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KL 5K salary: enough for a single guy ?

ThomasL12

Hi everyone, I got an offer for 5000MYR (gross) in Kuala Lumpur, curious to know if that would be enough to live on..

I have less than 5 years working experience, currently in my home country I earn about 10 250MYR net.

I would really like to move overseas, but I feel like the money is quite low, even for someone with my experience.

The company pays for employment pass, but no relocation package.

I understand that matching my current salary would be hard given my experience level, but 5000 gross seems really low to move across the world. My bottom line was 8000MYR net so I'm disappointed, especially given the 30% tax for the first 180 days. I'm single, mid 20s.


I'm thinking about asking 8K net minimum, but I hardly see them accepting. just wondering what people opinion are. Thank you

See also

Living in Malaysia: the expat guideMM2H and foreign income tax exemption.Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H)Malaysia, a welcoming destination to expats?14 days rule in Malaysia for expat
Ziggy With It

I'm going to try to help.  But keep in mind that I'm not even in KL until next week.  However, I've been studying/researching for quite a while.


Seems like people throughout my life have recommended that one should spend ~25% of their income on housing.  That is doable for you with the 5,000 MYR according to what I find on Facebook Marketplace and Property Guru.  But you can get a really, really nice place for 40% of that 5,000 MYR.


My research also tells me that you can actually eat out for cheaper than preparing your own meals.  I don't know if this is true, but food does appear to be quite affordable.


I guess those are the 2 main things you need to survive.  Survive.  As to the rest of your needs such as clothing I have no idea.  I'm really fat so I'm bringing as many clothes as I can instead of having to hunt for somewhere that might have my size.  So I haven't been looking into clothing prices.


Vehicles?  They look very affordable.  Motorcycles can get pricey.  But if you want to buy a used Proton you can get one quite cheap.  But if you don't want to buy a vehicle my research tells me that public transportation is pretty damned good in KL.


So on the surface your 5K looks doable.  Will you be comfortable?  Possibly.  But definitely try to get that 8K or more.  Especially if you like to party which can get quite expensive with Malaysia's liquor prices.

wyngrove60

With a gross salary of MYR5,000 and having to pay 30% tax then I'd say just forget about that job.


Actually what kind of job is it and are you really from the UK which is what your profile is showing?

Ziggy With It

D'oh!  I totally forgot about the 30% tax.  Yeah, I guess that pretty much nullifies my previous post.

cvco

Up to at least recently I could make it on 5000 even though most people couldnt. But prices have risen so much since the pandemic that 5000 (before tax, no less) is going to be something of a miserable existence.


Something that never gets asks in such threads is what the outlook is for a given salary. Ok, 5000 today. Is there a promise of 6000 next year and 7500 the year after that? Looking forward, 5000 as a static salary will NOT be possible in the near future unless one is living under a bridge in their old Proton.


Always check numbeo.com to compare prices of where one is now and the new place. Used to be huge differences which made Malaysia financially desirable but today the world is slowly melding into all one, universal price.