Is this a good salary and package for Dubai?

Done :)

I've got Buy Me a Pony's spread sheet somewhere, if you would like it, email me on . It's very thorough - unfortunately, her family had huge maintenance/running cost problems not of their own making which could not be factored in when planning. If you do decide to come, you will need to do a search (or ask someone more organized than me) for the check list of requirements/costs when first renting here as there are many hidden pitfalls. <em>edited by simpleasabc on 21/11/2012</em>

Suebfg, in that case, I think you're laughing. We have to use the tax we are saving to pay for Sixth Form school fees, which are not cheap. We also have to pay our own medical insurance, though we get flights home. We are very lucky in that the co pays our rent a year in advance. Depending on where you live and the school fees, I think that package sounds excellent.

I'm not sure when you say your husband earns £85k pa if you mean gross or net? If it's gross, then I think the package he's being offered is wonderful; if it's net - I still think the package he's being offered is pdg :) As others have said, if you could ensure that the company will pay the rent cheque for a year in advance, you will make your lives much easier, rather than the accommodation allowance being factored into the monthly salary. Ditto school fees at least a term in advance. <em>edited by simpleasabc on 21/11/2012</em>

I would suggest you work out what your cost of living would be based on your personal preferences and families needs and then deduct that from what your monthly take home salary will be. You may be surprised. Dubai is expensive. My and DH's combined salary is more than that and we do save but some months we are not able to at all. There's always something. Dubai is expensive. I love it, but it's expensive.

Ultimately, a lot depends on what you expect to get out of time spent living in Dubai. If you have ideas of shovelling large chunks of your tax-free salary into a savings account every month, then I hate to disappoint you, but it probably won't happen on a package like that. The days when expats routinely left a spell in the Gulf with enough cash to buy a house or pay off an existing mortgage in their home country are long gone, at least as far as Dubai is concerned. Sure, if you're careful with your outgoing then you'll probably be able to save more than you could in the UK, but you won't be coming away with life-changing amounts at the end of it. Some people here can still save very substantial amounts, but typically (not always, but typically) they are the ones who are lucky enough to have their company paying for their housing and school fees, and probably most of their transport and utility bills too. That means that their monthly salary is almost entirely disposable/saveable income. Most people here are not that lucky! Singles or couples without kids are also usually more able to save. Being an expat with a family here is very expensive, there's no way around that. If your main reason for coming here is just to experience life in very different country for a while, and hopefully come away with a handy bit of cash at the end of it, then you should be OK. On the other hand, if you are expecting to be able to stash away substantial savings each month, then you need to reassess.

It is a nice package for Dubai, however not sure if it is a competitive package compared to what you were on in the UK. Basic calculation: 85k*1.17 (17% based on 10% national insurance company doesn't have to pay for you anymore, 7% gratuity - also calculate increased working hours) + housing allowance circa AED 180-250k + car allowance AED 35-40k = £130k-150k ish However you may also wish to factor in flights home, medical, school fees etc. really depends on how much that package is meant to include. <em>edited by RuthM on 21/11/2012</em>

