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100k for a family of 5 in Sydney?


Stan

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Hi everyone,

 

A quick question: do you think it is possible for a family of 5 (couple: man working, mum at home with 3 kids - 8, 4 and 1) to live decently in Sydney with the income of circa 100k per year? I recently received a job offer and would appreciate your thoughts. We are not used to eating out or clubbing very often, so expenses such as these would not really be an issue. My own research shows that I would be taking home about 5,300$ home every month, of which around 3,000$ would have to be spent on accomodation (living in a 3-4 bedroom house in a suburb). Please share some insights with me about all this. The job itself would be great, but would we survive on this kind of wage? What kind of social welfare payments for the kids could we count on? Thanks very much for your comments.

 

Stan

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Horses for courses, I'd be nervous moving to Sydney (assuming you're pretty central) with a family income under $200K but plenty of people will come on here and tell you how they survived on lentils and free sunshine for next to nothing.....

Are you skint now? Are you used to scrimping and saving? What are the alternatives - unemployment and scraping by at home? If you have a good life now, IMHO you'd be bonkers to come over to Australia anywhere for $100K (I'm assuming dollars not pounds in which case I'm wrong), let alone move to one of the most expensive cities on the planet. I've known young singles have a nice life on $100K in Sydney - but for a family it is far too low.....

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Chortlepuss, yes, I'm based in Europe, yes I mean 100k Australian dollars. And yes, I'm quite used to 'scrimping and saving' where I am. The alternative is: staying at home working a little below qualifications (and scrimping) or, as it turns out from your post, scrimping in Australia, however, doing what I always wanted to do (working at a university). Thanks for your thoughts!

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Horses for courses, I'd be nervous moving to Sydney (assuming you're pretty central) with a family income under $200K but plenty of people will come on here and tell you how they survived on lentils and free sunshine for next to nothing.....

Are you skint now? Are you used to scrimping and saving? What are the alternatives - unemployment and scraping by at home? If you have a good life now, IMHO you'd be bonkers to come over to Australia anywhere for $100K (I'm assuming dollars not pounds in which case I'm wrong), let alone move to one of the most expensive cities on the planet. I've known young singles have a nice life on $100K in Sydney - but for a family it is far too low.....

 

How ridiculous can you get ?

 

How about googling average household income in Sydney and see what you find.

Nowhere in Australia would have an average $200K income for a household.

 

The average would be well below $100K.

 

Really a silly post like that is not helpful when few who live there get that income.

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Hi Stan, thanks for asking this question. I can answer that as it was on my mind last year. I went out last year to research a move to Sydney. I have family there that said it would be feasible to move with a family of 4 to the suburbs. 100k would be ideal any lower and times would be hard. If you have a PR visa then you can qualify for some support from the state with school uniform, energy costs.

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

A quick question: do you think it is possible for a family of 5 (couple: man working, mum at home with 3 kids - 8, 4 and 1) to live decently in Sydney with the income of circa 100k per year? I recently received a job offer and would appreciate your thoughts. We are not used to eating out or clubbing very often, so expenses such as these would not really be an issue. My own research shows that I would be taking home about 5,300$ home every month, of which around 3,000$ would have to be spent on accomodation (living in a 3-4 bedroom house in a suburb). Please share some insights with me about all this. The job itself would be great, but would we survive on this kind of wage? What kind of social welfare payments for the kids could we count on? Thanks very much for your comments.

 

Stan

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I reckon one of the biggest cost factors to consider is set up costs. Unless you are getting a generous relocation package, it really does take more upfront costs than you think... all the bits and pieces add up really quickly - from general household things (stuff you just have in the cupboard at home) to bits for the kids. So when you look at the wage you are taking home, that will get seriously quickly eaten in the first 2-3 months. I would say you need to budget in a wedge for set up costs alone - aside from the standard car, rental, deposit etc etc.

 

For example, the first few food shops you do will not just be what you usually buy week to week, but you'll be adding in things like the whole range of cleaning products, washing powders/liquids, condiments, soaps/shampoos, they all add up if you have to get them all at once, especially when you add a standard food shop on top.

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How ridiculous can you get ?

 

How about googling average household income in Sydney and see what you find.

