Moving to Finland from Asia

[cyng2048]

Hi,

We are an asian family, planning to move to Finland very soon..

I am offered a job with about 60k Euro nett income (after tax), with housing/car/education/medical covered by company. My wife will not be working in Finland. We have 2 very young kids.

Is this enough for a fairly comfortable lifestyle in FInland? Say.. can afford to eat out sometimes.. make a short trip within Finland every month or 2.. etc?

Thanks.

Regards, CY

[karen]

If you don't have to pay for housing, car, education, medical then 60k is more than enough to have a good time. Even if you have to pay for some (or all) of those, 60k will still be fairly comfortable.

Welcome to Finland!

[riku2]

I am offered a job with about 60k Euro nett income (after tax), with housing/car/education/medical covered by company. My wife will not be working in Finland. We have 2 very young kids.

Is this enough for a fairly comfortable lifestyle in FInland? Say.. can afford to eat out sometimes.. make a short trip within Finland every month or 2.. etc?

The salary level is amazingly good, you'd probably be on the same earnings level as the prime minister. Cars are especially expensive to own here - although perhaps on the level with Singapore although no COE is needed.

On the other hand what is "comfortable" and "luxurious" here have different meanings to asia and the US. Domestic help, gardeners etc are almost unknown (I doubt even the prime minister has that). Personal services (like hairdresser and manicure) are outrageously priced. You will be able to afford to eat out, although you will pay about 20e for something that would taste better and cost about 2e from a hawker centre.
Also the space you will get in your house or flat will be substantially less. 70sq m is quite normal for a couple. Living in flats is quite common. Houses are available but only in the further out suburbs and are still quite small.
Driving in the winter can be quite exciting - hopefully you will arrive before winter and get used to the snow and ice little by little, not arrive in the middle of winter and face -20 and two inches of ice on the roads from day one

[Upphew]

60k + car and housing... say 12k each. As you can't take taxes from those 24k you have to get enough cash so when you subtract the income tax that is levied from the car and housing benefit too, there is still 60k left. That makes your yearly wage a bit shy of 140k. Finnish PM got 157k in the 2007.

[raamv]

60K including car and housing OR 60K + Car + Housing ??
Either way, 60K salary will leave enough to support a family of 4.

[cyng2048]

Thanks everyone for your information. At least I feel much more assured now

[Oho]

The salary level is amazingly good, you'd probably be on the same earnings level as the prime minister.

No !"#¤%, well into six figures with car and housing on the employer. Sorry for being such a cynic, but that kind of salaries are primarily for rather high managerial positions or very exclusive professionals like long haul air line pilots. Seems rather odd to use a forum like this to inquire purchasing power level of that kind of pay grade. You make the the top 5 percentile with 60K gross (~37K net).

[riku2]

that kind of salaries are primarily for rather high managerial positions or very exclusive professionals like long haul air line pilots. Seems rather odd to use a forum like this to inquire purchasing power level of that kind of pay grade.

Well perhaps long haul airline pilots should know better, since by the time they are doing long haul they should have seen enough of the world to know the purchasing power and standard of living in most countries, but otherwise the name of this forum IS "finland forum" and not "The finland forum for asylum seekers, students and those sitting in the library looking for a job who are a bit hard up for cash".
Since the OP does not live in finland yet he won't have a finnish mobile phone and so can't look up the tax returns of high management types or pick up the edition of the newspaper that comes out once a year that rather bitterly reports the tax returns and runs stories on "high" earners.

[Pursuivant]