Thinking to move to Jakarta

Hello. Before we go and repeat all that has been said before please spend some time looking through the myriad of threads about the costs of living here.  Then if you can a question not already ask then I am sure everyone will be more than happy to answer. Thanks

Hi Ritesh,

The package they are offering should be enough for you and family to live comfortably in Jakarta, even if you need to fork out rent yourself. Rent for a nice 3-bedroom apartment(with facilities) in town or expatriate areas like kemang starts from about 3k usd. Also note that 1-2 year rent is expected to be paid upfront as well. Ouch. If your company can help you in this, that will be great.

Another factor to consider- is the company going to cover your kids' education? International school fees here are not cheap (depending on your children's age), it can be up to 25-30k usd a year per child. And also factor aside household staff salary (which will cost you about 500+usd on average if you have a driver and a maid) if your company is not providing, unless your wife is going to take care of your children full time and you are going to drive yourself.

Just a mental prep for you- Other threads may have written on how 'cheap' it is for expats to live in Jakarta, but that is really dependant on the type of lifestyle one is looking at. Frankly many of my expat friends and myself do not find it cheap to stay in Jakarta and we have lived in many countries abroad to make that comparison. If you want to stay in a nice area, buy in the supermarkets , dine out couple days a week in nice restaurants, Jakarta is definitely not as cheap as many claimed it to be. But of course if you do everything local style, like eat street food, buy at the wet market, etc then it's cheap. Not sure where you are currently living; but when we were moving from Singapore to here, HR loves selling us on how everything is 50% cheaper in Jakarta than Singapore and we are going to save a great deal...that is totally nonsense. So don't feel shy to negotiate a comprehensive package

Hope this info is of some help to you. Feel free to drop me a note if you have any more questions.

Cheers
Cass
www.mummynista.com-Life of An Expat Mom and Wife in Jakarta

Thanks for your response, surely gave me an idea

riteshsk wrote:

Thanks for your response, surely gave me an idea

One of the greatest mistakes expats commonly make is, living like an expat.
Why not find a nice house in a secured estate. The rent will be more like Rp30 million/year.
Why not find a nice national plus school, one where English is the first language?
That'll cost about Rp36 million per year, maybe less.

Here's a tip.
If the price is in dollars, the target group is idiots with more cash than brains.

As for 50% cheaper, only if you pay way too much for everything.

riteshsk wrote:

Thanks for your response, surely gave me an idea

No problem, good luck with your move!

mas fred wrote:

One of the greatest mistakes expats commonly make is, living like an expat.
Why not find a nice house in a secured estate. The rent will be more like Rp30 million/year.
Why not find a nice national plus school, one where English is the first language?
That'll cost about Rp36 million per year, maybe less.

Here's a tip.
If the price is in dollars, the target group is idiots with more cash than brains.

If someone doesn't conform to your ideals of living, it doesn't mean that they are idiots. The attempt to put others down, on contrary, does not reflect well on oneself. The forum is after all for diverse groups of people to offer and share their perspectives.

As long as one is living within their means, to each their own.

mummynista wrote:

mas fred wrote:

One of the greatest mistakes expats commonly make is, living like an expat.
Why not find a nice house in a secured estate. The rent will be more like Rp30 million/year.
Why not find a nice national plus school, one where English is the first language?
That'll cost about Rp36 million per year, maybe less.

Here's a tip.
If the price is in dollars, the target group is idiots with more cash than brains.

If someone doesn't conform to your ideals of living, it doesn't mean that they are idiots. The attempt to put others down, on contrary, does not reflect well on oneself. The forum is after all for diverse groups of people to offer and share their perspectives.

As long as one is living within their means, to each their own.

That doesn't negate my argument, If the price is in dollars, the target group is idiots with more cash than brains.
If you want to live like that, wasting fat piles of cash, fine.
However, warn those who don't want to be ripped off, so they can make an informed  choice.
The local currency is Rupiah; locals use that, not Dollars.
Hawkers of stupidly overpriced flats are targeting foreigners with no clue.

Our esteemed OP is suggesting he'll earn Rp2,360,101,517/year.
That's great, but why waste it?
I'd far sooner live in just as nice a place, paying about the same for a year for a nice house as you'll pay per month in a flat aimed at an expat.

The same goes for schools. There are many high quality schools where you don't have to pay a daft price but the education is of a very high standard.

People who don't find it cheap to live in Jakarta are wasting a lot of money for absolutely no gain at all.
Personally, I like to put cash into my bank, not give it away to rip off artists.
Anything else is bad business.