Nowhere in Australia would have an average $200K income for a household.

 

The average would be well below $100K.

 

Really a silly post like that is not helpful when few who live there get that income.

 

 

Not ridiculous at all - My opinion only - read the post again. Just because an opinion differs from yours does not make it silly!

just based on my experience only of talking to people who live there, who are on way above average income and hardly living it large. They also live a long way from the city. Sydney is expensive and it's not fair to suggest otherwise, although of course people can cut their cloth and do have to. Average income is a pretty pointless statistic anyway - The figures the OP quote don't leave a lot of slack. You have to be sensibly prepared when moving to another country. You can't live on fresh air and sunshine...

 

As a guide, my hubby earns $90K, family of 3 we live in Brisbane it is a squeeze when I'm not working. No holidays etc... Sydney is way more expensive than Brisbane. That's a fact. not an opinion.

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Thanks Tickled Pink, you are right about the first months, hence the plan would be that I come first on my own for a few months, save some money, organize accommodation etc., and then the family joins. The question, however, is will it be possible to live after the whole initial settling down for this kind of money in Sydney. When I'm looking at the various forms of support (energy supplement - $2.80 per week, or Single Income Family Supplement $300 per year), it looks like a joke, really, so the salary would have to cover everything. The question is will it cover it? Also, is it true that most houses for rent are unfurnished and that tenants have to buy everything themselves (beds, kitchen appliances, etc.?)

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I'd also vote for $100k being low.

 

As said upthread, set up costs are huge. I have no doubt that families can and do live on less, but they are already established in a routine. Any kind of change is expensive.

 

Also, the people who are living as a family on a single wage at average wage level (and I think most people have either no family or dual incomes) will not be living very well. The OP talks about having $2k a month left over for living expenses after paying rent. That is less than $400 a week. I reckon you'd struggle to feed a family of five on less than $200 a week (and that would be tight), leaving $200 a week for household bills, healthcare, clothing, telephony, transport insurance, schoolbooks, kids' activities, fun.

 

Just as a guide, we have to spend $600 a year for our primary schooler to get school supplies each year - the older one at secondary school has $1000 a year in books/equipment plus he needs a computer. Major appliances seem to last 3-5 years and need replacing. That means, say, one a year at $1000. We pay $100 a month for internet and telephone line rental; we have utility (water, gas and electricity) bills of at least $400 a month - I suspect much more.

 

I would not consider relocation to Sydney as a family on that money, and the thought of migrating with an expectation that you'd need welfare payments to get by would scare me senseless.

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How ridiculous can you get ?

 

How about googling average household income in Sydney and see what you find.

Nowhere in Australia would have an average $200K income for a household.

 

The average would be well below $100K.

 

Really a silly post like that is not helpful when few who live there get that income.

 

My income is about $2,500 per month, with no rent or mortgage to pay, and I know I need to put aside $1,100 a month to cover all my bills for utilities, insurance, medical, dentists, car, etc. I do struggle on that remaining $1,400 per month, BUT I do overspend going out most nights. I reckon I would need about $50,000 to maintain my current lifestyle.

 

Maybe, If I was renting a room here in Surry Hills, say $300 per week, what, another $700 a week to live comfortably?

 

According to the Macquarie Uni website, you should allow between $18,000 and $21,000 for living expenses in Sydney.

 

Your cost of living and studying in Australia will depend on the lifestyle you choose to lead. The categories below will help you get an idea of how much you will spend. Generally, you should allow between AU$18,500 and AU$21,000 per year for your living expenses.

 

https://www.mq.edu.au/study/international/why_choose_macquarie/studying_in_sydney_australia/cost_of_living/

 

And around the same figure from UNSW - this is for single students of course.

 

http://www.international.unsw.edu.au/living-sydney/cost-living/

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My income is about $2,500 per month, with no rent or mortgage to pay, and I know I need to put aside $1,100 a month to cover all my bills for utilities, insurance, medical, dentists, car, etc. I do struggle on that remaining $1,400 per month, BUT I do overspend going out most nights.

That's helpful. In broad terms, then, you are struggling yourself on more than the OP would be allowing for a family of five. I'd say that should tell the OP all he needs to know.

