iamthecreaturefromuranus

Why so confident?

elice_in_oz

I don't quite get it either.
No way! I find $150k pa and over is the exception, not the norm! How could it be when the average Australian household income is what? between 60 and 80k?

rinkerdink

Precisely the question i'm asking myself, perhaps the visa delays are doing me a favour, giving me time to reflect. the 75k comes with more hours than most people could stand, believe me I don't want to be doing them for too much longer and enough people who say they want that kind of money have reassessed when they realise how much it hurts. To get this money doing what i do you make sacrifices! The only comparison i can think that would work in oz to get this sort of money is fifo mine work they don't 'give' the cash away and this is not everybodies idea of a'lifestyle' improvement

I want a relaxed pace of life (relative to my own existing circumstances) with a reasonable standard of living, plenty of nice wine, nice days out decent house and reliable car and in the sunshine too - in a nut shell .

rinkerdink

Sounds like she is good at her job and knows it or else deluded and lucky.

worst case scenario, when ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise

sadieb

ha ha ha

elice_in_oz

I'm not sure what you do for a living, but on $70k, I reckon you could have what you want, just maybe not a house on the beach, 20 minutes from a major city, with a pool and 2 cars. As long as you are realistic in what you want, it seems feasible. Just like they would be anywhere else, houses on the beach with a swimming pool are expensive in Australia! . But the sunshine is free!! Although some people seem to think there's too much of it... That's why I love Melbourne, 4 seasons in one day!! And throughout the year too!

coolshadows

You can't rely simply on the exchange rate to compare the cost of living. You have to compare salaries and what you can buy with those salaries.

Imagine earning £50k in the UK, some seem to think that you would need to earn $100k to match it. What if next week the exchange rate changed from say 2.2 to 2.4, would you expect those people on $100k having to ask for a pay-rise to maintain their standard of living?

rinkerdink

Having lived in and around London and worked in it all my life I would love not to be within 20 mins of a city, the coast would be nice but i'd rather work less and not be able to walk to the beach than work my b@lls off and get to see it only before i go to bed if you catch my drift.

In the last 3 years the changes have been extreme (exchange rate and house price movements), I was looking at the 'dream' 3 years ago but now more modest aspirations are in order.

Thanks for taking the time to offer a little reassurance

elice_in_oz

No I wouldn't. But again, people are very hung up on the exchange rate. The cost of living does not follow the exchange rate! Therefore, if you earned £50 in the UK, you would live a lifestyle that went with £50k. If you earn $100k in Australia, you live the lifestyle that goes with it, regardless of what you $100k is worth in £.

I understand that for a lot of people, the exchange rate is crucial when it comes to bringing money over. I'm one of them and I wish the bloody euro would recover (got money in France!). But I also live in Australia, on an income in Australian $ and so the exchange rate does not really come into play any more. As long as I have enough for my needs, I don't care whether it's worth £50 or £75.

elice_in_oz

You're welcome! I can honestly say that I don't think we would have a fraction of the quality of life we have here, were we back in the UK. And we had a good life/income there all those years ago! We live in a great house (nothing fancy) amongst the gum trees, we have 2 beautiful kids who can run around in our large (but not massive) garden and we do get to go out once in a while to nice restaurants, we enjoy good wines and great food (I'm French so that's a given!) and we have great friends, Aussies and expats alike. We can also drive to the beach in under an hour, we have lovely local specialty shops on our doorstep, a decent affordable public transport system, and great amenities nearby. What else could you ask for?
Also my husband gets to leave home around 8am and be back at the latest for 6.30pm here. He used to spend the whole week in London so we could afford to pay our mortgage in the Midlands...

salopian

Seventy-five thousand pounds a year!!!!! And you're only comfortable! Jeez, my heart bleeds for you. Ah, but I suppose you give a fair proportion of that to charity.

kjj

Why not? I have significant skills and experience in service delivery and improvement and commissioning and I went from newly qualified to an 8a in 6 years with hard work, dedication and ambition and i have spent the last 5 years topping up my education and gaining experience at this level in various roles, showing measurable improvements and changes in the services that I have worked with.

kjj

salopian - Seventy-five thousand pounds a year!!!!! And you're only comfortable! Jeez, my heart bleeds for you. Ah, but I suppose you give a fair proportion of that to charity.

If you read my original post, the £75k is a joint income between me and my husband, not £75k for me alone. I don't think this is excessive for 2 professional people at mid points of their career. Probably a lot of others who are earning far more than this. I have never passed comment on the level of lifestyle that I think I have, but I consider myself to be lucky in that I don't have to worry about paying for a new boiler if it packed up or if my car needed repairs and I enjoy meals out with my husband and nice holidays.

coolshadows

You don't have to defend yourself here. Everybody get's what the market is willing to pay. We aren't all communists.

kjj

Thank you.