perodua myvi upgrade

I am a bachelor and got a job in Penang. Would I be able to live comfortably in Penang, Malaysia with a monthly salary of 7000 RM?

I was asked to answer by ,Shaleen Goel, so here goes my attempt. Let's cut to the chase here and tell you what I personally think; ,HELL YES, ,RM 7k is a massive amount to be earning here in Penang. FOR A LOCAL. That said, ,Roy Goh, does raise some valid points and concerns. If you, like me, are a person of simple means, then 7k is a huge amount of money and you will be able to save a lot. If however, you're more inclined to the life of luxury and class, then 7k will definitely not even begin to cover your lifestyle. Let's see if I can help you break it down shall we. Assuming you're single and living a middle class lifestyle, I'd put your rent at around RM 2k a month (that's an average middle class apartment, yes, whole apartment unit, fully furnished, in a suburb that's not too close nor too far from town and basic amenities - as referenced through ,Malaysia's Largest Marketplace - Mudah.my,). Assuming you have or want a personal transport, that's another RM 2k for car rental (assuming its a Perodua MyVi). We're now at 4k down, purely from logistics and accommodation, 3k to go. The aforementioned Perodua MyVi. Except expect yours to be a little older than this. Food here is easily the best part about living on the island. It's relatively affordable and worth the asking price (taste and portion wise). Basically, if you're working with one of our many MNC factories, you're already going to save a lot by going to lunch at the provided cafeteria (They're heavily subsidized. My lunch costs me RM 2 for a full meal daily. But then again, I'm really not picky about my food and eat basically the same thing every day - Rice, Fish tempura and some green vegs). So assuming you're not, you'll spend around RM 20 per meal which in turn means RM 60 per day. That'll be RM 1.8k a month for food alone. Let's round that up to 2k and now we're down to your last thousand. That final RM 1k will be what you spread out for phone bills (~RM 100 a month), utilities (~RM 400 a month inclusive of internet) and fuel (~RM 300 a month, depending on whether or not you do long distance travelling). That will then leave you with more or less RM 200 for your savings or unexpected expenditures. So you see that when I break it down like that, RM 7K isn't really a lot of money to go around if you're living the middle to high class life, echoing ,Roy Goh,'s sentiment. On the flip side, however, you will find that if you live modestly, you can reaaaaally stretch that 7k and save quite a lot of dough on a monthly basis if you would just be fine with simple living amnesties instead of needing everything to be the best you can afford. Let's see how you can save if you live way below your means instead. Assuming you settled for far less in the accommodation department, you would actually find that you could rent a decent room from some pretty good places at around RM 500 (in fact, for some places, that's a pretty generous figure). Continuing the trend with your logistics, a Perodua Kancil will instead set you back RM 800 a month from the original RM 2k (helps with the fuel consumption too as you're coming down from a 1.3/1.5 CC engine to an 850 CC). Should you be comfortable with riding, a motorcycle would be your most economical option as fuel would go for even less (approx. RM 30 a month would be super plenty, provided you go for the more abundant EX5s than superbikes). Of course, it goes without saying that public transportation (Our unreliable but okay-ish Rapid Penang) would further reduce that figure. The Perodua Kancil in contrast to the MyVi. A little sad to look at isn't it? But don't underestimate this little tyke! Your wallet will thank you for your choice! Assuming also that you are working for an MNC, that gives you the option of further saving on your breakfast and lunch if you opt to fully utilize the facilities of the cafeteria instead of eating out all of the time. While I understand some expats have a little bit of adjusting to do to match their tastebuds to our local cuisines, success would mean that you can now basically cut your daily food expenditure in half, spending around RM 900 (RM 30 a day and let's round that up to 1k) instead of the previously estimated 2k. Checking back our maths, we are currently at RM 500 for accommodation, RM 800 for logistics (with around RM 200 for fuel), and RM 900 for food, totaling RM 2.4k for food, logistics and accommodation. Utilities will cost you a further RM 300 (you're now only paying for a room and shared internet) and phone bills (if you're frugal, look around the market and get the best plan you can while keeping your talk times low) around RM 70 (round this up to RM 100) and you're now at a total of RM 2.8k (let's round that up to 3, just because we can!) for your whole monthly cost of living. Being able to save 4k a month is a pretty good deal, I think. Of course, with so much saved up, you can afford to splurge a little in whatever category you think needs the upgrade (maybe you don't really want to eat rice, fish tempura and vegs every day of the month), and you'll have the freedom to spend a little extra on those little trips and still have some money to have fun at the end of the day. As always, the choice is in your hands, buddy. I do hope my breakdown of the finances and costs of things here on my little island has somewhat helped you in your planning and I wish you all the best in whatever you choose to do with this knowledge. ,Disclaimer: This answer was written with the intention of giving a ballpark figure and estimate to the costs of things and as a direct result, living on the island. In no way or form am I claiming to be an economic expert neither have I in any way corroborated the rates on all of the figures I mentioned above. Please note that the figures thrown in the above examples are ALL ballpark figures and are just used in an attempt to assist in the clarification and explanation of the dissection and distribution of the wealth you have that you can expect once you start living here. These figures were obtained as a result of being a native and local on the island as well as a quick few Google searches to confirm my estimates. They are subject to change and should they increase, please do not call for my head. =) Also, please understand that the definition of comfortable is different for each individual and what is defined as comfortable to me might be unacceptable to you so with that said, YMMV. Also, ,Shaleen Goel,, terribly sorry for taking forever to write up an asnwer. I like to let the question marinate in my head for a while while I structure my answer. Odd quirk of mine. Heh.