Plus your wife will have no kind of life out there

my wife and kids wouldnt be going !! just me.

Mikewsmith… i know guys out there for BAE direct and its the same pay.

50k?
Not even worth starting a thread about it, let alone thinking about it!

@renton £50k seriously that’s appalling for Saudi – NFW. I’d expect more in Bahrain and Oman too. FWIW I love Oman have spent a few holidays there, not sure how it would be for working as it would feel very small. Bahrain I have spent a lot of time in too.

What trades are people doing out there to earn £200k a year??

Plus no MTB’ing !!

Oh yes there is!
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn8Fc-sheo0[/video]
Rad! Gnarrr!

Thats £50k tax free so equivelant of roughly £70K in uk.

I’ve been offered 2 jobs in Saudi in the last 6 months. Both were over £100k with all of the benefits of flights home, etc. No package to move the family over, and no way would I want to even if there was. Both were long, open ended contracts.

My boys are 17 and 12. Not a chance I’d leave them just for money. However much it was.

So no, no, no.

who was that with bigblackshed

What others have said, it’d be industry dependant but even TEFL must be on that in Saudi?

Most Middle east contacts I’ve been offered/seen are on a married basis, so they pay very well (1.5 to 2x UK pay before tax, and there’s obviously no tax) plus bonuses, and everything (accommodation, food, car) is expensed and your family comes with you and lives in the compound.

I don’t know how much is putting on a brave face, but I’d not say people hate it, they do it for the money, but it’s usually 50-60hr weeks so the reality is they don’t have time to get miffed with the weather or go outside anyway. Most do it to save big deposit very quickly, others get n+1 on their buy-to-let portfolio so pretty much sort their pension by doing 1 year in 10 somewhere rubbish.

Dubai – maybe, there is mountainbiking on the Oman border
Oman – see above, there are mountains and it is cool enough in places/times to go out for a ride.
Abu Dhabi – maybe, allegedly a bit more culture than Dubai which is just shopping malls and big money.
Saudi – it’d be for the money, it’d be 12months and 2 days, and it would cover a tax year.

What trades are people doing out there to earn £200k a year??

Anything in engineering with more than 10-15 years experience. It’s pretty much take the UK salary and double it and add expenses. Also depends on the contract, going on an assignment with a company you work for as staff will be a lot less than finding a contract yourself.

who was that with bigblackshed

Sounds like you’ve made your mind up.
Good luck.

For that money, BAE are still humping you.

If you are leaving, get properly working on your resettlement and make the most of it. Don’t be a typical resettler and gaff it off then end up outside the camp gates, blinking and wondering what to do next.

What trades are people doing out there to earn £200k a year??

he is a senior process engineer

TooTall ….. Im not leaving yet, got 5 years to my 22 point.

Ive not made my mind up but am swaying more to the no side.

Oh yes there is!

😆

That’s got to be up there with that Sherwood vid.

Then you’d be insane to leave before your 22 and all that entails. You need to start on your 5 year exit plan now.

know a mine engineer who was tossing up middle east and a few others I think market rate was about £800/day plus everything paid for

Petro-chemical companies, in the plastics sector, hands on polymer R&D.

I would only get to come home for 2-3 weeks every 12 weeks

That seemed pretty generous to me but then I saw you have kids.

You know those **** things you see on Facebook about love, children, partners etc? They usually have a photo of a candle and you ignore them straight away as it is just some soppy person sharing guff. I saw one the other day which said the best thing you can do for your kids is spend half the amount of money on them but spend twice as much time with them instead.

That makes sense to me and I think you would, in the future, regret spending too much time away from your kids.

50k? To go there? You’re off your head.

Add a 1 or 2 in front of it, and perhaps it’s worth considering.

Renton. If you ever find a bloke who can honestly say he spent too much time with his kids growing up, let me know. I’ve not met one yet, and I’ve met an awful lot who would wish they hadn’t been away quite so much.

@renton did you read the other threads on Saudi ? I posted there a bit as I’ve visited the place for work over the past 25 years including at some stressed times. Some good friends of mine where in the compound attacked by suicide bombers, they hid under the stairs as other guys came in shot up the apartments. They left as soon as they could. I’ve also attended a talk by Frank Gardner of the BBC who was shot and paralysed whilst getting money out of the ATM. The security situation there is worse than it’s ever been.

Offering £50k is an insult

TooTall its a 3 year secondment so I would come back to the raf for my last two years !

My kids are the biggest holdback for me !!

I asked a similar question a while back.

£50k seems low for SA.

