Salary negotiations Vietnam

Swee Loke wrote:

AT realistic arithmetic, 200k USD per year = approx 17,000 usd per month. That is 388 million dong per month..
I doubt if you can get that in Employment!
Possibly one third of that..
More likely if you do business OR speculative deeds in Real Estate....

I know a guy here on 240k a year + extras totalling another 60k a year.

Well, that's where you get the expression 'one in a million' And here it's 1 in 80 million...hehe, sure..unless they tell, you will never know. Perhaps CEO of Rolls Royce or Microsoft or some foreign guy in VINFAST get that??

Swee Loke wrote:

Well, that's where you get the expression 'one in a million' And here it's 1 in 80 million...hehe, sure..unless they tell, you will never know. Perhaps CEO of Rolls Royce or Microsoft or some foreign guy in VINFAST get that??

Yeah, whats your point?

colinoscapee wrote:

gabbystares0y wrote:

I should have replied here. Which company pays USD 200k in Vietnam?

Management positions in large multi-national companies.

It is worth pointing out that the drop off is pretty steep.   One of my local neighbors was the head of personnel and corporate training at a major US based multi-national.  He was close enough to the top to be meeting with the country head several times a week.  I am sure he made a lot more than I did as teacher, but I don't think he would have been living in our apartment building with his mother-in-law as a babysitter if he had been making close to 200K.  Probably more like 50K

This is really interesting to read through. I will be a new expat in Hanoi soon and I will be working for a local institution as an expert and my negotiated package is about $250k a year gross. When I was negotiating, I was under the assumption that most recruited expats would be making about this salary or else if wouldn't be enticing to leave your home country. Granted my role in the states makes over six figures but it would take me 15 years to possibly get to the salary level Vietnam has offered me. I definitely count my blessings for this opportunity. But I will say that we did not expect housing to be so expensive to replicate our lifestyle in the states, especially since we are from Texas. Rent for a home similar to ours is 5 times our mortgage and that was an eye opener.

Anh Pham46 wrote:

This is really interesting to read through. I will be a new expat in Hanoi soon and I will be working for a local institution as an expert and my negotiated package is about $250k a year gross. When I was negotiating, I was under the assumption that most recruited expats would be making about this salary or else if wouldn't be enticing to leave your home country. Granted my role in the states makes over six figures but it would take me 15 years to possibly get to the salary level Vietnam has offered me. I definitely count my blessings for this opportunity. But I will say that we did not expect housing to be so expensive to replicate our lifestyle in the states, especially since we are from Texas. Rent for a home similar to ours is 5 times our mortgage and that was an eye opener.

Gotta love how all this big earners never state the industry they are in.

So your mortgage in the US is a fifth if the rental prices here? Where are you looking because in the whole accommodation is pretty cheap here and if you're on 250k per year package something doesn't ring true.

The villas we were looking are $3000-$4000 pre-VAT and fees in the urban development areas close to international schools. So that brings it to almost $4-5k a month on just rent. We're moving to Vietnam to save for early retirement so I can't justify spending that much on rent since it will earn me nothing. Texas had cheap housing so we can live in a 4K sqft house for less than $1500/month mortgage. Can't replicate that for the same amount in Hanoi for American/Euro style homes.

I'm in financial technology. I don't mind sharing the industry and I know you could probably look up who I am and what I do easily because it's the internet. But with 35% tax, it doesn't make sense to spend that much on rent with my net per month.

Anh Pham46 wrote:

The villas we were looking are $3000-$4000 pre-VAT and fees in the urban development areas close to international schools. So that brings it to almost $4-5k a month on just rent. We're moving to Vietnam to save for early retirement so I can't justify spending that much on rent since it will earn me nothing. Texas had cheap housing so we can live in a 4K sqft house for less than $1500/month mortgage. Can't replicate that for the same amount in Hanoi for American/Euro style homes.

I'm in financial technology. I don't mind sharing the industry and I know you could probably look up who I am and what I do easily because it's the internet. But with 35% tax, it doesn't make sense to spend that much on rent with my net per month.

You know you can get a decent modern four bed apartment with pool for 1200 USD right? Why do you so much space?

Anh Pham46 wrote:

Rent for a home similar to ours is 5 times our mortgage and that was an eye opener.

Have you compared your mortgage to rents in Texas for a home comparable to yours?   Also you may have had your mortgage for a while.   What would the mortgage be on your Texas home if you bought it today?  We don't have all the details but this sounds somewhat "apples to oranges."

Anh Pham46 wrote:

This is really interesting to read through. I will be a new expat in Hanoi soon and I will be working for a local institution as an expert and my negotiated package is about $250k a year gross. When I was negotiating, I was under the assumption that most recruited expats would be making about this salary or else if wouldn't be enticing to leave your home country. Granted my role in the states makes over six figures but it would take me 15 years to possibly get to the salary level Vietnam has offered me. I definitely count my blessings for this opportunity. But I will say that we did not expect housing to be so expensive to replicate our lifestyle in the states, especially since we are from Texas. Rent for a home similar to ours is 5 times our mortgage and that was an eye opener.

Tax rate as a foreigner earning 250k is 35% in VN. In the US if you earned the same, it's 35% also. Here, cost if living is much lower (food, eating out, drinks etc) - rental prices you're looking at are high because everyone assumes villas give you more space.

