lancastrian48

Spot on Quoll

shouldistayorgo

Mate,

Sounds like you are doing all right at home...if you can come with a family to Aus for six weeks every year. Maybe six weeks a year will do the job.

Don't get too greedy in life...count your blessings (health, happiness, friends, family, business) and stay put. Why risk everything...for more...

Blond1e

Hi, Hubby has been offered a job in Perth with really good money and a relocation package but we are still going thru the YES/NO stage as the deeper we delve into finances the harder it is for us to find a reason to move.

we are 100% sure we'd love the lifestyle as its very similar to where we are originally from so lifestyle gets a "LETS MOVE" from us but when we take our hearts out of it and look at it with our heads and on paper then the move to Perth is definately a step back for us.

DH has been offered a good salary BUT the company are only offering health insurance for hubby and no other benefits, here in the uk we get a good salary and a whole lot of benefits from the company on top. Less annual leave than UK. our kids (5 and 7) are in a brilliant school here in UK and are top of their class.

We are finding it very very hard to make the final decision. Money isn't the be all and end all but honestly you do need quite a bit of the stuff to survive and have a happy life.

Coming back if it doesnt work out holds a huge amount of problems - I think people will love the lifestyle in oz and the only reason for coming back is finances so think how hard it is going to be to give it all up in oz to come back purely for affordability esp with kids as they don't understand why you're moving from a lovely lifestyle just because you want (need) more money.

A crystal ball would be lovely for times like these.

Grayling

Some do....some don't

Vegemite Kids

Listen to your head.

I'm Australian but lived overseas for many years in multiple countries before coming back home and from my experience when my head told me 'No' but I went ahead and moved anyway cos my heart was saying "It'll be fun" I didn't enjoy that country very much. I eventually learned the lesson and the last 12 or so years before coming home I only went to countries that both my heart and my head were in agreement on.

Australia does have its problems just like everywhere and its not an easy country to live in if you are struggling for money. Yes many people that are struggling, do cope, but why put yourself through that if you dont have to?

Only you can make the decision to move or not, but my advice is to make the decision with your head, not your heart.

Good luck and happiness whatever you decide.

VK

Robbie37Michelle32

I am in the same postion a while back didnt know what to do,but we have both decided to go ahead and move. My wife has now a great job and has moved up the ladder in her job which she would not of been able too in the UK i have no job as yet in Oz but we have good finances.

You dont have to come over here and spend your money on a house straight away will wont due to the market being over priced and not knowing which way the market will go. Even now my head is yes/no i can have a great life style over here in the UK still but i want to experience another country whilst i am still young and have a young family.

I dont think Oz if always going to be over priced in housing food ect i think i swings in roundabouts with each economy have good times bad times but if you give it 100 % and say to yourselves lets do it what have you lost ?

chris1386

interesting OP, we were in the same position, im a gas fitter too,own dwindling(if im honest) business,wife a civil servant and stuck in a rut, and reached the 'lets get on with it or forget about it' stage, we come out in april with a lot less cash than you mentioned, not ideal but cant be helped, the trouble is if not now, when? were running out of visa time and havent sold the house so just got to get on with it and do our best, if it doesnt work out i'll be happy to have tried, whereas if we didnt do it we would both never have know what it was like, and neither of us wanted that. People talk of the expense of Aussie living, but the UK is getting ridiculous as well, and its declining in terms of social conditions, plus its miserable and raining most of the time, it all depends on what you want from your life, doesnt it? Someone said if it aint broke dont fix it, but to me the uk IS broke, I cant fix it and its time to try something new and exciting.I wish you every success in your new life, we'll probably bump into each other looking for the same gas job..........

paulry

One thing for sure is migration to Australia here and now is not for the faint-hearted. It's initially hard and you're going to need lots of financial and other resources to make it work. You'll need to be prepared probably for a long period of unemployment. It's arguably more difficult to obtain your first job here than it is in the UK because of "local experiece", "non-citizen", etc constraints. Also the current exchange rate is heart breaking because prices of most everyday things are still priced around the area of 2.5 to 1 even though we are only getting 1.6 to 1 so you'll burn your UK£ a lot faster than you would back home. I'm finding that after an initial £10 000 to get ourselves started our current burn rate is around £3300 PM for a family of 4 - and we're being quite frugal. There are times when I wonder why we swapped our lives in the UK for ones that currently aren't a lot different here except for with financial disadvantage. But hopefully that'll pass and improve once one and then both of us are working

As Quoll said, the "you can always go back" option is rarely a viable one so once here you're going to have to tough it out and make it work. But on the plus side if you can make it work the positivity over here is infectious, life has a rosier feel to it and there's lots of "wow, thank God I'm here" moments. And the icing on the cake is knowledge that here our kids have a much brighter future than their contemporaries have in the UK.

