SingaporeSteve Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 You really need to do an after tax assesment - forget any comparison with gross salary levels as its very mis-leading. Personal income tax is around 15% flat rate from memory with minimal social taxes, theefore if you are a 40% type tax payer in UK, you will be better off after taxes are paid - however to that you need to look at how the housing allowance is treated tax wise. If its being paid to you as cash, it will be taxed accordingly at the 15% rate. If company take the apt lease in their name, its more likely to be a benefit in kind. It makes a difference in Singapore (where I used to live) but not sure how its looked upon in HKG. Also you need to consider health insurances very carefully - its free in the UK, but not in HKG. Also determine if any of your salary or bonuses can be negotiated to be paid off shore into Isle of Man - again big benefits in that. Having said that, as a general statement, I think any overseas posting is worthwile - there is a large expat population in HKG and they tend to look to their own when they are recruiting for key positions. Many guys I know have changed jobs when they have been established for say 2 yrs and have always ended up with far better packages. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stars99hk Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Regarding tax SS is correct , tax is much lower in HK than in UK, personal tax is 16% or 16.5% ( sorry not sure will check later) now. You get a HK$100,000 or about US$12800 allowance and are taxed on everything over and above that at the flat rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stars99hk Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Dreamer I am not a golfer but my brother is. He hardly ever plays in Hong Kong, he always travels to either China or Macau to play, both about 90 mins away from HK. Or he flys down to Thailand for a weekend of golf in Phuket or Pattaya...... which is probably still cheaper than a round at one of Hong Kongs courses even with the flight. Hong Kong is ridiculously expensive for golf. And China has plentiful cheap course. Including one that can be played 24hrs a day with floodlighting ( if I remember rightly its Mission Hills and has something 10 courses available to play in this one complex) Anway I will get some more info for you , regarding prices since I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stars99hk Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Regarding districts to live in, I barely scratched the surface. Where you choose to live is going to depend on your life style. Do you want to be close to the expat community, night life and restaurants, do you need a lot of space and so on. Like any big city you have so many choices all with pros and cons ( expense/distance from night life etc.). You mayy find that a serviced apartment is better for your needs, it will be fully furnished already. And you have a maid service. Of course more expensive than renting a regular apartment, but maybe something to consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Dreamer, I have knowledge of the Hong Kong area and are willing to comment. However, the posts will be too general and if general will take too much time to post. PM me on specifics if you want. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Would agree with StarsHK - Golf is not really a valid option in Hong Kong. Much better to head off to Macau / China / Thailand / Phillipines for a weekend of golf. Rgds. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 stars99hk said:And China has plentiful cheap course. Including one that can be played 24hrs a day with floodlighting ( if I remember rightly its Mission Hills and has something 10 courses available to play in this one complex) Golf in China is not cheap. A round of golf at Mission Hills is over USD250. You will struggle to find a round anywhere for less then USD75-100. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash999 Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 stars99hk said:I reckon you could find a reasonably nice 3 bedroom apartment in the lower mid levels area ( Central) for something like HK$25,000 or around US$3200. Depending on the type of apartment, the facilities it has and the age of the building. I'm also evaluating a package that would have me moving to Hong Kong. Housing is by far the biggest concern and I spent a couple of days looking at serviced apartments (as I'll have to move into one first) and apartment buildings (to get an idea of cost). Unless the agents my company supplied me with were giving me the run-around, I couldn't find much in terms of reasonable housing. Here in Bangkok I'm paying US$1000/month for a nice 2-bedroom place in a newer building including electricity and water. I saw a couple of places in midlevels... the better of the two was HK$25000 for a one-bedroom, and then there were small one-bedrooms in an older building for HK$14000 or so. Perhaps it's difficult to make a direct comparison to Bangkok but I will get depressed if I have to live in a tiny dirty run-down apartment so I've got to evaluate the lifestyle change that will take place if I go there. Also looked at Belchers in Pokfulam which was nice... but at least HK$20k to get into a nicer smaller unit. Checked out a couple of ok places in Happy Valley for HK$14k but they were a bit of a hike to the MTR. More reasonable prices were to be had further out in the New Territories but then I'm facing transportation costs and it wouldn't be nice at 2am to have to spend an hour heading back home. Finally I spoke to an HSBC financial advisor who told me that the average household in Hong Kong spends HK$16,666 on their housing costs. Really the housing costs in HK look to be a deal-breaker for me... Unless my company can up its offer I can't afford to move there as I wouldn't be saving much money at all at the end of each month. Sorry for the rant but it's a frustrating situation for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stars99hk Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 Crash, Are you using one of the bigger estate agents specializing in Expat relocations ? I still reckon you can find cheaper than the prices you are mentioning. As I said my place is 2 bedroom in a fairly nice building about 650 sqft with a large roof top area and I pay US$1350. I live in the lower mid levels area, rents are cheaper there than upper mid levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamer Posted September 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2004 Hi, Is it possible to purchase golf club memberships for up to US$2,000 within a reasonable journey time of HK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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