oz bound pom

And whilst it may not be morally right to claim for what they do, on the flip side i'd rather them be claiming for a bit of gas and eleccy rather than some countries politicians who would be using our taxes to fund their own private armies to wipe out anyone that disagrees with them. As repugnant as some of the claims are, hopefully the more transparent these facts become the greater the pressure will be to change the system. Politicians are human, hence they are not perfect. We expect them to do the right thing but they need to be prodded in the right direction every now and again. If your mp is listed there and people do not vote they only have themselves to blame. Democracy is great but it's also painfully slow sometimes. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that.

now you have transferred don't look at the exchange rate again until you have to, otherwise you'll be forever playing the 'if only we'd waited another week game!'

where would you return to in the UK? if you miss green, an't you move somewhere greener in Oz? We may have had a nice (albeit brief summer) here but there aint nothing green about some of the grey wet dismal winters we've been having. I can safely say the points listed in your OP are not the sole reserve of Australia. You just have to find a place that makes you happy.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it would be 'rich', to me that means having pretty much more money than you know what to do with and never having to worry about financial issues ever again. I do think it is, depending on where you live (i note milliband qualifies his statement by referencing living in the SE) enough to make most people fall into the very comfortable bracket and that in most peoples cases it is only the desire to keep up with the joneses, or spend/waste* (delete as applicable) their income on the latest gadget etc that makes them feel 'poor'. I realise that migrating is a huge expense to most people but it is a choice, not a right as are most things in life. I mean there is a guy in the office who is seriously contemplating spending £80quid a month so he can have a nice shiny gold (oh please) iphone 5s for a tenner, yet complains he doesn't get paid enough and ''can't afford his own place''. So glad to see so many people have their priorities right. No matter how much you earn unless you know the value of money, enough is never enough.

I think than mankind has more chance of unravelling all of the secrets of the universe before we ever find out the truth to stories like this. In fact, discovering 'the truth' probably ranks up there with 'how does the female mind work?' ;-)

Candles- isn't beeswax prohibited? As for the rest I may be corrected but would imagine most of the stuff has made the trip to the uk in containers at some point in its life and if everything perished so easily on the voyage, china would be out of business. not sent our stuff yet, will let you know when it gets there!

Don't forget your agent is just that, YOUR agent. If they seem useless sack them off and get one that works for you. We got the top four in the area in, listened to their sales patter but went with the one that had the best local knowledge. My wife did the viewings as no one knows the property like you do. Word of advice to sellers, sell to the female, they do the buying with their hearts and takes a brave man to come between their wife and dream home. feel sorry for people stuck tho, we bought at the peak of the market, set new ceiling price for the road, thought we would break even at best but so far have had offers over the asking price and looking good for a tidy profit although we always treated it as a home, not an investment. Market is definitely moving. hope things take turn for the better for you OP.

Despite all the horror stories you may hear, kids probably more readily adapt than adults. Our 2 1/2 year old suffered more with the sudden heat/humidity than jet lag, just try and get them onto local time even if means a day or so of grumpy kids (and grumpier adults) but we honestly found things to be fine.

There are a couple of excellent threads on here for QROPS tranfers, have a look in the finance forums. you have 6 months to transfer to Au super scheme without penalty, after that you'll start to pay tax on the increase in value since you left. Or something along those lines. Don't be panicked into the 6 month ruling thing, it's not necessarily as onerous as some people would have you believe. lots of specialists in this field (but they will charge you so depending on the size of your pension fund it might not be worthwhile doing) but you can do it yourself with a bit of research and paperwork, not done it myself yet but think it's probably worth a go once we get over.

It may be silly in your eyes, but what is interesting is that for such a highly basic arithmetic test it seems to have caused a lot of adults on here an awful lot of problems. If nothing else it is a test of being able to carry out a relatively simple task numerous times, checking that each step is correct, providing them with practice of the four basic arithmetic functions and, depending on the age of the child would require a bit of concentration. Newjez, please tell me you are joking with your reference to spreadsheets and programmable calculators for such a simple task! This is basic mental arithmetic. And as for the probability of making a mistake in reverse , has nobody ever heard of self checking? Pet hate of mine with lots of the new grads, give you pages of rubbish which they obviously haven't checked over themselves.

Sorry all out of crystal balls, but generally interest rate rise, more interest in the currency and it strengthens and vice versa. Change some now then wait and change the rest? It's always a gamble.

Lack of exercise is most definitely, if not the biggest contributor to obesity. My nan liked nothing more than a beef dripping butty, wasted nothing, had more than a soft spot for cream cakes and chocolate washed down with copious amounts of tea. Crucially she never drove, walked everywhere and was very active. I firmly believe that the tv and car have done more to increase obesity than good vs bad food. Eat more calories than you use (whether they are from good food or bad food, eating excessively or leading a sedentary lifestyle) and you will put on weight. Education has a large part to play but individuals have to take responsibility, and I'm sorry if you can't afford decent fruit and veg but can afford to smoke you'll get no sympathy from me. We don't smoke, 'treat' ourselves rarely to the odd drink but never begrudge spending money on fruit and veg etc. yes granted there will always be people who struggle to make ends meet but there always have been, in fact more so in the past when people knew the real meaning of poverty living in slums with no social security net to help them out. And before anyone has a pop, I'll be the first to admit I have inherited my nan's sweet tooth (although you can keep the dripping butty!) and I know how easy it is to put on weight and should probably do more exercise and I admit I'm lazy, easier to drive than walk etc but I don't go round blaming anyone else, I know what I should do, just like everyone else. Now where did I put that eclair.....

oh well, that will just make them feel like the average UK resident has been feeling for the past few years. And certainly (selfishly) in the short term if the dollar hit 2+ (unlikely) I'd be very happy. what it goes to in the long term is just what it does in the long term. No real point worrying too much about it when its outside my control. it is what it is.

I don't know how low but I know how much I'd like it to go! every cent is good news though (personally speaking) and its certainly heading back to more realistic levels following the dire 1.4 of only a few months ago. If Sterling wasn't being massaged so much then we'd probably see even better rates

Now why didn't I think to charge people $50 for information that is freely available on the internet.... I guess that's why I'll never be rich! :confused: