BaggieBoy72 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I work for an international company and 2 jobs have come up in Sydney, IT Managers role and Training managers role. Funnily enough they are the exact roles that myself and wife are doing now in the UK. Perfect! Perhaps, my wife does not want to work if we go down under, she wants to look after the kids and ensure they are happy because of childcare and other stuff associated with not having any support over there. So I am now concerned that living on one wage would be possible in Sydney. I have managed to get hold of the incumbents salary, $105k+$20k car allowance. I hear stories of the high cost of living in and Around Sydney so I'm prepared to travel into the CBD which is where I would work, but where is good for a young family, good schools (ages 7 and 8) that I could commute from. Probably would need a local centre for the wife to be able to work to the shops etc OR a stones throw from the station and I'd even catch the train let her have the car??? My other fear is that her not being at work will isolate her hence I want her as happy as poss, whatever it takes All of our migration costs and medicare are paid for and judging by your forums it's best to rent initially but will have something inthe region of £70k capital when/ if we eventually sell the house My boss has said he would support me, but he is shocked and saddened by the sudden events, to the point that he has also tried to persuade my wife who now has second thoughts :-( it's the problem with us both working at the same place I suppose! He sees it as a backward step for me career wise but im looking at it from a different angle, a chance to slow down a bit and not run at the same pace that I have been for the last 10 years. I'm after any advice and also any reassurance that I'm doing the right thing Thanks John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I am going to be brave today and comment on salary; I think if you were on that salary in Sydney on a 457 visa (meaning you would pay school fees, unless emplyer going to pay them?) then it would be manageable but you wouldn't be well off and I am not sure I would even go so far as to say comfortable. Do you know what visa you would be on? If temporary one then please bear in mind that it will not automatically enable you to obtain permanent residency after a certain length of time, it doesn't, but people often think it does. Is the job significantly more junior that you are used to? I am trying to understand why you think moving to Australia would enable you to slow down. I work in Sydney and it is a very hard working city, people get to work early and leave late. I have never worked as hard in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I agree wth Pumpkin, when she says that life isn't slower paced here. I don't work, but oh works extremely hard, far harder than he did in the UK. The salary is okay (we manage on far less), however we had significantly more than 70kGBP (sorry don't know how to do a pound sign on this Aussie computer) to bring with us, and at the time the exchange rate was far more favourable. I am not trying to be negative, we are very happy that we came to live here, but I think you have to be 100% sure that both of you are on board. I was totally supportive of my husbands new job and our move, but being out here with two small children, no family and no friends is incredibly hard if you are a stay at home parent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Hmmm, that old chestnut of the slower pace of life and all that. Not in Sydney mate, not in a million years. It's a dog eat dog world out there and long working hours in a competitive environment are not all they are cracked up to be. Only 4 weeks leave as well. Sure the salary looks good on paper and many are living on lots less but just the one salary of $105k with (as the others have said) school fees if you are on a temp visa eating into that, you wont be living the high life, quite honestly. Your £70k will be a good start but at the current exchange rate and purchasing a nice house in Sydney it isnt going to go far. Also dont discount the isolation for a home mum - especially one who has been used to being a career girl. I dont know if it is my imagination but the days of the home maker and single income family are fast disappearing. I know Canberra isnt Sydney but my d-i-l is having great trouble finding a stay at home mum group here, almost all the mums she comes across are part time at least. Also, from experience, nothing worse than being isolated and unstimulated. BTW I just discovered alt0163(on the number pad!) and will now be writing ££ with gay abandon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janine the party queen Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Life is definitely not slower in Sydney. I left for work at 05.30 to catch the 05.45 train 5 mornings a week and caught the 9pm train home at night !!!!!! Hubby left at 06.00 and got home at 6pm.We had a combined wage of a bit more than you quoted.While we were comfortable we were not well off.People thought nothing of putting in a 60/70 hour week. We have since moved to Darwin where the pace of life is supposed to be slower !!!!! I now work 75 hours a fortnight ( thats part-time !!!).While our commute is a lot less we are still putting in the hours.We are both earning quite a bit more money but still not seeing this fabulous life-style every-one goes on about.While I love living here in Oz the cost of living is rising at an alarming rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 BTW I just discovered alt0163(on the number pad!) and will now be writing ££ with gay abandon Excellent! Thank you for that, I knew there must be a way ££££! