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Hi.
Ive been offered a job with a salary of 14000pm all inclusive. I am a single male. Will i be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment and a car and live ok?

It would depend on what kind of car you want to buy and where you want to live. With the rents what they are, you might consider a studio apt, which you are going to have to furnish and this would be more affordable. As for a car, compare the prices of a new one and a used one. New ones are becoming affordable. At that salary, you will have to spend wisely.

Did you try to negotiate for more money? Also, are you already in Dubai and being considered as a "local" hire?

14K is a pretty low salary, but it depends on what kind of lifestyle you are used to and what you want.

You're definitely not going to be living the high-life here with that kind of money. A fair chunk of your salary will go towards rent, but you are in a much better position than 6 months ago because rent has dropped 40% on average so you should be able to get a 1 bedroom for 50-60K per year now. Maybe less.

Not sure about cars, but just make sure your profession is not one of the ones that stops you from getting a licence here. They changed the rules a while ago to stop some people from getting licences to reduce the traffic.

Guys it's really not that bad, geez it's a damn site more than I earn I'll tell you.

Depends what you want out of life, if you look at places to rent with decent rents. Shop around for cars, there are some great deals out there at the moment and with so many people leaving you could pick up a great deal from someone that just wants to get rid of a car.

Good luck.

Fair enough Choc, I guess I can't really judge without knowing what the job is. I was looking at it from a western engineer perspective, which is obviously not fair.

I agree about the cheap cars. There must be thousands of people desperate to get rid of their cars right now.

why not ?
you can easily mange this all things because you are alone.

The answer is yes, you definitely could live on that. Saving or sending money home is another matter, but you could at least afford to suck it and see. Good luck!

Cap, re cheap cars I was told by car showrooms that NOBODY is buying high milage cars now, so there for sure must be great bargains if you will haggle and be patient.

I understand Bur Dubai is getting cheaper to live these days. Its not the Marina, but you got good access to everything else without hassle . Car wise, if you have cash savings I would check the black boards at the super markets or on line ads. same with furniture.
Try auctions such as WWauctions where wholesale prices are the norm (no spam here). Why I am saying this; dont get hooked on long term credit arrangements with banks unless it is absolute necessary and you are able to pay back swiftly if you have to. Don t get crazy about cars. better keep money to spent going out doing things to enjoy life in Dubai.

All good advice macjul. The most important being try to live within your means and don't get hooked on credit cards and bank loans.

And remember if one of your cheques bounces you can very quickly end up in jail if the person or company you owe money to makes a case against you, it's a CRIMINAL offence here.

galla wrote:Hi.
Ive been offered a job with a salary of 14000pm all inclusive. I am a single male. Will i be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment and a car and live ok?

Yes.

galla wrote:Hi.
Ive been offered a job with a salary of 14000pm all inclusive. I am a single male. Will i be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment and a car and live ok?

I get nearly the same salary as the one you were offered

for 4000 to 5000 per month you can get a studio or 1bd apartment *right now* in places like JBR, international city etc.

for 1000 to 2000 per month you can finance a brand new Japanese/American Saloon/4x4 car depending on the size pf the car... luxury brand new cars like Lexus, Mercedes or BMW will start from 4000 per month on 5 year finance.

or you can save for the first 6months and buy your self a 30K second hand car which are plenty in the market.

try your best to leave 6000 in your pocket after deducting rents/car finance and other minor bills like (laundry, electricity etc)

a single guy need about 100 dirhams per day divided on car fuel, lunch, dinner meals etc. I presume you will not go fine dining or clubbing everyday

14K is a great salary for any mid-career single guy in Dubai

good luck

ok thanks, I dont expect to live a rich mans life. Just want to be able to go out once in a while, have food in my cupboard etc.
Have a decent place and not live in a matchbox in the slums. If i can meet all this I will be happy.

quatroporte wrote:
14K is a good salary for any mid-career single guy in Dubai

Really? God damn, some of these expats are getting paid way too much then. I was on one of the lowest salaries at my (ex) company and I was earning almost three times that.

There are also still some allowances that will top up like shift allowance etc. as I will be working shifts.
Annual airfare back home and bonus is still left out. So will also still make up.

Captain Australia wrote:

quatroporte wrote:
14K is a good salary for any mid-career single guy in Dubai

Really? God damn, some of these expats are getting paid way too much then. I was on one of the lowest salaries at my (ex) company and I was earning almost three times that.

Get real Captain!

Around 40k a month for a software engineer???

What other classification must you have?

Captain Australia wrote:

quatroporte wrote:
14K is a good salary for any mid-career single guy in Dubai

Really? God damn, some of these expats are getting paid way too much then. I was on one of the lowest salaries at my (ex) company and I was earning almost three times that.

