Working & Living in AD with a wife & 3 little kids
Earned points :33
Salam brothers & sisters,
First of all Ramadan Kareem to all of u. May this Ramadan brings the best taqwa to all of us, InshAllah.
I am considering a vacancy in one of AD's banks. Before accepting or even negotiate the package, I would like to know the recent economic update of AD. My kids are still small, being the eldest of only 3 years old and 7 months being the youngest. I have 2 girls and a hero. My wife InshAllah will also join me. My objective to work in AD is to save money and of course career opportunity.
I am seeking your assistance being the expert in AD market to advice me the cost and expenses living and working in AD. Among others:
1. 2 bedroom house furnished/ semi furnished with decent township. I prefer not to stay in a walk-up apartment because of the difficulties to carry goods/ stuffs alongside my 3 small kids. What would be your advice? Should I demand a minimum of AED100K accomodation allowance? I already owned a house in Malaysia, of which I'm paying about AED1300 per month for a 1000sq ft 3 bed room gated full facilities condominium.
2. I am also planning to get an SUV or MPV for my ease to drive around town. What would be my option? Is it better to buy or lease? How much should I allocate monthly for car lease e.g. for 2002/2003 X5, or Chevy Tahoe or even any car within the same range (new or old)? A car of this range can be between AED5000-AED6000 a month in Malaysia.
3. How much should I allocate for grocery i.e. staple food, households, Pediasure Milk Powder, Baby diapers, and other perishable household items every month? I spent about AED1500 every month in Malaysia.
4. If the house is not furnished, how much should I allocate for electronics items like TV, DVD Player, sofas, King size bed, Kids bed, cooking stove, fridge, etc? How much upfront money should I have to buy all these stuffs?
5. How much in average should I allocate my utilities every month by having 3 kids and a wife staying together? I spent around AED1000 a month which includes water, electricity, cable TV, Internet, & phone bills.
6. If i decided to send my eldest to a pre-school, how much would it cost me? In Malaysia, it would cost an average of AED400 a month for a good pre-school.
7. I have no worry about fuel in AD, as I know it's very cheap. How much is the current price for a litre of petrol in AD? I spent about AED 2.80 per litre in Malaysia.
8. Other expenses which u think I should consider?
That's all for now. Really hope I can get something positive from this? Thank u all in advance for your valuable insights.
Syed Fariz
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syedfariz
Good morning bro, Ramadan Kareem to you...
I will tell you in short, 100k is not enough for 2 bed room so try to make it 130k to 140k at least..
As you working in a Bank i think it is better to finance a car, max monthly installment will be 2000 to 3000, for 5 years.
Good luck
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AD offer
Salam brother,ramadan mubarak, Thank you for joining us, and hope you can get the info you need here, Please take a look on these topics, it will help you:
http://abudhabiliving.net/node/210
http://abudhabiliving.net/node/236
http://abudhabiliving.net/node/274
http://abudhabiliving.net/node/11
Good Luck
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syed
As xdoha said 100k is not enough for 2 bed room flat, about the grocery for the recent prices you will need nearly 3k monthly, Electronic items is not that expensive and there are vary of options, what i did is i took it from one store called Jumbo, Installment for two years like 250dr monthly, so no need for a big budget.
bills is not a big issue i think 1000 is more than enough, schools will depends on the many factors, but surely 400dh is not enough you may consider 700 and above, The fuel is not that big deal , There are three types of fuel:
E-Plus 5.75/Gallon ... special: 6.25/Gallon... Super: 6.75/Gallon
I think 1 gallon is 4 litters
anyway wanna wish you good luck
Life is too short, live it with fun
Firstly, xdoha, Dhabi & Cool,
Firstly, xdoha, Dhabi & Cool, thank you very much for some very interesting and useful insights. I came up with a summary of expected living expenses:
1. Accommodation AED 12,000 monthly
2. Car AED 3,000 monthly
3. Food/ Grocery AED 3,000 monthly
4. Utilities AED 1,000 monthly
5. Kids Milk/ diapers AED 1,000 monthly
6. Fuel AED 600 monthly
What do u guys think? Are these sufficient? This alone has total up close to AED 21k.
SIF
Syed
1-Accom -ok
2-Car -ok but still you can find cheaper
3-Food/Grocery -ok also can be less depends on your life style
4-Utilities -ok can be less also
5-Kids -1,000 at least
6-Fuel -depends on you as well
This is what I think, other members may have different thoughts.
Let us know what you will decide.
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Thanks Dhabi... This may give
Thanks Dhabi... This may give some insights of how much I want to quote.
I'm thinking of locking 25K monthly for all-in living expenses. Yes, this means every expenses for the whole family.
I guess minor expenses like car maintenance shall not be that significant rite?
Thanks Dabi
SIF
hi syed
welcome to Abu Dhabi Living. i think your approx calculation is OK, car maintenance is not a big deal specially if you got it brand new, but also you have to consider that life is getting harder, CG is increasing, rents as well, so be prepared to face it... wish u a good luck and all the best
----
I believe that my dreams will become true ONE DAY.....
Thx Bigboss. Will certainly
Thx Bigboss.
Will certainly evaluate from every angle. I believe most banks in AD shall adjust the salary everytime the govt announce any increase in inflation. I just need to know the fixed expenses I may occur, then work backward on my proposed gross salary.
