# Moving to Joburg - Opportunity, safety & Living cost



## D1238490 (Oct 28, 2015)

Hi All,

I am from India, and i have been offered a job in Sandton. Offer is for R650k p.a. comes to about R55K PM plus company will provide R20000 per month for housing, Car, electricity, broadband, and other utilities. My wife and my 1 yr kid, will be coming along with me.

Based on this, i request few advices on the below concerns:
1. Will R55K per month be a decent/good/very good salary, obviously minus house, car & utilities
2. Is another R20K enough for housing, Car, electricity, broadband, and other utilities
3. I have to bear the medical insurance/aid expenses - How much should that cost?
4. I am planning to have a full-time live in maid, who can take care of kid at times, and give company to my wife - How much will that cost

So all in all is it a good offer to expect. Considering the above, and suppose i want to lead a standard lifestyle (once a week eating out, with one drive out a month, one movie per week, etc...) how much on average will i be spending.

Secondly - 
How is the area Sandton, i will probably be staying there. 
Do i find Indian community at Sandton. 
How much safe is Sandton, compared to Kempton, midrand, boksburg, midrand etc...

Any other advices, which i should consider is also welcome.

Additionally - My Company will also be arranging work permit for my wife, She is a electronics and telecom engineer, and have 5 yrs of work ex in Software & IT space. How easy will it be for her to get a job?


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## dave_c (Jul 1, 2015)

Hi there

If R55k is your net salary for a family of 3 then yes that should be sufficient. You can google the cost of living in Jhb, (the site that starts with an 'N is pretty accurate.

If you will be buying a car you will need to decide on which one because the costs vary - anything between R2500 and R6000 pm for a decent car. Insurance will depend on the area you choose to live in as well as how long you have had your licence. An insurance company may also ask for your history. Remember the cost of petrol when deciding on a car.

Depending on how much power you will be using, it could range from R800pm to around R2000pm.

Medical aid - you get away with paying around R5000pm+ for yourself, your wife and child. This also depends on which medical aid you take and which option you choose. You may want to go for one with a built in savings plan for day to day medical expenses. I pay R4500 for myself and spouse and we are on the third tier of our medical aid. It covers most medical expenses and the savings plan is good for over the counter medication too. The cheaper medical aids will be limited but of course you can decide for yourself. 

A live in maid can work out to be a bit pricey. The minimum wage is R2065pm if she works more than 27 hours per week but you may have to contribute towards her travelling and unemployment fund contributions as well as an annual bonus (not a requirement). Use a reputable employment agency when sourcing a domestic worker.

Sandton is rather expensive, you may want to look around at the areas closer such as Bryanston, Craighall, Fourways. These are generally safe areas but in SA crime is all over so at all times be careful. Boksburg and the Eastern suburbs are a lot cheaper but you will have a commute and travelling that distance (probably mn 50km one way) may take you a couple of hours in peak traffic. Midrand is also cheaper but you will have to deal with the highway unless you decide on taking the Gautrain. It works you out a bit cheaper and it takes about 20min from Midrand to Sandton station. If your work is close to the station you may want to consider this. 

The Indian community is not located in any particular area. The majority live in Lenasia (south of Jhb) and in Laudium (Pretoria). You will connect quickly as the community is open and accepting of strangers (Indian community) but generally most other people will also be welcoming. You will find some Indians in Sandton too.

There are a number of mosques and temples around too, if you are religious you may meet more people that way.

I hope this helps.

D


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## D1238490 (Oct 28, 2015)

Thanks for the quick reply Dave, my house will be leased by my Company and the car will also be provided to me, so i will not spending anything on them. Even my monthly utilities will also be taken care by my company. 

For Rent co will pay max R13000, 
so can i get a fully furnished 2 bed house, inside a secured gated community at Sandton or somewhere nearby in that range.

R55K is inclusive of tax, which to my calculation will be somewhere like 15K per month, so i will be left with R40K - Is this a good salary?


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## db29 (Sep 23, 2014)

I am in Bryanston at the moment, it is a nice area. Sandton is a very nice area but the traffic is bad at peak times, the same for Fourways. 40k net is a good salary, if you dont mind can you message me your company? I am in IT and looking for a new role.


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## joe117 (Sep 10, 2012)

R40k net excluding rent, utilities and car expenses (about 900,000 CTC per annum)is a brilliant salary. Actually those kind of salaries are earned by top management and higly skilled workers in SA.


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## dave_c (Jul 1, 2015)

Yeah sounds good. Have a look at the cost of living site I talked about earlier, you will get an idea of what things cost here.


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## D1238490 (Oct 28, 2015)

Thanks Everyone for the replies. Yes this is a Management Role - Basically CPM & TPM (Client/Technical Project Management).

@DB29 - I work for then Scientific Games - an IT solution provider for Casinos all across world.

Sure Dave - I will check and revert on any further queries.


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