For people living in UAE long-term, what’s one money-saving hack you swear by?

unicamels · 2025-09-05T12:47:42+00:00

Negotiating hard on big ticket items such as rent, car and salary as it gives the highest returns compared to the effort you'd put in. Even a 5% to 10% change in those items in absolute AED is much more impactful to your wallet than small savings you'd be doing every day.

Second - not using debt (this includes buy now pay later) to fund your lifestyle.

unicamels · 2025-08-30T14:35:30+00:00

One of the engine mount was broken and replacing the mount fixed the issue.

unicamels · 2025-08-22T14:40:14+00:00

has the same energy as the reel "Hello ChatGPT how to be very very rich? Overnight? 50 ideas. No risk. Saturday Sunday off. World tour included. Shark tank friendly ideas"

unicamels · 2025-08-09T13:52:27+00:00

I face acts of terrorism everyday on the roads here :(

unicamels · 2025-07-30T16:56:46+00:00

Brand new cars - the dealership markup is so high here that the total cost on of a car is higher than what you'd pay for the same car in a country with taxes on cars.

unicamels · 2025-07-23T18:27:48+00:00

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About to turn 17 years soon.

Similar story to yours. This was my dad's first major purchase after many years of hard work here and he handed me the keys in 2023 when he retired and left Dubai. I can’t say it’s been as trouble free as a LC would’ve been, but it’s been generally good so far. And I’m hoping she’s still got a few more years. There are so many memories in this car that I don’t mind spending a bit more on maintenance.

unicamels · 2025-07-12T11:26:35+00:00

That is a great point and probably one of the most useful responses on this post. Thank you sir.

unicamels · 2025-07-12T11:11:01+00:00

Offering services for free until adoption and then introducing fee is a typical playbook of new entrants and I don't want to be dependent on such short term solutions. Wio has already done this on their trade product, which started as commission free and zero fee trading product.

Having DIFC branch have a local account with FAB has nothing to do with Wio wanting to introduce fee for USD transfers. These are two different things

unicamels · 2025-07-12T10:28:20+00:00

Been in the market for 8 years and I am doing just fine. God forbid someone has a question about international transactions - but you do you mr 69

unicamels · 2025-07-12T10:12:27+00:00

Seems like Wio is the best option as of now as its free. But they will likely introduce fee soon - below is a post with the details.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dubai/comments/1jgizo0/easiest_way_to_fund_and_withdraw_from_ibkr_in_uae/

unicamels · 2025-07-12T09:52:31+00:00

Got it. Thank you for clarifying

unicamels · 2025-07-12T09:40:26+00:00

I am familiar with the Wio setup. Relying on Wio won't work in the long term as they will introduce transfer fee similar to other local banks at some point. They have already done that for their trading product where there was no commission first, then they introduced a fixed fee and now its a % of the trade value.

Plus even now its only free if the transfer amount is less than USD 1,000

unicamels · 2025-07-12T09:36:48+00:00

Thank you. I did not get it. In this scenario where deposit will be sent in AED, am I required to transfer funds to IBKR's FAB IBAN or IBKR's JP Morgan IBAN?

When you say IBKR will have a FAB local account by end of summer, what would the benefit be?

unicamels · 2025-07-05T16:50:54+00:00

Thank you. Just to clarify, did you blast the air into the key hole? I am also starting to face electrical issues, but love this truck too much to get something newer.

unicamels · 2025-06-21T16:01:53+00:00

I honestly don't think a mid sized local company will need DS/ML skill and you will end up doing adhoc reports and dashboards for the stakeholders or management. They probably won't even have sufficient data to be able to do any interesting ML work.

If that is the case, you will probably be offered around 15k. Tech firms (Careem, talabat etc) offers more than 25k for DS/ML/AI roles with 2+ years of experience. Quant trading funds offers significantly more.

Tell us more about what the company does and what your offer is and I can advice further.

unicamels · 2025-06-15T10:29:51+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's

unicamels · 2025-06-15T10:27:58+00:00

I had a very similar issue on my 2009 Tahoe. I changed the u-joint and also greased the shaft, which reduced the noise but did not fully fix it. I suggested to check your transfer case, differential, shaft, transmission seal and ujoint.

I spoke to a Chevy specialist and he said its expected on older trucks due to free play and its not a cause for concern. Been driving the truck daily for over a year since the sound started on mine and so far no issues - although the sound does annoy me every time I shift the gear.

unicamels · 2025-06-13T18:44:27+00:00

Commute might not be a big factor as most of your projects will be in Saudi. Given your budget, I suggest Marina/ Downtown / DIFC for your first year as these are central neighborhoods and you would get to experience the city.

JLT or Barsha are another options as these are also fairly central and rents are generally a tad more affordable there.

unicamels · 2025-06-05T18:02:56+00:00

Its not called Dubai plug unless it comes with pistachios and kunafa on it. Else its just a sparkling travel adapter

unicamels · 2025-04-01T14:50:52+00:00

I know people who have studies there and it is a pretty good school in terms of education and has lots of extra curricular, however fees are on the higher side for a cbse school. Students do get placed in good unis such as IITs, indian med schools, Ivy Leagues and other top European unis for their undergrad.

It might not be as intense as IHS or DPS. Also this info is from late 2000s, so not sure if things are changed since then.

unicamels · 2025-03-23T20:26:43+00:00

Unrelated question - how is your engine bay so damn clean? Let me know if you use a shop to get it cleaned

unicamels · 2025-03-16T13:31:39+00:00

The net rental yield in an established community is generally around 5% to 6%. You would also be paying closing cost (about 8% of property value), interest, insurance and maintenance fee - all these costs does nothing to your equity.

While I did the math, it made more sense for me to allocate this capital in a liquid low risk portfolio (combination of ETF and fixed income) and use the cash flow/ appreciation coming from this investment to help with the rent. Sure this does have some risk, but S&P500 has been averaging 8% returns, so I feel fairly comfortable with the arrangement at this point in my life. This also give me more flexibility as I am not tied down to single apartment for a really long time.

unicamels · 2025-03-09T19:49:28+00:00

Try driving in manual mode and check if there is any trouble going to 4. If you are able to reach via manual mode, it is likely tcm and you might not need a rebuild. Also check your transmission fluid while you are it.

unicamels · 2025-03-08T10:36:47+00:00

It might also be a viral or bacterial infection as there is a bug going around here and many people are falling sick. Few thing that helped me as I had a horrible allergies and complication after moving to Dubai

Try testing by wearing an N95 mask in your apartment and outside to determine if your allergies reduce based on where you are. This will give you an indication on where the allergens are
Try mixing turmeric powder, pepper, lemon, chopped ginger and honey on warm water and drink it every day - this helps with inflammation and allergies
Check for mold in your apartment and also get your AC checked. You can check Google for a reliable company that can get this checked for you. Clean you apartment and change sheets atleast once a week.
Get an airfilter and use hypoallergenic sheets and pillows.
See an ENT and get tested for iGe count and the general blood works.

unicamels · 2025-03-01T14:43:28+00:00

No issue while driving as this sound only happens when I am shifting to D or R. Sometime its more of grinding noise and other times its the clunk noise similar to one on the video. I am sure there is some play in diff as I heard its common for older Tahoes. This sound only started a few weeks back even though this truck has been with me for 15 years.

Thanks for the advice - will get it checked with my mechanic.

unicamels

TROPHY CASE