn't work, and we could get by on about a $110,000 income. I earn more than that, but she spends more than that. As a single person, you should be OK.

My only advice is that you have some cash readily available for when you arrive. First month's rent, damage deposit, scooter, furniture, groceries, utility deposits, etc, can really burn the cash in a hurry. Some landlords have asked me for 6 months rent in advance. They didn't get me as a tenant, but $5000 down for a 1 bedroom apartment can be a shocker. Expect to spend $10,000 the first month.

Any questions, fire them my way.

joliwasfi

Complete and utter NONSENSE.

I have been in Bermuda for over 6 yrs now and have friends who have their kids in the state schools here and yes, they are white.

Before you throw your racist accusations around you really should at least have a KNOWLEDGE about the subject of which you talk.

I won't comment on whether there is racism against whites other than to say that if there is any then it isn't any worse than any other country.

I am a white ex-pat so am reasonably neutral on the subject.

If the person in question is thinking about putting their 2 children into private school then the annual cost for each child currently runs at about $13k per annum per child.

joliwasfi

What do you do for a living ? When we arrived in Bermuda (6 yrs ago) my starting salary was $55k and my wife was earning about $20k as a temp (so not getting paid holidays) - both these figures are gross (tax usually runs about 7-9% (payroll tax plus social security) and we "survived".

Salaries are higher now but then so too are rents. We just this past month moved into a 2 bedroom cottage with a large piece of land for our son in Paget (VERY close to Hamilton) and the monthly rent is $3,000. My exerience is that this is still a reasonable price for that type of accomodation.

$65,000 is a salary which the person in question will be able to do OK on. Best bet is shared accomodation but if you don't like that idea then you can get some cheap accomodation but it will likely be a studio or you could just get lucky.

Ransi

Get down off your high horse.
I have over 30years of KNOWLEDGE on Bermuda!

joliwasfi

Really ? Maybe you shoudl update it then because you are VERY WRONG about white kids being allowed into state schools.

Or are you also missing the fact that approximately 30-40% of Bermudians are white ? You saying that the black government won't allow their own countrymen's kids into state schools ?

The friends I have with their kids are white ex-pats - kind of blows your theory out the water doesn't it ?

As I said before, UTTER NONSENSE.

P.S. I am not on any high horse - but your "30 years of knowledge" is so obviously outdated and you just tried to paint a picture of Bermuda being overly racist against whites - which simply isn't so !

shichu23

hi, i am being offered a job in Bermuda. I am married, no kids. I have been browsing internet and unable to get a good picture of living costs...
Will 70 K - 80 K USD a year be enough for us? How much does a studio normally cost? is it difficult to get a job for my wife after she comes there with me - she also comes from insurance bkgrnd??

after all, it is not just earning... I intend to save too... how much can i save with a modest living.

Please help ....

joliwasfi

70-80k is enough to survive here but I suspect that you will struggle to make decent savings.

Studio apartments can very much depend on location and what quality you are looking for e.g. almost 6 yrs ago we looked at 2 studio apartments and the cheapest one of the 2 was $1900 per month. There are deals out there you just have to sometimes get lucky.

Probably the best website to browse for rental properties in Bermuda is http://www.e-moo.com/DotMoo.aspx - this constantly gets updated and you can get a feel for the types of costs you will be looking at.

Bermuda is expensive for living costs - we spend, per month about.....
Food - $1,000 a month on groceries (we do have a 2 yr old son too)
Electricity - $200 a month
Telephone - $99 (includes unlimited internet and local calls)
Internet - $70 for 256k
Rent - $3,000 a month (2 bed cottage close to Hamilton)

Regarding your wife it very much depends on what she does in insurance as to how easy it will be for her to find a job. What line of work do you both do in insurance ?

Your wife has a couple of options, all of which I believe she can start before she enters Bermuda. As I see them they are as follows :

1) She can make an application to seek work. Once approved this means she can officially begin her job search in Bermuda. If she doesn't have that then she technically shouldn't be seeking employment (whilst you are not in Bermuda this is not an issue but as soon as you both enter Bermuda she will HAVE to have this "application to seek" before she should be looking at all. So better to start this process early.

2) She can start applying for jobs just now whilst you are not in Bermuda. This link gives you all the current jobs in Bermuda http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage (go to the "classified" section on the left hand toolbar, click on "display ads", in the drop down toolbar where it says "any", click on that and select "employment display", click "search now" and then you can start browsing jobs.

