Cost of Living

I don't know of any international schools available in Johor Bahru and as you cant send your child to a Malaysian school, not sure how you will tackle this situation. 

There must be some private schools but they are not widely advertised.  Usually fees are about RM 15-50k per annum.

http://schooladvisor.my/?location=1&loc … h&x=34&y=7

Your package is good enough to survive. Costs here are between 40-50% more expensive than your current location.

There are really expensive schools like malborough that will cost MORE than your salary.

With kids you cannot afford to live on that salary.

How well can you live in Malaysia with $25,000 American dollars yearly?

herenbeyond wrote:

How well can you live in Malaysia with $25,000 American dollars yearly?

After tax as a single person ok. Not luxury have to watch spending. Partying in kl is expensive. Have to have budget holidays. In some ways I would rather live in the US on that money than Malaysia.

For a true good lifestyle without counting the sen 100,000 USD per year min. many Malaysians earn more than that (c 25,000 rm + per month and that is what a mamak restaurant owner in a larger place earns) and many parents have 3 kids in school paying 4,000 rm per month each or more. They don't do that on official average salaries (which are nonsense).

Simply a single expat shouldn't consider less than 40,000 USD per year and a family 100,000 USD per year (adding back perks of course). Anything less will be a problem

wow, 40k for a single and 100k for family.  If you need incomes that high to live in Malaysia, why leave the States if you need that type of income?

To live an ok middle class lifestyle in a not so expensive suburb with 3 kids

Modest house mortgage (1.5 million mortgage gets you a modest house) 7k
car 3k all in (not a merc)
education 12k
Food 2k
Bills - electric internet tv 1k
Capital replacement costs and clothes 1k min
Holidays and ents 2k
medical 0.5k
That is 28.5k AFTER tax.

And before pension savings. Gross up for tax and pension an expat wanting a middle class lifestyle needs to earn 50,000 rm a month.

Cheaper to live in UK or USA (not London or newyork etc) than KL. UK especially as education free.

A car here is super expensive and sending kids to school or a foreign university requires kidneys to be sold lol.
An expat who goes abroad to work wants to have a similar lifestyle to home. Who wants to drop several social classes? Don't compare a toilet cleaners salary in Malaysia to a senior manager in the west!! Cleaners here earn 3k plus (most tax free as cash in hand) for a 40 hour week. Don't tell us that is the average salary

If the US25k is earned overseas (or is a foreign pension) there would be no tax payable in Malaysia. The exchange rate is about US1 = RM3 so RM75,000 per year. Divide over 12 months = just over RM6k per month. Rental would be RM3k absolute minimum - and probably a lot higher. Utilities, internet, tv and modest food and home meals will take care of another RM1,500 per month. Eating out per person is anything from RM30 - RM100 per head. Drinks are about RM20 a pint of mass produced beer. Transportation - not expensive as fuel is RM2 per litre, but hiring or purchasing a car will see off a lot of your remaining budget per month. Holidays depend on where you want to go and how much you want to spend on hotels.  Its US50 just to purchase an on entry visa in some countries. Goods are dirt cheap in the US but relatively expensive here in most cases.

I think it is fair to say that gone are the days that Malaysia is a cheap S.E. country to live in?  The government's MM2H programme requires RM10k minimum income per month to qualify.  I think that may put things in perspective.

Many things are cheaper in the USA or UK. Electronic goods, cars, and education (UK especially).

Housing is complicated - in London house prices are out of reach of any salaried person. But same in KL now. Rents are cheaper in KL and places generally bigger, however, newer places are far smaller. Local food is cheaper in Malaysia.

Medical cheaper than USA, but in UK we have free major healthcare so for big problems Malaysia is more expensive.

An intern or youngster seeking excitement and overseas adventure will accept the minimum to survive off.

Anyone with a family has to consider pensions, education, cars etc. And KL is so expensive in those terms