What is the Actual cost of living in Malaysia?

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I know everyone's 'piece of cloth' is different, however I got a bit of a shock yesterday as I looked at my expenditure over the past 3 years.
I keep a spreadsheet of income and outgoings, so it was a relatively easy exercise. Now for the shocker!
Two years ago I brought in and converted £50,000 into Ringgit.
Last year the figure was £53,500
and this year the figure has leaped to £70,000
Our standard of living has not materially changed
My family comprises of me, my wife & two teenage children. Obviously school fees go up annually usually around 5%, but on the other hand the cost of insuring vehicles decreased as the depreciated value decreases, and of course this year fuel prices have also been decreasing.
This is not quite our total annual expenditure as we spend money from our Sterling offshore accounts when we spend time in Europe....but it is the 'bulk' of it!
If living expenses keep on going up at this rate, we are seriously going to have to look elsewhere to live. I guess the pound still buys a lot of Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD).....but sadly the Zimbabwean dollar in turn buys very little!
Maybe the MM2H programmme need to be re-vamped sooner rather than later!

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Wow that is a lot! May I ask, do you rent a property or own one? i.e. does the figure include rent?

We live in London and on average spend about 25K per annum; we are couple with no children. We don’t have a mortgage, we eat out at least twice a week and the figure includes crazy gas/electricity bills (£1800) and council rate (£2600) per year and we run one car (3.2 Litre), the price of petrol is currently .89 per litre. We both work in our around London so we pay silly prices for public transport.

So my assumption is that we should be able to live a good standard of living in Malaysia on a similar budget i.e. 25-30K. Is this way too low? Assuming we buy a property out right.  I thought the cost of living in Malaysia is way below that of the ripe off UK. Am I dreaming?

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We own our apartment, and have a small mortgage of about RM5,000/month. I paid the last installment on the car RM4,000 in October. However these payments have been constant over the past 3 years!
Food and fuel is certainly cheaper in KL than UK.
I figure you could get by on 25,000 Sterling, but you wouldn't lead a lavish life here these days as it means around RM132,500 @ exchange rate of about RM5.3/pound.
Compare that with a year ago and you would have had in excess of an extra RM42,000 in your pocket!   That's the bit that hurts the most!!

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hi,

The national average family income in Malaysia is about RM2,500. I don't remember where I read this but it was only a couple of months ago.

Including rent, I spend about RM4,000 per month and there are 2 of us, plus 1 motorbike and a boat. And I feel that I have a very comfortable life.

regards, Scott

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Hi Sukhi

I concur with Scott.

We 'live' on approx £1100 - 6000 RM a month.  That includes 1600 RM rent on a new 3750 Sq Ft Semi D, full coverage private Medical Cover for two, phone, internet, Astro & all the A/C we need etc!  We also eat out regulary and run a new Honda -but no boat:( .   

Like Scott, I too feel that we live a very comfortable life here.

The only 'extra' is our travel budget for 'holidays'.  This probably adds about £2500 to our annual budget but allows a number of 3-4 day short breaks (all 5 star) within SE Asia

So I would suggest that if you buy your own home here and have no rent to pay that you can live very well indeed for £ 1000 a month even at 5.3 to the Pound.  Of course if you take on board a high rent or big mortgage your living costs will increase accordingly. 

You are not dreaming Sukhi.  Just choose you new Malaysian home wisely, both the style, size and your location and you too will enjoy the most comfortable lifestyle.  For your suggsted annual budget you will live like Royalty!

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Hi

My experiences seem to mirror FCS's (we live not too far from each other) and his budget of £25,000 seems to tie in with my experiences below, I guess that it all comes down to where you are living and what each individuals definition of a comfortable lifestyle is.

Our Background
2 of us (wife and I), moved from England, one car, nice bungalow, aged 30 and 40.

Even though I am as tight as a ducks backside, when we first came here we were thinking 'lavish lifestyle here we come', £1500 (£1500 currently is about 7,500rm) per month should do it, but we have found that it doesn't. To tick over and live an average lifestyle we have found that you need to be spending 10,000rm per month (it may be the location we're in - KL City). The lifestyle we were looking for (regular holidays, eating out at nice estaurants, best gadgets, taxis everywhere, Petronas towers, Starhill or Pavillion shopping) probably would cost us closer to 15000rm per month on average.

The 10,000rm we spend each month covers a smallish mortgage on our bungalow, car, astro, security services, broadband and telephone, utilities, pest control contracts, gardener, DBKL, food and general expenses.

Its still very very reasonable compared to most other countries, but not the 'super lifestyle' I sold to my wife! We can still have the lifestyle we originally envisaged but my 'thriftyness' does tend to kick in!

Sukhi:
Your budget of 25-30K should give you the lifestyle that you want, certainly much better than the UK

Cheers

Paul

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Hi My experiences seem to mirror FCS's (we live not too far from each other) and his budget of £25,000 seems to tie in with my experiences below, I guess that it all comes down to where you are living and what each individuals definition of a comfortable lifestyle is.
....Cheers Paul 

Correction Paul, £25K is Sukhi's budget. Mine was £50k, £53k & £70k over the past 3 years, and whilst we eat out several times a week it is the local 'mamak' stalls we frequent where the four of us can eat our fill including 'soft drinks' for little over RM30.....not the RM200++ per head at 'International Restaurants'.

