And herein lies the difference ".....my kids have not started school yet"
We saved heaps of money before kids but once they started schooling in Dubai, forget about it. What I pay for two kids activities and lessons for the entire school year back home, I paid for one for one semester in Dubai.
We were glad for the opportunity but equally glad to be done with life there as our kids got older. We still save, travel and our quality of life is much better on our home country.
If you have a good gig back home, and have a family, I don't see a massive benefit to being an expat in the Middle East now. Packages have not kept up with inflation and look to get squeezed further with Expo.