Live in Hong Kong forever? - Part II

There are also intangible differences between Hong Kong and an expatriate's home country, for example, Australia.

The intangibiles include: pollution/health concerns, language, population density, mannerisms and cultural differences. Hong Kong is certainly an interesting and lively place to visit if you're a tourist or even for a short-term stay. However, after a while one will realise that the inability to communicate effectively with the local population in Cantonese, the high population density and the selfish behaviour and impoliteness experienced frequently becomes a significant deterrent to residing long term in Hong Kong.

If you have children, then in my opinion the situation is far worse. It is unfair to subject your children to a lower quality of life compared to your childhood growing up in Australia. The lower quality of life is manifested by smaller living conditions and higher pollution . Also, it is unfair to send your children to a public school in Hong Kong (unless you can afford to send them to a private International School) when you received a better education in Australia which promotes individual achievement and lateral thinking rather than solely focusing on academic results and rote learning. Also, public education in Australia is free, and the university fees in Australia can be deferred until employment where those fees are paid back to the government.

The main questions are (which are subjective):

1. how do you measure your quality of life. Is it merely the size of your bank balance or asset sheet when you die?
2. what real prospects do you have in Hong Kong to be truly wealthy i.e. a business owner and therefore do not have to actually work to earn an income?
3. is it fulfilling enough to be earning a higher net salary compared to your home country until you retire. You may be "wealthy" when you retire but this is countered by the sacrifice of 30 years of a lower quality of life. Is it merely a trade-off between financial security instead of financial freedom?
4. Has your existence become "soulless" by working hard for other people which has now mutated into a thankless, spiritually unrewarding and mentally unchallenging routine?

Its sometimes easy to forget your identity that was heavily influenced from your childhood in your home country and adopt the lifestyle and mentality of the country you work in as an expat. But every now and again it is worth conducting an audit of your goals, motivation and lifestyle, and check how things would be like back in the home country with the cash that you have saved working as an expat.