Seriously? That comes up to over 130k USD per year. I think the only mid-level careers with that kind of income are the ones responsible for the state of the economy and doctors. I would think that even senior engineers would consider themselves to be at or near the top of their game to be earning that much.

I think many people have a too high expectation of what expats earn. It's not what it used to be. Money isn't everything you know, so long as you have enough to live on and do most of the things you want to, with the occassional treat, I don't see why people should complain.

Ok, not 40. I was on 36K and like I say I was one of the lowest paid. If you had kids you got an extra 4K so most of the people I worked with were on 40K-45K.

The senior engineers were on 60 odd. I think the system architect was on 65k. Not sure about the CEO, but it would have to be close to triple figures.

Why do you think I would come here otherwise? I'm not here for the fine weather

Captain Australia wrote:Ok, not 40. I was on 36K and like I say I was one of the lowest paid. If you had kids you got an extra 4K so most of the people I worked with were on 40K-45K.

The senior engineers were on 60 odd. I think they system architect was on 65k. Not sure about the CEO, but it would have to be close to triple figures.

Why do you think I would come here otherwise? I'm not here for the fine weather

How many years of experience do you carry Cap?

Seems to me like a government funded private company
Lets me guess... Mubadala is the financial arm of your former employer?

Chocoholic wrote:I think many people have a too high expectation of what expats earn. It's not what it used to be. Money isn't everything you know, so long as you have enough to live on and do most of the things you want to, with the occassional treat, I don't see why people should complain.

I agree with you here, but only if you are talking about back home. I left a perfectly good job and packed up my life to come here. That is where the expectations of higher salaries come from. If you're earning the same money as back home then there would be no incentive to move to Dubai.

Plus you have to factor in the horrendously high rent here. I'm paying about $900 Aussie a week rent. In Australia I would be paying $300 absolute maximum.

Captain Australia wrote:I agree with you here, but only if you are talking about back home. I left a perfectly good job and packed up my life to come here. That is where the expectations of higher salaries come from. If you're earning the same money as back home then there would be no incentive to move to Dubai.

Plus you have to factor in the horrendously high rent here. I'm paying about $900 Aussie a week rent. In Australia I would be paying $300 absolute maximum.

I agree. Nobody from the West will go here for a salary lower than twice against home one.

RobbyG wrote:How many years of experience do you carry Cap?

Seems to me like a government funded private company
Lets me guess... Mubadala is the financial arm of your former employer?

8 years working now. Graduated in 2001.

And no, not Mudadala.

wow 14k is enough for what you've ask

Yes I agree. It totally depends on what kind of lifestyle your used to. Tell you what I was at 50k/month plus vehicle and my wife had a job too. The money was nice but the ridiculous rent we paid was insane. We had never lived in a high rise before. So it was quite an adjustment especially for my kids. The biggest thing we missed was our backyard and pool. One of the first things my 3 year old daughter said when we got back, "Daddy, houses with backyards are pretty".

Captain Australia wrote:

quatroporte wrote:
14K is a good salary for any mid-career single guy in Dubai

Really? God damn, some of these expats are getting paid way too much then. I was on one of the lowest salaries at my (ex) company and I was earning almost three times that.

Well, teaching salaries can be anything from 7,000 to 14,000 per month - not always with any additional perks like air tickets home or housing allowance - depends on the school. If you are in business, engineering etc. you can likely earn a higher salary, but for those of us working in other professions... nope!

Red Chief wrote:

Captain Australia wrote:I agree with you here, but only if you are talking about back home. I left a perfectly good job and packed up my life to come here. That is where the expectations of higher salaries come from. If you're earning the same money as back home then there would be no incentive to move to Dubai.

Plus you have to factor in the horrendously high rent here. I'm paying about $900 Aussie a week rent. In Australia I would be paying $300 absolute maximum.

I agree. Nobody from the West will go here for a salary lower than twice against home one.

Again I totally disagree with this. I could earn alot more in the UK. However my quality of life would be lower, so I'll take the trade off thanks.

Sure You Can!... best of luck!........

If it were 4 or 5 months back I would'nt consider an offer for 14000. Unless it was exclusive of housing at least.
I'm a finance grad and most interviews I've given were offering minimum of 16,000
Although over the last two months not a single interview and I would expect the salaries to come tumbling down.
So in today's situation I would definitely take 14,000.

Captain Australia wrote:Really? God damn, some of these expats are getting paid way too much then. I was on one of the lowest salaries at my (ex) company and I was earning almost three times that.

Be thankful then (for being white)

Captain Australia wrote:8 years working now. Graduated in 2001.
And no, not Mudadala.

Are you kidding? Damn you are so lucky. You must be developing top secret software application
I have twice of yours experience, had software project director role, but not even earning close to that.... yeah I'm not white, probably that's the "problem"!