Well said Rice pudding.
Friend of mine said he has$3K left to live on till payday(26th). He is not a spendthrift, lives in DB, has one young child and is an SO. They are living off money they brought up from offshore.
He has no car, no rental(RFZ), no education and no medical expenses and no commuting expenses.
By the way...the edn allowance is taxed. If you send your kids to say DBIS, you get 75% back from CX but will pay 16% tax on the 75% which leaves you with 63% funded. And good luck finding ESF schools...most people have their kids in International schools and so have this same problem!
ANother thing...anyone who joined after mid 97. Your dependants are covered for surgery in HKG up to certain limits. An FO found out a year ago when he got an $80,000 bill from CX - the emergency surgery was $130,000 for his wife but CX covered $50,000(?) - he now has private health cover for them.