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Just read Sackofspuds post about staying in the UK. Everyone really wants to know if moving is the right move and I think Sackofspuds has got his analysis pretty accurate.

Some people seem to have all the factors in place, others have areas which are doubtful.

The only way I can see it is that we are all at different stages of the life curve. (Which may or may not coincide with the housing cycle).

I reckon that many expats have peaked in the UK and are bored and want to migrate to Australia; others earlier on in the housing cycle or at the lower end of the life curve can peak or improve by doing the move.

If you have a high income, low mortgage, good sized family home - I say this because so many want a bigger house - then you may have peaked already. You have to make sure you can afford the Australian lifestyle which you have earmarked as a major factor, just when you have secondary age kids which need 2 incomes etc, and especially if you fall in to the job category for which only a low Aussie income is achievable.

If you are a younger couple wanting to start a family, have a reasonable job(s), or a job which means that only one partner needs to work - leaving the other to bring up preschoolers without child care, with good equity in a flat, but can't quite get on the family home ladder in a nice area, have a huge deposit for an Aussie family home, have no comparisons about what it was like bringing up kids in the UK, family ties then moving may well be a good idea.

What do people think?

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Larissa

You have it in a nutshell badge, great post.

movetoperth

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Maybe i'm reading it wrong (it's been a long day) but to me it reads as though you are assuming that peoples measure of life being better is having more money or a bigger house and also that most people making the mive have a large deposit taken from the equity of the home they sold in the UK.

I know many people who have less money and less material possessions in aus than they had in the UK and many people who didn't make more that £5-10k on their home in the uk due to where they lived. But all would tell you they are "better off" here.

Like i said probably read it wrong, still got tears in my eyes from the Eagles defeat this arvo

Lynn

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Cheers(!)

I have been contemplating how we can reconcile the age old problem of costly kids with the high costs of medical in Australia. I am looking for ghosts in cupboards here as our baby is due soon.

I have come to the conclusion that to an extent, we got our planets in alignment by starting a family in Australia after migration; the real expenses of kids start after we have long established ourselves in Australia and not on the move when initial incomes could be low, mortgage free or not mortage free. (After all, a mortgage gives you solutions to cashflow problems, living mortgage free does not).

In 10 years time we will be where many of you are now. Only we will be in Australia not in the UK - and hopefully where we want to continue(!)

Which brings me on ....to..
Another thing, sorry, I've been studying tonight - so am in 'analytical' mode people often talk about being 'stranded' in Australia on a one way ticket but in some ways I disagree. There is nothing to stop you from renting out your Australian home and working and renting in the UK or EU taking advantage of any opportunities that come your way as a EU national. It would be a great way of introducing young pre-school or early school Aussie kids to Euroland. (you have to take the move in to account). Providing you can get by in the Uk, and if rents are reasonable, the FX rate then works in your favour and you can post money home to make the cost of Australian living affordable. You can work very hard, knowing that ultimately you have a way out elsewhere.

Got a question about this so will start another topic.

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MrsDagboy

Lettuce is way too expensive right now :scared: .

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Lynn: it is great to hear that there are so many posters who don't worry about house prices etc. But it is the single biggest reason many feel they can make the move.

If I am assuming that money or a bigger house is important then I am only going by what hundreds of posters in thousands of posts have talked about.
Standard of Living - Cost of living - Way of funding it. (Sorry!)

In my examples, I am talking worse case/best case scenario here - a device I use probably too much as an analytical tool.

I couldn't agree more with that money is not the most important thing, but many complaints are about having to work harder in Australia not less harder and it causes real debates. I was just trying to say that sometimes no amount of work or luck will swing it - but where you are at in your life.

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PS I also do not care much for money and materialism other than having a roof over your head and a means of living life to the full on your own terms.

Some times I would like to hear more from the younger people or the people without 'money'. I never met them until I found this site.

Phoenixuk2oz

Agree. We fall into the above....and you wouldn't get us back to UK without kicking and screaming.

