# Expense for a family of 4 in Hong Kong



## ek060708 (Oct 31, 2014)

I am seeking your help to evaluate job offer before moving to Hong Kong with 2 kids, wife & husband. The package is 50K/Month and Annual bonus. No extra allowances everything is included in the base salary. I am planing to get admission to my kids to international schools not to disturb their education and also I heard the rent is too high at HK. both my kids are in Class 1 and 2.

After all expenses such as deducting taxes, house rent, monthly living expenses for 4 (including transport, food & Misc.) and schooling for two kids in Intl schools. Can I save at least 10K in my pocket as 

Please suggest


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

personally I would turn it down. The annual bonus may cover the tax bill, but they should also be covering 80 to 90 percent of rental cost. Are they offering private medical insurance? that could be a huge cost. If they want you, they have to accept that you come with a family, and so be flexible on education costs for the children. 50k ..is that Hong Kong $ US$ or what?


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## kimwy (Sep 25, 2011)

for a family of 4 I would say 50k all in is too low. 

Rent - I would allow minimum 20k per month for a floor of a village house (750 sq ft) or an apartment somewhere like Lohas Park or Park Island (don't think about living on the island, you will have a commute, but it is doable). You can get cheaper, but it will either be up by the border with China or an outlying island, or very low standard.

International schooling - if you can find a place. Do not underestimate how difficult this will be (even for local schools it will be problematic) to find a school with a vacancy. chances are your children would end up at different schools. All international schools require large up front fees (25k is the cheapest I know of). You should budget a minimum of 18k/month for schooling.

You can look at local schools, which are minimal cost. But it is a very different educational ethos. I know of expat kids in local schools doing 3 hours homework a night at age 6. There are schools that have an stream with English used for most teaching - there is one i know of in Sai Kung (quite far out though, and rents are rising fast there). 

I'm going to stop there, because I just don't think it is going to work for a family of 4 on 50k.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

On 50,000HKD you will be on a permanent diet!!!!!


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## ek060708 (Oct 31, 2014)

that true. I like to your humor for making me to understand things!


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## ek060708 (Oct 31, 2014)

really thanks for your detailed response. I think I should negotiate. I have got 13+ yrs experience in IT. the package offered by them could be suitable to someone less than 9 yrs experience. Let me try to negotiate to see how many pennies they would like reserve for me. your inputs were really helpful...


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## Campervan (Oct 16, 2014)

Just food for thought when it comes to negotiation for your salary package - consider double that 50k for two kids in international schools plus a flat and health care insurance for all of you and some leftover for saving. (Your kids don't stand a chance in proper local schools coz they will have to be fluent in Chinese otherwise other "international steam" in a local school will still set u back 8k per child a mth. Good luck!


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## luckystar269 (Oct 27, 2014)

siobhanwf said:


> On 50,000HKD you will be on a permanent diet!!!!!


really ???


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

benefits of living there are income tax, no crippling, VAT, rates etc are flea bite compared to UK,travel is easy, and if you look for a rental in the New Territories it much cheaper (when we left Hong Kong we were paying HK$ 27,000 pm and the company covered 90%, for a village house 3 floors and roof terrace {ground floor: living room,kitchen,utility room, shower and toilet. 2nd floor: 3 room and bathroom with shower and wc. 3rd floor: 2 bedrooms both with en suite; roof: large open sun space) this included two parking spaces.


BTW your UK driving license will get you a an HK license .... without having to surrender the UK one


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

NT rentals are still on the high side HK$25000 for something decent, without employer top us this is half the salary being offered.
MTR travel is cheap. local transport by bus even cheaper . but with school feews on top (if you can find a place) some serious renegotiation needs to be done. 
Have you considered if you will get travel paid to take the family there....and will the help with holiday flights back for you and your family?

GOOD LUCK it is a wonderful opportunity IF you can get a decent rate of pay
Tax at 10% is a small amount in comparisiion to what you will pay elsewhere.

Having 32 years of living in HK I think we know the area pretty well.


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

totally agree with Siobhán. We probably would still be there if the company had not brought in 2 new owners( the world's 1st surviving brain donors) and a new director, (who was expert in promoting/hiring based on boob size) didn't help that I told him to take the job and stuff it where only a proctologist would find it.

That said we 14 great years in HK


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