over 45 visa chances?

[FirstWorldProblems]

1 hour ago, Cheery Thistle said:

I am not overly precious about brands and realise that buying European is probably not sensible or realistic. I think a Miele dishwasher would set you back about £1-1.5k at current UK prices - I looked when I fitted our kitchen. 

Ahh you are right. The model we paid £999 for in mid 2022 is now near £1,229.  Exact same model.  

Edited August 7, 2023 by FirstWorldProblems

[Cheery Thistle]

11 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Ahh you are right. The model we paid £999 for in mid 2022 is now near £1,229.  Exact same model.  

Honestly, everything has gone up by 30% here - when they say inflation is at under 10% we are all like ‘where’? I think the combination of the wage stagnation and the massive increase in prices is making us all feel so much worse off. When we did our renovation, it cost us a third more than we had expected (we have done 5 major renovations over the past 10 years so know how much things cost). Both materials and labour now much more expensive. 

[Toots]

1 hour ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Honestly, everything has gone up by 30% here - when they say inflation is at under 10% we are all like ‘where’? I think the combination of the wage stagnation and the massive increase in prices is making us all feel so much worse off. When we did our renovation, it cost us a third more than we had expected (we have done 5 major renovations over the past 10 years so know how much things cost). Both materials and labour now much more expensive. 

The Australian inflation rate is 6% or 7% depending on various info but I can tell you that stuff in the shops has risen a LOT more than that.  Building a house and renovations also much more expensive than pre Covid. 

[Cheery Thistle]

47 minutes ago, Toots said:

The Australian inflation rate is 6% or 7% depending on various info but I can tell you that stuff in the shops has risen a LOT more than that.  Building a house and renovations also much more expensive than pre Covid. 

I know.  I keep an eye on Aussie news and current affairs, it’s the least I can do if we are moving there. It’s the same everywhere. Well, kind of. I wouldn’t be making such a big move without doing at least a bit of research into cost of living, economy, salaries and jobs.
 

As you might be able to tell from my other posts, I’m not interested in ‘cheap’ I’m interested in ‘good’. The 2 rarely go hand in hand! It’s practically impossible to ‘build a house’ in the UK now. You can’t get a plot, there’s basically no land.  It’s not something I particularly want to do at my stage anyway but I wouldn’t necessarily rule out another renovation project. Sounds like it’s just as well based on what others are saying about houses! 
 

 At the moment we feel a bit like we are paying through the nose for everything but things keep getting worse and worse. 3 of our local pools close this month, meaning my town of circa 70k people will have no public leisure pool. The government seems no longer able or willing to subsidise leisure or health facilities for the population, despite rising taxes. I mean I could go on and on and on but the whole place has the air of a rapidly sinking ship. there are increasing numbers of people just not working or contributing at all - but with the living wage set at £11 an hour I can’t really blame them. 
 

Interestingly our cost of living seems to be catching up with Aus in a lot of areas - we just don’t have the standard of living to match. 

[Toots]

27 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

I know.  I keep an eye on Aussie news and current affairs, it’s the least I can do if we are moving there. It’s the same everywhere. Well, kind of. I wouldn’t be making such a big move without doing at least a bit of research into cost of living, economy, salaries and jobs.
 

As you might be able to tell from my other posts, I’m not interested in ‘cheap’ I’m interested in ‘good’. The 2 rarely go hand in hand! It’s practically impossible to ‘build a house’ in the UK now. You can’t get a plot, there’s basically no land.  It’s not something I particularly want to do at my stage anyway but I wouldn’t necessarily rule out another renovation project. Sounds like it’s just as well based on what others are saying about houses! 
 

 At the moment we feel a bit like we are paying through the nose for everything but things keep getting worse and worse. 3 of our local pools close this month, meaning my town of circa 70k people will have no public leisure pool. The government seems no longer able or willing to subsidise leisure or health facilities for the population, despite rising taxes. I mean I could go on and on and on but the whole place has the air of a rapidly sinking ship. there are increasing numbers of people just not working or contributing at all - but with the living wage set at £11 an hour I can’t really blame them. 
 