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Life is definitely not slower in Sydney.I left for work at 05.30 to catch the 05.45 train 5 mornings a week and caught the 9pm train home at night !!!!!! Hubby left at 06.00 and got home at 6pm.We had a combined wage of a bit more than you quoted.While we were comfortable we were not well off.People thought nothing of putting in a 60/70 hour week. We have since moved to Darwin where the pace of life is supposed to be slower !!!!! I now work 75 hours a fortnight ( thats part-time !!!).While our commute is a lot less we are still putting in the hours.We are both earning quite a bit more money but still not seeing this fabulous life-style every-one goes on about.While I love living here in Oz the cost of living is rising at an alarming rate. Totally agree about the cost of living. It has gone up hugely since we arrived two years ago. I am very glad that we came, and I am sure that we will stay, at least for the time being, but I think I would have had second thoughts had I been planning to make the move now, simply because of the cost of living and exchange rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GT05 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Hi everyone, Please excuse me as I am very new to this so just learning the ropes ;0). My husband and I are looking into what would be involved if we were to make the move to Oz and I notice from some of the posts some people have mentioned private school fees eating into income etc......if you are working on the 457 visa is your only choice private or can you enrol in the state schools? Thanks again for all the posts, really helpful to our family, hope all goes well for BaggyBoy72 and your family :0). Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal2 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I'm totally confused about the cost of living around Sydney, I believe OH will be on 100K plus superan I think, and was told that it was do-able on a 457, is there somewhere to work out expenses and just see, we have 2 children 8 and 5 (and they will let us have LAFHA), and how do you work that out anyway thanks Cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Hi everyone, Please excuse me as I am very new to this so just learning the ropes ;0). My husband and I are looking into what would be involved if we were to make the move to Oz and I notice from some of the posts some people have mentioned private school fees eating into income etc......if you are working on the 457 visa is your only choice private or can you enrol in the state schools? Thanks again for all the posts, really helpful to our family, hope all goes well for BaggyBoy72 and your family :0). Cheers You can certainly enrol in state schools on a temporary visa but it will cost you $4.5k per child up front in NSW (the other states dont charge except ACT which charges double that). The reason people mention private schools in this context is that the Catholic system only charges 457 visa holders the bog standard domestic fee which is usually around the $3k pa mark, so cheaper than the gov schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I'm totally confused about the cost of living around Sydney, I believe OH will be on 100K plus superan I think, and was told that it was do-able on a 457, is there somewhere to work out expenses and just see, we have 2 children 8 and 5 (and they will let us have LAFHA), and how do you work that out anywaythanks Cal We manage (family of four) on $69k plus super with no LAFHA, but it can be tight at times. Hubby is on a fixed salary for five years, but is starting to get some pretty nice bonuses, which help. I don't work, though I am in the process of starting up a new business which I am hoping will help. We knew it would be like this to start with and planned accordingly. We brought over a large amount in savings/equity from our house/money from selling oh's business, and probably would have struggled more without that. We always planned to have to dip in to savings for school fees, to buy cars, deposit on house etc. I would say that $100k is do-able, but you would be more comfortable with some savings etc behind you if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucylou1 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 BTW I just discovered alt0163(on the number pad!) and will now be writing ££ with gay abandon woooottt....Yahoo thanks for the £ alt0163!!!!! Cheers :jiggy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GT05 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Hi Thanks so much for your post, very helpful....will look further into this :0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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