Taking salary in GBP

I think the procedure for salary currencies has changed since we joined, but we were offered in USD (and SAR is tied to USD). We split the salary, and put some into a local account, and aramco sent the rest to our UK account. Think the rate was whatever the exchange was at the start of the month.

If you are interested in an HSBC international account, set it up now. It cant be done from KSA and takes time. I know several people operating with SAAB and A$ accounts from KSA.

Cant help with the amounts you will need - we were a family, and the only accomadation available when we arrived was via rental assistance, so a very different set up.

Sabb is the Saudi subsidiary of HSBC. You can have accounts in multiple currencies, including USD, GDP ads and Euro. The Saudi riyal is pegged 3.75 to 1 USD.

The real benefit is if you have hsbc premier in any country, you will get it here and vice versa.

I know alot of expats from the UK and EU, almost everyone is getting paid in USD

Hi sunnyboy!

Congrats on your offer and best of luck with the move in October.

The rate used is the spot rate (in my experience very very close to spot - so much so that it is within the daily fluctuation so hard to tell if there is any spread in there) at the _Start Of The Month_ you will be paid. Note not the spot rate on the day before. There is clearly a currency play to be had given this situation.

My set up is that I am paid part of my salary as a fixed amount of sterling every month direct into a sterling account (to cover my UK expenses - no point in any funny business with this as it all goes out of the door pretty quickly). The rest is paid into a local SAR account. This is effectively the same as being paid in USD due to the fixed SAR USD rate of 3.75. I have opened a local USD account which I transfer money to if I want to take advantage of low rates and transfer more into Sterling. The transfer from SAR to USD was at 3.74999 by my local bank. I have a relationship with a currency exchanger who offers preferential rates (compared to high street banks) - generally the spread is about half a cent. I've used banks before and been hit with 2.5 cents which I was very peeved about...

You need to consider what currency you need your savings in long term and how much risk you are willing to take on the future currency movements. Note that the forward contract you mention is still taking a risk as the rate may improve from what your forward rate is and you will lose out. Yes I understand that you may well want the certainty of the rate. Hedging by taking out a forward contract is something that I am considering doing given the current historic weakness of sterling. Place your bets on how much lower it may go between now and October 31 or later!! Perhaps all will become clear in the UK re Brexit and sterling will go back to say around 1.4 vs USD...

To help you with the forward rates, I've been quoted 0.25 cents per month on the rate for GBP USD.

I know of others that have opened accounts in say Switzerland where there is the option to transfer amounts between several currencies immediately hoping to gain on exchange rate movements.

In terms of your budget that is a really difficult question as others have mentioned. How extravagant are you!? Some points of note though:

> I've found food significantly more expensive than in the UK. Not surprising given how much has to be imported. The group I spend time with eat out a fair amount which is probably a bit cheaper than the UK but I do it much more often.
> Short trips sound great - you may find you are restricted to weekends only doing this.
> If you want to economise on the apartment you can do by simply using only the Aramco provided stuff. Many do replace though - there is a good second hand market for furnishings.
> In my view your life is dramatically improved by having a car even if you only intend to stay on camp much of the time. Taxis on camp are really very poor and unreliable. Buses do exist but operate mainly for work travel. How will you get from the supermarket to home? Do you want the flexibility of travelling off camp to larger supermarkets or other shops as and when you want to? It is entirely possible to do it through camp provided transport but it is limiting. The summer is dire for standing about waiting for a bus...

Not at all dull question that one - very sensible, just hard to answer. Budget for what you would spend in the UK on food and add say 40% as it is more expensive (very finger in the air calculation that one). Note that your general outgoings on other things are significantly lower (and sometimes nil).

Best of luck with it all!