Hi all, I've just been offered a 6-month posting in HK. Here's what I've been offered, can you please advise if I can live reasonably well on it?
1. A rent-free, two-bed apt in Kowloon Tong about 1000sqft. I'm responsible for all incidentals and utilities. (Is this a safe district with good amenities? How much will incidentals and utilities be?)
2. A hardship allowance of HK$50,000, on top of my usual salary.
3. No car - will be working in Central. How difficult will it be to get to work each day? Will getting a private car service be possible? (Not talking about stretch limo, just a regular pick up-and-drop off service to and from work. Alternatively, are taxis plenty and reliable? How much will it cost to travel from Kowloon Tong to Central each way?)
I'll be flying solo in HK, so no expenditure on kids. But I do organic: are there good organic shops in HK? Will HK$50,000 cover all my HK expenses? (Hoping not to touch my usual income due to prior financial commitments.)
Thanks in advance!
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1. HK is typically very safe compared to a US or European city. While Kowloon Tong is not quite in "middle of things", HK is quite compact so getting to work/play should be easy. As a wild guess utilities and such should not exceed 3k Honkies a month.
2. I think that if you don't go crazy, 50k should cover your expenses above and beyond the "usual". I'm assuming your travel to HK and back is paid.
3. HK is dead easy to move around in with no car. No real need for a car service. Taxis are cheap and plentiful. I don't know exactly from Kowloong Tong but I doubt it's more than 80-100 Honkies one way to Central. Otherwise you have the very reliable MTR. Just one change across a platform and you are in Central. I would suggest that anyway give rush hour traffic across the harbor.
Organic food is more costly than in, say, the UK or the US. Also most grocery store in expat areas do have organic stuff. I would recommend www.aussieorganics.com for your produce. All organic, good and fresh. Here are some nice food stores (all on the Island, sorry)
o “Great” Food Hall located on the lowest floor of Pacific Place. This is the mother lode for quality stuff.
o CitySuper in the IFC Mall and Times Square.
o Oliver’s in Prince’s Building. Smaller and more exclusive.
o Aussie Organics – A web store that delivers excellent organic produce and fish/seafood every Friday. Well worth trying out. We buy most of our produce and fish/seafood from there. http://www.aussieorganics.com
See also my tips page. It's a bit Island centric, but might help you some: http://hongkongtips.rosboch.net/
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Cara, I think it's 50k for 6 months, not 50k/month. Still, I agree the package is not shabby at all.
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ltxhk
18 yrs ago
Kowloon Tong is a nice area with a lot more trees and low-rises than many places on HK island. A few parks in the area along with sports fields. Festival Walk is a large shopping plaza in kowloon tong with many western oriented stores, including for groceries. MTR is very quick link to Central, along with Harbour Tunnel buses. Private xport in the AM is not a great idea since the traffic is really bad. For only one guy as long as you don't run the AC while out, I think utilities wouldn't be more than $1,500.
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Hi all, thanks very much for your tips! The allowance is HK$50,000 a month - based on what all of you have written, I think I will do just fine.
One more question please: since the good stores seem to be on HK Island (according to axptguy38's page), do any of the listed stores, other than aussieorganics do home deliveries?
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If that is your hardship allowance per month over and above your regular salary, and you don't have to pay rent either, then you are right, you are going to do just fine.
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"One more question please: since the good stores seem to be on HK Island (according to axptguy38's page), do any of the listed stores, other than aussieorganics do home deliveries?"
My list is Island centric since I live on the Island. There are probably great stores in Kowloon. ;)
Pretty much any food store in HK will deliver. At grocery stores, you'll typically get free delivery on orders over 400-500 Honkies (under that it'll be 30-40 Honkies for the delivery). Note that they will only deliver "dry" stuff, thus no fresh veggies, fish, meat etc... If the store is local to you, you will typically get the stuff in the afternoon if you go before 1pm and the next am if you go after 1pm. If it's a place like Great, which is further from you, the delivery might take 1-3 days.
There are several other web stores apart from aussieorganics. Some specialize in meat, some in fish, etc... Can't think of any off the top of my head right now though.
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Hi HKhereIcome, dont be offended and I m not being sarcastic. From yr original post, I understand you wl hv a normal salary, plus 50,000 hardship allowance per month and a 1000 sq. ft. flat in Kowloon Tong which is a very well off area in Hong Kong. You are coming here on your own. So I wld say no worries you wl be very alright here. As a Hongkonger, I am very happy that experts are still willing to come to Hong Kong, despite the air pollution and the noisy environoment compared to the rest of the world. Lucky that you dont hv to worry about children's education which seems to be quite a headache to lots of expats here. Wish u good luck n have a nice stay here.
