Bibbs Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 With the pound souring and the dollar plumetting wage comparisons don't seem so favourable. Well done to anyone who went back to the UK at 1.4. Wise people! Personally, I need the exchange rate to go to 4 AUD : 1 GBP before I'm earning the same as I was in the UK. Several friends are in better situations than me. And once you earn local dollars, the exchange rate is irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I think using the current exchange rate to compare wages has long been disputed as a reliable way to work out whether it is worth making the move. It all depends on what that salary buys you. I've not noticed any change in my living costs here due to the rate rise. I do however notice the difference in exchange rate when I have to send money each month back to the UK to cover studnet loans. Having debt still in the UK and paying with the aussie dollar has gone from being cheap (at 1.4) to rather expensive (at 1.9). I hope to clear it all by the end of the year, but it's getting harder, my husbands student loan is now $3,000 more than it was when we first came out! How does that happen? Is it interest charges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 How does that happen? Is it interest charges? Because she has to send more dollars back to the UK to cover the loan repayment (as the dollar is now worth less, it costs more to get the required number of GBP). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 People are sometimes just never happy, they moan in the UK when the Aussie Dollar is high, then moan once they have moved over and the $ is getting lower, you cant have it both ways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 People are sometimes just never happy, they moan in the UK when the Aussie Dollar is high, then moan once they have moved over and the $ is getting lower, you cant have it both ways! Whinging poms through and through :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolac34 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Because she has to send more dollars back to the UK to cover the loan repayment (as the dollar is now worth less, it costs more to get the required number of GBP). Yep. £6,000 loan at 1.45 was $8,700 £6,000 loan at 1.90 is $11,400 We haven't made significant payments off it because husband was out of work for so long, so only just making dents in it now. Thankfully cleared mine so just his to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I wouldn't worry about a 6k loan! Mine is over 20k and soon graduates will owe over 40k! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I wouldn't worry about a 6k loan! Mine is over 20k and soon graduates will owe over 40k! Fortunately I'm from the era where I want to pay any loan off and hate being in debt. We were brought up thinking if you have to take a loan out for something then you can't really afford it. Apart from the house that is, there is no way to get on the housing market, unless you're super rich, without taking a mortgage out. Even then we were worried when we took out one for $130,000. We don't ever owe anything on credit cards as I hate paying the bank a penny we don't have to. Not to say I would "worry" over a 6k loan but it needs paying back sometime and the sooner you do, the sooner you will be saving on interest and one less thing to think about. When would be your cutoff point on how much you owe and when to start worrying lastonealive? I would certainly be thinking about getting rid of some of that 20k asap. What a lot of young people don't realise is that owing money can severely affect your ability to borrow all your life. Banks have a nasty habit of looking into your past credit history and they seem to have access to all information these days whether we give permission or not. We've tried to teach our kids to pay off loans and keep on top of what they owe. It's so easy to lose control and for financial management to spiral out of control. Only needs one big bill, car engine to blow up, household bill out of the ordinary, like a boiler or something and you can be in trouble. Always best to have savings. I've written about my nieces in the UK before and their answer to me asking how they could go out on shopping trips here when they were both at uni on grants and loans. "We don't worry about it, everyone else does it so it must be OK". Then the GFC happened and everyone wondered why. Just because graduates will owe over 40K and yours is only 20K is not a reason "not to worry". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolac34 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I wouldn't worry about a 6k loan! Mine is over 20k and soon graduates will owe over 40k! I don't worry about it as such, it's just annoying - and with the exchange rate heading the other way it's getting more expensive. I know graduates are worse off financially nowadays, but we've paid back our share, I had a £12k loan, other half had £12k and another £20k on a LPC course. Not to mention the tens of thousands we had on various graduate loans and credit cards. Being a student was probably one of the worst financial decisions I've ever made and it's taken me 8 years to pay off all that debt. If I had my time again I would go to work and do a degree by Open University or Part-Time, not blowing all that money at once doing it full-time with hardly any income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 We were pretty glad when our eldest decided he didn't want to go to Uni and wanted an apprenticeship. A lot of his friends went to uni and a few more did like he did with apprenticeships. All the ones that went to Uni are still paying off loans, most in graduate training schemes, where