I have just this morning paid the Easter Term school & bus fees for the two boys, and I had no change out of RM30,000.
I think I have to have a look at where the money is going to, as we actually lead a thrifty lifestyle, and I must be one of the luckiest men in the world, as my wife hates shopping, never goes to the spa or has her nails done. The most she does is take a trip to the hairdressers once a month.

As I said at the top of this thread..... "I know everyone's 'piece of cloth' is different".....however £70k plus seems to be a bit over the top!!

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Hi FCS

Sorry, for the mis-read. Sukhis budget of 25-30k, should give her the lifestyle that shes after, your budget would give both her and I combined the lifestyles we're after!!

Cheers

Paul

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Hi Fizzy,

I think maybe your $$ is going into the school fees. We are Australian but are currently living in the States, before a move to KL. We looked around at the cost of international schools in KL and were shocked at the cost of the more well-known ones. Some are more expensive than in the States (mind you, we are in Texas though) and on par with Australian ones. For example, the ISKL (US-based) would cost about 50,000 RM a year per kid. My kids will go to a Montessori school which we tried out and liked last summer but when they reach Year 1, they will go to a local private or local international school which is within our price range, about $10,000 RM each per year. If we were to send them to ISKL or Alice Smith, I think our living expenses would be close to yours.

Best  

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Hi sazz, I just noticed your reply. You are partly correct. About a quarter of my expenditure is going on School Fees.
This year the 2 boys will cost RM90 on just school fees alone. That 18,000 quid at current exchange rates. It would have been 13,000 quid at the best exchange of RM7/£ of 15 months ago.
 
Like many, I am now also finding that the cost of living here is rapidly become much more expensive;

a) because prices here when they go up, they tend to go up by 10 to 50% at a stroke, and I can quote many examples of this;

& b) the weakness of Sterling (my source income) means that today many of my purchases (if calculated in sterling) have doubled over the last year or so.

Sure mamak stalls and good Chinese/Indian food are still great value; petrol is still cheap, but many other little necessities and the odd luxury item are beginning to seriously put a drain on resources.

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Hi Sag and Scott,

I am reading with interest the posts about cost of living in Malaysia since I will be moving soon. It's nice to see that it's possible to have a nice live with 4000 to 6000 MYR as I did budget 6'000 MYR for my husband and I (we will be living in Port Dickson). I just have one question, does your budget include Health Insurance ? I looked around for a reasonably good insurance and noticed that there are quite expansive. Does any one have tips to give us on that subject ?

Since both of you have motorbikes, could you tell me the annual cost of insurance for motorbike ?

Thank you to those who take care of this website, it's really a great help to future expatriates in Malaysia.

Regards,
Mary

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Hi Mary (I am not sure if you meant 'sag' or me , as I have a small (125cc) M/C, so I can comment).
Insurance in Malaysia is highly regulated, and no deals can be had by shopping around. Simply choose an agent you like and buy your insurance. The cost is strictly related to the sum insured. I have valued my m/c at 'book price' RM2,800, and the insurance was RM120 including  20% no claims discount & RM10 stamp duty.

Re. Health Insurance, I am sure you have read the thread on this Forum, and I am afraid the answer is 'how long is a piece of string'?

The amount you are prepared to pay will reflect the benefits you will receive should you need to call on it.
Pay a little and you don't get very much. Pay a lot, and the cover improves dramatically. Most local health insurers offer at least three options.

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hi,

In my case the motorbike (70cc) as bought second-hand for RM1200 and that was 8 years ago. It costs about RM100 every 4 months for a service (oil change, brake lining etc.) and insurance is RM50 for 3rd party only. The yearly road tax is RM4 or RM5, I can't remember exactly.

I didn't bother with fire as it never goes fast enough. And I also didn't bother with theft as who would steal it when there's always newer and better bikes around. It runs well, and the cost of replacing bits here and there is very little.

FCS is right on the health insurance. Check out the board Medical Insurance Companies & Costs

regards, Scott

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Hi Mary

Health Insurance.  Mmm.  I can only confirm what everyone else has said.  There are so many options and so many companies but the basis of cover is very different to say BUPA in the UK.

All I can tell you is that we took the top of the range AXA health policy and it as about 1/3rd the cost of our UK policy BUT it did have more  limitations.  For example an investigation or tests are not included.  Basically YOU have to pay to find out whats wrong with you, then if treatment is needed the policy cuts in.  Also there are financial limits to all parts of the cover, some frighteningly low at first sight but in my mind sufficient for most situations.

We did look at taking BUPA International coverage but that was about about 8 time sthe price of our Axa policy.

Here in Malaysia it is very much a case of 'do your reseach'.  The most expensive policy is not necessarily the best for cover  but the cheaper policies are cheap in premiums and cheap in cover.

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Hallo,

As an example of the cost of living in Malaysia, here is our small contribution:

There are 2 of us, we own an apartment in Penang and spend about RM3,000 per month to keep our daily life running, including 2 middle-sized cars and AXA health insurance. See table taken from my spreadsheet (2008).

An equal amount is spent on nice-to-haves, new gadgets, furniture, dishwasher, etc.
And RM 30,000 per year on trips to Holland, Xmas in 5 stars hotels in Asia, regular visits to Singapore.
Luckily we are not (yet) hit by heavy fluctuations, still getting RM4.7 for 1 Euro, as in 2006.

Energy (elek, water, gas)       90 Condo service cost      282 Eating, petrol    1,720 Phone, internet, H/P      135 Clothing, hairdresser       70 Astro       55 Health care      450 Taxes       47 House insurance       31 Cars (insur,tax,maint,AAM)      180 Per month    3.060

Regards, Danny