70.000 is gross - they said that the deduction is about 13%.
But some of my friends said that, living expense in Zurich is very high, compare to Europe. Is it correct?
Thank you everyone for your comments.
Well, it is more expensive than most of Europe, but not that expensive.
If you want to check rent prices you can have a look at students.ch and homegate.ch but rooms will be 400-700, studios 800-1300, etc. of course, nothing fancy... but good enough. (there are cheaper things but not easy to get)
minced meat kg 14fr, good meat 40fr. tomatoes 2.5fr-10fr depending on quality, bananas 3fr, piece of egg 0.5-1fr depending on where you buy it, etc.... make your own calculation. but if you buy the best quality food and cook yourself you cannot go above 1000fr for food per month (of course, nothing too luxury, but a bit)
insurance 100fr. eth will give you a computer and halbtax (reduces train fares 50%) and access to gym for free. monthly public transport ticket between 70-80 (less if under 25). zurich has great public transport and is terrible for cars.
cablecom has a deal with eth, for something like 50fr/month you get great internet. just did speed test and is 40mbs download, 8 upload and there were better results before as well.
what else do you need?
The 70k is a salary that many would gladly accept in many countries in this world CH included
Yeah, I think 70.000 CHF is great salary also (in many Europe countries, I believe that the PhD salary is round 2000 euros per month - after tax maybe you receive less).
I am confused because the topic I linked in the first post - in this topic almost people agreed that it is very hard to live with 70.000 per years
Your read the posts of the 120'000 fraction. They simply have to show off , at the same time they deplore their hard life in high priced Switzerland and tell how have buy about everything in Germany.
Every time I read one of these posts I am highly tempted to advise them to move to Germany. Life would much easier for them and our economy would lose less.
Actually after having scanned through the thread ( lots of tripe after the first page any way) you linked most people said 70000 chf would be fine.
That guy had 7 years experience and wouldn't have been eligible for some of the 'perks' you will get as a student.
You'll be fine on that money especially as a student. Most people doing PhDs would cut off their right arm for that sort of money.
It's fine. I live on less. Just make sure you don't pay too much rent. 1,600 probably max.
My definition of "fine", maybe, is little different from someone
It is not good or bad, just our choice.
For me, "fine" means I can live with as less of money as I can, and save much for my future .
For e.g, my current life is: saving as much as I can (cook by myself, drink free office coffee, no bar, no restaurant, no casino and so on). And I pay ~500 euros per month for everything (include housing and insurance) in my current country.
If I move to Zurich, and keep this living mode, how much I should spend per month? There is some other prior posts said that it should be around 1000 CHF/month. Is it correct?
I mean, "fine" also means that how much I can save per month?
Let's consider two cases:
- Case A, I get 6000 per month, but have to spend 5500 because the high quality (and also high price) life.
- Case B, I get 3000 per month, but in this city the price is lower, and I can only need to spend 1000 per month.
For me, B is better than A (just for earning and spending - I am not talking about education level or something else)
you can't save any money on this salary, not in Zurich anyway
Housing, insurance, transport and all your bills? If you are renting your own place in Zurich I can't see that being less than 2000 CHF.
The 1000 CHF figure refers to cost of food only
You're looking wrong then
My friend has a studio apartment in Oerlikon (fair enough, not center of Zurich) for less than 1100 / month, so it is doable.
Also, as other said, insurance will be ~100 / month, transport let's say ~100 / month for simplicity so...
Taking that housing might be 1500 / month it will go to 1700 with insurance and transport...
70k will be 5800 gross / month (if paid without 13th pay). Someone said difference between gross / net is about 13% -> 760 chf.
This gives net of ~5000 chf
Then you spend 1700 or even let's say 2k on housing, transportation and insurance, that leaves 3k in your pocket / month...
From that you need to buy food, pay extra bills (phone / internet) and pay for everything else...
For me it's pretty simple to make it all work
ps. Above calculation is very rough and based on info found in this topic
We need more info on this -
When did your friend sign the rental contract?
How much would the studio costs at today's rental prices?
How big is the studio and is it and the building in good condition?
How is the neighbourhood? Beside a motorway or railway track?
How much time is required to find such a cheap studio and where does one live in the meanwhile? I presume that the ETH does not pay any relocation expenses.
Just a quick look on homegate shows plenty of places for less than 1000chf per month ( excluding all the hobby rooms) so it is possible. Probably not very easy to get one as I expect there will be plenty of applications but certainly possible.
Personally I think he should be able to save at least 2000chf a month on that salary even in Zurich with the lifestyle he describes.
True that,
ALSO - if you're looking to save some pennies, you won't have to look for a place in the middle of the city center to start with! I'm always surprised at how much people want for the least of their money. (Not naming or going on about anyone specific), but those "special places" are saved for "special moneyholders"... that's just the way the darn cookie crumbles! ESPECIALLY in Switzerland
My friend lives in this place for about a year, so not such long time.
Place is ok, it's not fancy nor super modern, but it's ok, not falling apart, no damp etc.
Area he lives in is also ok, not unsafe, not remote and not too loud. It's 3 minute drive from motorway exit, 2-3 minutes walk to tram stop and about 10-15 minute walk to Oerlikon bhf. In my opinion not bad location (not the best either, just normal).
I don't know how many meters his studio has, it has small separate kitchen, a bit of corridor (separate entry to kitchen, room, bathroom from it) and fairly sized room (not claustrophobic by any means).
In terms of time needed for finding such apt, that is tough question. My friend spent some time (few months) looking, but his search was narrow due to work location (he wanted to have short commute), and he succeeded in this.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's trivial or easy (to find such place) but it is doable.
The biggies in terms of payments are rent, health insurance and tax bills which are issued separately (and you need to budget that into monthly expenditure)
As an example expenditure:
Rent - around 1,600: Health insurance (200 per month) and tax around 500chf per month)
Eating out at work for lunch 3x a week plus buying meat once a week/ not being too extravagant with food around 1,200 a month. (including things like shower gel, wash powder etc)
Phone/internet/TV (around 100)
mobile phone (around 100)
Electricity and TV license (40)
Doctors (approx 30)
Without holidays. without a car and living a simple life (with a bicycle) I would say you need 4,500chf a month.
So on 70,000chf you might save around 15,000 a year (because your tax bill will go up on higher wages)
you can save 3000+ with what you described as your lifestyle
he is a student, unless he wants private care insurance he will be paying 80-100/month (though I would advise getting private too, will be around 150/month)
does he want tv?
me and my husband spend less than 4500/month total by:
buying from coop, eating meat, fish regularly (almost every day either meat or fish), buying almost everything bio, having some more expensive things like special honeys, having lots of "expensive" non-main-dish food (walnuts, pistachio, dried cranberries, etc.) etc.
going for holidays
buying some of the best brands for clothes and shoes (e.g. hogan, escada, etc.) but on sales/outlets
doctor, gifts to friends, etc. always something pops up
not spending on: no tv, no wine, no smoking, rare dining out (mostly because we don't like the offer), not much rent (46m2 apartment), nobody to clean the apartment or other manual works, very little phone usage
Well, as said by others, it depends on your lifestyle. We don't travel much, cook most of our food at home, and have a light lunch at one of the canteens, but have TV, internet, eat steak when ever we want, we drink alcohol, we buy clothes (non designer) and games when ever we want ... basically not worrying but being responsible, we managed with around that, 2 people (Lausanne), and saved some.