If you are still young and not yet married and settled in Msia. My advice is to go for it. It gives you more option in life.

Dont old later like unker age 41 edi later will ponder and regret what moght have been.

You can become a PR and retire there or once reach retirment age there come back to Msia and enjoy a very confortable retirement life.

This post has been edited by max_cavalera: May 19 2023, 12:13 PM

Live life without regret. Think, consider and then take action.

I have good work-life balance in MY too. Most of my colleagues cabut very fast when it is home time. Within 10 minutes, the office is almost empty. I am sure there are a lot of companies in MY that does not treat their employees inhumanly.

Btw, why do they want to hire someone in MY with GBP? From business point of view, it doesn't make any sense. There are many ways to get the talents they want while hiring more Asians, instead of hiring someone outside UK while paying them GBP.

Problem with having lots of money is, if say you decide to migrate to other country, how much of those money's can you take after tax and fees etc.

Almost all of it, if tax is already paid in the origin country. I transferred > RM 100k when buying a house in UK, no problem at all. Won't get taxed twice. Transfer fee is minimal

its actually very common practice in our industry (oil and gas) . i'm actually employed in SG but stationed in Johor (paid in SGD). so what my wife's colleague was aimming for was the same thing, hired as a consultant in london who specialise in asian market and get stationed in MY but get paid in GBP

I see. Is this common even before covid?

Still look strange to me.
Won't it be cheaper if they just pay you with MYR rate?
Or they are actually paying you less than those who are in UK even though you are paid in their currency?
Perhaps it is only applicable to those with exceptional skills or capable of making a lot of profit for the company?

Just curious.

For your case, SG and MY always have very special relationship. Geographically, we are very close too.
I am not a management or financial person but probably there are advantages for SG-MY cases.

This post has been edited by Dark Lord: May 19 2023, 05:05 PM

My time, I was hired as a purchaser because I can speak English / Canto / Mandarin / Melayu / Korean / Jepunis / French. Almost insta pass no need 2nd 3rd 4th interview. (or perhaps because I got good cable? The company that hire me is like half sdn bhd type grocer, and my two older cousin bro was their staff in the past when studying in the UK, my older cousin sis even piap the boss son back then when she's studying in the UK.

I guess that's where my cable comes from. But again, work-life balance, yes.

Even now, I am busy and work daily (never once no go office, even weekend or public holiday) I think my work-life balance is better than back in malaysia. Malaysia is you public holiday also has to work, but you whole bunch mofo stay outside office wait some humgarchan with no life-work quality come open office door.

As answered by Mystalyzer bruh below, tax is already paid in the origin country. As long paperwork ngam, everything is fine from head to toe. But apparently, some still double tax you, for example, you buy a watch in UK with no tax-free scheme, and the Malaysia custom still die die wanna chop 9 you a piece of flesh. Jokes aside, my time when leaving Malaysia, I sold my car (Kia optima K5), my 1 bedroom studio in segambut (I think I bought for 340 or 350k that time?) and other small stuff (in garage sale, mudah, facebook) and accumulated around 70k ringgit liddat.

But I cheapskate. That time exchange I think 5+ ringgit per pound? Felt like I spend close to 20k for 3k pound in cash. The rest I save in my Harimau card, and the card gave to my mom. I didn''t bring them to the UK. Instead, to earn abit here n there, after reaching London, I find the Malaysian that need remit money urgently or use pounds urgently to sell my ringgits. (Nothing beats the feeling that you get 6000 ringgit for 1000 pounds you gib them, while you only get like 5k plus from Bank. Of coz this is illegal la)

Of course, fee is minimal. But there's some when it comes to inheritance tax which means later when I gib my assets to my kids, they'll kena a big chop. This one even myself tatau how it works.