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I was about to say that too... an office assistant can earn HK$420K... ?? quite unlikely in local companies i wld say.
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No way in a local company.
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Mighty: no offence taken :)
Digital: very insightful post; you sound like you know your stuff (need a job for 6 mths? msg me) - I'm fortunate enough not to have to pay home rent, but your point is the reason why expats get seemingly large packages; we have to maintain two addresses. Still, that was the opening offer, and up for negotiation.
Wasn't sure about the Kowloon Tong bit, 'cos reading through the posts on this website, virtually no expat has mentioned it. So the input that it's a well-off suburb is somewhat reassuring. A good place to dry out and be on best behavior! :)
What's interesting is, why aren't the office assistants in local companies (or others) working for R Walters' clients? I suspect R Walters' clients demand way-above-average workers, so those office assistants are in no way overpaid. (The pub I referred to was a survey of possibly? international firms in HK, not just of R Walters' clients. I'd be interested in a national survey and the standard deviation.)
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R Walters Clients are mostly A List investment banks, that survey I checked out was for the banking industry and are indicative figures. The reason most people dont work for those kind of companies is they simply aren't eligible. The proficiency of English Cantonese and Mandarin that is required to get those jobs is high. The people who hold support roles at a bank are usually HK born, US or UK or even HK tertiary educated without a pedigree degree. So they are reasonibly bright and have language proficiency. In short they are probably overqualified for the job that they are actually doing.
An office assistant at a local company is a very different animal, I'd be surprised if most of them finished secondary school. An office assistant at an investment bank can in fact be a career, its not unheard of for the privileged few to be earning US$100,000 per year including bonus if they are working either for the right person at the bank or on the right desk. At a local company, being an office assistant can be a dead end.
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exactly my point - those office assistants are way-above-average and probably deserve every penny, and from my observation, function more as personal assistants ("if they are working either for the right person at the bank"). But that list has a separate listing for PAs.
The question I posed involves others, i.e. reasonably bright, linguistically proficient degree-holders who are probably "executives", who do not make HK$420K. Why don't they become office assistants in those places? I'd suggest those earning HK$420K are not overqualified - but are in fact getting their market compensation.
Anyway, I'm glad I stumbled on that pub on this website - I'm going to wave it around to get my package boosted. :)
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If you are language proficient, and have a tertiary degree from a decent school, doesnt need to be an elite school, then you are probably making that kind of annual salary anyway if you have decent experience. Its also not that easy to become an office assistant with an Investment bank, there just aren't that many that are hired, they would probably need to take a role in operations if they were reasonably bright.
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"but your point is the reason why expats get seemingly large packages; we have to maintain two addresses. "
Indeed. There's also the fact that most expats often have good, high-paying jobs at home. They're not going to just move without quite an incentive. If the companies moving people to HK could pay expats smaller packages, they would do so in a heartbeat.
"Wasn't sure about the Kowloon Tong bit, 'cos reading through the posts on this website, virtually no expat has mentioned it. So the input that it's a well-off suburb is somewhat reassuring. A good place to dry out and be on best behavior! :)"
What most expats coming in (including yours truly at the time) don't realize is that Kowloon + HK Island forms an very compact metropolitan area. While KT may not be expat central, it's very close to downtown, just like the rest of HK apart from New Territories. Compared to a European or US city, HK is very small by area.
So don't worry about being "out in the burbs". ;)
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I like Kowloon Tong. As mentioned above, it's mostly low-rise and leafy and feels kind of old fashioned. I always like to have some sort of separation from where I live and my place of work, so I would recommend it. As people have said above, shops will deliver so you can continue to be organic at home. If you tire of the hustle and bustle of a social life in the crowded areas of the island, you'll only be about a 30 minute cheap taxi drive from Sai Kung, where the pace of life is more pedestrian. Village-y atmosphere, lots of countryside for good hikes, small ex-pat and local bars and plenty of restaurants. You'll have plenty of choice in Hong Kong.
I hope you'll come over and love your time here. Go for it!
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Thanks, y'all!
I'll check out those places listed (not the "lovers' motels", though).
Am really looking forward to HK now! :)
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"there are some motel-like hang-outs where 'lovers' rent by the hour stuff but it's all hush hush so there wouldn't be any real trouble."
These hang-outs aren't really that uncommon in other parts either. ;) One of the nice things about HK is how all that stuff is hidden in plain sight. There's no garish red light district to accidentally wander into. Even if, while looking for a good hardware store, you happen to wander too far down a certain road in Wan Chai you can squint and pretend that it's just full of bars.
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Ed
18 yrs ago
Lets please stick to answering the questions. I have deleted the pointless sniping.
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