Kelpie

What a pity that both a forum mod and admin support the trolling and derailing of a thread.

Again, still have no idea why you are replying to this thread when you don’t know what what was communicated to us.

Thanks @Marisawright. I’ve come to the conclusion that a bog standard savings account and overpaying my uk mortgage are probably the best options.

I bet they left that nugget out the prospectus.

Not sure why you bothered to post on this thread when you have no idea what was or was not communicated to those of us in my year’s intake or have anything nice or useful to say.

Thanks Wanderer Returns. I'm definitely still flip flopping between staying and going but whatever I do it would seem sensible to have a nice buffer of savings behind me.

I don’t think it’s unusual for people to miss home in their first year of being away especially during a pandemic with the travel restrictions and social distancing. I was lucky to end up in WA so the restrictions weren’t too bad at all. If I’d been in Victoria I may very well have left by now.

I’ve only been here since January so I’m still finding my feet and building up a social network. Quite a few of my colleagues came to Perth by way of Aberdeen and they’ve been lovely, one used to live right next door to one of my closest friends there. None of them would go back to the uk now.

I keep telling myself things will get better. The home I'm missing doesn't really exist anymore with all the restrictions.

Yet more reasons why I wouldn't buy a place now even if I did have the money. Just because it might not make sense to buy somewhere now doesn't mean that it is foolish to start thinking about a deposit now. Ideally I'd be here on a 494 but my university didn't bother its arse getting my engineering course accredited for a 3 year period. If I started 3 years earlier or one year later I'd have met the requirements for a 494 but they didn't so here I am on a 482 although my visa agent thinks I've got a very good shot at the GTI so I'm looking into that.

I'm in Perth and I have an idea of areas I'd like to buy in if I were to stay. At the moment things feel to uncertain to buy, not that I could because I am skint. I don't know if I'll settle in WA or indeed Australia as I'm here on a 482 at the moment. My savings have been completely decimated by the move and I suspect I should have asked my employer for a larger pay rise for coming here. Woe is me!

I had to cut back on the avocados in order to buy my new iPhone 12. I looked at Vanguard in the UK where I could have an ISA with EFT but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much in the way of tax efficient savings and investment wrappers in Australia.

I looked at this before and I thought there was a upper income limit but I might have been getting confused with the home builder grants. I'm a bit nervous about tying money up in my super in case they change the rules but I'll have another look as it seems the most tax efficient way to save.

Helpful

What's the best savings or investment vehicle to save up the required 20% deposit (I know you can get insurance if you can't quite manage the 20%)? What with the low oil price and COVID I'd be amazed if there's any equity left in my Aberdeen property so I've resigned myself to starting from scratch again.