Wannabe Oz

Hi all,

I'm hoping to move to oz in the next few months and was wondering if an expected salary of approx $120,000 would be a good salary for a married couple with 2 young children to live on. Destination will be either Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane.

EasyTyler

I've arrived in Melbourne and shocked at how expensive things are here. Clothes, food etc. I'm hoping that around the same figure covers myself and my partner. I would be very cautious about raising two children on the same salary. Perhaps it would be better in Perth or with the recent devastation, Brisbane would be much cheaper.

Pollyana

Cheap?! Brisbane?! Nope, sorry, there may have been flooding in some suburbs but that hasn't made anything cheaper.

jad n rich

Agree food and petrol and such is pretty much the same.

But Housing costs both rent and purchase are WAY higher in Melbourne.

I've had to look at this for R's work recently and we would be switching a 5 bed pool on small acerage for pretty much a dump if we wanted to be under the 45 mins to work - CBD.

In bris we sold a house 24 klm from the city with ocean views for about one third of what that replacement in melb would cost.

Even rents made the eyes water and there seemed to be a lot of competition for rentals too.

Stamp duty is double you can whack 60k stamp duty on top in flick of a eyeball.

Oddly enough despite the mega prices the project is only offering 20k more, after tax and levies thats not even 200 bucks a week

Its a pity cause I really like melbourne, I love winter there especially

For the OP, nope 120 k in melb is not a lot of money at all - if you are a family, I guess singles would have a ball. People forget too how much tax and levies you pay on that wage, its hardly mega wages once you take that lot out and of course you are getting into the target area of families the govt is taxing and chopping to the hilt. Not much in benefits either unlike those on lower wages. All up 120 for a family is basic living at best.

renth

Bottom line is how much of the $120 k is going on rent/mortgage? If the answer is "none" then $120k means a comfortable life.

If, say you rent a modest house for $400 a week then the $120k = watching the pennies very closely.

It's funny 'cos if you think $120k is approx 80k GBP you'd think you'd be absolutely loaded wouldn't you?

DeadVim

When we are both working our combined income isn't far off that and with a home loan of around $200,000 still to go we would live OK.

Caveats:
- We only have one kid
- We bought the house for $315,000 5 years ago
- We like living in the sticks and are not attracted to 'fashionable' areas
- We aren't big on 'going out' and fancy holidays or TVs, or fancy anything in fact

It's possible but it really does depend on lifestyle choice and personal expectations.

Cheetah7

Mr PP and I are on $110,000 plus super - between us a year, my new job that I am due to start soon will also factor in full medical insurance for both of us.

We owe about $300,00 (perhaps a bit less - on our mortgage), so it is quite a big mortgage, so no we are not well off - however, we manage very well. We go out when we can afford it, if we cant we have dinner parties or go round to our friends house - there is usually something going on.

We have the usual mortgage protection insurance and I have salary protection in my wages as well, we have life insurance, car insurance - the usual. Yes we pay a lot in insurance but it is peace of mind.

Things just work out for us here, we dont have a lot of disposable income but we do over pay on the mortgage so we can absorb interest rates.

Whatever you earn, whatever you have to live on - you manage accordingly, or not. We are lucky we don't have children, it would be a very different matter but it is just the two of us and we just seem to do better here than we ever did in the UK.

Food is expensive here but Mr PP is excellent at sourcing out bargains from markets and stuff and being a chef, can make a meal out of most things.

You dont have to be rich to live here but you do certainly need to think about what you really need in life as opposed to what you desire and only do stuff if you can afford it.

HelenTD

We're a family with one income and two kids in Perth with a not dissimilar salary and a small mortgage. We do not go out often for meals, perhaps 4 times a year, we might have take-away food about 3 times a month. We don't have fancy clothes, in fact we don't have fancy anything. Apart from the usual food and utility bills, we have large education and health costs with the kids (our health needs are increasing now too), despite top-table private medical cover supplied by OH's employer. We've been on one overseas trip in 13 years, otherwise we've not been outside WA, just on short trips to the South West. We have one car - but it's a great one, 2 years old. We live in a great location, but my OH bought in here 24 years ago and there's no way we'd be able to afford to buy here now. On this sort of salary there are no Centrelink payments and a higher marginal tax rate. The Federal Govt is not planning on any compensation if this carbon tax gets introduced, so utility bills will really hit us hard in the future.