they're still not earning that much, while the ones that did apprenticeships all seem to be doing a lot better financially. Some of them have houses all ready with a lot of the mortgage paid off, in their early 20's. Our youngster hasn't taken that step yet, we keep hinting and I think he's started thinking about it. Problem is last year he had 3 months off travelling and had such a good time he wants to go to tomorrowland again. He's already booked to go to the US soon, to stay with some people he met in the Greek Islands. He can afford it all though and can save up pretty quickly as he works FIFO and lives at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Paul that's all well and good, but who can afford to pay to go to university now? Just rich people? Therefore only people from rich families should go? Also a student loan isn't a normal loan as it is income assessed repayments, so if you aren't earning you aren't paying anything and goes up depending on how much you earn so is hardly a bad debt. Just to add, it has no effect on borrowing as it isn't a standard loan. Paying it off quickly at base rate while the money could be invested into something way more productive seems about as foolish as the people who shifted their house sales accross at historically low exchange rates instead of renting and waiting on the rate to move more in their favour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ukgirl Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Whinging poms through and through :wink: Ah thee old whinging pom comment....... Ass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 People are sometimes just never happy, they moan in the UK when the Aussie Dollar is high, then moan once they have moved over and the $ is getting lower, you cant have it both ways! I think if you shifted you life savings at 1.4 you are entitled to a moan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Either way the currency falls I suppose you can only judge the quality of life by the life you can afford in the country, that part doesn't alter whether the currency changes. Well actually it does impact with so many things originating from abroad. The cost of everything from holidays to cars to clothing to technology all goes up. Petrol being a big one pushes up the price of most foods as well. With the push for limiting or even for a decline in wages I for one cannot see how onshore will not be impacted. Australia will be cheaper for foreigners of course to buy houses, get an education and holiday. Others will generally feel poorer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Well actually it does impact with so many things originating from abroad. The cost of everything from holidays to cars to clothing to technology all goes up. Petrol being a big one pushes up the price of most foods as well. With the push for limiting or even for a decline in wages I for one cannot see how onshore will not be impacted.Australia will be cheaper for foreigners of course to buy houses, get an education and holiday. Others will generally feel poorer. With an increase in tourism bring more money in the country/more jobs. Also Aussie products become more competive for export, it's hardly all doom and gloom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Paul that's all well and good, but who can afford to pay to go to university now? Just rich people? Therefore only people from rich families should go? Also a student loan isn't a normal loan as it is income assessed repayments, so if you aren't earning you aren't paying anything and goes up depending on how much you earn so is hardly a bad debt. Just to add, it has no effect on borrowing as it isn't a standard loan. Paying it off quickly at base rate while the money could be invested into something way more productive seems about as foolish as the people who shifted their house sales accross at historically low exchange rates instead of renting and waiting on the rate to move more in their favour. Any debt is a bad debt and needs paying back sometime. I understand that the student loan is a necessary evil for people who aren't lucky enough to be rich to be able to go. It still needs to be managed though and I find a lot of students carry on as though they are spending their own money and when they've finished the degree suddenly realise what a hole they've dug for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 With an increase in tourism bring more money in the country/more jobs. Also Aussie products become more competive for export, it's hardly all doom and gloom. Tourism is somewhat low yielding. It tends to be a lower paid industry and not forgetting much is paid for overseas. China our biggest growing market being something of an example. Just what Aussie products are you thinking off? Education will become more competitive along with wine. So little is produced here now that a higher dollar and higher interest rates should favour the average Aussie more. While not exactly doom and gloom hardly the great saviour to the nation that business claims. Of course if the dollar declines to the mid 70's or lower, certain international corporations would find it a cheap place for business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I did my degree at UNSW part time, whilst working full time, hard work too. I will always defend students from being labelled bludgers! I like to say that I started my degree as a mature age student, and completed it as an old age one. I suppose if you study part time, whilst working, you miss out on some of the social life, always rushing from work to uni, or uni to work. On the other hand, you are earning money, building up work experience in organisations. It does not really matter if the organisation is