Interestingly our cost of living seems to be catching up with Aus in a lot of areas - we just don’t have the standard of living to match. 

I live in a largish town of 27 thousand people and even though the cost of living is hitting everyone, our town does have some really good facilities.  There is a very good indoor and outdoor swimming center plus we are very close to beaches.  There are 9 sporting fields which are used for a variety of sports throughout the year and all are well run by the council.  I think we are very lucky in that way.

 

[Cheery Thistle]

Looks good. Honestly, leisure health and wellness, community services have been run into the ground here. 

[FirstWorldProblems]

1 hour ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Looks good. Honestly, leisure health and wellness, community services have been run into the ground here. 

A false economy too.  80%-85% (studies vary) of a persons health status is nothing to do with the quality of healthcare they receive but rather it’s socio-economic, lifestyle and genetic.  Make it harder for people to participate in exercise and you just shift the burden to the healthcare (and mental health) system. 

[Cheery Thistle]

1 hour ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

A false economy too.  80%-85% (studies vary) of a persons health status is nothing to do with the quality of healthcare they receive but rather it’s socio-economic, lifestyle and genetic.  Make it harder for people to participate in exercise and you just shift the burden to the healthcare (and mental health) system. 

Exactly and that’s already at absolute breaking point too! To be honest the cost of a swim was getting beyond affordable for a lot of people anyway. The issue is, with weather being as it is here we can’t really access the outdoors year-round for free either. It’s such a shame really, I feel facilities are worse now than when I was growing up. 

[InnerVoice]

10 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Honestly, everything has gone up by 30% here - when they say inflation is at under 10% we are all like ‘where’? I think the combination of the wage stagnation and the massive increase in prices is making us all feel so much worse off. When we did our renovation, it cost us a third more than we had expected (we have done 5 major renovations over the past 10 years so know how much things cost). Both materials and labour now much more expensive. 

 

7 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

there are increasing numbers of people just not working or contributing at all - but with the living wage set at £11 an hour I can’t really blame them. 

Interestingly our cost of living seems to be catching up with Aus in a lot of areas - we just don’t have the standard of living to match. 

I'm not in a position to comment on UK prices over and above looking at what things cost online in Tesco etc, but I can see that even with higher inflation UK prices for groceries etc are still much lower than they are here in Australia. One thing that has changed significantly is the minimum wage in the UK which was less than £8/hour when I was there five years ago. My friend's wife is a carer and that's what she was getting for a 12-hour shift. No bonus for working a night shift - absolutely disgusting. Whilst £11/hour still seems paltry it's almost a 40% increase, so relatively speaking low income earners in the UK are actually better off than they were pre-covid. By comparison the minimum wage over here hasn't gone up by that much. Our tax-free allowance is also much lower (c.£9,400 compared with £12,570) and hasn't increased for a decade, so those on the minimum wage over here are effectively worse off.

I'm not disagreeing that everything has got more expensive for just about everyone, but one needs to get it into perspective. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, even if teh sun shines more.

[Cheery Thistle]

Well overall apparently there’s not much in it. Uk taxpayers pay higher NI (for health and welfare state) than the Aussie Medicare levy which balances it out. I’m interested to know what those not working in Aus receive. In UK you can be under 25 and receive £1400 per month in benefits. Not to mention free accommodation and paid council tax. How many of us need to work and pay tax to subsidise that??
This is quite good https://www.uktaxcalculators.co.uk/world/tax/compare/united-kingdom/against/australia/

also this https://odinland.vn/australia-vs-united-kingdom-cost-of-living-who-has-it-better/?lang=en

I mean there are lies, damned lies and statistics but we can’t deny that average salaries are higher in Aus, as is GDP. Unskilled work is better paid for sure and the margins are narrowing between the costs of living. I’m happy to post our monthly outgoings if you are? For comparison sake! 

[Cheery Thistle]

Just did some maths and £11 an hour for 35 hours a week is £20,000 a year. 2 adults on £20,000 a year is £40,000 for a household not even $80,000 pre-tax. Seriously. 