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That's helpful. In broad terms, then, you are struggling yourself on more than the OP would be allowing for a family of five. I'd say that should tell the OP all he needs to know.

I am far from frugal though. My bar and restaurant 'Clipp' account for last night in the Strawberry Hills hotel, was $70, then there is coffee at least twice a day in cafes, sometimes lunch too, and multiply that by 7, and you and everybody else except me can see a problem.

 

I imagine most families, and many singles, would not be aping my lifestyle and budget. Twenty years ago, I went out two, maybe three nights a week.

 

Why am I following this present lifestyle? Because I can. Because I'm prepared to dip into my savings to pay off my Visa. Because the FX rate for GBP is favourable. Because I can't stand staying in on my own.

 

I doubt my brother and his wife ever topped 100K, raising their kids, paying their mortgage. We can all make economies.

 

I know it is harder, much harder for anyone with a family to uproot themselves and travel 10 000 miles, but when it's so hard to get a visa and you have a job in demand, I hate the thought of someone who says,

 

"We had the chance to go to Sydney but people who hated it there put us off with their horror stories. "

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We are a family of 5 in Sydney and I will say that we would find it very difficult living on that wage. Our bills (car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, gas, electricity, broadband, telephone, mobiles etc) EXCLUDING food and incidentals, school uniforms etc total at least $1500 a month. What kind of visa will you be on? If on a 457 -Assuming your eldest will be at school, that will be at least $4,500 for the year - once the second is at school, that will be another $4,500. I believe that there is a waiver for this fee if you are a low income earner, but $100k would not qualify for this. Uniforms are not cheap and a decent pair of schools - Clarks can set you back over $100. Assuming you pay rent of $700 (depending on where you live) a week, that would be $3041 a month + plus the bills of $1500 (maybe more, maybe less) = $4550 which leaves you with about $800 a month for food, nappies etc. We spend at least $300 a week for the five of us - I cook all our meals from scratch and that includes all snacks and lunches for school - they eat 3 times a day - crunch and sip at 10, morning tea at 11.15 and lunch at about 1pm.

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How ridiculous can you get ?

 

How about googling average household income in Sydney and see what you find.

Nowhere in Australia would have an average $200K income for a household.

 

The average would be well below $100K.

 

Really a silly post like that is not helpful when few who live there get that income.

 

That is why I avoid these threads, other than to encourage OP to compare to their current income and lifestyle. Chortlepuss said that she would not consider anything less than $200k as being comfortable, not that it was average.

 

Actually, I doubt that the average family has an income less than $100k. Average earnings is about $70k, which is dragged down by school leavers and other very low income groups and then many families have dual incomes, so there is $140k, on average, for a start.

 

OP has calculated to have about $500 per week left after rent, if they are used to living off say £200 a week in the UK, then they might make it work. Doesn't sound like much fun to me though.

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I am frugal in other areas of my life. The jacket, $10, jeans (Billabong) $8, and shirt (Country Road) $5, all came from charity shops, and I bought my shoes with the proceeds from market research surveys. My car is 22 years old, with 330 000 km on the clock. I bought it for $1,800 from my niece six years ago. I would recommend anybody to shop at charity shops, and some of their clothing is actually new, just donated by companies. If I had bought my outfit new, well, how much are Country Road shirts?

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Guest The Pom Queen

Personally in Sydney I think you will struggle, yes it may be doable but unless you live way out from the CBD it's going to be hard managing on $500 per week, you will have school costs, food, electric, gas, house insurance, car insurance etc. If there were just three of you I'd probably say risk it. We were a family of 4 when we first came out to Melbourne and survived on $50,000 no problem but these days I don't think it would be possible. For a start up here in FNQ our house insurance and medical insurance is $200 a week.

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Thank you all for your helpful input. Looks like most people would recommend us not to bother. However, since some of you think it is possible and doable, there's also this scary part: :)

 

, I hate the thought of someone who says,

 

"We had the chance to go to Sydney but people who hated it there put us off with their horror stories. "

 

Yes, the job is waiting for me, it has actually found me (I never really considered living in Australia) and it seems like a huge step in my career, but when you have a family, personal ambition sometimes needs to yeild to higher purposes and one needs to think pragmatically...

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