Moving to Jeddah..stressed...pls help

Hi All,

I am a newbie to this forum and joined 4 weeks back when I was still in the process of getting an offer from the company ( a bank in jeddah).

I am originally from Pakistan but have been working in Singapore or past 5 years for an international Bank

A little back ground for me.

I work here in Singapore for an international bank. I have got an MBA and have been working for 5 years in the investment banking industry. due to various reasons, I wanted to move to Saudi Arabia (wife wants to live ina muslim society)

I was hoping to get a good offer. I just received the reply from the bank, and its below my expectations. I am quite stressed right now as I was mentally ready to make a move but seems its going to be a little tight for me , given I have a 3 years old daughter.Can you guys please help me and give your view on the offer. I am literally sleepless, it 6 am here and I still have not slept. thanks a million

1. salary: 16,000 riyal per month
2. 25% housing so basically 4,000 riyal per month
3. 75% of education of my kid
4. medical all covered. have not mentioned any limits or anything.
5. no yearly bonus (this is like 3-6 months salary paid by international banks/investment banks in far east, EU and USA, i get it currently)
6. 1 time travel to home country once a year
7. 24 working days leave per annum

now given I work with a good bank and make around 80,000/annum us$ currently + 25%-50% yearly. we are used to a fairly good style of living here. due to some personal reasons, I really wanted to move and work for this bank. However, my greatest worry is that I will not be able to maintain that standard here. I have gone through the forum in detail and was under impression that a 25,000 riyal /month would be considered good.

can you please help me get some information on the below,

1. i really want to live in one of those compounds. this is because my wife will have some company, can enjoy the basic entertainment and get the bus services to various places in Jeddah. my housing allowance 4,000 per month seems too less for a compound. Is it possible to get a 3 bedroom apartment in any compound in Jeddah (it does not have to be the best western dominated compound or does not have to be right in the centre too). something decent with compound facilities would be enough. I really dont need a villa. a smaller sized 3 bedroom apartment would be enough. I can chip in 1,000 riyal more to make it 5,000 riyal per month. any feedvack on this pls

2. i want to be able to save atleast 5,000 riyal per month + 3k for the car lease ( i heard from a friend that good car would cost that much). which leaves around 10,000 riyal per month for us to spend. education is 75% covered so i suppose i will chip in may be 1,000 to cover books, remaining feees, school bus costst etc. which leabes 6,000 riyal. Is it enought to live comfortably in jeddah? we enjoy eating out (dont want it to be fancy resturaunts in hotels) but still want to be able to spend good amount of time here. will cook mostly at home but like western groceries and brands too. is it going to be too tight in 6,000 for a family of 3?

3. i dont get an car allowance . how much is the car cost /month going to be. i am assuming i will lease a good car with around 20% down payment and 80% on lease (lets say a toyotal camry new model). any rough guesses on the running costs + lease expenses. my own guess is that a 4x4 car would cost around 150k riyal and the cost comes upto 3k riyal /motnh. is that realistic

4. i really want to have a maid as we have got one here in singapore too. how much do normal live in maids costs per month at average. would it be possible to afford a maid in a budget ot 6k riyal per month (wich is left after 6k on hosing + 3k on car)?

5. please comments generally on the offeer and how do u compare it with the banking jobs (if you know about them) in general. they dont pya a yearly bonus. is it the norm for banks in KSA to a pay a yearly bonus? how much that is in general?

i am getting to stressed i had high hopes on this. thought i will live in those compounds. live comofortably and also work in something that i like, but the money matters have made me a bit double minded

please spend some time to help me with my questions! thanks a lot! i will highly appreciate it.