rachall Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Hi All From reading all of the threads I realise that most people have fears over whether their salary will be enough, child care etc..... but I really am starting to wonder if I'm doinfg the right thing. Have a job offer in SW Sydney with a take home salary of $3600 per mth, car with full personal use included. Need a 3+ bed house, good schools. OH will eventually find work after kids are settled but and it's a big BUT are we going to struggle?? The youngest may have to go into before/after school care etc for us both to work, as I will have to work full time as a condition of the visa and OH unlikely to get P/T work in his field, are we going to lose the quality of life we are looking for just to be in Oz. We are quite prepared to work hard initially to make things work but I am wondering if the emotional costs are going to be worth it. Any suggestions, or reassurances would be gratefully received. Rachel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Your DH will have to get a job pretty quick smart. You are likely to find that more than half of that salary is going to go in rent alone. Sure, a car is going to be helpful but it will be a struggle IMHO. Is this a permanent visa by the way? If not, then you are also going to be up for school fees at $4.5k pa per child in a government school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpot Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 In all honesty? I think that's a struggle You're not going to find anywhere you'd want to live in Sydney with 3 beds for less than $2000 a month in rent I don't think. Basic groceries for a family of four, you'll struggle to pay less than $1000 a month. Utilities are going to be another $100-$300 on top of that. Doesn't leave a lot, does it? Clothes, Petrol, stuff going pop, educational expenses (It sounds like a 457 visa, which means the NSW government will stick you for $4500 per child pa for school fees, plus about $500 pa for uniform and other school levy costs). They occasionally let people off this, but don't count on it I'd have to be pretty desperate to get out of the UK to go for that. IF you get let off the school fees, AND have decent prospects to increase your earnings, AND the OH has good prospects of getting work (though this can be tough on a spouse 457 as employers know the residency is dependent on something over which they have no control) then that's more positive You might try a PM to LKC (aho I know moved to Sydney on a limited income) and Melanie Charlton (who I know got let off the school fees) as they're both probably in a better place to advise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve n Mel Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Hi rachall not sure if it's still up and running but have you looked atLAFHA allowance? Also where is your job offer you may need to live west syd to reduce your costs but west isnt a bad place, we've lived all over syd you just have to give things a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi Rachel, As Pintpot said, we are living in Sydney on a limited income. Hubby brings home a little bit under $4000 per month ($3900 or thereabouts), which is fixed for the first five years, although he should start getting some bonuses later this year. I work for myself and look after our children, I just set up a business last year, and until this month haven't been taking any sort of salary. Now I just take enough to cover part of the nursery fees for our youngest daughter. For us it has been okay, but we are in a different situation to most in that we bought a fair amount with us from the house we sold in the UK (no mortgage) and also hubbys business in the UK. That meant that we could afford to put a large deposit down to buy a house (although we still have a small mortgage), we could buy cars outright and we had saved enough to pay school fees and things. We also had some savings left to tide us over if things got tough. It has been hard work at times, but I wouldn't say that we have had to cut back massively, and at the end of the day we have cut our cloth to fit. Had things been much harder, I would have had to go and find a job outside the home, I would have done cleaning or stacking shelves or anything really had I needed to. As it is, I have managed to set up my business on a shoestring and it is now just starting to reward me, just as things are getting harder and the price of things is going up, although as I said Matt should start to see some bonuses and things soon which will help. I would like to say, that had we still been in the UK now, we would have had to think very carefully about coming over. Matt took a huge cut in his salary (50%), but it was a calculated risk based on the future projections of his new business (in a busy part of Sydney as compared to a small rural town in Suffolk), plus we were getting $2.18 to the GBP at the time we came, which wasn't bad. I would certainly recommend making up a spreadsheet and working out best and worst case scenarios, and I would think that it would depend to some extent on what capital you had to bring and whether your husband could get a job here. Best of luck to you, if you would like any more specific info regarding living costs, childcare, cost of groceries etc, give me a shout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest haunted1234 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi rachall not sure if it's still up and running but have you looked atLAFHA allowance? Also where is your job offer you may need to live west syd to reduce your costs but west isnt a bad place, we've lived all over syd you just have to give things a shot. LAFHA is possibly being done away with in July..... my Hubby gets it and we'll be $800 a month worse off if it goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachall Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi All Many thanks for all the replies realistic, supportive and negative. To LKC , I am not deperate as some suggest to leave the UK, however there are personal reason reasons why I wish to do it sooner rather than later, hence the 457 visa. My salary prospects will improve in 2 yrs when my sponsor has recouped their investment in me and I also hope at that point to apply for PR if I can't apply for it sooner (I'm not sure how soon I can apply when I get there), as I'm a nurse my employment opportunities are very good. I am fortunate that like you I will have a substantial pot to take with me, although I do not wish to live on this as it will be the deposit for my permanent home if I suceed in a PR visa. The OH is an Estimator so good job prospects are avaliable however I am concerned that as mentioned earlier he may have trouble in securing work on my temporary visa. We are hoping to relocate to Camden in SW Sydney, a 30 minute commute to my place of work. I have researched housing costs in this area, which I feel are affordable and I am aware of the cost of education, however if you could give me a rough idea on the cost of living, ie food, child care (mainly before/after school clubs) groceries I would be very grateful and it would help put my mind at rest that I am doing the right thing. Thanks again for the reply, it has been vey helpful Rachel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 As a nurse, your employment prospects are good. Our situation was that hubby was offered the same job that he did in the uk, but because he was taking a step back, his salary decreased. His old job was in a small town in Suffolk, part of his salary was in performance/sales related bonuses, so to move from a small town in Suffolk to doing the same thing in a very busy suburb in Sydney was a bit of a no-brainer! Although for the first five years his salary is fixed, he should start to get his bonuses soon, which will be far larger and therefore in the long run we will be in a far better position. We did bring quite a