ABCDiamond

That bit made me think

When we were in the UK, I was working about 70 hours a week, and we did well.

Now, here in Australia, I don't bother working, my wife goes out and does that, this time

So Yes, i suppose I am happy with my "Standard of Life"

If my wife reads this, do you think I will be in trouble ?

Megalania

Pig shootin' not a magnet for you?

jopaulss

For us hubby had quite a good wage in the uk and we think he has a reasonable wage here, he is a brickie. We came out with nothing so life has been hard. Have had to have finance on cars, we pay rent, as we cant afford to buy yet, but we are happy enough to plod on.
I think when you add things up most of the time based on earnings etc its the same here as at home. Well for us anyway it is, the outgoings seem to be around the same.
We managed in the UK, we will manage here, as long as the kids are happy and we are happy then thats all that matters. Money helps, alot i know, but health and happiness means more to us. We definatley though all in all have a better standard of living here i have to say, if i could get therapy for my spending sprees with money we havent got
all would be alot easier i think Oh and if i could get my teenage kids off the phone and they stop using me as a taxi service
Joanne

hevs

Just thought i'd bump this up to see how some of the origional posters are fairing if they are here yet??

Go Banana's !!

Good idea to bump this back up, as I think there is a spate of realism going on here which is good, without being negative.

We can all speak from experience now as we are here.

I personally think it is fare to say that $80,000 will give you a reasonable standard of living. We are in the posistion where we have no mortgage and we calculated Warren would have to earn $50,000 for us to make ends meet and then anything on top of that would be a bonus.

We estimated this was worse case senario. We have family over here so they helped us calculate out-goings etc.

However all the jobs Warren is going far exceed this original estimation and all the recruitment agents that have put him forward for the jobs have told him not to undersell himself and actually bumped up his salary expectations!!

As we speak he is on his way to a third stage interview with a very well known Austrailan company. It's a fantastic job, which will make me squeal with delight if he gets it. He is also having a third interview this week with another company, another excellent job, both he would be very happy to take. He is also waiting to hear about two other jobs, which he has had final interviews for.

We chatted last night that believe it or not he has had many more interview/job opportunities than he ever had in the UK. The companies here have been much more open to him crossing his skills over to another industry and not just boxing him in to the food industry.

This obviously will all mean diddly squat if he doesn't get offered any of the 4 above jobs!!!!!!!

Wish us luck!!! (please)

Jill

ABCDiamond

Those figures sound "about" right to me too.

jinxnkay

My husband is an electrician in brisbane. (he also has been qualified for about 18 yrs) but he hasnt yet finished the course to get his licence here.
he works 38hrs a week at $24 an hour. overtime is paid at $36 an hour
a week.
With 4hrs overtime his gross earnings was $1056.
tax deduction
$269
leaving him with $787 for the week
we have only been here 10months and he has had 3 rises since then, i think he started off on £19 an hour.
as far as he has heard and seen, joiners and builders seem to get the highest rates of pay.
hope this helps
Re rego and insurance, rego is compulsery like a tax disc but includes 3rd party insurance.
other insurance is optional we payed about $250 for fully comp on a dawoo. we had to show our insurance certificate from the uk to get full no claims bonus.
a few things off my shopping list yesterday
3L milk 4.36
palmolive shower gel 750ml 7.99
heinz beans 3pk 3.15
pantene shampoo 8.69
kelloggs cornflakes 310g 2.68
orange juice 1L 3.02
water 15ltr 6.98
melon 2.98
tin tuna 2.42
tetley tea bags 100pk 4.36
rst turkey breast 300g 4.54
mince beef 8.48 (13.99kg)
loaf bread 2.17

hope this helps

jensteve

$80,000 seems decent enough, $50k would do us, we wouldn't have much left each week but we would get by on it without ending up in the position we did in the uk, us both working stupid hours and having no weekend to speak of.
I am glad this thread has resurfaced, OZ is not all palm trees and beach but financially can be quite daunting.
We came out with all good ideas, Steve's skilled we thought no probs wont ever be on low low wages, we should be fine and we had his brother here telling us it was fantastic over here money wise.
Reality some trades just don't pay as well as expected, and if you are unlucky and can't seem to find the right job you end up a casual somewhere on $14.50 hour. Thats what hubby is on right now, better than nothing so thats what he is earning until something better comes along.
As for mortgages etc, we are extremely lucky bought with us lots of capital so only need a very small one, its still something we could do without though. Now I know why so many people rent, they can't afford a mortgage.
$171,000 is $1100 a month, hope that gives you some idea, there are no houses for $171k by the way.
Anyone coming to OZ without a bank account full is going to have problems, the average house price here must be about $320/$350k so that roughly $500 week on mortgage alone. I am only glad we are in Perth where it is cheaper for housing if we had gone the other side we would be on anti-depressants by now.
Jenny

Ozger

Having done research, or so we thought, into the costs of living, we are actually still a bit shell-shocked about how little we have left over at the end of each month.

Gross income is a bit more than 80, we have three kids and I actually find it quite embarrassing to admit that even on that income level, we're struggling.

bondipom

In Sydney I'd up that figure to 100,000. Its going to be tough with Mrs BP out of work for a year. Even after that childcare will add up and probably make returning to work uneconomic except for her career continuance. I'll guess I'll become a battler.

jensteve

I wouldn't mind but back in the UK we where very careful with money, we had to be, high mortgage, credit cards etc shopping in ASDA in their own brand section was the norm, and we have carried this with us to OZ, we have been very carefull, have now decided that 2 large cars is not good so one is going and being replaced by something more ecconomical, food shopping, we miss out the choccy biscuit aisle and always go for own brands. We are good with our utility bills, and yet we still require at least $800 week to cover the basics.
How on earth does anybody manage when they come over with a very small bank balance? We hear about them every now and then, have they returned to the UK or had they managed to land great jobs, I would find this interesting to see if the ones who stay are the people who came with a certain amount of financial security.

Jenny

Go Banana's !!

I've just read back on this thread and found a posting that I had put on before we came out.

I read it with dread as I was petrified I'd put something stupid like "We will have enough money for a boat and room for a pony" (ha ha).

Thankfully it looks like are predictions where fairly bang on.

HOWEVER please everyone bare in mind your predicted entry date, housing markets both UK and Oz and the fact that the exchange rate is an unknown.

I am saying this as we are actually $100,000 down from where we thought we would be!!! (that's 40k pounds). Looks like heaps when I read it and I try not to think about it, but it is money we never had.

This was due to the fact that we reduced our house by 15k ($40k) to sell it, the exchange rate was a bit pants and Perth house prices rose by about 20% by the time we got out here.

So you see with the best planning in the world (spread sheets galore) there are just some unpredictables. Warren's dream of a boat is on hold (I breathe a sigh of relief) and we won't have the nest egg we thought we would.

So my tips would be:

1.Save as much as you can before you come, remember every pound is aprox $2.5.

2.Calculate what you can live on for say 6 months to a year without work and build a fund for it (this is worse case but you never know)

3. Bring all your stuff and I mean everything. I swear you will use stuff and what you can sell it for in a car boot sale doesn't come close to the replacement costs. A close friend of mine wished she had of brought all her old pans. She was in a rental and bought cheap ones until they bought a house, 'cos she wants nice ones in the new place. The cheap ones fell apart. Instead she could have used her old ones and chucked them when she moved. That rule will apply for many things.

We have kept all our old dooner covers, which will come in very handy if we buy a rental investment!!

Hope this info helps someone out there

Jill

Lorraine Bryan

OMG!! :scared: What an eye opener Thanks to all those that have posted on this thread it has certainly made me wake up and smell the coffee.

We have no equity as such but are saving like mad at the moment so we will have some money to see us over for a few months. I'm a registered nurse/midwife (not sure which field to practice in in OZ) and hope to have a job that i'll start once there, hopefully won't need to for about a month so in order to settle in.

I know the wages are not brilliant for nursing and midwifery as in the UK so i'm under no illusion there! Hubby is a builder, no specific qualifications as such but can do tiling, plastering painting and decorating etc. We have an 12 year old daughter who will need schooling and a 18 year old son who does not want to come to OZ (Thats another story)

I have several questions I'd like clarifying

1) Do you pay for education in all areas or just NSW ?

2) Whats the likelihood of hubby finding work in his field ?

3) Is the cost of living cheaper in Perth as opposed to QSL (or is that a miff)?

4) Is furnished rental easy to get or is it better to ship over our gear (we wanted to start from fresh) And is the deposit hefty?

5) What is a minimal amount of $$ shall we take considering I will have a job to start?

6) Am I wearing rose tinted glasses???

Any of the above answered will be gratefully received

Lorraine

jinxnkay

we started from scratch with our stuff. The first house we rented didnt include any furniture so we rented fridge washer and tv from a rental company. we bought beds and a sofa. the house we rent now includes everything except the tv which we went and bought (they are pretty cheap here)and is cheaper. the bond on both houses was just a months rent.

ABCDiamond

State Education is FREE for PR's in all States. Although Uniforms, and annual Book lists (maybe about $150) need to be paid for

? I can't answer that

Most costs should be similar, but housing may be different

Bring your goods with you, Not many furnished places about. If unfurnished costs say $250pw, the same place furnished could well be $500-600 pw, unless its long term, when it may be about $350pw.
4 weeks deposit + 4 weeks rent in advance is often requested

Difficult to answer, as much as you have got ?

Not if you are asking all the right questions and trying to find out as much as you can before coming