Re: US and Australia
 

I hope these comments are helpful.

As an American living here, I would strongly disagree re 'cheaper' unless you are coming from New York City (or similar) where it is at best a wash. The key is adjusting your expectations: buy in season fruits and veg, buy meats that are on sale and/or shop at markets (I have a Melbourne perspective but I thought the mining towns were rather expensive also given the average wages are high). Cars are vastly more expensive - at least new cars - and on a 457 they will have to pay for health care. I pay 250$ a month for private medical that is decent - which is legally required - as a single guy. In the USA I paid 50$ a month for a better private medical plan - most US firms pay a large percentage of health plans, health is not expensive in the USA if you have a full time job and a decent employer and is the best in the world.

The person needs to consider the downsides of a 457 as an American: forced to take private medical, kids will (maybe at least) need to pay for school per head despite paying the same taxes (now that LAFHA is going) as an Australian, food is more expensive IF you want to eat the same standards / quality in the USA, drinking is more expensive (you will laugh at the price of a 'six pack' of anything vs what you could get domestic American beers for), etc.

Personal experience: I was on 100K in London and make 160K here with a bonus target of 20%-30% (not paid yet). I dont have a car and walk most places, and would say I live a similar lifestyle to the UK. If I had a car it would be a tradedown and I am more careful about what I buy here vs the UK.

I lived in Denver Colorado (cant say how that compares exactly to the OP poster US location) on 80K per year last year on assignment and had a car, my rent was 600 a month, and ate out regularly, went crazy in grocery stores, and went to the mountains most weekends and net-net I am saving about the same amount of money despite double the salary here. (With no car and other adjustments as noted).

Don't move to Australia thinking you will be better off with a family on that money - most likely it will be a wash or downgrade in lifestyle, but you will be giving your kids an internationally experience which doesn't have a price tag.

Re: US and Australia
 

Depends on the visa though. Americans in Australia on PR visas will get healthcare for free, as opposed to the person I was reading on this forum who is paying nearly $20,000 per year to cover his family in the US. The unethical aspect of US healthcare is that when that job goes up in smoke then bang goes your cover, including your kids' cover. That is not going to happen in Australia.

I think most people are aware that consumables in the US are cheaper, because the US is a much bigger market, but life is about more than buying cut price consumables. The reason Australia ranks so much more highly on happiness indices than the US is because the safety net of universal healthcare is there irrespective of whether you pay a private company $$$ every month in the hope they might pay out.

My opinion is that the absence of universal healthcare in America is why the country is so ruthless when it comes to money - providing healthcare for your kids is a serious business and there is only one way to do that in America. I ask myself why the average Australian polls as much happier than the average American and I think the answer is that being able to buy more small-scale consumables every month is no substitute for having major medical issues paid for by when things get desperate. Also, lower homicide levels and pollution are also important environmental factors contributing to this as well, although this is nationally, not locally.

Re: US and Australia
 

I mainly noted cost of living as the OP needs to consider this carefully - as noted, I had a better life in terms of rent, cost of living, travel, car costs, etc on one half the income in the USA. My advice to the OP is to only move if they can clear at least double the salary - outside of major USA cities the country is far more affordable. I didn't move to Australia for value for money though, and my point to them is it may still be worth the move for the international experience for the family. (That is why I lived in London for many years, my friends that remained in the USA / New York area have far more in the bank vs me but I'd like to think I've at least had an interesting international lifestyle to offset that!)

I can't think of anyone I know - with familes included - dropping anywhere near 20K a year on healthcare in the USA. Again, companies tend to pick up most of the coverage, and you do have some options such as co-pay, medical savings accounts, etc. When I first moved here to Australia the 'big news' was about a kid with some sort of cancer getting flown to Chicago for some sort of 200K treatment the medical coverage here didn't cover - people dislike the US system but it remains world class for serious illnesses. A good friend of mine is a surgeon in Chicago and they never turn anyone away - poor people are treated, they will never pay their bills, sure, but they often are happy to be alive. The US system falls down with uninsured, upper middle class people - they have some savings / a house etc which can be taken in the case of not being insured.

The idea that people are happier in Australia because of social medicine does not hold up - if that were so Brits should be amazingly happy people :) I lived in London fro a number of years and have a few dealings with the NHS - all frustrating waits - and an ex-girlfriend of mine literally cannot have children now because the NHS nurses gave her pain killers instead of running tests that would have been run in the USA (basic x-ray and / or scan would have caught the issue in time) - by the time she was approved by the NHS to then go to the private medical doctor the next day, it was too late.

If people are in fact happier here, I'd argue it is due to a better work life balance and a laid back attitude. Some of the greatest success coming out of the USA are people who are not exactly 'happy' but who instead push themselves like mad to be an individual success - when you set the bar high instead of saying 'I won't put my hand up for that' and work past 5 PM once in a while, you naturally are not quite so happy sometimes. (And for the record, I do love it here in OZ :) )

Cheers

Re: US and Australia
 

I agree about the best treatment usually being in the US, and certainly its R&D is often much further ahead, because of course it attracts the best minds from all over the world due to its bigger wages.

I avoid making generic inferences from anecdotal evidence because there are simply too many stories, plus the Chinese whispers element, etc., I have bad experience of the NHS, not personally, but in the family, but I don't want to roll that out across the whole service.

You're right to say your time abroad is more valuable than money, as well. Nothing can come close to how travelling and working abroad expands the mind, and of course it has a material benefit in the sense that it looks great on a resume.

Re: US and Australia
 

Some of the threads in the US forum about health care are plain scary, not just the premiums but the amount that isn't covered by them. Plus if you get laid off from your job, wham, end of healthcare insurance. I've seen more than one thread where illhealth has caused job loss which promptly causes a cessation of insurance and finally bankruptcy. Try a few threads like this for starters - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9870488