av8tordude: a nicely succinct assessment of the situation !
Fwiw, my wife & I reside in Dubai, she doesn’t work, and our lads are at school / college overseas.
Putting some numbers to it: as a line-pilot in FZ (
albeit as a Captain on the so-called ‘A’ scale), for the previous 12 months (
with 850 block hours) I've earned (
including allowances for housing and transport):
707,520 Dhs / $192,784 USD / £120,490 GBP of tax free income (and that’s not including the amount for ‘End of Service Gratuity’ that will come when I eventually leave).
On a per annum basis, I pay:
99,000 Dhs for a large (2,050 sq’ft) unfurnished apartment with 2x beds + maids, etc..
19,800 Dhs for renting a small car, with the insurance, maintenance, licensing, etc, all paid by Dollar Rentacar (I pay for rental & petrol, only)
8,030 Dhs for DEWA
8,114 Dhs for PalmCooling
5,040 Dhs for DU 16 Mb home internet + 1Gb mobile data package
108,000 Dhs towards into my pension plan.
So, with the above (
basics) fully covered, I’m left with
just 459,536 Dhs / $125,214 USD / £78,259 GBP (
per annum) for spending on women & booze (
if only the wife would let me! 
) and the rest I squander... I really don't know how we manage ?!
From the outset we recognised that the Middle East is a nought but a temporary opportunity to earn some half-decent coin, without being taxed to death for the privilege and, accordingly and with an eye to the future (
a future that's doesn't involve Dubai), we tend to live a quiet life; though, on the flip-side, ones bank balance is looking decidedly healthy, and I'm looking forward to quitting aviation just as soon as one of the two buckets is full.