Your 4000 sqft home in the US equates to around 370 sq meters.. how many people are going to be living in Hanoi?  I found some 240+ sq mtrs apartments with gyms, pools for 1200-1500 USD. Don't just search the flashy big name websites, they are made to look expensive not just their rental prices. Plus also, tourism hasn't kicked in yet, there are thousands of properties people are struggling to rent out ... If you arrive before proper visas for tourists restarts you'll get a jump on a renters market.


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Jlgarbutt wrote:

You know you can get a decent modern four bed apartment with pool for 1200 USD right? Why do you so much space?

Understood but one of the reasons we were looking for a home comparable to our home in Texas was because my husband wanted to transition to a similar lifestyle since he is moving to VN for my career. We tried and searched for similar homes but since it is out of our range and doesn't align with the goals we are trying to set, we will be living in an apartment instead. He doesn't like the idea of having to go through a lobby and up and elevator to get to his home. I understand your question of why do we need so much space but that is what we have in Texas and asking a person who was already hesitant about such a drastic move to alter what they are used to is a lot and I recognize that. I know we are privileged, I will always acknowledge that. However, my husband is leaving his family and everything he was born and raised in and never left to go on my career journey with me and I have to acknowledge his wants and needs out of all of this as well. But in the end, we decided that we should save the money instead of spending it on a large rent payment. Everyone has a reason for their why's and it may be understandable to others and it may not be.

THIGV wrote:

Have you compared your mortgage to rents in Texas for a home comparable to yours?   Also you may have had your mortgage for a while.   What would the mortgage be on your Texas home if you bought it today?  We don't have all the details but this sounds somewhat "apples to oranges."

We bought our home 6 years ago and the market has drastically increased due to corporations moving to Texas within the past 5 years. Yes, I understand what you are asking and it obviously depends on what suburb we live in Texas for rental pricing but we can still get a decent sized home for about $2500/month in rent from what I am searching for now and there's not tax or management fee charged extra on top of that. The details will depend on the what neighborhood for sure but Texas has good suburbs around their major metros that can still afford a decent house with decent rent.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Tax rate as a foreigner earning 250k is 35% in VN. In the US if you earned the same, it's 35% also. Here, cost if living is much lower (food, eating out, drinks etc) - rental prices you're looking at are high because everyone assumes villas give you more space.

Your 4000 sqft home in the US equates to around 370 sq meters.. how many people are going to be living in Hanoi?  I found some 240+ sq mtrs apartments with gyms, pools for 1200-1500 USD. Don't just search the flashy big name websites, they are made to look expensive not just their rental prices. Plus also, tourism hasn't kicked in yet, there are thousands of properties people are struggling to rent out ... If you arrive before proper visas for tourists restarts you'll get a jump on a renters market.
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Totally understand, but I wouldn't be making the $250k package in the states so its moot to compare the tax rate. It would take me 15 years to get to this level if I was even able to work my way there as I've stated before. One of the reasons why we are moving to Vietnam is to pay off our graduate school student loans and save for retirement/afford to invest. We purchased our home 6 years ago for how much my salary is now. We knew buying was better than renting if able to. So yes, my husband had rose colored glasses on when it came to looking for renting a comparable home even though we know how much housing has inflated to within the past five years in Texas.

We have worked with several realtors and was able to find an apartment within our set budget in Ciputra. Its half the size of our home but I have managed to convince him that with 4 of us, it is enough space. I'm sure it will take getting used to as will everything when we move there, but I hope our first year will be successful so I can continue working in Vietnam since we have made the agreement that if he is unhappy, we will move back to the states after a year.

I appreciate the dialogue my posts have created but I feel as though we have gone off topic to the original thread discussion on salary packages. I'm happy to help anyone on this topic if there are any questions on negotiations. Although this is my first expat assignment, I have learned so much from the negotiations process and document paperwork.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Anh Pham46 wrote:

This is really interesting to read through. I will be a new expat in Hanoi soon and I will be working for a local institution as an expert and my negotiated package is about $250k a year gross. When I was negotiating, I was under the assumption that most recruited expats would be making about this salary or else if wouldn't be enticing to leave your home country. Granted my role in the states makes over six figures but it would take me 15 years to possibly get to the salary level Vietnam has offered me. I definitely count my blessings for this opportunity. But I will say that we did not expect housing to be so expensive to replicate our lifestyle in the states, especially since we are from Texas. Rent for a home similar to ours is 5 times our mortgage and that was an eye opener.

Gotta love how all this big earners never state the industry they are in.

So your mortgage in the US is a fifth if the rental prices here? Where are you looking because in the whole accommodation is pretty cheap here and if you're on 250k per year package something doesn't ring true.

Well back in the day, off shore & on shore oil exploration ex pat supervisors & management would earn that sort of money (not sure about now though) & tax paid by the company.

My ex-gf who is VIetnamese earns 100k a year plus in the banking industry. She told me of numerous upper management staff on 200-300k a year. Large companies pay good money for the right person.

Yeah, the value of money just gets smaller, and current disposable income does Not buy much with rising costs of goods and other material benefits. Only those lucky ones with right 'connections' get it!
Of course, there are now 6 billionaires in VN, and if you could try targeting those,may get somewhere!

Hi everybody,

Please note that a few off topic posts have been removed.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com Team