It's not ALWAYS about money and material possessions. In fact everyone has their own reasons for moving and they are all individual, which is probably why no one can assume on anyones part why the move has taken place.

We all have our own reasons and to us individually they are important, to others maybe ridiculous....

I guess it's a bit like buying something i.e. we are all prepared to give up "the price" we are willing to pay

MrsDagboy

Yeah, but $20/kg for cheese? Come on!

movetoperth

I have often found that it's those who aren't as financially well off in Australia who settle better, are happier and less likely to return.

Lynn

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Wish they would post more! If it wasn't for this site I would never have thought about half these issues. It's catching. A case of looking for Gremlins under the bed...(!)

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Phoenixuk2oz

I wonder if it's also about managing our own expectations and how realistic they are

Merlot

Pheonix, well said as always

Badge, you know me mate, bones of the bum Merlot. Mid 30's and we don't have much to show for our life me and hubby, though we owe nothing to no one and if we do things we do it on our own terms.

I used to have sleepless nights, especially when I first came back to the UK as my Peers has it "ALL", 4-6 bed house, careers, cars, kids, holidays.

As time goes on and you speak with those Peers I realised that I was the luckiest person around as I choose to live my life simply and travel the world. For the most of them, they would have given their back teeth to be me. Now I pity those as they feel trapped, what a horrid feeling.

To concude, I am now happy, I prefer my hair not to go grey worrying about who out of me and Mrs Jones will get to the NEXT sale first :scared:

Inner contentment is a sacred thing, it can take many a lifetime to get, if at all. The thing I love about life now is that you can make a "fresh start" with your life at anytime, there are no rule books you have to follow.

Long live change!

M

bezzanbob

This is probably the hardest decision of all that we face when considering relocating.

We have previously had opportunities to emigrate which we have decided to decline for what we thought were good reasons: partly financial partly family.

One job opportunity would have meant flying out with a 1 month old and hoping all was well there and living the one in work, one at home with baby and in school card. We decided against it - others might have seen it differently.

Our plans are to try and migrate later in life given we are older parents with both children at school age. We have lived in Oz, we know how good the life can be but at the same time you never know what life may throw at you.

The best advice of all " It is a wise man who can be satisfied by a modest life". Eating brekkie on the beach at 5 a.m. outweighs a big detached house anywhere in Britain on a dark and rainy day in November.

Bezza

Merlot

Or woman

This is a very true sentence, I see time and time again those coming over with the emphasis on the material, but like I see in the UK once you have everything you ever dreamed of, what next.

My house though clean is not a show home, nothing matches and if I had the choice of a day out at York Races or stuck in cleaning, sorry there is not comparision. I work with what I want to do now, if that means making the most of a lovely summers day, bugger Tesco's or B&Q.

I have done the big house bit in Oz, boring as hell, sorry to those that love to clean a massive place week in and out. Many come to Oz and want this so they can show those back in their home land how well they have done. But then what do they do next?

Over the years of travelling I have seen many big headed expat and best avoided. I can't abide shallowness in any form. Sorry to be harsh.

M

Zan

Merlot, think the size of the house does make a difference when you have children. We have two children in a 2 bed terrace house in London and being able to afford a larger Australian style house is one of our plus points for moving. (my biggest one being with my family, secondly for the girls to have the kind of childhood that I had, not stuck indoors for 9 months of the year because it's too cold, wet and bl**dy miserable to go out). So when people make the move and buy a bigger house it's not necessarily to show people back in the UK how well they have done! Well certainly isn't in my case and in the friends I have who have done the move. But having a bigger house and the girl's not having to share a bedroom and the bedtime dramas that causes will improve our lives.

Oh and sorry I was one of those people at the NEXT sale first thing (well nearly) in the morning, I have a 3.5 year old and 21 month old to dress and if I can do it for half price then I'm not complaining - unfortunately kids this age grow out of/wreck clothes quickly and they do need to be dressed - though my 21 month would disagree with that as she never wears clothes if she has any say in it, lol.

Zan