On balance if I could re-wind 6 months (before we left the UK) and I knew then what I know now I would probably prepare and do things a bit differently but I would definetely still go ahead with our adventure.

All the best and good luck whatever you decide

Grayling

You hope

paulry

Yeah, that as well

northernbird

Absolutely. I love living here, it is my home now and I won't be returning to the UK again for a VERY long time. However, we came 6 years ago and my husband is on a good whack of a salary. Even with that salary I would not be coming now with the cost of living here and the exchange rate as it is. It would be financial suicide for us.

quoll

Hmm, alternatively your kids may well be like many other young Aussies and go overseas to seek their future! Mine went for a post uni gap "year" (actually a return ticket for 9 months) to UK and is coming up for 10 years away this August. He has a great career, buying a house in London, getting married in September and, after his last trip back, not talking about returning any more, not even in the distant future. I think he was bored witless the last time and the weather didnt even give him a thrill as it rained almost continuously.

I look at my friends' kids in UK and they are all doing OK as well.

elice_in_oz

To be honest, I think growing up (to about 16) here in Australia is probably marginally better (IMHO). I know that my kids would have a very different lifestyle in the UK, or even France, growing up now.

However, I fully expect them to take advantage of their EU passports at the first opportunity once they have finished school (if not before, I f****ed off to an international school in the US at 16! Couldn't wait to get away from my small French town ) and to settle elsewhere if they choose to. I was given the opportunity to travel and choose how and where to spend my life, and I chose Australia. I don't necessarily expect my children to stay here though. It'll be their life (right now they do as I say and have no choice of course ) and they can live it how they see fit (within reason, I might put a stop to any mass-murderer tendencies early on )

Bulky

I'm in Perth and getting a job here would not be a problem at all.
The upside is that it is a great place to bring up your kids
When you are young with a family times moves very very fast.
If you have ambition you can make a heap of money here
The schools are good, the health care great
The houses are great
And if you decide to work on a fly in fly out basis in the resources centre there is even more money to be made.
Have met some great people here but they will never be 'mates'

Now the down side
The flies
the lack of a sense of 'Pommie' humour
the lack of the pub scene
the lack of watching a decent game of football
the adverts on TV
the TV (it's absolute rubbish)
the pollies
the insular attitude
the cost of housing
the cost of food
the lack of choice in buying anything
the lack of a Christmassy Christmas

I came here 23 years ago, divorced my wife after 18months married again to the best woman in the world. My children (I had custody) had a great childhood, good education and never got into the drug or drinking scene.

But now I have grandchildren my wife and I feel trapped and would love to return back to the UK to live (went back in 2003-2006 but all four children all came back and my wife missed them so we came back as well.) But I still want to come home, I will always want to come home and although we are Aussies...my wife was born here but grew up in Derbyshire......I will be English till the day I die.

So my advice come out to Perth for a few years.... you may love it and stay forever......but you will gain so much more than you lose

shouldistayorgo

One other thing...if you are coming to Sydney (other cities I'm not sure) with two kids of primary age. Lets say you want to keep the life style you had in UK....kids in a good school(not private...just a good state school in a decent area)...few quid in the bank (I mean not over drawn every month not serious savings)...the odd night out (once a month) ... As a family you need to be earning at least 180k AUD per annum gross. You will seriously struggle on anything less.

I am not joking...you will be forking out 50k aud per annum (62k if you want the eastern suberbs. 3-4 beds) in rent...or living miles out of the city...with a commute to match.

Coles and Wollworths (tesco and sainsburys) are having a price war...not that you'd notice.
A brown sliced loaf costs $4...thats about £2.45 stg!!!!!
Fruit and veg are sooo expensive...do not ask about bananas ($9/kg). Tomatoes are $6-$8 kg.
2 liters milk $4.
The only thing I saw cheaper were grapes

Lets say you go for a coffee after shoping.
A coffee costs $6...A slice of cheese cake $7. The kids will want a juice...$5.

Go to manly beach for a day out and have lunch...fish and chips $15, steak sandwich & chips $18, kids burger & chips 7$, diet coke $7. total for 4 of us $51.(£31)

How about a flight home to see the family...$1700 AUD each economy.

The kids school $2k per child.(catholic schools tend to be the best and they all charge 2k approx per year)
After school care for the kids, $1k/month for 2 kids.

I do not have a car but saw a saloon kia advertised for 18k...is that good...petrol seems to be cheaper...but we do not need a car...yet.

Weekly travel card $48 its good buses, trains, ferry. Kids $24.

Then you have the services, GAS, electric, internet, phone, mobile, tv, landline...not sure yet....but lets say $1k-$2k/month.

Most couples argue about cash...if you are in the UK...it will be worse down here!

Just giving the information....maybe some expats disagree would be interested know.