Moving to Munich

Hi All,

I work in Market Research in India and my company has offered me a transfer to Munich. I am an MBA and have about 7 years of work experience post my post graduation.

They are offering me 67,600 Euros a year and a performance related bonus of 5000 Euros additional. Is that great, good, bad, pathetic?

From what I gather the net pay from that will be about 3333, given that I will be moving with my wife who will initially atleast be a dependant.

I want to understand what will be the approximate expenditure on
a) Rented housing (2 room furnished place)
b ) Daily Food (for 2)
c) Eating out (about twice a week...nothing fancy but decent)
d) english movies (once a week)
e) Mobile phone bills local (average) and international calls to India (say 30 mins a week)
f) Utility bills (gas, electricity)
g) Travel (using U/S-Bahn) daily for office commuting
h) Any other large cost heads...

Basically I want to see whether the two of us will be able to live comfortably and what kind of savings (if any) can we expect?

All the members on this site seem to be really helpful and I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me some advice quickly.

Thanks

3300 is a good net salary for munich. I can give u approx. prices for ur list.

a) Rented housing (2 room furnished place) - €800
b ) Daily Food (for 2) - €200
c) Eating out (about twice a week...nothing fancy but decent)- €150-200
d) english movies (once a week)-€80
e) Mobile phone bills local (average) and international calls to India (say 30 mins a week) - €50
f) Utility bills (gas, electricity)- €100
g) Travel (using U/S-Bahn) daily for office commuting-€120 for both
h) Any other large cost heads...

Enjoy

Thanks Sohanpall... this was very helpful.

Just a few more questions ...What are the other things you would recommend that I should watch for before taking a decision? Are there any other large costs involved besides this one?

a. How much does it cost to buy a small car? Can expats get bank loans? What would be approximate price and monthly installments?

b. Most mobile service providers seem to provide handsets along with the connection? What is the charge for that?

c. Is broadband widely available in the City of Munich? What is the approximate monthly charge for a decently fast connection?

d. Does house rent normally include cost of electricity, heating, gas etc? What is the difference between 'warm' and 'cold' when mentioned alongside a monthly rent quote?

e. What are the terms of a contract during renting a house? Is there a deposit and how much? what is the normally brokerage amount, if we take the help of a property broker? In case you have been to the site, MrLodge, how would you rate the quality of his properties and the rent charged - Average, Premium?

f. What does the govt. and private health insurance cover? Does it cover normal doctor visits (in case of minor ailments), hospitalisation (in case of major ailments) and medicines?

Any other advice would be great.

Everybody else is also very welcome to contribute their point of view.

Two more things...

I heard something about the pension being refunded if you leave germany within a fixed period of time? What is this duration and does this happen easily?

For a non-EU citizen with a MBA with four years of experience, how difficult is it to get a job (non-IT)? What are the possible avenues?

thanks all.

Subhashish

We've just been in a similar situation in deciding whether or not to relocate our family to Munich. You will find a lot of extremely useful information on this site. If you haven't already read these, I suggest you do:

Health insurance: Visit My Website

Finding Accommodation, including details of what deposits and commissions are normally charged: [url=" How to find an apartment or room in Munich]

While I note from your post you don't have any children, this topic may still contain some relevant information for you, including an explanation of some of the insurance costs:[url=" Cost of living for a young family in Munich]

We actually did decide to go ahead and move and arrived 4 weeks ago. We decided to engage the services of a relocation agent recommended here on TT and that has saved us a lot of time and difficulties in terms of the official stuff that needs to be done when moving countries. The agent has sorted out bank accounts, paperwork, official registration, tax file numbers etc etc for us all in the space of a couple of days. They also assisted in finding us accommodation which was really valuable as we were quite specific on our requirements.

Good luck with your decision making - I'm sure a lot of your questions can be found on Toytown!

thanks Mo3...the links you sent were very useful indeed.

I guess I will have to go for Public Health insurance for now...since for 2004-2007, my income in India would not be higher that 47,700 Euros.

the other thing that I seem to be gathering is that a relocation agent is essential to manage all the requirements from housing, bank accounts etc. How do these agents charge?

Can you also help me with my other questions:

a. How much does it cost to buy a small car? Can expats get bank loans? What would be approximate price and monthly installments?

b. Most mobile service providers seem to provide handsets along with the connection? What is the charge for that?

c. Is broadband widely available in the City of Munich? What is the approximate monthly charge for a decently fast connection?

d. I heard something about the pension being refunded if you leave germany within a fixed period of time? What is this duration and does this happen easily?

e. For a non-EU citizen with a MBA with four years of experience, how difficult is it to get a job (non-IT)? What are the possible opportunities?