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melbourne

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Posts posted by melbourne

    Melbourne: cool, chilly, or frrrreezing?

    in Victoria

    Posted

    We all know that Melbourne is famous for having four seasons in one day. But I've read quite a bit about the wind chill factor, and looked at where they are on the map (4 degrees further south than Sydney), and have heard from others that unless you're permanently dressed in fleece from head to toe, it gets cold enough to freeze your privates off laugh.png

     

     

     

    So how cold is cold? I've looked at climate comparisons with Sydney, for example, and while Sydney gets more rain, it seems that Melbourne is definitely on the cooler side. But climate graphs don't take wind chill into account, which means the only way to really tell is to ask you fine people what it's like to live in the city.

     

     

     

    Over to you!

    Single guy in London or Melbourne - which would let me save more?

    in Aussie Chat

    Posted

    "We"... thought you were single :) ?

     

    Check out my first post - you'll see that I am single, but am thinking about bringing my mom over in 5 years (UK) or immediately (if moving to Aus, as we both have PR visas):

     

    http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/news-chat-dilemmas/237533-single-guy-london-melbourne-would-let-me-save-more.html#post1936801684

     

    Ja boet, it's the reason I've not gone back, but I guess our priorities are different. I'm earning fistfuls of money for not an awful lot of effort (not showing off, it's just the way it is) ... but I'm just not a European / Northern Hemisphere boy at heart, ultimately the reason I'm on these very forums ;)

     

    Where are you from / where have you lived / where do you live now? :)

    Single guy in London or Melbourne - which would let me save more?

    in Aussie Chat

    Posted

    @melbourne , start contracting, plenty of work in the digital agencies in London (I work/have worked with a lot of them). If life's all about money for you, then that's where it's at.

     

    I'm working on it, SC :)

     

    It's not all about money, but at this point it's at the top of the list. The reason this move is based on financials first is because we just aren't coming out on my salary, which is a senior management salary in SA and far higher than most people earn. And we aren't extravagant. And we can either go deeper and deeper into debt, or I need to earn more. There is a ceiling here for me, because jobs that pay more here are few and far between, and when they do crop up (2-3 a month that I could apply for), I've been told that they're looking for non-white candidates only (a process called Black Economic Empowerment here, or affirmative action). I don't have a problem with the concept, but it does practically mean that I can't earn more as an individual. The only way for me to earn more is to change the currency I'm earning in and move to an environment where I have many more opportunities (and future growth opportunities) based on experience and expertise.

     

    So ... the adventure begins!

    Single guy in London or Melbourne - which would let me save more?

    in Aussie Chat

    Posted

    The rule of thumb is cost of living is 2.2 x more ($ to £) in Australia so that would suggest you are marginally better off in London but it's not quite as simple as that, housing in London is particularly expensive - the median house price in May was £612,622, whereas in Melbourne it is $668,030 so if you were planning to buy a property you would definitely be better off in Melbourne. From what you say you would be renting - the average rent in London is £1500, I can't find the average rent in Melbourne but a one bed apartment in the City Centre would be about $1800 a month.

     

    You might find this interesting

     

    http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Australia&city1=London&city2=Melbourne

     

    Upshot is I think you would probably be financially better off in Melbourne but there are lots of other factors to consider and most people find that really it is about the same, the difference comes from what you can earn in each place - government employees, e.g. nurses, teachers etc. seem to earn more in Australia, as do construction workers. Professionals in business seem to earn the same or less - we were certainly financially worse off in Australia but we live in Scotland not London!

     

    Have you considered other parts of the UK? It's much more affordable elsewhere and I find working in Edinburgh I can pretty much command the same salary as London.

     

    Hi LR! Thanks for your reply. Wow, a studio apartment in London is going to cost me 1500 per month? That's a huge eye-opener - I didn't think it would be anywhere near this.

     

    Will definitely consider looking at living costs outside of London to see what's possible.

     

    I think you'd have a great time in either city - both have a lot to offer. LR gives some great advice. Explore non London options for the UK - Cardiff/Bristol for instance have a lot of jobs. Edinburgh is lovely. London has great earning potential but high cost (and a lot of expensive distractions - which makes it so great of course!). Don't forget - it's not all about the money - you have to enjoy life as well so if it's about equal, why not go where your heart leads you?

     

    Your last line is what keeps drawing me to the UK. And I think you're absolutely right.

     

    I've realised that link doesn't work - go to http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp and put the cities in yourself.

     

    I've just this for my own location in the UK and Perth and it's not surprising we felt the pinch, especially as our salaries were lower!

     

    'You would need around 6,724.32A$ (3,144.70£) in Perth to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 2,200.00£'

     

    That's very, very helpful. Thanks for the link!

     

    Can't help with the info side of things but just wanted to say good luck and I'm sure you'll be happy in either place :)

     

    Thanks so much Stacey :)

    Single guy in London or Melbourne - which would let me save more?

    in Aussie Chat

    Posted · Edited by melbourne

    Hi guys

     

    This is the best place I could think to ask this question. I live in South Africa and am looking to make a new career move that until recently I thought would take me to Aus, but I've now seriously started to think about looking at the UK as a prospect.

     

    All the cultural/experience considerations aside, from a financial point of view, and all things being equal (single guy renting a bachelor/studio flat not far from work, with no pets) which of these would allow me to save more of my monthly salary:

     

    - GBP 70k living in London city

    - AUD 150k living in Melbourne CBD

     

    I'd be looking to send a good portion of savings back to SA every month, so:

     

    The Pound is currently R20.23.

    The Australia Dollar is currently R9.45

     

    After tax, I've worked out that I'd have:

     

    - GBP 3900 per month

    - AUD 8000 per month

     

    Depending on how far I can stretch this income, I'd like to be saving a minimum of:

     

    - GBP 2000 per month

    - Or, to have the same value in Aus terms, AUD 4000 per month

     

    The questions then are:

     

    - Is GBP 1900 going to do more/less for me in living costs than AUD 4000 (covering rent, basics, tel/electricity/bus, groceries etc)

    - Which would allow me the better opportunity to save even more. In other words, if unexpected things crop up like a burst geyser or doctor's visit, would I be in a better position to cover it with GBP 1900 or AUD 4000?

     

    P.S. There are some extra benefits to choosing the UK over and above the 20:1 exchange rate, starting with timezone similar to South Africa, the quick(er) trips to SA and family to visit me, and the fact that I love the UK more with every return visit. On the other hand, my mom has a PR Aus visa with me, so would be able to join me in Aus and we wouldn't have to send any money back home (but would still need to take care of some debt), however she doesn't really want to move at all, but would if it meant us being better off financially, though it would cost us about R250k to make the move to include belongings, travel and pets. On the UK side of things, I'd want to work towards citizenship in the next 5 years and then evaluate whether it makes sense to move back to SA or bring mom over to Ireland so that she could get EU citizenship and then move back to UK -- if the UK ends up relaxing parental visa requirements by then, I'd be thrilled to just have her join me in the UK, of course. So there are swings and roundabouts to consider, but I'm trying to evaluate this from a financial perspective first and take things from there.

     

    P.P.S. Thanks to whoever gets this far down in the post and decides to respond. I really appreciate it.

    190 visa lodged January 2015

    in Working and Skilled Visas

    Posted

    For everybody that has their visa. When it is granted do you get a specific date you need to move out on. We are still waiting for our visa and plan to move to victoria next May-June however somebody mentioned recently they were only given 6 months to validate their visa!

     

    Yeah, the grant letter states clearly the date by which you must make your first entry - the validation date. We've been given until Feb 2016, even though we only received our visas in July. Happy days :)

    190 visa lodged January 2015

    in Working and Skilled Visas

    Posted

    After sending my poor CO 5 emails in the last two days to check in on my visa app, I received our visa grant letters this morning!!! :)))))))))))))))))))))

     

    This includes my mom, who is a dependent and who lives with me, who now shares PR status in one of the world's strongest economies. Now to start looking at jobs and planning the road ahead. EXCITING times :D

     

    Good luck to everyone else still waiting. It shouldn't be long now!

    190 visa lodged January 2015

    in Working and Skilled Visas

    Posted

    Good news was delivered to our inbox an hour back.. VISA granted!!! Best of luck to every one else still waiting for their own..

     

    High five to you and your family for the great news! All the best for the road ahead and all the planning that you can now get started with :)

     

    Good luck to everyone else still waiting. Hopefully we'll all be spending the weekend with a bottle of champagne and dreams of a new adventure ahead of us.

    190 visa lodged January 2015

    in Working and Skilled Visas

    Posted

    My IMMI status changed from 'processing' to 'application received' a week or two ago, and after mailing my VPO to ask why, I got this response this morning:

     

    "This means the application is ready for decision however as outlined in the email below, the Department has reached the maximum number of visas granted in the 190 visa category for this Programme Year. Visas will re-commence to decision 1 July 2015."

     

    So at least there's no more guessing involved. 1 July it is.

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