You can live OK, on this type of salary, but I wouldn't use the words "well" or "comfortable". Expect to monitor expenses carefully and to spend time shopping around for bargains, especially food, and cooking from scratch.

Cheetah7

Actually Helen, you raise an excellent point about medical bills, medical bills for my asthma this week for prescriptions alone have set us back over $130 plus another $33 today. The GP has been bulk billing me as I have been twice this week and am due back next week.

My new job is offering top cover for Mr PP and myself but we will save that for emergencies but it at least means we can cancel our extras cover saving about $100 a month which is good.

Medical bills and medicines are something I didnt really consider but have been so crook this week and last week, it sure has cost us.

HelenTD

It's been a bad week for us too, over $900 up-front, OH is just off to Medicare and HBF to get any refunds. Yes, we could have relied totally on the public hospital, but our experience is that you don't get the care you need as quickly as you need it (even more so when for a kid). It's surprising how much it can still cost you, even when you have private cover, especially if you have a disorder that needs long-term care.

Cheetah7

This new job I have - due to start, the rep from the health fund company has called me a few times and said if we need treatment, to call him and he shops around for the lowest gap fees or something, he organises everything.

But as I said, it will save for emergencies I guess.

I cannot fault the care my GP is giving me for my asthma though, I was in there for over an hour on Monday, and quite a while today and he is bulk billing.

I was under an asthma specialist at one hospital and the care was excellent and Mr PPs care from his car crash was good as well but I think it is luck of the draw really.

Medicines really set you back, and I am on shit loads, I have been keeping receipts - dont know why, but only just started to keep them and its all mounting up.

But my doctor here is far better than my London doctor, I would still be waiting on an appointment.

How does work medical insurance work with your company, do they find the specialist for you? This rep that has been talking to me said he does everything for us but I am very wary of medical insurance here and the hidden costs.

Here's to us all getting better and not needing to spend our money on medicines and medical stuff

But Oh how I wish I could be prescribed 6 months of something instead of 3 repeats on prescriptions.

HelenTD

PP, some health funds have "preferred providers" where all of the cost, or a large part of it, is covered by the health fund. This can save you bucket loads of money, but it decreases your choice of doctor, dentist, or whatever. For example, our health fund obviously did a deal with a chain of dentists, where the rebates were higher if you used them. I tried a couple of different practices, but I didn't like them, so go to another one I found myself (I'm a nervous nellie in the dental chair).

You will have to carefully balance any additional costs against medical/allied health treatments. If for some reason you didn't like the preferred doctor, for example, or it was difficult to get an appointment, or it was in a difficult location, you might have to be prepared to pay a bit more.

I just looked up the 2 major health funds in WA, and found that HBF have a programme that might help you http://www.hbf.com.au/community/heal...ment_PPCN.html (Medibank Private don't have something similar). This seems to be an extension of Enhanced Primary Care plans available via GPs http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ma...h-brochure.htm - have you got one of these?

BTW, my OH's company add the cost of the private health plan + the amount of fringe benefits tax to his salary. This cover is compulsory - everyone gets it, no cash given instead if you don't want it, and there is no choice about which fund you get. These additions to his salary take us past the cut-off point where we get any Centrelink payments (a big negative when you have kids).

verystormy

We are in Perth and on a similar sort of salary as the OP. There is just me and the wife, no children and while i wouldnt say we struggle we are certainly not well off. Bank account by end of month is usually dry. I would say we have a lifestyle equivalant to earning about 27k a year pounds back in the UK.

For us, this is becoming a increasing issue. Especialy not being able to get on the housing ladder on this income and we are reviewing how much sense it is to stay. Sunshine and beach are only worth so much.

Though i am in aslightly different position to most as if i worked back in the UK i would get about the same salary only paid in US$ rather than AUS$.

fish.01

"Brisbane the 'cheapest mainland capital' for houses"

http://theage.domain.com.au/real-est...428-1dxg8.html

I have noticed things like childcare are significantly cheaper than Sydney/Melbourne as well.

Weebie

Brisbane may be cheaper but it's hardly cheap.

120k for a family is basic. It's not poverty but it's basic