Is 18k RM per month good salary for KL location?

@Vadi_21 very good salary... You can easily survive with kids in this salary

@ahmed_faiz2000 Thank you for the reply. Can we live comfortably with this salary?. I have send my kid to school as well.

• It is a good salary for an Expat i presume from the subcontinent. You can live comfortably with family and i presume the company will be giving housing allowance separately. But be mindful that KL is the most expensive city in Malaysia with high rental and very high international school fee structure. Since you have 3 kids, this is a major expenditure to consider if your kids are over the primary school stage, and already in secondary level. You can live modestly and enjoy the benefits that come with living in a modern cosmopolitan city ,but i hate to break the bubble that you can have savings. Most likely after the school fee,bus fee and medical insurance and taxes you would hardly be left with anything. You can save some in taxes by showing your dependents and by paying your zakat (for muslims) within Malaysia annually. Also the high security deposit that the schools demand at the time of admission and the expenditure of buying a car are going to wipe out your savings of the first year or two completely. Malaysia is a beautiful country and the family is going to love it but one has to be mindful of the reality. Lastly International schools often inflate the tuition fee annually by 5-10% which really pinches the pocket.

Hey everyone,

Please note that this thread is now on the Kuala Lumpur forum.

Cheers,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

Hi

Based on your life style & Requirements all depends. Have you checked the Schools fees? From Which Country Are you from?

@ahmed_faiz2000 no its not!

After tax approx 15,000 RM per month

When USD was 3 to MYR, 5,000 dollars good.

Now equal to 3,200 USD per month. A poor salary especially with very high inflation in Malaysia.

After tax that's about 15k RM or 3,200 USD per month.

If 23 and single, it's OK, not great but doable - note Malaysian inflation is rampant and likely RM will fall further.

If married three kids RUN AWAY! Terrible joke salary.

School fees are about 3k RM per kid per month (lower end of decent schools), so 9k of your 15k salary goes on schooling (you cant use state schools). Ouch.

Then rent and bills will be at least 2.5k.... you see why you can't unless this is plus free accommodation and free school places.

You definitely won't save.

You can rent an apartment for RM2k to 3k pm quite easily and maybe even lower than that, for a 2 bedroom apartment. Assume up to Rm1k per month for electricity, internet, phones, gas, water etc.  If you have children that need to go to school and need to pay for this yourself, then you need to know how much it will cost beforehand. Schools can be very expensive in Malaysia and you'd need to research schools very carefully. Also which part of KL would your place of work be?

I would say 18K isnt enough unless youre willing to suffer a lower standard of living and even then I probably wouldnt sleep well at night due to PANIC. Its amazing how just a few years ago 18K would be a king's ransom but hardly one now.

I know its absurd and will never happen but i'd tell HR, "Ok, we're not going to have a stated salary. I'll show up at the Pay Office once a week to draw off what I need and at the end of the year, add it up and that was my salary!"

Its not even worth discussion or the suggestion of checking out numbeo.com or something, not when its below about 30-35K a month for this level of need. I could do it on 18k if married and NO KIDS. Pfff, forget it.

You will be surprised how expensive International Schools are. Depending where you come from (Nationality) western food (cheese ect) is also very expensive. With 18k you should get by nicely.

The OP posted his query almost a year ago, so it's probably unnecessary to respond further.

However, I will point out that KL and other places too like JB have a massive oversupply of apartments for rent which is forcing down prices. I sold all my properties several years ago. I met up with a Malaysian friend a couple of days ago and she is also selling all her properties in Malaysia because it's extremely hard to find tenants and the rents are becoming harder to pay the mortgage, maintenance fees and upkeep of apartments. It's just getting worse and worse, so rents are being forced down.

@Vadi_21

***

Hi Vin,

You and other property agents have got zero chance of selling or renting properties on this site. Also the Malaysian property market is absolutely shite at the moment. Anyone serious about buying or renting in Malaysia would be completely bonkers to deal with you here. Just advertise your properties on the usual property websites same as all the other Malaysian property agents, with a massive discount or well  below market rental and you might have a chance  to earn some commissions. FYI, as someone who has bought and sold plenty of property of my own in Malaysia, I know the Malaysian property agents are as tricky, if not more so, than any others.

Also you cannot advertise properties here in the open forum. Place an ad in the above section marked "Property".