eddieb7 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hi All, Currently waiting on 190 Application to be processed. So while I'm waiting, patiently, I am trying to find out as much as possible about the Cost of Living and what income a Family of 4 would need to have a good standard of living. We are looking at the Melbourne area, and are a family of 4 with a girl aged 8 and a boy aged 3. In the UK we have a reasonable standard of living, by reasonable I am mean that we live in a 3 bed Semi-Detached with a good sized garden, 2 car family, both children have their clubs/sports, we can afford to have family days out, occasional family nights out, and a 2-3 week holiday each year. What sort of family income do you reckon is required to have a good standard of living in Australia (Melbourne)? Cheers Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest 47403 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 General rule a lot of people use it to X your income by anywhere between 2.2 to 2.5 and that is what you will need to obtain a similar standard of living not scientific but will give a you a general idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHeart Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 $150k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 It's not just about income, a large proportion of most people's monthly expenditure is on a mortgage and the size of that depends on where in Melbourne you want to live and how much capital you have. If your housing costs are comparable then I agree with a 2-2.5 comparison. Otherwise treat housing costs as a separate entity and compare directly - there are plenty of mortgage cost calculators for both countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddieb7 Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thanks all for your input. Much appreciated. Probably not unexpected, I had thought about double my current salary would give a similar standard of living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlornax Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 We earn $120000 currently between two adults..lived in sydney and Queensland on this wage and we live semi comfortably..I dnt know how much kids cost but I dnt think we could afford them right now..in uk we earned abt 50000 gbp between us and always felt skint..we feel better off here but we spend less here as the things we do are free alot of the time..and their is no good clothes shops for me to go mad in on payday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richselina Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hi, I'm intrigued by the 2 - 2.5 calculation. We earn about £200K PA in the UK and we're coming to Australia and are looking to earn about $150-$200K which we think will give us a good lifestyle. I certainly don't think that we'd need to earn $500K in Australia to have a comparable standard of living to what we have here......Or am I missing something ? All comments welcomed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellers and Whitehead Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hi, I'm intrigued by the 2 - 2.5 calculation. We earn about £200K PA in the UK and we're coming to Australia and are looking to earn about $150-$200K which we think will give us a good lifestyle. I certainly don't think that we'd need to earn $500K in Australia to have a comparable standard of living to what we have here......Or am I missing something ? All comments welcomed. ****...dont accept the job if there is one...my god if you are on 200£k don't accept the same or less in dollars...that's about £90k if basing it on 200$k..you should be using the 2.5 guideline... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlornax Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 I think if you are used to 200k gbp..you will need to earn alot more than 150-200k here to feel you can live same way. ... but everyone is different..ppl live hapily here on alot less..depends how important the money is to you. What makes u think you wouldnt need more? You may be right..only you know that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hi, I'm intrigued by the 2 - 2.5 calculation. We earn about £200K PA in the UK and we're coming to Australia and are looking to earn about $150-$200K which we think will give us a good lifestyle. I certainly don't think that we'd need to earn $500K in Australia to have a comparable standard of living to what we have here......Or am I missing something ? All comments welcomed. It would depend how much 'surplus' income you have in the UK, perhaps it would be better to say 2-2.5 times what you spend in the UK. If you spend a lot of what you earn then you are going to have a very different lifestyle in Australia - I'm not saying you can't have a good life on $150-200K - you most certainly can but you won't have the say financial freedom that you currently enjoy. We had a UK income of about £130k and move to Australia on about $150k and we really felt it - we thought the 'better lifestyle' would be worth it but for us it wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddieb7 Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hi, I'm intrigued by the 2 - 2.5 calculation. We earn about £200K PA in the UK and we're coming to Australia and are looking to earn about $150-$200K which we think will give us a good lifestyle. I certainly don't think that we'd need to earn $500K in Australia to have a comparable standard of living to what we have here......Or am I missing something ? All comments welcomed. If you are in jobs that are earning you around £200K in the UK, then you must be able to get similar jobs earning around $400K in Australia. With the current exchange rate sitting around £1 -> 1.75$, you must surely be expecting jobs that sit in the bracket of 1.75 -> 2 times your existing salary in the Uk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Hi, I'm intrigued by the 2 - 2.5 calculation. We earn about £200K PA in the UK and we're coming to Australia and are looking to earn about $150-$200K which we think will give us a good lifestyle. I certainly don't think that we'd need to earn $500K in Australia to have a comparable standard of living to what we have here......Or am I missing something ? All comments welcomed. You may very well adapt, cut your cloth accordingly and lead a happy life on your $150-200k. But if you want to have a comparable standard of living, then the 2-2.5 guideline applies to you just the same as anyone else. You will find a massive drop in your purchasing power even if you were at the $200k level compared to £200k. You might not need $500k to feel about the same, but you definitely would need $400k. What are your occupations? Curious to know why you need to take such a drop, or are you thinking of a career change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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