Lauren1988

My family are moving to Newcastle, NSW next year. I have been offered a job which will pay me 90k. Do you think my salary will be feasible for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 young children) to live on?
Obviously, my husband will seek employment if need be, but we would prefer he is around to watch the kids whilst we get used to our new surroundings.
I know this will be dependent on what sort of property we find to rent, I am hoping to find somewhere for less than 525 per week.

okonumiyaki

Best thing to do is look at property sites to get an idea of what you can rent for 525 or under.

Pulaski

According this Australian government web site your after-tax income on AUD90,000 will be AUD68,483, which is AUD5,707/month.

You need to prepare a complete budget - how much will you be spending not only on your rent/ housing expense, but also on food, utilities, car (finance, taxes, insurance petrol)/ travel, clothing, pension saving, medical, insurance, holiday savings, etc.

According to this website, an average family of four in Australia spends AUD203/wk (AUD880/mth) on groceries.

According to this website, the average electricity bill in NSW is AUD104/mth.

According to this website, the average water bill in NSW is AUD68/mth

With your net income of AUD 5,707, your hoped-for rent of AUD525 (AUD2,275/mth), electricity of AUD104, and an average grocery bill of AUD880, your net income after rent, electricity, water and groceries, would only be AUD2,380.

Lauren1988

Thank you for doing those calculations. Really appreciate it, I wouldn't have even known where to begin. Considering after food, rent, electricity and gas we have next to nothing left over in the u.k, this seems quite positive. Although we may struggle to pay for a lavish lifestyle, I think if these figures are quite average we should manage on a single income to begin with. 😊

Pulaski

Yes, it always depends what your starting point is, as to how you will manage in another country, but remember, when drawing up your budget, the one potentially large expense that you may be adding by emigrating, is the cost of traveling "home", from time to time, and with a tight budget you might find that traveling back to visit friends and family is entirely off the agenda until you get a second income.

Lauren1988

Yes, I've fully accepted that I may not travel 'home' for a good few years to begin with. We will have some money for emergencies if travel is essential, but otherwise we will be using zoom quite frequently 😊

Pollyana

Have a look at www.realestate.com.au for rental prices

Kiwikaye

Another thing to consider will be, depending on what visa you are coming on, and the ages of your children, in NSW you will need to pay school fees, even for public (state) school. They used to be around $5k per year, per child, but I am not sure what they are now (I live in Melbourne).

Personally, I think $90k is low for a family of four. Yes, there are absolutely families living on that, and less, but I always ask myself would I travel halfway around the world, leaving everything and everyone that I know, for that? Of course, money may not be the driving factor for you, in which case this may not matter. Just remember that when you are effectively starting from scratch there will be a lot of one-off expenses (first rent, bond, connection fees for utilities, furniture and homewares, car, etc).

I love living in Aus, but it is not a cheap country. You do have the advantage that you are coming to Newcastle, rather than Sydney which is considerably more expensive.

brits1

Hi I have to agree with the financial side of this move, $90000 does sound a lot to some but I think with only one income and 2 children it’s will not be brought to live on comfortably and looking at the cost of rentals I would be a bit nervous and no we are not “flamboyant” people lol

Retirednow

Haven’t lived in Newcastle since ‘76 but most families there wouldn’t be on $90k.

rammygirl

Does that $90k include super or is super extra. Makes a difference and the offer should state clearly. Ideally you should be earning around 2.5 times in dollars as pounds for a comparable standard of living. So if you manage on £36k now you should be OK. You do spend a lot upfront on the move and settling in though. Rentals are tight here at the moment too so you might need longer in temporary accommodation which is expensive.
On a PR visa kids are not charged more for schools but even public (state) schools here aren’t free. You have to pay for equipment, stationery, and other fees. Not a fortune but it does catch Brit’s out.

Lauren1988

Thanks for all the responses, your comments have been really helpful.

A lot of the up front costs of moving we are using savings to pay for, including our daughters school fees, which I believe will be $5600.
My super will be extra to my salary rather than included. We have booked an Airbnb for the first 3 weeks, but I'm thinking I may have been naive on how quickly we could find a rental, so I will contact the hosts to see if I can extend this for longer.
we will also need to find a car pretty quickly, but we are hoping the sale our our cars back home can be used for the purchase of cars on Oz.
Lots to consider and think about, but I appreciate the comments. Thank you.
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rammygirl

The school fees indicate you are not moving on a PR visa. If you plan to stay do you have a plan for PR?

quoll

Ah, well, it sounds like you are only coming on a temporary visa, it wont quite be beans on toast income but there probably wont be much left over - you should make ends meet and have a nice adventure until you go home again.

Pulaski

If they're on a temporary visa, and are, as stated, using savings to pay for "the up-front costs of moving", and "won't have much left over" (after paying for essentials each month) how are they going to pay for their return if they are unable to switch from a temporary visa to PR?