not in your preferred career field, because they are all subject to the same rules, politics, BS, etc. I work with a couple of young guys at the ATO, who have both finished their degrees now, and whilst they are looking for jobs using their degrees, they just carry on working, earning money. It's better to have a job than none. I don't care about the fairness or unfairness of the system, favouring the elites and the rich. That's life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 So little is produced here now that a higher dollar and higher interest rates should favour the average Aussie more. So little? Australia produces over 2% of the total global agricultural exports - with a population percentage about one sixth of that. Total annual exports are over 300 billion. I wouldn't call that "so little". I'm quoting from memory but this is what I read/heard recently: every one percentage point drop in the value of the Aussie dollar equates to an extra 200+ million dollars worth of exports in the agricultural sector alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Any debt is a bad debt and needs paying back sometime. I understand that the student loan is a necessary evil for people who aren't lucky enough to be rich to be able to go. It still needs to be managed though and I find a lot of students carry on as though they are spending their own money and when they've finished the degree suddenly realise what a hole they've dug for themselves. There is no hole though, the debt cannot be called in and is linked to what you earn so there is no set repayments that have to be kept to no matter what. I could pay off my student loan in cash right now if I want but my money is better off earning more than base rate elsewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 There is no hole though, the debt cannot be called in and is linked to what you earn so there is no set repayments that have to be kept to no matter what. I could pay off my student loan in cash right now if I want but my money is better off earning more than base rate elsewhere You are both right in a way. You have this loan and you are managing it strategically which makes sense. P1P is referring to the very many people who just keep accumulating loan, credit card, store card etc debt with no real plan. Now that the immediate crisis and recession appears to be passing there is a potential to return to easier credit (and at historic low rates). Will anyone be any wiser - I fear not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 There is no hole though, the debt cannot be called in and is linked to what you earn so there is no set repayments that have to be kept to no matter what. I could pay off my student loan in cash right now if I want but my money is better off earning more than base rate elsewhere If you have that much savings then you are spot on. You are right to carry on paying as you are. It would be great if every ex-student was like you and didn't also run up debts on numerous credit cards and over extend themselves, before they've even started work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikey Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I am sure that u didnt used to have to pay student loans if u were in oz. They must have changed it? I think using the current exchange rate to compare wages has long been disputed as a reliable way to work out whether it is worth making the move. It all depends on what that salary buys you. I've not noticed any change in my living costs here due to the rate rise. I do however notice the difference in exchange rate when I have to send money each month back to the UK to cover studnet loans. Having debt still in the UK and paying with the aussie dollar has gone from being cheap (at 1.4) to rather expensive (at 1.9). I hope to clear it all by the end of the year, but it's getting harder, my husbands student loan is now $3,000 more than it was when we first came out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I am sure that u didnt used to have to pay student loans if u were in oz. They must have changed it? Didn't have student loans in the UK at one time either Nikey. I was a mature student, 30 when I went back to Uni. I had been working since 16, my parents were not on a high enough income to have to contribute and I got a full grant that I could get through on without borrowing anything. I had a Lotus Cortina at the time I went back though that was my pride and joy. I had always had decent cars from starting work as a fitter, it was almost a hobby of all fitters that they would work on cars and sell them on, do their own maintenance, soup them up a bit. I had enough money when I went to Uni to run it but not maintain it like I would have liked. We lived in a dodgy area of Sparkhill too, so I was always worried about getting it nicked. I had a good immobiliser on it though, so I think that saved it a couple of times. End of the first year I went to Bermuda for a month with my girlfriend, as her Sister and BIL were living there and we didn't know how long they would be there. Blew just about all my savings on that one holiday then the diff on the car started playing up. Had to leave it at home and use public transport for the last 2 years of the degree. Didn't like that one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I am sure that u didnt used to have to pay student loans if u were in oz. They must have changed it? I don't know the rules and I may get my head bitten off for saying this but.....there is IMO a greater moral imperative for paying off a student loan if you have a UK education and then move overseas and pay taxes elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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