Job Discussion Forums

[jamo22]

Hi I've just been offered a salary of 25k a month, housing not included, but medical insurance is. Is this decent? The job is in kowloon. So presumably my apartment will be there, how much would a decent place set me back in this neighborhood? Would I be able to save anything? the hrs are pretty much 8:30-5:30. But im just really interested on whether I can live well on this amount.

Thanks

[jamo22]

maybe it was a stupid title, because I gave few details about the job. All I want to know is, can I live decently on this amount?

[Joshua2006]

As mentioned, it depends on your lifestyle as to how much you'll save or be able to save.

Depending where in Kowloon and the size of the house will depend on how much you have left over....

[YujiKaido]

Sorry to be off topic but to the OP What kind of training and experience do you have to get that kind of salary? Just wondering cause I will be looking for a teaching job in Hong Kong soon. Seems a pretty good salary to me, i have seen some people asking if they could live off 12,000. any info would be appreciated.

[kowlooner]

Yes, it's a good salary.

Kowloon is a big "neighborhood", so it's kind of hard to say what kind of rent you'll pay! But rents have gone up pretty much all across HK, so you'll have to work a bit to find a good mix of size / affordability / commute time. Say $6k at the low end, $10k low-medium. Assuming you're single, you can handle something smaller and therefore lower-priced.

You really have to define what it means to "live well". $25k is good, but it's certainly not extravagant.

[jamo22]

Yujikado...I have no teaching qualifications aside from a 120hr tefl, and 3 years esl teaching experience in korea and China collectively. But I am professionally qualified in an unrelated discipline, so maybe that had something to do with it. It's a job with a reputable kindergarten, and I spoke to the owner for an hour on two separate occasions. From what was said, they value personality and I think the owner pretty much just wanted to see if I was friendly and trustworthy. They also said that they on occasion hire people with no experience teaching...not sure if that would be the same pay scale though...

[Serious_Fun]

[jamo22]

As I said before, I'm not interested in whether the money is commensurate with the job. I can make up my own mind about that if I know how far 25 000 goes in hong kong. So maybe I should have named the discussion "how far does 25 000 go in a month"

Thanks for your comment though, I will look into the medical insurance again.

[sistercream]

How far 25K a month goes depends on your lifestyle!! Do you like to party? Are you a teetotaler? Can you live exclusively on local food, or do you need your cheese, processed cereals, western-style meats and good coffee? Do you like to buy every new gadget and/ or fashion that comes along, or are you happy to use what you have until it falls apart? You'll need to balance out your commuting tolerance with how much space you need and what kind of neighbours you're prepared to put up with. Apartments here are MUCH, MUCH more expensive than even in Beijing or Seoul.

For whatever it's worth, I can live carefully but reasonably comfortably on 15K out in the New Territories, but I know plenty of expats who can't support the lifestyle they would find comfortable on 40K.

[oxi]

[jamo22]

Ok

Accomodation: a one bedroom apt, living room/kitchen, bathroom in an average neighborhood/building in Kowloon.

Food: mainly cook at home. Maybe eat at a cheap local place twice a week. eat at a reasonably nice foreign restaurant once a week

entertainment: night out at bars etc, one night a week. casual drinks another night. Maybe movie once a week. Starbucks coffee once a day.

Internet + cable television, maybe with some foreign sports channels

Transport, hopefully live close to my school...assume a return mtr or bus trip. Taxi's maybe once or twice a week back from the island.

misc...not big on buying gadgets or anything really. Maybe one new item of clothes from gap a month. normal toiletries household cleaning products used by a guy in his 20's...Maybe a new cd/dvd once a month...

Hope that gives you a better idea, thanks. Ive checked the other posts out about the guy being able to survive on 12 k, but that seemed to be mainly talking about slumming it, which I don't intend to do.

[oxi]

Cool, I'll try to give a few more thoughts. All prices are what I can remember off the top of my head:-

>Accomodation: a one bedroom apt, living room/kitchen, bathroom in an average neighborhood/building in Kowloon.

Kowloon's big and got a lot of variety.
eg. my flat in Jordan, 30 year old building, reasonable condition, 300 sq.ft. studio, washing machine, cooker (2 rings), fridge, next to MTR. 9000 per month.
In the same building, there's flats for 7.5K - I assume they're not too bad.
I've seen flats near temple Street for 5K that are ok.
Most expats I know go over 10K for something that has better decor, but essentially the same size and semi-furnished, often in a building complex with shops and gym, etc inside.

>Food: mainly cook at home.

Easy, very cheap local stuff. Silly prices for foreign import.
eg. chicken - twice the price for American

>Maybe eat at a cheap local place twice a week.

$40-80 a go

>eat at a reasonably nice foreign restaurant once a week
Can be about $100 in what I think is reasonably cheap - eg. Spaghetti House. Can be often $150-200.

>entertainment: night out at bars etc, one night a week. casual drinks another night. Maybe movie once a week. Starbucks coffee once a day.

I waste far too much money here. Probably $2000 a week.
Beer $50-80
Movie $40-80. (super duper 3D place $170)
Starbucks - chicken and mushroom pie $18, coffee $28.

>Internet + cable television, maybe with some foreign sports channels

about $300 monthly, more depending on the sports channels

>Transport, hopefully live close to my school...assume a return mtr or bus trip. Taxi's maybe once or twice a week back from the island.

MTR and bus cheap, $10 average perhaps?. Taxi to Jordan after beering $80-90.

>misc...not big on buying gadgets or anything really. Maybe one new item of clothes from gap a month. normal toiletries household cleaning products used by a guy in his 20's...Maybe a new cd/dvd once a month...

H+M, UniGlo - cheap range under $200 shirts, trousers.
Factory outlets - under $100.
Toiletries - cheap, I reckon a coupla hundred a month.
Real DVD $50-100. Fake $20-30. (illegal download free)

Hope that helps. Plenty people will say different. And it's been noted that I'm a tight Scot more than once.

[sistercream]

Oxi's done a good job on the costs breakdown, though I obviously buy larger coffees than s/he does
I'll also reiterate that Kowloon is a big place, with a huge variety of residential neighbourhoods - if you're working in Beacon Heights it will be darned inconvenient to save money by renting a cheaper flat in Kwun Tong, but if your job is in Sham Shui Po you'll have plenty of cheaper shops and accommodation within 10 minutes walk, provided you don't mind something very "local" - think mainland China, but a lot more crowded.

[Serious_Fun]