[BendigoBoy]

2 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

I mean there are lies, damned lies and statistics but we can’t deny that average salaries are higher in Aus, as is GDP. Unskilled work is better paid for sure and the margins are narrowing between the costs of living. I’m happy to post our monthly outgoings if you are? For comparison sake! 

So in terms of cost of living, we're in a peculiar situation, as ours has actually gone down quite dramatically over the last couple of years.  

We moved out from Melbourne between the final two lockdowns.  As much as it was for a bit of garden space, it was also to just be within a ten to fifteen minute drive of pretty much anything we would need access to.  Rather than having to drive to work each day from the suburbs, working from home is a major saving as well.  So dropping rent/mortgage and commuting costs, this is where our outgoings really started to come down.  Plus, it's pretty damned near impossible to go and put solar on an apartment...

We grow about 80% of our fruit in the garden, and about 40% of our veg, but we opted to grow mainly the royalty stuff with big ticket prices in the stores: sugar snap peas, parsnips (yes, parsnips), capsicum for the warmer months when the price is up (absolute blessing in winter when it's down to $4 a kilo, mind you).  And we can do a fair bit of trade with friends and neighbours for produce that we don't / can't grow ourselves.  The solar takes care of all of our heating and power requirements.

So, on a monthly basis, breaking it all down over the year:

Council rates: $150
Insurance (inc health insurance): $550
Internet & Phone: $125
Streaming subscriptions: $40
Supermarket: $400
Car Rego & Fuel: $100
Gas: $60
Water: $100
Bunnings Supplies for the garden: $200

Round it up to the next hundred and you're looking at around $1800 a month for the two of us.  I pay the bills out of my salary, leaving the wife free and clear to indulge her sewing hobby with hers.  Even after the bills, and having cut back massively on my hours, it's still leaving a comfortable amount over $6000 a month post-tax in my deposit account.

And that's where it's a tale of two countries.  With house prices still pushing up, rents going insane, loads of folks being unable to access solar either through apartment living or being in a rental without it, there's a hell of a lot of hardship presently, and I dare say a hell of a lot more to come in the coming years.


 

[Blue Flu]

3 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Just did some maths and £11 an hour for 35 hours a week is £20,000 a year. 2 adults on £20,000 a year is £40,000 for a household not even $80,000 pre-tax. Seriously. 

There is little doubt that Australia can indeed be more rewarding . A lot gets down to if principled or not. There is a whole 'underground culture' going on subsidisng the mainstream economy. I don't recall which state strikes your interest , but will confine myself to commenting on my own. 

Hence we have a very fake economy . Some doing very well with cash in hand' endeavors', while others are victims of it or indeed attempting to deal with hugely increased rents and a housing shortage, pretty much across the nation. We increasingly are experiencing very similar issues to The UK. High prices and increases in everything. Eggs for example will rise by 300% over the medium term. Insurance premiums recently had a hefty rise . Anything related to a trade usually very expensive. I really don't see a lot of difference. Crime is bad and increasingly in many locations. Drugs are out of control and will get far worse, due to our geographic location and ease. There is the same disharmony with wages among nurses, our hospitals are struggling, with the turbo population increase due to immigration. UK has a more complaining culture and a media that exposes far more than here in Australia. Here so much is swept under the carpet and too many fail to note what is going on, either by intent or apathy. Probably not exactly the most switched on off people. But I've said a lot of this before to you. In the end you will believe . Just don't be hood winked into believing this country is something more than it is. My view is great problems ahead and would rate UK better over the longer term. 

 

 

 

 

, 

[FirstWorldProblems]

14 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Exactly and that’s already at absolute breaking point too! To be honest the cost of a swim was getting beyond affordable for a lot of people anyway. The issue is, with weather being as it is here we can’t really access the outdoors year-round for free either. It’s such a shame really, I feel facilities are worse now than when I was growing up. 

Interestingly the lake I swim at just posted on their Facebook page that attendance is way way down on last year and asked people for honest feedback about why, so they can take action.   There’s a few comments about the weeds, a few about triathletes whizzing around and asking for a lane for people wanting to “bimble along” but the most frequent comment is cost.  The price hasn’t gone up. People are feeling the pinch.  
 

