Deutschmaster

I frequently see postings asking about where would somebody be financially better off out of Australia and the UK.

Does anybody know how to actually calculate it?

It's easy thinking about rent, food and other monthly costs. I'm wondering about the long term. How does one take into account possible future medical costs, spending on medical insurance, education, social welfare, differences in tax structures here, etc.

ABCDiamond

Only with hindsight will you get the real answer.

jad n rich

Australia is no longer a cheap country, so I think to be better off your going to have to make some huge change. Like sell a house in say London and move to country NSW or something, providing of course you can then get jobs there Or sell in London and buy in some less desirable area like Logon or Blacktown, which I suppose defeats the 'dream'.

Australias main attraction some time back was becoming better off by moving here. When we came in 2000 migrants did it to be better off and you were, cheaper houses, cheaper cost of living , 1 - 3 exchange rate, loads of jobs, all of which no longer apply.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Bloody good question...

I'm still working for the same company that I used to while in the UK, but thanks, primarily, to exchange rate movements I'm certainly earning a lot more here than I would be in the UK, if you were to convert it back to UK pounds... but financially better off is debateable.
My home is certainly a lot larger than anything I would ever have been able to get in the UK and I'm paying a similar amount for it as my last UK home... but everything else is a bit of a toss up as to which is cheaper, the UK or Oz.

I personally don't feel any better off financially here in Australia.

ABCDiamond

Greater London Average house price £352,355, somewhere between Barnet at £379,206 and Haringey at £339,880

• £642,300 Detached
• £351,599 Semi-detached
• £311,080 Terrace

Compared to Logan and Blacktown ? (almost the cheapest suburbs you can look at)
Logan postcode 4114 Median Property Prices
$262,000 (£131,000) Houses
$182,000 (£91,000) Units/Apartment/Flat prices

or
Blacktown postcode 2148 Median Property Prices
$325,000 (£165,000) Houses
$262,000 (£131,000) Units/Apartment/Flat prices

If you are moving from semi detached in London, and wanting to have a similar priced, but detached house for £352,355 or $700,000


Or detached ?
London average = £642,300 = $1.2M
try this for $795,000
and within one hour to Brisbane.

comet555

Financially we're probably a bit better off here than we were in Canada.

For me I just compare our disposable income for both places and see that we have more "spending" money than we did before. My husband makes more money here although a lot of other things are more expensive so it balances out. But factoring in all of our expenses we save more money every month here than we did before.

BadgeIsBack

All you can do is work out salaries in your field...or in any other field you can survive.

Try and get a realistic number - clearly this is important. There's no point in factoring in a magic salary if this is hard to come by.

Work out expenses.

Work out what percentage of your after -tax salary is going to on rent, fuel etc.

Compare this percentage with your current situation.

You may find some things are more expensive, others not. It depends on the dynamics of your situation here and there.

I've done this exercise myself and for us, we don't do too bad. Read - we do OK - but I am a fairly high earner.

looky

Let me see...maybe frequent and more savings in the bank, bigger house at lower price, better car at lower price, more money from working with less stress and less hours?

Real answer only with hindsight you will gain Here fixed the Yoda words of wishdom for you

BadgeIsBack

Of course this is the age-old argument of whether or not you perceive something to be of value to you. You may feel paying about the same in real terms (or a little more) to be OK if you've just bought a place which would not look out of place above the head of a UK Premiership Footballer.

Assuming you have the tastes of a UK Premiership Footballer. (Which if you did, having space for a games room and a pool table might be up your alley).

Pollyana

When you are spending less time worrying about whether you actually have enough money let to actually live after all the bills hve been paid.
For instance - in both the UK and here I always pay rent and all my bills on payday, then anything left is mine to "play" with - over here, with the same type of eating habits and the same basic bills to pay I have far less disposable income to enjoy. I've also noticed it gradually getting worse over the last 6 years that Ive been here.

the troubadour

Right on all accounts. Sounds like you just made it in time. Quite possibly one would need to have a few other reasons apart from financial ease or betterment for being in Australia these days..Warm weather aching bones..that sort of thing..

Lord_Farquar

Those houses are both disgusting!

spartacus

Define disgusting.

Lord_Farquar

Huge McMansions with no design quality.

spartacus

Define quality.

Didn't you know that a person's wealth is directly related to the number of gables (dutch or otherwise) and hips they can make stick on a modest low-rise?