Most people will spend more than Airdancer to live in Dubai. On an FO salary, if you are careful and single (or married without kids), you should have no problem saving some money. How much will depend on your hobbies.
Add children to the mix and it will change. Very young kids not in school and you will spend less than having 2 kids over the age of six who are also involved in activities.
Long upgrade times for new joiners means you should budget carefully. As a captain you can certainly save. If your wife also has a skill that is in demand - then you can save a LOT of money.
One consideration though: Like investing, your career, at least in financial terms, is a long game! Looking at myself versus the friends who stayed at 'major/legacy' airlines, in the end, they will fare far better financially. This is due to the fact that they will spend an entire career there while most EK pilots will not last to retirement. Very few pilots want to spend their entire life in Dubai, though there are a few. Going home usually means a pay cut or a job commuting with the commensurate lifestyle.
Quite simply, for most of us the draw was/is a big airplane, flying around the globe for good money. It is gratification now vs. later. I am pretty sure most of at EK know someone at home who drools at the thought of doing what we do while he tools around in a 737.
But in the long game, if our friend is at a large airline he will catch up paywise and, if he does not catch up in after tax dollars, he most certainly will when the pension is considered. 20 years of a pension is incredibly valuable and not something most consider.
I also would not consider the housing allowance at EK in any financial planning. Buying a house in Dubai is a muggs game - it may end well, it may end badly. The good times of big increases are gone and at current prices the risk is high and the fixed costs eat away the majority of the allowance.
I don't need pprune to tell me how difficult it has become to live and work in Dubai for EK.
I know the punishing skeds from experience and I know the vast majority of my friends, neighbors and acquaintances want to leave or are leaving.
It is telling that guys who have been here only 2 years are extolling the virtues of the place.
In the end, as I have tried to explain to a few friends who considered coming over the years, it is a risk/reward scenario. EK and Dubai can be good provided that you manage to stay on the very narrow path. You make one wrong move in Dubai (car accident with the wrong person, have consumed alcohol and something happens in which you are not even involved but have been dragged into, are accused of wrong doing etc etc) and your once great career plan is in shambles. EK is the same - wrong place, wrong time, piss of the wrong person etc and, again, career in shambles (even more so now with their warpath mentality).
While the odds of falling off the path or slim I know several pilots who have. The risks that exist here do not exist at home (for most of us).
So, like everything in life, it is a matter of balancing risk in your decision making. Look at the long game and try (I know it's hard
) to take the big shiny airplane out of the picture (you will get there anyway just at a different point in your career).
When I came the risk/reward was worth it (in my case a bankruptcy). I was lucky in my timing. Knowing what I do at the moment I would not come now. The conditions have declined and the risk is much higher especially as EK and the region struggle financially.
If you do come then enjoy the good aspects of the job - the pilots are a great bunch and I have enjoyed flying with most guys. The route network is unparalleled and you will see the world.
Just come with eyes wide open and understand the risks.
For me - I've resigned. My health and life are not worth it any longer. While many aspects of the job are now poor I'm grateful for the time I have had the money I've save.
The risk/reward has changed.