Such a shame as it’s a wonderful thing to do. Good exercise, peaceful and tranquil and a very friendly vibe.   Hot chocolate and cake too. 
 

 

[InnerVoice]

16 hours ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

A false economy too.  80%-85% (studies vary) of a persons health status is nothing to do with the quality of healthcare they receive but rather it’s socio-economic, lifestyle and genetic.  Make it harder for people to participate in exercise and you just shift the burden to the healthcare (and mental health) system. 

And our upbringing. Our parents have such a huge impact on our lifestyle habits. My father was a heavy smoker and mother smoked socially too, but from the age of five my dad said "if I ever catch a you with a cigarette in your mouth I'll give you a damn good hiding". Fortunately I never tried smoking at the age when most kids get hooked, but it was more because I didn't want to disappoint my dad rather than him being an authoritarian figure I was afraid of.

[InnerVoice]

30 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Interestingly the lake I swim at just posted on their Facebook page that attendance is way way down on last year and asked people for honest feedback about why, so they can take action.   There’s a few comments about the weeds, a few about triathletes whizzing around and asking for a lane for people wanting to “bimble along” but the most frequent comment is cost.  The price hasn’t gone up. People are feeling the pinch.  

Such a shame as it’s a wonderful thing to do. Good exercise, peaceful and tranquil and a very friendly vibe.   Hot chocolate and cake too. 

Looks wonderful. I'm struggling to understand the concept of a lane though - it looks like there's plenty of space for everyone!

[calNgary]

On 07/08/2023 at 18:27, Cheery Thistle said:

I am not overly precious about brands and realise that buying European is probably not sensible or realistic. I think a Miele dishwasher would set you back about £1-1.5k at current UK prices - I looked when I fitted our kitchen. 

Facebook Marketplace is great for second hand items and that covers just about any area.

JB Hi Fi sell white goods pretty cheap as do the Good Guys, if you are buying a few things you can always haggle the price down alittle too or ask for something else to be included (kettle, or iron etc).The shops also always seem to have a sale of some type too so worthn looking out for those.

We brought no furniture or white goods over with us, we bought what we needed when we needed it and to fit the house. (bigger than norm Fridge Freezer , corner lounge rather than a 3 piece suite etc). 

   Cal x

[InnerVoice]

 

10 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Just did some maths and £11 an hour for 35 hours a week is £20,000 a year. 2 adults on £20,000 a year is £40,000 for a household not even $80,000 pre-tax. Seriously. 

Wages here are higher but then so are outgoings, especially for accommodation - whether you rent or buy. If you're used to a generous lifestyle, which is more affordable in the UK, then that will be hard to maintain here on a similar income.

£20,000/year income will attract roughly the say amount of tax in Australia as in the UK, but you'll be worse off due to the higher cost of living. $80,000 is below the annual household income - but seriously, there are millions of Australians living off much less than that.

[ramot]

1 hour ago, InnerVoice said:

 

Wages here are higher but then so are outgoings, especially for accommodation - whether you rent or buy. If you're used to a generous lifestyle, which is more affordable in the UK, then that will be hard to maintain here on a similar income.

£20,000/year income will attract roughly the say amount of tax in Australia as in the UK, but you'll be worse off due to the higher cost of living. $80,000 is below the annual household income - but seriously, there are millions of Australians living off much less than that.

It all depends where you live.

i have 2 sons, both with masters degrees, both in good well paid jobs, and living in good areas.

One son lives in Bristol, commutes to London office either 2/3 days a week, or  2 /3 days in Bristol office,  he earns less  than my son who lives and works in Brisbane.

Bristol house, a standard 3 bedroom 1930’s semi,  small lounge, extended dining room and kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 4th bedroom is a  loft extension, single garage too small for modern car, fairly small garden, worth 750,000 Uk pds.

Brisbane house worth 461,000 Uk pounds, at present exchange rate, large block, 4 bedrooms, open plan large kitchen, lounge and dining area, large extra living room, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, plus large covered outdoor area.

