Will we survive??

Hi guys

just need either a wake up call / reality check or a thumbs up or thumbs down.

myself and my wife are looking to move to Sydney area in October this year ( she has a scholarship for a phd in physio at Sydney uni and I'm a carpenter ) Between us we will be bringing in about $100k a year and will have $15k ish to set up with We will be renting a small apartment 500/700$ week and having a small car. Is this a realistic amount of money to live on? We know it won't be a lavish lifestyle and we've accepted that. But the opportunity is onece in a lifetime especially at our age 31 with no kids. It feels like it's now or never. If its not doable then know is the time to knock it on the head.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Go for it. Should be fine in my opinion.

Hi there you seem to be in the same situation as my self and my wife. Where are you looking at in Sydney. Do you know any nice suburbs. I'm a plumber. Have you started looking for work already or waiting to get there.

I reckon you can do that with no kids. You can rent quite nice units in good areas for $500-$600 pw. Not large but then you don't need large.

My one question would be how sure you are about income? Presumably this is based on your earning ability if your wife's going to be studying, so make sure you've ticked all the boxes and done all your research about NSW trades licensing and what people actually get paid. Carpenters in high demand here at the moment (tons of building going on and most domestic/low rise resi is timber framed, timber stud partitions and so on) but as a new person you're an unknown quantity and like all construction industries around the world, there's a lot of "who you know" and word of mouth reputation you have to build up. And the bureaucracy cannot be dodged. There are lots of painful tales where tradesmen thought they would be OK but realise when they are in Australia that they have to requalify locally

I guess if your wife is doing a PhD then that will be for a couple of years but after that she should be earning as well. Physio is a good area of specialisation, again there is a scarcity of people

Hey mate,

Yes you should be ok. $100k pa will give you about $6 - $6.5k per month. It will be tight but you should be ok. You should get a nice 1 bed in a reasonable area for $500-$600 pw. I live in Balmain in inner Sydney and 1 beds are about $550 around here. How quickly do you expect to start working? Have you a job to go to?

Your $15k for start up may be a bit light. Remember you will need pay a bond (4 weeks rent) upfront and probably a month in advance. Look at Gumtree, facebook, local garage sales for furniture (95% of places rent unfurnished). Do you need the car? In Inner Sydney public transport is ok. You can do carshare for a while if you like, there are some good schemes, look at goget.com.au I did it for >3 years with no worries. If you need a vehicle, look at a moped, best way to get around this city and cheap to buy and run.

If you can, try to save to bring over a bit more to start, postpone buying a car, look at a sharehouse to live in for a while - save you buying furniture and cheaper rent/bills.

But yes it's doable.

If you can, try

thanks for the reply.

i will need a car / van as I'm a carpenter and getting my tools around on a moped or by bus or train will be challenging especially if working out of Sydney.

That 15k is the minimum we would have were hoping for nearer 20k for start up costs.

100k$ would be after tax if that makes a difference??? What sort of areas do you suggest as my wife will be at the Sydney university campus near lidcombe?

Thanks

Hi there you seem to be in the same situation as my self and my wife. Where are you looking at in Sydney. Do you know any nice suburbs. I'm a plumber. Have you started looking for work already or waiting to get there.

I've already approached a few companies who said that they will take me on as I've had my qualification changed to the Australian equivalent. You may want to check if you need to do this as a plumber. it's time consuming and expensive but you won't be able to work without a relevant qualification. That's if it's the same as carpentry.

Havnt reqlly looked at suburbs yet. Waiting for my 189 to come through at the moment so when it's confirmed I'll take a closer look

I reckon you can do that with no kids. You can rent quite nice units in good areas for $500-$600 pw. Not large but then you don't need large.

 

My one question would be how sure you are about income? Presumably this is based on your earning ability if your wife's going to be studying, so make sure you've ticked all the boxes and done all your research about NSW trades licensing and what people actually get paid. Carpenters in high demand here at the moment (tons of building going on and most domestic/low rise resi is timber framed, timber stud partitions and so on) but as a new person you're an unknown quantity and like all construction industries around the world, there's a lot of "who you know" and word of mouth reputation you have to build up. And the bureaucracy cannot be dodged. There are lots of painful tales where tradesmen thought they would be OK but realise when they are in Australia that they have to requalify locally

 

I guess if your wife is doing a PhD then that will be for a couple of years but after that she should be earning as well. Physio is a good area of specialisation, again there is a scarcity of people

I asked a company and they said $1200 a week plus overtime ect my wife has got a scholarship which pays her $30000 tax free a year to study and we will be renting out our house at home bringing in a further $1200 a month. So I've kind of done the maths but just need an idea if it doable. You are right we don't want anything big or expensive just something with transport links to lidcombe and Bondi really as that's where I'll be based.