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I have been offered AED30k per month, return tickets and medical by an well-respected MNC in Dubai. We're a family with two school-going kids. Currently we're in Hong Kong and love it here. My salary here is ok, enough to live comfortably but we don't save a more than 3-4k. I might another possible offer from a company in HK but on the same salary. Do you think it's worth moving there? As I said earlier, we love it here and a little apprehensive about the move to Dubai. thanks very much.

We're a family of two, with no kids and our monthly expenses are as follows:

Rent - 2 bedroom apartment - AED 10,500

Water & Electricity (Note: AC cost is included in apartment rent) - AED 350

Domestic help (Cleaner + cook) - AED 900

Internet - AED 150

Taxis - AED 1500 - AED 2000

Cable - AED 150

Newspaper - AED 60

Groceries - AED 2000

These are approx monthly expenses for a family of two. eating out, movies etc. are of course extra. With kids, you wil spend much more as education is expensive.

Personally, AED 30k p.m. for a family of 4 with 2 school going kids is a bit on the low side.. and like you said, you love HK, so you may want to think about this..

Also, Dubai has a lot of setting up expenses - rent has to be paid in advance (in 1 or 2 cheques); there's a security deposit and a brokerage fee for the apartment; security deposit for the water and electricity connections, etc. etc...

Peace, I think you'll find that 10k for rent is unrealistic. I'm assuming that with two kids you'll want a three-bedroom place. I would budget for an absolute minimum of 12.5k/month for that (bear in mind that you need to pay commission and deposit on top of your actual rent).

On top of that, you need to budget for electricity/water bills of (on average) at least 1k/month, and once internet, TV etc is included then you're looking at a minimum of 14-15k on accommodation and utilities - so that's half your salary.

I suspect that your estimate of school fees is also somewhat on the low side, but others can probably comment on that.

Once you factor in those school fees plus initial set-up costs (utilities deposits, buying appliances etc) and the cost of buying and running two cars (and you will almost certainly need two), plus groceries and so on, I reckon you'll have got through most if not all of your salary just on the essentials.

We're a family of two plus one toddler (at nursery), and we're both working full-time because we couldn't afford not to. We live a modest lifestyle - we don't go out much, we don't wear designer labels or drive Pajeros - and we would really struggle to get by on a single salary of 30k.

We arrived in Dubai a couple of months ago: life would have been substantially cheaper if we'd arrived a year ago, because we'd be paying a lot less in rent. I'd be wary of taking advice from anyone who hasn't had to face the current rental market - it really does make a huge difference.

jayzed is absolutely right... Dubai is an expensive city and if you already have a good life and are happy where you are, there isn't much incentive to move...