as Kelly said the figures are: possibly from 150k for housing per year. 120k a year if both kids at high school (more if at sixth form). DEWA per month anything from AED 600 (apartment) to a few thousand.Included in the DEWA bill is a housing charge like the community tax in UK - it is 5% of your annual housing costs per year - it gets added to your DEWA bill. Internet, phone, TV - Minimum of AED 600 a month. Running cars is expensive - you will probably easily total AED6k a month to pay 2 xcar loans, servicing (need serviced more often here due to weather and fact a lot of people drive long distance - I do 1000km a week, my husband about 700km). Tyres are needed more often than UK and insurance is 5% of the purchase price of the car per year. Again it deepnds how much you are prepared to compromise - I hire a cheap small saloon (mitsibushi lancer) for AED 1600 a month (still not organised to buy a car LOL). Food - depends what you buy. There are some things my kids know i just won't buy here or only as special treats. I find one has to be careful when shopping as maybe say Galaxy chocolate milk might be AED6 but the Mars one might be AED20.. as another OP said..you need a lot of money up front. One terms' school fees and 5% housing costs to agent and same as deposit. You then need to pay at least a few months rent up front. If you are looking at moving, you need to start applying for schools now. We applied this time last year and were fortunate to be awarded places in 2 different schools for t Sept just gone. This doesn't come without cost though as it's approx £100 per child just to make an application (plus the bank charges to wire money to the schools - ones we applied to wouldn't take credit card payments. We also had the silly situation of remitting the AED1000 but the bank at Dubai end took AED 25 in charges so we were AED 25 short and school wouldn't process. It would have been another £20 in charges to wire the money but luckily a friend living here made the payment for us- then if succesful you need to pay a deposit). We're on a very tight budget - as i said we manage on substantially less than you've been offered and although we aren't currently saving we have a nice life. I've managed to pick up bits'n' bobs of work but it's not easy to find work which fits in with school runs although not impossible. If you go down the maid route I believe it works out around AED2.5k a month (by time you pay visas, flights etc) (prepared to be shot down in flames here LOL). Hope these figures help. It's all relative. I would kill for a package like you've been offered but it's easy to have your costs of living escalate ie our housing is only AED82k which is a big saving. Others might find that package tight. Also, I'm not sure it's commensurate with his UK salary. My DH was on half what your DH is on. If my DH had been on same salary as yours I think I might be looking for a bit more as I feel my DH's company is pretty miserly. In UK mine had full BUPA cover (not out here) and work contributed to his pension and as RuthM said there's NI. So, I can keep my contributions up to date i'm paying something like £56 a month for my NI at home.Again , you need to take this into account. He will get end of term gratuity which is something like 3 weeks pay for every year (changes a little depending how long you've been out here) worked out here BUT you may find in his contract it states a percentage of his monthly income is salary and a percentage is allowance. This means they will only pay the gratuity on what they say is his salary. Dental treatment isn't always covered in medical insurance out here. <em>edited by Feefmick on 21/11/2012</em>

I'd like to work ideally but work 3-4 days a week currently in the UK and am not sure if this will be achievable in Dubai. For the first few months, I wouldn't work to give us some time to settle down. We would both need a car I think. We have sufficient capital - there are no worries on that front. We already pay for rent and schooling in the UK (the school fees we pay now are comparable to those in Dubai but the rent is less). We live quite frugally in the UK apart from the school fees and nice holidays. 3-4 day working week here is difficult however it all depends on the role and the employer. There are part time roles on this website however be prepared to be paid less for these roles. Most roles are full time 9-6 or 8.30-5.30 If you live frugally, have savings then i think you will have a great quality of life here

Rent and schooling is the most expensive thing here. Will you be working or as a SAHM. Personally i think it is doable however it all depends on what lifestyle you want to maintain. It isn't a huge salary by some ex pat standards however i would say alot of ex pats move here for a better salary and quality of life. Although our salaries are not taxed here it is an expensive place to live as you tend to be alot more sociable. Compared to say the UK, clothes food and alcohol are more expensive, petrol and eating out isn't. I moved here on a much larger package than i earnt at home however i work harder and have longer working hours Will you both need a car? I came with alot of savings as money is easily spent here I have friends who live on less ( with children) and some that live on more. It is difficult to advise as it depends how you live as a family. Salaries havent increased in the last few years and packages have remained the same although prices have increased. I would research school and property rental prices first then work from there Good Luck!

not really; no. For a family of 4 it's not that great

Hi Sue. Another tip, check if the company will extend a portion of the housing allowance upfront - rents are paid in yearly or biannually cheques mostly, and there are outlays once you arrive that really mount up. Happy moving!

I'd kill for my DH to be on a package like that :)

Thats a good package! Take it!

Personally, I think it's good, as long as your family are not huge spenders.

good offer,you just need to arrange your expences,and lifestyle,anyway EW are here to give advice :) good luck

56k AED x 12= 672 k per year. you can get a great 3 bed villa for 150k, allow 24k for bills, school fees, i would say 672k per year is great - we manage on a lot, lot less!