The package I had floating around was five times that.

It still hasn’t been filled, so that may tell you something.

as many others have said, 50k seems low. Presuming this isn’t a massive hike from your current salary, what you’re actually talking about is doing it for the tax.

That means that vs a job on similar money at home with your kids, you’re looking at an extra 9 and a bit grand a year (plus the difference in salary)i.e. presuming you are on 50k here, a total for the three years of 28/30k minus whatever extra cost you have. Trust me, as someone who tours for a job, no matter how much it is claimed that your expenses are covered, you will have to spend money on stuff that you wouldn’t have to at home.

Cant say it would be enough to convince me. It would have to be an income that would change our lives as a family to convince me to change our family life (if that makes sense.

My take home pay here after paying for my married quarter etc is £1800 a month.

out there I would be taking home £3500 a month plus any overtime I get.

My take home pay here after paying for my married quarter etc is £1800 a month.

out there I would be taking home £3500 a month plus any overtime I get.

Yep, that is great and your wife and kids will have more money, but they won’t have you!

We have some older friends who are currently selling their US winter home which was effectively paid for by a Saudi military contract.

Granted they’re very good with their money but I think that that was tops, a couple of year’s worth of work.

Being military it sounds like you’re used to limited home comforts but £50K still sounds like their pulling your trousers down.

Really, don’t do it.

You’ll never get that time with your children back.

I’ve worked in the middle east a few times over the past 3 years for short stints, a week or so at a time (though not in Saudi).

I’d not go for 3 months, let alone 3 years.

Its not 12 months away before you can go tax free, its a full April to April tax year so if you go out now you’d have to do almost two full years away to qualify. You can actually get NT straight away but if you don’t stick it out you’ll be landed with a tax bill when you come home. You can stop paying NI after 52 weeks away if you want to. Weigh up how long you’ll be working for in the UK as you only need 25 years contributions I think it is for your pension so no point paying it if you can avoid it as you can’t opt out when you are in the UK.
I did nearly three years in Afghanistan which wasn’t a drama as I have no kids! Everything was paid for us (flights, food, accommodation, uniform etc).

renton – Member

My take home pay here after paying for my married quarter etc is £1800 a month.

out there I would be taking home £3500 a month plus any overtime I get.

Will they get to stay in quarters when you’re working for a civvie outfit?

as flaps says, your family might have more spending money, but it’s not the kind of money that will give you opportunities when your 3yrs is over.

After 3 yrs you want the kind of stash that allows you to pay off the mortgage and take a couple of years off/part time work for you, your family & your soul to recover. Or sort out an early retirement income stream etc.

I was over there with BAE and they treat staff like shit. A lot of the positions are being handed over to the Saudi’s so wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up doing less than the three years.

Id say no,

My dad worked for BAE in Saudi for roughly 16 years. My mum went with him which left myself and 2 brothers here. One at college 2 in forces. Id say as a whole we are not the closest family due to everyone having to be so independent due to only seeing each other 3-4 times a year. I think the money incentives will never outweigh negatives of lost time with the kids.

I would only get to come home for 2-3 weeks every 12 weeks

With that amount of time in the UK how would you manage to avoid paying income tax?

Besides, as everyone is saying, it’s a shithole. £50k a year for Saudi is nonsense.

I would assume a skilled fitter working for BAE in UK civi street could earn that easily?

I would assume a skilled fitter working for BAE in UK civi street could earn that easily?

You’d be miles off the mark

EDIT: unless they’re ploughing in some serious OT or shift-work

You’d be miles off the mark

Really!

So what’s is their ballpark?

Glassdoor says 25K
http://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/BAE-Systems-UK-Fitter-Salaries-E3102_D_KO15,21.htm

Saudi rate should be 100K as most jobs seem to be 4x salary. Absolutely no way I would do it, life’s too short.

I know a few people who have worked over there and they all hate Saudi’s now as they are arrogant ****

Really!

So what’s is their ballpark?

Well yeah, the salary Renton quoted for himself is pretty much where they get to (bit more in the South East I’d imagine/hope).

Engineers aren’t getting £50k in this industry

I know nothing about Saudi etc.

However you are contemplating leaving your wife & kids for 3 years to get yourself an additional £1700 per month ??

Madness.

An increase in £1700 per month doesnt actually get you that much in life, maybe a slightly nicer car, shop at Waitrose, etc.

Not if extra to pay off the mortgage.

Whats the real reason you want to go for, because it almost sounds like you are desparate to get away from the family

91 days a year in the UK is the limit (averaged over three years I think it is).