The Murphsters

Hi all,

I have just had my salary confirmed for a job i have been offered in Aus and i am trying to get my head around whether or not i will be worse or better off than we are in the UK. As i am sure you can appreciate we are not going to Aus to live the same life we do here, the idea was for a change of lifestyle that does not necessarily revolve around earning as much money as possible as i am sure we will be spending money differently in Aus. Does this make sense??

So i thought the best way to try and get my head around it would be to give you an idea what we think we are going to want in Aus and for you tell me what income you think would be a minimum.

So we are not taking much money with us at all, so for the first year we will probably be renting a 2 bedroom place but we will want to get a house as soon as i am able, so a 3-4 bedroom house in a nice area of Brisbane with very little money down (even no money down if they are doing no deposit mortgages in Aus yet?)

We will need to usual healthcare, insurance, aus equiv of council tax? etc.. etc.. Food, drink, shopping for 2 people, a baby maybe sometime next year or year after. A night out maybe once a week, probably more in the early days.
And i can imagine we wold furnish the house partly funded on credit so would need enough money to pay credit card payments etc... Cable TV, fast broadband and phones I have got a car allowance so car would not come out of salary.


I guess i am describing a normal life for most people and probably going a long way about it! So sorry for rambling. but what would you say the minimum annual salary before tax & deductions would be to ensure we could afford this "normal" lifestyle ?

Thanks Gary

Santa

Hi,
We started off with a mortgage of $150,000, 3 young children and only my wife working on about $60,000. To be honest it was no where near enough. We dipped into savings a lot until I got a job, then things got a whole lot easier !
Good luck.

The Murphsters

Thanks, I guess it is not an easy question to answer, different strokes for different folks and all that!

At the moment we both work so it is easier, but my main worry is that my wife may take a while to get work and we are wanting to have a child fairly soon anyway so i am not sure how much she will be earning over the next couple of years. My new job has a base salary of $85k so i just want to make sure we will be okay.

My real fear is that we go all that way and cause all this hassle for family and friends and we find out we are struggling to get by and not really any happier.

Thanks

Wendy

I guess you won't know unless you try.

FWIW, my OH earns $56k and we (2 adults and 2 kids) manage just fine on that. We are at the minute putting around $500 - $1000 per month into a savings account. That's all bills paid, food on table, beer in the fridge and a few pints in the pub every week.

After xmas we will be looking to buy a house and I will probably return to work so we can keep the savings account growing.

The Murphsters

Thanks Wendy, what you describe is exactly the situation we want to have, it would be nice to start saving money for a house.

Makes me feel better!

Thanks Gary

Wendy

I could easily spend all of the OH's wages but I know that in the long run I want a nice house etc, so I just make sure I stick to my budget as much as possible.

Nomore

what i have found is that anyone earning under 50K a year will struggle, anything over that will be fine, even better when your on 100k like me (not)

Wendy

Well we can dream can't we

I think it doesn't matter how much you earn, the more you get, the more you spend

joho

You put me to shame wish I had your disipline.

Jo

Wendy

It's years of living on really crap money

When hubby was training to be a sparky (1992), all we had coming in to the house was my wage, which was less than 150 quid a week! (and that was with me working 45 - 50 hours a week :scared: )

JustBecause

In exactly the same position Gary, OH working but me producing a sprog asap so v concerned about lifestyle etc I'm pretty sure it will all work out somehow but you can't help worrying about it.

Where you live can make a difference too. Sydney for us so probably one of the most expensive places too.

The Murphsters

I agree it is worrying, the whole point of this move is to make our lives better!!
But i am more relaxed after reading some of the replies to this post, and you are right, these things do seem to work themselves out.

Thanks peeps

Vin 'n Bin

I think you should be quite okay on $85,000 ...good luck and enjoy your new life

The Murphsters

Thanks!