3) She could sign up to some employment agencies who provide temporary employment (my wife did this, they helped her through the immigration process and she had work the first day that she arrived). If you need more info on these agencies let me know and I will happily provide some details.

Other employment agencies have jobs here in Bermuda too, here are some websites to check out :

www.bermudatopjobs.com
www.bermudarecruit.com
www.bermudajobs.com

What company are you being offered a position with and what type of work do you do ? Only reason I ask is that I will tell you my circumstance. When we arrived 6 yrs ago I was on $55k, I left my first company after 2.5 years and I got a 20% pay raise when I joined my next company. Since then (4 yrs ago) I have had increases in salary of over 70%. So whilst initially your savings may not be the highest, if you are prepared to be in Bermuda for longer than your first year or two (and believe me, your first couple of years are likely to FLY by - we were only coming for 2 yrs and then going home but the first 2 yrs flew by so quickly that we didnt want to leave - we are considering it now but that is because we are at 6 yrs and we don't really want to educate our son here) then you can make some considerable savings. I have some friends that have been here for about 6 yrs too, starting on the same salary as myself and they are looking at taking about $300k home with them after 6 yrs.

I hope this helps but if you need any further help or assistance please feel free to drop me a PM with any questions and I will be more than glad to assist.

Craig

shichu23

Hi craig, Thanks a lot for your time to reply to me.
I have sent a PM to you.

Thank you.

cybersecretary

I went to qa Bermudian State School for all of my primary schooling - admitedly it was 30 years ago (god that makes me sound ancient). My parents emigrated in the late 60s and stayed 10 years.

although this was a lifetime ago, from my perspective (aged 3 - 12) it was the most amazing experience - I loved the fact that some of my school lessons were outside under the trees, that I could go swimming in the sea EVERY day after school, that my dad and I sailed over from our house in Somerset to Hamilton where he worked (as a teacher) and sometimes over to near the airport to fetch visitors (in fact once I went on a speedboat from the airport to home). That we NEVER EVER EVER watched TV because there were so many other outdoor things to do. I never had to ask "when will we be there?" 'cos it takes no time at all to travel (or didnt then, I think the traffic is much busier now but as the number of cars on the island is limited, it can only get to a certain maximum), that you could catch a ferry to almost anywhere on the island, that I never wore shoes other than at school, and that most of all, my friends, both black and white were fantastic. I only ever encountered racism when my parents and I returned to the UK and it was such a shock....... I didnt even know what it was and didnt have a name for it. Children are very accepting, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It all about your attitude and how you deal with things. If you dont take the chance you will always ask "what if".

t2dav

been offered a position worth USD135k.

I have a wife and 2 sons.

is that enough money?

also what is cost of education, medical, utilities, insurances etc?

what is price of milk and bread?

what is price of a typical family car - inc running costs?

not sure whether to accept

joliwasfi

In my opinion 135k is more than enough for a wife and 2 kids. 135k is actually a very good salary even for Bermuda.

Education can be expensive - there are a few private schools which run at about 14k per annum.

Medical is usually included within your salary and benefits package - unfortunately if it isn'T I can't help you as my company pat all my medical (although at times you will still have to make a contribution to the costs).

Utilities depends but we have a 2 bed cottage and we expect to pay about $200-$250 per month on average. Telephone is $26 per month which includes a certain number of local calls. If you get DSL then the phone bill will be $99 per month with unlimited local calls.

Milk is $4 for a gallon and bread is about $5 a loaf - very expensive but then the salaries are quite high too.

The cost of a typical family car depends on if you want to buy new or used. I have friends who bought a brand new Peugeot 206 about 3 yrs ago and it cost roughly $25k. Just the basic model though. A full tank of fuel runs about $65. Depending on the size of the car the licencing can be expensive (our car is in the biggest class size so our licencing costs $1200 per year).

Some questions for you - what do you do for a living ? Who is your job offer with ? Would your wife be working or not ?

Any other questions I can certainly try to assist.

t2dav

I'm thinking a 2 bed place is not big enough. we currently live in a 5 bed place in UK. Need a room for each child and one for us. A spare room would be good too as well as more than 1 bathroom.

we're both accountants but my wife is not planning to work until the children go to school - in about 3-4 years time.

joliwasfi

A 3 bed place will probably cost you probably about $4k per month and up. If you want a 4 bed or a 5 bed you could easily be looking at $8k per month.

This website has rentaks on it - http://www.e-moo.com/DotMoo.aspx

If you don't mind me asking, which company has offered you the position ? I might know a bit about them and what their reputation is etc.