# HK Salaries



## JustinKB

Hi All,

I am in discussions with an airline for an IT position. The salary on offer is HKD 70000 pcm. Will this be enough to live on in HK? I am not clear about any other benefits, apart from reduced flights, at this stage but I would like to know whether it is worth pursuing.

My concern is that I did a short stint in Singapore for an Investment Bank in IT and the salary appeared attractive but when I actually got out there, it wasn't too great. I don't want to fall into the same trap!

I'm sure these questions appear all of the time and I would really appreciate any guidance. Thanks in advance.

Justin :ranger:


----------



## dunmovin

JustinKB said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I am in discussions with an airline for an IT position. The salary on offer is HKD 70000 pcm. Will this be enough to live on in HK? I am not clear about any other benefits, apart from reduced flights, at this stage but I would like to know whether it is worth pursuing.
> 
> My concern is that I did a short stint in Singapore for an Investment Bank in IT and the salary appeared attractive but when I actually got out there, it wasn't too great. I don't want to fall into the same trap!
> 
> I'm sure these questions appear all of the time and I would really appreciate any guidance. Thanks in advance.
> 
> Justin :ranger:


HK$70,000 is more that adequate. Budget for around HK$20,000 pm for housing but that will be quite a bit lower if you plan to live near Chep Lap Kok (plenty of fair priced housing in Tung Chung or). Does the packeage include medical insurance?


----------



## JustinKB

dunmovin said:


> HK$70,000 is more that adequate. Budget for around HK$20,000 pm for housing but that will be quite a bit lower if you plan to live near Chep Lap Kok (plenty of fair priced housing in Tung Chung or). Does the packeage include medical insurance?


Thank you so much for your reply.

I do not know yet if the package includes Medical Insurance. I assume by your question that this would be a sensible benefit to ask for/negotiate? Also, you say to budget for HK$20k for housing, does this include utilities/any sort of community charge in your opinion and what sort of accommodation would it likely be - 2/3 bed apartment? When I was in Singapore I was sharing with two other blokes yet the outlay was quite significant. As I said before, I'm worried about falling into the same trap!

Finally, would the salary enable me to bring my girlfriend and her secondary school age son out?

Thanks again in advance.


----------



## dunmovin

JustinKB said:


> Thank you so much for your reply.
> 
> I do not know yet if the package includes Medical Insurance. I assume by your question that this would be a sensible benefit to ask for/negotiate? Also, you say to budget for HK$20k for housing, does this include utilities/any sort of community charge in your opinion and what sort of accommodation would it likely be - 2/3 bed apartment? When I was in Singapore I was sharing with two other blokes yet the outlay was quite significant. As I said before, I'm worried about falling into the same trap!
> 
> Finally, would the salary enable me to bring my girlfriend and her secondary school age son out?
> 
> Thanks again in advance.


Get the medical insurance, to cover both you (+ child)and (I presume unmarried) partner. Ask about education costs (for YOUR children{they don't need to know who the father was..and then the child could be adopted}) Old style expat packages would cover 90% of utilties (water electricity phone local rates) but you will need to negociate that.

What your situation is, that they want you and cannot find a suitable "local" This puts at a good point. They will have a budget to employ you, so long as they stay within that budget, you'll get the job. be prepared to back down on a lot of minor issues. The public health care system in HK is better than then UK (ie you are not waiting months to get a problem seen to) but private is far better( seen almost instantly and best care you can get) I'm guessing that you will be based at the airport, therefore the lower rental on housing allows them a lot of "manouvering room" on the budget for other costs


best of luck


----------



## JustinKB

dunmovin said:


> Get the medical insurance, to cover both you (+ child)and (I presume unmarried) partner. Ask about education costs (for YOUR children{they don't need to know who the father was..and then the child could be adopted}) Old style expat packages would cover 90% of utilties (water electricity phone local rates) but you will need to negociate that.
> 
> What your situation is, that they want you and cannot find a suitable "local" This puts at a good point. They will have a budget to employ you, so long as they stay within that budget, you'll get the job. be prepared to back down on a lot of minor issues. The public health care system in HK is better than then UK (ie you are not waiting months to get a problem seen to) but private is far better( seen almost instantly and best care you can get) I'm guessing that you will be based at the airport, therefore the lower rental on housing allows them a lot of "manouvering room" on the budget for other costs
> 
> 
> best of luck


Once again, thank you ever so much for your excellent advice. Justin


----------



## kenyan

Hi Justin,

Be careful. Secondary school fees are in the region of $9800 per month for the ESF system (English Schools Foundation), International school fees are higher! Plus you will need to lay down a debenture for the International schools (non-refundable and in the region of tens of thousands of dollars - for ESF the "refundable" levy is $25,000, returnable when your child leaves the system. School busses are another $2000pm on top and any activity the child does outside of school costs a fortune ($1500pm +), the only exception being rugby which has a fantastic junior following here and most reasonable clubs only charge a few hundred dollars per year!  

If your partner doesn't work then $70k will be doable but toight as a tiger with a small family in tow - just have to budget very effectively.

Most companies here are trying to employ expats on as near to local terms as possible, so if they really need an expat (which it seems they do), you are in a strong bargaining position to at least get some housing and education thrown into the package.

Next are the flights. Unless you get a guaranteed seat at least once a year, the tickets are worth about as much as toilet paper if you try to travel during school holidays - expect to be bumped off flights with reduced fare tickets and if your partner and her son aren't included then they will need to buy full fare tickets during the silly seasons.

Sorry for the negativity but many people have been burnt not being told the true costs of living here. I LOVE IT here and wouldn't change it for anything, but there are traps that newbies need to know about.

Good luck.


----------



## dunmovin

kenyan said:


> Hi Justin,
> 
> Be careful. Secondary school fees are in the region of $9800 per month for the ESF system (English Schools Foundation), International school fees are higher! Plus you will need to lay down a debenture for the International schools (non-refundable and in the region of tens of thousands of dollars - for ESF the "refundable" levy is $25,000, returnable when your child leaves the system. School busses are another $2000pm on top and any activity the child does outside of school costs a fortune ($1500pm +), the only exception being rugby which has a fantastic junior following here and most reasonable clubs only charge a few hundred dollars per year!
> 
> If your partner doesn't work then $70k will be doable but toight as a tiger with a small family in tow - just have to budget very effectively.
> 
> Most companies here are trying to employ expats on as near to local terms as possible, so if they really need an expat (which it seems they do), you are in a strong bargaining position to at least get some housing and education thrown into the package.
> 
> Next are the flights. Unless you get a guaranteed seat at least once a year, the tickets are worth about as much as toilet paper if you try to travel during school holidays - expect to be bumped off flights with reduced fare tickets and if your partner and her son aren't included then they will need to buy full fare tickets during the silly seasons.
> 
> Sorry for the negativity but many people have been burnt not being told the true costs of living here. I LOVE IT here and wouldn't change it for anything, but there are traps that newbies need to know about.
> 
> Good luck.


education costs sort of slipped my mind, but agreed they can /will be expensive. Same goes for the flights,but since you are goingto work for an airline, I don't expect that will be a big problem


----------