Thank you
SIF
Hi there, This topic has been
Hi there,
This topic has been quite a while, maybe you've already moved to Abu Dhabi.
Anyway.....
Another thing you should consider is the medical insurance package.
As far as I know, the medical charges here is way too expensive compared to Malaysia.
Please advise
Been through this website and found out its quite useful.My husband just got a offer .His package is AED6000 per month + AED3000 (as food allowance),accomodation provided . There is AED2000 per annum for medical expenses (it get cover by group hospitalisation medical insurance).
Do you think its sufficient and is there any money he can save ?By the way ,my husband will go AD alone.
Please help, need answer by this weekend
Phoebe
If he is going to be alone, i believe the offer is fine, he can have saving and support you back home, but finally it all depends over the person life style, so saving will vary..
Good luck
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12k is enough
Assalam
Here the food items are cheap....accomodation is the biggest problem.
If the bank arranges you for the accomodation then you can live like a king in just 10k dirhams per month!!
Status Update
Salam & Hi Guys,
Good to hear from u guys again. I've been away from this forum for quite a while. Well, as for the update, I decided not to accept the offer. I guess it was a blessing as well, coz the Financial Institution which I was suppose to join was hit quite badly. I may then be a victim of it as well.
Dhabi, Cool, XDoha, BigBoss, Riana, and the rest - Any change on the numbers over our last discussion? I heard the rental in Dubai is crazily cheap now. What about AD? How low has it gone down? 20%? 30%? What about UAE's inflation? How diff is the price of consumer goods now? It is quite interesting to see that Property in AD and Dubai is like commodity, quite volatile and vulnerable.
F1 is around the corner. Are u guys going?
Waiting for your update.
Many thanks guys
SIF
Hi Syedfariz
It is good to hear from you again, as you said it is a bless that you did not accept the offer, becouse things went hard since the crises,
You are right, rents in Dubai went down in a crazy way, in Abu Dhabi it is still the same, not that much, due to that AD have no availibility same like Dubai, other than this nothing went down it is almost the same, are you considiring another offer?
----
I believe that my dreams will become true ONE DAY.....
Hi Sayed, F1 is around, but
Hi Sayed, F1 is around, but there are no more tickets, i heard it is being sold in the black market..... bad luck
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My posts and comments built on personal experience, let me know if you like or dislike it?
Salam. BigBoss & XDoha, Yes,
Salam.
BigBoss & XDoha,
Yes, actually I am considering another offer. I wanted to gauge the effect of recent market crash to property value in AD. Surprisingly as you mentioned, AD is still expensive. Where in AD should you advise a decent place to stay? 1 or 2 bedroom should be ok. Of course I prefer a villa. How's the traffic in AD city? A friend told me that I can get a Villa in Dubai for RM150K. To me that's good! What do u guys think? I need some place clean and peaceful. I amsure you guys can advise over this matter.
Thank you again guys
SIF
Hi Syed, it is always good to
Hi Syed, it is always good to see you in our forum.
Many people who are working in Abu Dhabi now are living in Dubai, it is not more than 90min drive, still you can get a good place, clean and cheap...
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Thanks Dhabi. You guys have
Thanks Dhabi. You guys have been really helpful. Thumbs up for creating this forum. Among all forum based discussions, I found this as the best! Kudos to u guys.
Can u guys help me to verify whether below expenses are sufficient?
Accommodation 8,000.00 per mth (What can I get for this and where?)
Transport/ car 2,000.00 per mth (What car can I get?)
Groceries 3,000.00 per mth
Utilities 1,000.00 per mth
Education 1,000.00 per mth
Maid services 1.000.00 per mth
Thanks
SIF
I hope you had got your
I hope you had got your answer by now :) and will be enjoying your life over there. It will be better if you will share your experience with us how life going on after settling in Abu Dhabi.
update
To summarize, I am scheduled to start on 1st Feb 2010. My Visa will be done when I am there, which I don't really mind. There are quite a bit of things I need to do for sure. Most documents need to be attested and this is quite messy as I need to meet various officials before the UAE Embassy in my country can attest it. Documents have to be translated into English or arabic by certain officials. Then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to endorse it before submission to the Embassy of UAE. This process alone cost a bomb. UAE Embassy will cost MYR150 per document and imgagine if you have 3 kids and a wife with more than 10 documents to be attested. Translation service will also cost a lot. All in, it may cost me around 2k-3k just to get all documents attested. It's funny how people make money out of this.
SIF
Yes the process is messy
Sif,
You are just about to apply for the visa/work permit? I thought you have already done that when you said you are reporting to them on 1st Feb? You are 1 brave man if you are resigning from current company and start working with Abu Dhabi company without securing a work permit
Yes its quite messy. I had similar situation and it costed me about AUD1000 which is equivalent to AED3000. And the funniest thing, the UAE Embassy required all documents to be verified and endorsed by Australian Ministry ( in my case). And they will also charge us for endorsing the already endorsed documents!!But the good thing I could claim all of them back once I started working with ADCO this March. Good Luck!!
Ebdoosh
Well it's just the fact that
Well it's just the fact that I am quite confident the Bank will do the necessary, especially a Government Bank. The Bank is in need for me to come in the soonest possible.
About the cost of endorsing the documents, I will claim back from my employer.
SIF
Guys.. please do keep in
Guys..
please do keep in touch
rgds
Astroguy