Both equally happy where they live,  on balance Brisbane son has a better lifestyle balance than Bristol son, 

Bristol son doesn’t have to pay for his commute to London.

Edited August 8, 2023 by ramot

[Cheery Thistle]

On 08/08/2023 at 10:08, InnerVoice said:

Looks wonderful. I'm struggling to understand the concept of a lane though - it looks like there's plenty of space for everyone!

Do you have to pay to swim in the lake? In Scotland our lochs are free! 

[BendigoBoy]

24 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Do you have to pay to swim in the lake? In Scotland our lochs are free! 

Yeah, but the wetsuits to stop hypothermia kicking in don't come cheap...

[Cheery Thistle]

22 hours ago, ramot said:

It all depends where you live.

i have 2 sons, both with masters degrees, both in good well paid jobs, and living in good areas.

One son lives in Bristol, commutes to London office either 2/3 days a week, or  2 /3 days in Bristol office,  he earns less  than my son who lives and works in Brisbane.

Bristol house, a standard 3 bedroom 1930’s semi,  small lounge, extended dining room and kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 4th bedroom is a  loft extension, single garage too small for modern car, fairly small garden, worth 750,000 Uk pds.

Brisbane house worth 461,000 Uk pounds, at present exchange rate, large block, 4 bedrooms, open plan large kitchen, lounge and dining area, large extra living room, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, plus large covered outdoor area.

Both equally happy where they live,  on balance Brisbane son has a better lifestyle balance than Bristol son, 

Bristol son doesn’t have to pay for his commute to London.

 

On 08/08/2023 at 02:10, BendigoBoy said:

So in terms of cost of living, we're in a peculiar situation, as ours has actually gone down quite dramatically over the last couple of years.  

We moved out from Melbourne between the final two lockdowns.  As much as it was for a bit of garden space, it was also to just be within a ten to fifteen minute drive of pretty much anything we would need access to.  Rather than having to drive to work each day from the suburbs, working from home is a major saving as well.  So dropping rent/mortgage and commuting costs, this is where our outgoings really started to come down.  Plus, it's pretty damned near impossible to go and put solar on an apartment...

We grow about 80% of our fruit in the garden, and about 40% of our veg, but we opted to grow mainly the royalty stuff with big ticket prices in the stores: sugar snap peas, parsnips (yes, parsnips), capsicum for the warmer months when the price is up (absolute blessing in winter when it's down to $4 a kilo, mind you).  And we can do a fair bit of trade with friends and neighbours for produce that we don't / can't grow ourselves.  The solar takes care of all of our heating and power requirements.

So, on a monthly basis, breaking it all down over the year:

Council rates: $150
Insurance (inc health insurance): $550
Internet & Phone: $125
Streaming subscriptions: $40
Supermarket: $400
Car Rego & Fuel: $100
Gas: $60
Water: $100
Bunnings Supplies for the garden: $200

Round it up to the next hundred and you're looking at around $1800 a month for the two of us.  I pay the bills out of my salary, leaving the wife free and clear to indulge her sewing hobby with hers.  Even after the bills, and having cut back massively on my hours, it's still leaving a comfortable amount over $6000 a month post-tax in my deposit account.

And that's where it's a tale of two countries.  With house prices still pushing up, rents going insane, loads of folks being unable to access solar either through apartment living or being in a rental without it, there's a hell of a lot of hardship presently, and I dare say a hell of a lot more to come in the coming years.


 

Ours are roughly as follows, monthly: 

Mortgage (4 bed 2 bath big garden in central Scotland in between Edinburgh and Glasgow) - £750 will be paid off in 10 years I will be 53. 