TS, same situation with u. I worked in SG more than 10 yrs ago salary S$14k that time rate only 2.2x came back to msia after found a job paying higher (obvious choice at that time, but not when SGD hit 3.3x)

married, had a family with kids in malaysia, bought a semiD, new cars, etc. late last year a global brand with RHQ in Singapore approached me, they are willing to pay the same number i am getting dollar to dollar.. meaning if i'm getting rm30k now, they are willing to pay me S$30k + schooling for my kids in SG (i can choose public or international school) + housing/relocation package. it was no brainer, i applied, and because they have interviewed a lot of ppl for this role, it's a management role in a very niche field, my win rate is rather high. Interviewed with multiple MDs from other country, and on my 3rd round discussion with the HR director I was asked a critical question, i wont reveal the question here for privacy reason, but that question made me think long and deep. after that interview, i told them i'm withdrawing from the job application. the reason i did not continue is, my family, my life, my parents and everything here. RM100k salary won't be able to compensate what I have now. If i got this job, i'm sure to stay there for a longggg time already.

once a while I'll think back about this decision, and everytime I also choose to stay in Msia. no regret ever since... but damn... 1.2mil salary per annum... sighh..

This sort of jobs do exists....it's not usually advertised. These are usually very specialist roles, something that a local resources cannot/do not have the finesse to do. You'll only know about them through headhunters or through networks.

What interview question made you u-turn?

addressing the white elephant that previous interviewers didnt asked, or rather.. i think she is performing her duty as HR quite well.
this is a senior role and they've been recruiting since last year. they want someone to stay long term because this role is key to expand to APAC region so they cant afford to have leadership keep changing. she asked in detail my kids, my family, my arrangement in SG, my wife's job (wife is a VP of a MNC in msia) and she cant join me here in SG, my parents, etc. she know i wont last long if i go SG alone. it's an expat package where they sponsor family relocation, housing, children education and medical plan for entire family. if i go SG alone, then it defeats the purpose. She hint me to reconsider my plan thoroughly. my answer wasnt convincing anyway, i said i'll bring my kids over to SG when they reach high school. even i couldn't convince myself...

yeap even before covid it was common. especially for this Local o&g company we work at (guess also know which local one la haha). 5 year bond locally, request transfer to UK branch, then 6months in request to be station in MY based on the experties you have of local market. guess now market is low demand and like you say, cost cutting measures everywhere. maybe that's why wife colleague struggling.

Yes, he was one of the interviewers and he is the hiring manager. His boss was also in the meeting and asked more higher-level technical questions and he was too aware of my relationship with my friend.
It's not solely my friend's decision.

This post has been edited by Kakistok: May 20 2023, 05:30 PM

Inspiring, to say the least. I'm only at 11k, slowly working my way up.

I may need to create another topic. Just this week I got a call from my ex MD (my first company I worked for, 3 years Malaysia, 5 years in US)
He said a lot of seniors recently left company, there was a movement - ( one ex employee joined a startup in Saudi, pulled all the seniors from the company)

He wants to know if I'm interested to take up the HOD role, a team of 22 engineers. I gave it a go, we had an interview with rest of the group i.e MD, HR, current temporary expat HOD
This will be based in KL (my hometown) which is perfect.

Just don't know how much they would offer yet, probably will know next week if I'm selected. It's a business with similar technical skills to the one in UK, but UK I would be a lead/senior engineer and here HOD. UK company is OEM, MY is an engineering consultant.

I know is out of the actual thread topic, but from what you've written, I think you've no alien to a situation like this.
They seem desperate for a person to get hold of the team. I have no idea what the previous HOD was earning, they currently have a temporary ex-pat from Germany in that role, he will be leaving soon.
How much can I demand?

A big next week. If I'm not selected for both, then business as usual

This post has been edited by Kakistok: May 20 2023, 06:38 PM

u can ask them what's the prevailing rate la for the role, and what's the OTE package. usually p&l ownership/management role dont just draw basic salary. best if there's HR to interface so u can ask these kinda questions. i always ask upfront, otherwise dont waste my time.

yea the rental and inflation do sound scary. I've checked the rental prices around the UK company, and it's close to 50% of the possible take-home salary.
my current rental in Johor is only 17%
my friend that invited me for this job also told me the work-life balance there is amazing. nobody works after 5. It's a work-from-home role but need to come to the office maybe one or two days a week. So no opportunity to be stationed in Malaysia full time. However, he told me I can work from Malaysia like for a month, say twice a year taking vacation days in between. He said some of his foreign colleagues do that.
If I'm selected, and once I know the offer - I'll discuss it with him in terms of living cost and all that stuff to make sure it aligns with my needs. Money is not my main priority (the company is a huge pull), but at least should be able to save/invest more than what I currently have and not think twice to buy something which is actually affordable.

This post has been edited by Kakistok: May 21 2023, 01:09 PM