My husband has been offered a job in Dubai which roughly equates to £9.6k a month or 56,000 AED (this includes school, transport and housing) Given the cost of housing and school fees, it's not a particularly fantastic package, but it's typical of the way Dubai is going now. Employers are moving more and more towards paying a single all-in monthly salary, and this can be a problem given that rent needs to be paid in advance in large lump sums; if you want a villa, you can probably expect the landlord to demand the whole year's rent in a single cheque, which of course most people simply cannot afford to pay without their company or a bank fronting them the money. Rent advances are such a cashflow-killer that many companies do not offer them any more; some do, but they will only give perhaps 3-4 months at a time. You need to check this out. This is the real problem with Dubai; so many expensive things tend to have to be paid upfront, which historically was handled by companies. Nowadays, as housing and school fee costs have skyrocketed, the responsibility lies more and more with the individual employee to find the necessary lump sums; having a portion of your monthly salary designated as "housing allowance" isn't particularly useful when you need the entire year's amount upfront. So check exactly what your entitlement is to getting advances on housing and school allowances.

I think it's OK, especially compared to the UK package. Presumably you are paying for housing in UK out of taxed income so I'd imagine you'll be better off. As FeeMick says, you can live reasonably here....some things you'll find more expensive than UK, some cheaper (my living costs are about the same as they were). In terms of the monthly amount of money I think you'll be OK however one thing to consider are the 'set up costs' that would not be covered by a relocation allowance....5% agents fees and 5% deposit when you take out your rental, a deposit for DEWA and Etisalat, buying cars etc. You'll need a few thousand pounds to see you through this, so bear that in mind. Best of luck

We manage on much less than that (less than 2/3rds of what you quote)with no flights, medical insurance etc etc. We had to compromise and have a ground floor apartment in a LOVELY community - have our own small garden. We both run cars (necessity) . We will struggle when our eldest goes to high school as her school fees will double. At the minute we manage but can't save apart from any earnings I have. On the salary you mention, we could travel, save and have a very good time. There are cheaper ways of doing things out here if one wishes. Housing costs vary a lot depending where you want to live..I researched pretty extensively so if you want any advice let me know. you could get a very nice villa for AED160k but you could also pay a lot more. Villas in our compound are lovely and only AED135k but we're further out of town.Conversely villas in Jumeirah area, near the beach will probably be more. School fees for primary are approx 30 to 35 a year and for secondary 40k to 71k depending which school you use. Cars can eat up the money but petrol is cheap. I tend to buy more local food and can keep my food bills around the same as UK. If you buy import food then prices can rise a lot. A TV , braodband package starts at £100 a month but you tend to need to upgrade if you want to download British programmes. Electricity charges can vary tremendously depending where you live - one attraction of this apartment for us was that our air con, water etc is normally about a £100 a month. In a villa it can be 5 or 6 times that. Eating out varies from being cheaper than UK to mega expensive hotel meals. Good luck!! <em>edited by Feefmick on 21/11/2012</em>

How many children do you have and what are their ages? There is a big difference between primary and secondary school fees. I have 2 at high school and we pay out over 12K a month in school fees. Not sure if Buymeapony is still around but i think she did a very good spread sheet of costs when she was researching her move.Maybe someone has a copy.

I hear ya Sue, all you are looking for is infinitely do-able here, it's not the worst and it's not the best place I've lived in, it is what it is and it's what you make it, give me a shout when you get here xx oh and any other Q's xx

If you're looking at 85K GBP paying UK tax V an upgrade tax free on salary with schools and housing paid for by the company, then you can have a very nice life here. Again it is all relevant - do you want to eat in the latest must see and be seen places? Wear the latest must have shoes/duds etc? If you want all that then you'll still have a brill time, BUT if you want to bank the dosh while you're here you can still have a great time and have something to show for it when you leave by not getting sucked into the bling bling lifestyle.

It will depend on where you choose to live. Are you happy in an apartment? Do you need to live in a villa - how many bedrooms do you want, do you want a garden etc etc how many children do you have - what school will you send them to..... so, so many different variations. We were in a villa with a big garden and our water and electric could be as much as 6k per month...... I am back in the UK now (although my DH is in Dubai this week and lots of weeks!) and I'm very hapy to chat to you if you would like to talk to someone who has been where you are and jumped and did the Dubai experience. For us - we loved it. you can contact me on claire dot damamme @ ntlworld dot com.