Council Tax - £200

Food , dog food, house supplies - £600 

Gas and Electricity - £340 

Broadband - £40

Mobile Phones £100 (paid through business) 

Car - paid off but loan would be £300 a month if I had one 

Fuel, Insurance for Car, road tax - £300 at least maybe more. I work from home and don’t do many miles. 

kids activities - £200ish 

Streaming Services £30 

House Insurance - £60

Family gym/swim membership - £60 (this is very cheap) 

Death and Critical Illness cover - £110 

Bupa - £95 

Fortnightly cleaner (hey, I work full time and help run 2 small businesses lol) £ 80 

We also have a small van which is insured etc paid for via business. 
I earn £40k working for Uk govt, hubby earns similar through business but it varies throughout the year. We have a small rental portfolio that generates about £2k per month. 

In Aus jobs equivalent to mine seem to be around $120-130k. Really not sure what hubby will do but he’s aiming for about $70-80k. We reckon the biggest jump in our expenses will be rent or an Aussie mortgage. Fortunately we do have a fair chunk of equity to put down - so much will depend on interest rates, property values and exchange rates. 

The above is really just the necessities. Doesn’t include leisure or travel. We have had to cut back a lot on leisure, we hardly eat out at all any more. Our one splurge is travel as I can’t cope with the great greyness here and need to escape it as often as I can! 
 

Back from Lanzarote late last night and heating is on - 8 degrees this morning!! 

 

 

[Cheery Thistle]

5 minutes ago, BendigoBoy said:

Yeah, but the wetsuits to stop hypothermia kicking in don't come cheap...

I got one for £40 but honestly it’s such a faff getting changed lakeside afterwards. And I think the suit makes me too buoyant, giving me hardly any purchase in the water, so I feel like I’m giving it laldy but literally just treading water hahaha! 

[ramot]

1 hour ago, Cheery Thistle said:

 

Ours are roughly as follows, monthly: 

Mortgage (4 bed 2 bath big garden in central Scotland in between Edinburgh and Glasgow) - £750 will be paid off in 10 years I will be 53. 

Council Tax - £200

Food , dog food, house supplies - £600 

Gas and Electricity - £340 

Broadband - £40

Mobile Phones £100 (paid through business) 

Car - paid off but loan would be £300 a month if I had one 

Fuel, Insurance for Car, road tax - £300 at least maybe more. I work from home and don’t do many miles. 

kids activities - £200ish 

Streaming Services £30 

House Insurance - £60

Family gym/swim membership - £60 (this is very cheap) 

Death and Critical Illness cover - £110 

Bupa - £95 

Fortnightly cleaner (hey, I work full time and help run 2 small businesses lol) £ 80 

We also have a small van which is insured etc paid for via business. 
I earn £40k working for Uk govt, hubby earns similar through business but it varies throughout the year. We have a small rental portfolio that generates about £2k per month. 

In Aus jobs equivalent to mine seem to be around $120-130k. Really not sure what hubby will do but he’s aiming for about $70-80k. We reckon the biggest jump in our expenses will be rent or an Aussie mortgage. Fortunately we do have a fair chunk of equity to put down - so much will depend on interest rates, property values and exchange rates. 

The above is really just the necessities. Doesn’t include leisure or travel. We have had to cut back a lot on leisure, we hardly eat out at all any more. Our one splurge is travel as I can’t cope with the great greyness here and need to escape it as often as I can! 
 

Back from Lanzarote late last night and heating is on - 8 degrees this morning!! 

 

 

I pay the equivalent of 103 pds  for 2 cleaners for 90 minutes fortnightly, 3 bed, study, 2 bathrooms, extra loo,  generous open plan kitchen, dining area, 3 sofas in sitting area, plus lounge and dining room, 2 storey house, Sunshine Coast. 

[Cheery Thistle]

20 minutes ago, ramot said:

I pay the equivalent of 103 pds  for 2 cleaners for 90 minutes fortnightly, 3 bed, study, 2 bathrooms, extra loo,  generous open plan kitchen, dining area, 3 sofas in sitting area, plus lounge and dining room, 2 storey house, Sunshine Coast. 

So is that £103 per fortnight for a fortnightly clean? I have one cleaner and she is £40 for a 2 hour clean but she doesn’t do the whole house - does main living and kitchen downstairs, my 2 bathrooms and hoovers/mops. She has been with me for 15 years and also occasionally pet-sits for me. She is a life saver.