Opportunity to work in Finland

[mykds]

Hi guys.
Need a little push into the right direction. Also need some insider information about living there...no rose-coloured glasses and tourist views.

I already worked in Finland for a year, 5years ago so I'm a bit familiar with it. But situation is totally different now.

I'm in talks about a job opportunity in Helsinki. Would move there with my wife and we're about to start a family. So I would be the only one working. Could someone give me a little advice about costs of living for a little family of 3? I already checked alepa wrbsite and compared our shopping basket...around 140€ per week. 1500€ ish rent. Let's say 500€ for luxury. Plus a bit for car, mobile, internet.
Would 5000€ be an appropriate income for a little family?

[leisl]

Luxury. Our family of four lived on far less. Your quoted rent is for some kind of mansion - there's only two of you - even with a baby added, a nice three room apartment is possible for 1000e and not in a shabby area at all.

The powers that be claim that the amount required to support two adults and a child is somewhere around the 2500e mark. We didn't have much more than this with two teenagers and we were fine - we lived car-free by choice and were not big spenders, but that still allows for takeaway once a week and having hobbies, and we did it with a mortgage payment involved.

Remember the reason you're considering this move in the first place (the quality of life and the place your baby will grow up). Not everything is about how many euros go into your pocket.

[mykds]

Thanks for your answer.
But don't get me wrong. I was just calculating some numbers and don't know if they were right. All you hear is that finland is sooo expensive and as you can imagine I just don't want to do anything wrong as we have quite a good standard here in Switzerland as well.
Are the 2500e you mentioned ment as total income or after taxation?

But like you said...maybe you have to cut the standards a bit to get a less crowded country for your children to grow up.

[NukkuMatti]

Luxury. Our family of four lived on far less. Your quoted rent is for some kind of mansion -

In the rural area maybe a mansion, if you hire from VVO in Vantaa or Espoo (or are they called Lumo nowadays?) you get a 5 room Apartment for 1500. (this will include heating and water and 10Mbit internet).

PS the smaller apartments are only about 200 euro's cheaper. (has to do with the heating and water costs I guess).

[Rosamunda]

PS the smaller apartments are only about 200 euro's cheaper. (has to do with the heating and water costs I guess).

...maybe but more likely it's just demand and supply. Smaller apartments are more sought after so even the initial purchase price is higher. For a landlord, it is far easier to rent out a smaller apartment than a bigger one (students, single parents, young couples, retired people, single professionals...)