MikenSal Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Can anybody give us some guidance. I currently earn around 30k here in the UK. UI have an oppurtunity to go for a job that pays just under aus$42.000 + O/T, bonus and med insurance paid too. We know what this equates too in £'s (just under aus$17K) but what kind of a wage is it by Australian standards. What kind of standard of living could we expect. Also, we would be travelling out there with around £100k(aus$250k) equity to put down on a house. Realistically, What could we afford to mortgage up to? As searches on websites for properties in Melbourne come up with VERY little at 250k. I have the oppurtunity to head for an interview for a job in Melbourne, the thing is, before we decide to go for it we have to make an outlay of £1050 to the agency involved. This is refundable if employment is not offered but to save wasting time we want to be sure it is financially viable for us to make the move. Any advice or guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spray21 Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 There are online calculators you can use that convert your salary into dollars then adjust it for cost of living - so it tells you what aussie salary you would need for the same standard of living over there. Off the top of my head, £30,000 equates to about $60,000 , give or take. Try doing a google search though to find the proper calculator. It will also make a big difference where you want to go to and how you want to live - if you want a sea-view apartment by Sydney harbour then think again! If you want a three bedroom house an hour inland then you should be fine. So do the calculator and then look at a site like realestate.com.au (I LOVE that website!) and see what houseprices are like. That will give you a better idea of the local cost of living. There are also online mortgage calculators where you enter your deposit and salary and they tell you what you could get - I think there are links from the realestate site, but again do a google search and they will come up. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IanL Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 It would largely depend on what you do, what you're qualified to do and where you go, but based on those figures, you're either being vastly overpaid in the UK or royaly ripped off in Aus. If 30k in UK is an appropriate level for you (and you don't live in London) then you should be looking at approx $80k+ plus super. There are hige differences here though depending on what city you are in, for example, any employer in Sydney offering $80k for what I do would get laughed out of town, but offer that in Adelaide for example and it becomes very attractive. I got told recently that Melb pays an average of 10% less than Sydney, but cost of living in Melb averages between 13-15% less. I recently investigated Melb and found that $250k buys a palace compared to Sydney (or at least a larger proportion of the palace) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikenSal Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 I'm a sprayer by trade so I'm told that $42k is average wage for my line of work in Melbourne. I currently work as a sprayer at AIRBUS here in UK and with shift allowance and O/T can bring in around £34K although without the perks its probably more like 23K. It would be a sponsored position were I to go for it. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IanL Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Well I suppose you could jack it up with penalty rates (OT) etc plus you'd get your Super on top (9%) unless specified otherwise. But it still seems low to me. I'm sure someone in the industry could comment better, but the difference in wages between Oz and UK is not that much in my experience, in general terms. If it's a sponsored position I'd give it a good hard look as they may be playing the advantage knowing you need them more than they need you. I'm not saying that's the case, but it looks way low to me, and even if it wasn't low in comparison to your UK wage, it's a very low wage generally. You'd survive on that but I wouldn't say comfortably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest robo Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Hi look on http://www.smh.comau they have ots of financial calculators in money section hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 I think the days of moving to Aus and being mortgage free are long gone. It's difficult to make a comparrison with Aus jobs, for example as a senior nurse here in UK my salary is £30,000 without enhancements but in Aus I can't get a job at that level right away, so stepping back to move forward (so to speak) has to be considered. House prices particularly in Perth are booming, and whilst people say that will slow down, I imagine that like the UK, they won't go backwards but stand still for a while. Ali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brissiebound Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Hi Ali, Surprised that you say you have to take less to start, my wife has only last year returned to nursing after a long child break but she has been offered a position in a large Brisbane hospital at $82k but this does include penalties and salary packaging and so on.....thought with your experience you may get a better salary. We also noticed that the positions she was offered actually paid quite differently, we thought the grading 1-8 was applied the same as the UK but they seem to grade you differently from hospital to hospital. Might be worth you applying for a couple of more positions and just compare the salary package? Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Thanks for that Steve. I wonder if it's different state to state too?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest forshac Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Hi Mike, We are in a similar position... We arrived here 7 weeks ago and so far it's proving difficult to adjust, but that is to be expected and the part of moving that no forum can prepare you for... My hubby is a mechanic and back in the UK worked for MBenz as a diagnostic tech. He was paid on avg £33K per year. Here, mechanics are paid on avg $42k per year which is a massive drop in salary! It's quite interesting that considering Australia is crying out for mechanics here, they pay very poorly! We have since discovered that mechanics are not regulated here like sparkys/plummers...So really anyone could fix your car I suppose and this is having a bearing on the salaries offered to mechanics. Well, the point I am trying to make is, the salary you have been offered is an average trade salary here... So, it really does depend on what you are moving to OZ for...If it's financial then forget it, if it's a life style change then consider your move in more depth. You are bringing a decent amount of money with you, which will support your move well. If you are planning on living in the suburbs in Melbourne like us, then you will be looking at a mortgage of approx $200k -$300k and again this does depend massively on what house you would like and importantly what area. I hope this helps in some way....Please do ask more questions if need be. Claire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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