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Hello Everyone -

Thanks so much for all the replies. I'm not going to wander into the NY apt convo ...

Here's a little more about my situation and expectations. Maybe it will be useful to you helpful folks:

Company is not offering housing allowance. Rationale is the economy sucks, talent is all over the place, we don't have to pay for your house.

They are offering relo assistance and medical benefits.

My lifestyle is hardly glamorous. I've got an 18 month old which pretty much cuts out bars, clubs, and most restaurants.

We eat at home a lot. But we like to eat western staples, like turkey sandwiches for lunch, scrambled eggs and toast and coffee for breakfast, maybe grilled chicken and some veggies for dinner. We don't need to eat out every day, but getting out and about a few times a month is nice.

Currently, I pay almost 20% of my annual pre-tax salary towards housing costs. This, coupled with car note, utility bills, a couple low balance credit cards, cable tv, and balloon-like student loan payments keep us pretty close to paycheck-to-paycheck. We have nominal savings - a huge reason that I am entertaining this move. If we can still get by and actually save money (while at the same time, further my career with international experience) - then it looks like a good opp for me.

I do not know Mandarin, and I don't need to for the job. I'll definitely be taking lessons regardless if I go.

In college, I lived in Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul for 6 months or so. Loved it. Married to an Indonesian woman. Living in Asia is practically a dream of mine. Could be naive stars in my eyes - but I think I've got an upbeat attitude to the prospect of relocating, if that counts for anything.

Currently, we live in a 1,000 square foot 2 BR house. This house is too small for us.

So, there's a little more about me and my expectations. Does this help paint a clearer picture? Is this job offer a good fit, financially, for me? Emotional "fitting" is the factor I'll tackle next. Just want to work on the pragmatic and measurable aspects first - then move on to the other issues (family, child care, where to live, etc ...)

Thanks!
- Cinco

cincolaters wrote: In college, I lived in Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul for 6 months or so. Loved it. Married to an Indonesian woman. Living in Asia is practically a dream of mine. Could be naive stars in my eyes - but I think I've got an upbeat attitude to the prospect of relocating, if that counts for anything.

In that case, I will say go for it.

Most of people will consider 60k euro annual salary living in China more than adequate and luxurious.
Remember, locals can live on 500 USD per month. You are not local so you will spend more but not 10x more.

Housing is obviously the biggest cost, sure there are fancy flats with water view for 4k+ USD, but you can find a nice 2-beds in a nice building in good area ( for example Jing An) for $1500.
Your grocery cost, imported items(for example cereal, drinks ...) will cost more than USA price, local goods (meat, fish, bakery ...) are cheap.
Transportation is dirt cheap.
Going out to eat, of course if you go to Jean Georges it is expensive, but a nice local restaurant you can have a decent meal for $20.

Overall, based on your description of your current life style, I believe you will live a better life in Shanghai while saving some money.

Here's the deal...Shanghai (I live in New York and Shanghai) is a very big beautiful city...and it is also an Expensive City.....From my experience it the most costly city in China......My rent in Shanghai is more then half of your yearly income......And yes you can rent a place for 2 or 300 dollars a month.....BUT I DON"T THINK YOU WILL LIKE IT......You said your income is $100,000 USD's per year, however you failed to mention where you live......

Good Luck.....Shanghai is a very exciting city and China is a spectacular country....

You can live in Shanghai on $100,000 usd's per year...plenty of people live on a lot less....HOWEVER YOU WILL NOT BE LIVING LARGE IN SHANGHAI ON THAT INCOME....

Now it's a little clearer. As you have been here before you know the ropes, not a lot of surprises and culture shock to worry about.
Can probably get a 2 BR, 150 sm for around 10K RMB/mo, depending on the area, age and level of decoration.
Based on a 50K salary you would net about 40K RMB/month.
You would need to pay US Fed taxes if over the $91.5K income exclusion threshold.
Also need to address the remaining car loan payments, credit cards and student loan payments.
So setup a budget and stick to it, work the numbers;
After tax(10), rent(10), utilities/transportation/food(5) you'll have approx. 25K RMB/month ($3500) to play with.
Now, if you can negotiate a 20% allowance (before tax with fapiao) for housing - the taxes would be about 7500 RMB, so you could raise your remaining income to 27.5K ($4000) - not a lot, but every little bit helps.
Shop at wet markets, use local brands, cook at home and eat at local restaurants infrequently.
Going western for most things will blow your budget to hell fast.

Another stealth expense you need to look at are the higher income taxes you will pay in China. Many companies offer tax equalization as part of the package. This is one you should look into.

Also try to locate near your work and the subway so you can save on your transportation costs.

Little items like these all add up so if you are smart about where you locate and how you manage your expenses, you can enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle on your income and still have some savings.

How long do you envision staying,a nd what do you imagine your wife will be doing whilst you are at work? The reason I ask is, your child is very young now, but will you want them to go into preschool in a year or so? Your wife might be very happy being a SAHM, but when she gets here she will probably want to meet up with other SAHMs with children of similar ages. This means getting out and about, so is she happy to sling-carry the baby and take public trans? (Forget using buggies here - more trouble than they are worth.) Even in the heat of summer/damp cold of winter? Or will you need a car and driver? Just some things to consider which you might also want to budget for. It's very easy to hemorrhage money here, bit by bit, day by day. Especially if, as you say, you want to eat turkey sandwiches for lunch.

This is not to say you can't make a go of it here, just that, as is always the case, it is "the little things" that will get you. We are also working hard at saving whilst we are here, but notice I said 'working hard.'