substantial amount with us, and decided from the off to use some of it to pay for things like cars and insurances, so that on a monthly basis we weren't digging into our limited income from salary. I think that you would have to be prepared to do that for things like school fees and so on. With respect to cost of living, on top of rent (which you can check the prices of on http://www.domain.com.au and http://www.realestate.com.au), electricity is about $500per quarter (we have just had solar fitted which should reduce that), but I know others who pay far more, we don't have gas, phone/Internet is about $150 per month, we don't have pay tv. Petrol costs about $100per tank for my car which is a Ford Territory so not a tiny car, car tax (rego) is about $350 from memory and ctp (compulsory) insurance about $450. Comp car insurance was $960, house and contents insurance was $2000, those figures are all per year. Groceries cost me anything between $200 and $400 per week, a bit less now we aren't buying nappies. It is cheaper if I have time to go to the butcher and green grocer etc separately and plan my meals well, and costs a bit more if I don't have time and just use Woolworths. Before and after school care I don't know about because I work for myself so I can be there at school drop off and pick up times, but for nursery I pay $83per day for our youngest daughter. We have two cats, so there are vets bills once a year for jabs etc, and give them fresh roo meat from the pet shop which is cheaper than the tinned stuff from the supermarket. You may have to sort out health insurance. When we came over it wasn't compulsory to have private med insurance on a 457, but I think that you do now. It has definitely been a good move for us, despite the sacrifices that we have had to make. I don't really feel like we are missing out in having a small salary, just working towards a better future. We did have it written into hubby's contract that his company would sponsor us for pr after two years, which we are doing now. That gave us some security and might be worth asking your employer to do also. Any other info you need, give me a shout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 $3,600 take home a month with a free car thrown in? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. See what it would cost you to buy a late model car? Where are you going to work exactly? Take a look on www.domain.com.au and do a search for homes. Once your husband gets a job, you'll be more than right. Or be negative, listen to the 'doom and gloom' merchants who would love you to fail, cancel your move to OZ and just stay in the UK, and wonder what might have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest26012 Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 $3,600 take home a month with a free car thrown in? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. See what it would cost you to buy a late model car? Where are you going to work exactly? Take a look on www.domain.com.au and do a search for homes. Once your husband gets a job, you'll be more than right. Or be negative, listen to the 'doom and gloom' merchants who would love you to fail, cancel your move to OZ and just stay in the UK, and wonder what might have been. I don't think the replies have been 'doom and gloom'. I think they are just being realistic tbh! Two incomes would cover it eventually, but they may struggle initially! As long as they are prepared for that then they can budget accordingly. They have some money to fall back on which is good! To op good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 You won't be able to throw money around but if you work out a sensible budget it is do-able. Millions of other people manage on comparable salaries or less. I think the biggest risk for people moving over is the 'rose tinted glasses syndrome'. You don't appear to be suffering from it so you are in a better position to cope while you get over the initial couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cox's Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 As a nurse,you could earn that in a fortnight if you do 2 overtimes in a fortnight!Just a normal RN 8 will do that $3900 easy and overtime's available everywhere.My friend applied for her PR,6months after she started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachall Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hi Cox's Thanks for that, trouble is I'm being sponsored by a company that cater to aged care in the community not a hospital, thus the overtime isn't there. Salary will pick up after 2yrs when I've served my time it's just in the mean time I need to know that my salary is realistic and not going to put my family in a majorly difficult situation. I realise that those first couple of years are going to be tight but I reckon that the long term prospects out weigh that. Also the company have said they will wqrite a letter in support of my PR application after 2 yrs with them so that's reassuring. Maybe I will have to register with an agency to get a little extra at weekends in the mean time as I'm not sure how the OH will do at getting employment out there on my visa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blobby1000 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Im sorry but you will have no chance of living off that, especially in Sydney, but you probably couldnt live off it anywhere in Australia. Im on about 90k and my wife is on 30k and we have saved $1500 in 17 months. We have had holidays and moved house and paid for residency, but off 120k thats all we have left and we dont live in Sydney. It seems you will be on about 60k? I would suggest you will need at least double that. Also the thought of 2 years out here first off with no money, well its not all that enticing surely!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blobby1000 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yeah as Cox says, you can get loads more as a nurse (which you presumably are) just find a new sponser, honestly, you will be much better off. Are they paying all your relocation costs? If not the 2 year letter in support of residency is outrageous. The people I work for sponsered me after 6 months and now I do agency on top. Dont rush it, loads of other better options out there for sponsership, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MackyD Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 LAFHA is possibly being done away with in July..... my Hubby gets it and we'll be $800 a month worse off if it goes! Yeh, looks a goner. I am due to arrive start of July and was told by my employer to treat it as not being available for people moving to Oz from other countries - will still be available for those moving within Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blobby1000 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 What is this living away from home allowance? We never got a penny!? MaryRose its not about "doom and gloom" thats a ridiculous thing to say. None of us want anyone to fail. Thats also ridiculous. I think we are just trying to give realistic advice based on experience. Its very expensive here. $60k is in no way the equivalent of 40,000 pounds. We shouldnt just be telling people to jump on board and they will be ok. As a nurse you can find someone who will get you PR in 6 months and pay you double what the OP is being offered. Its irresponsible to not suggest they look at other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachall Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Ok people now I'm concerned! Thank you all for your honest replys, they are needed. Yes Blobby 1000 Nett pay before tax is 66,500, I also get a company car with full personal use, but if $66,500 is poor money for a managerial nurse position then I really do need to look research other options first and no they are not paying all relocation costs, just my flight and visa. We will have a substantial pot to fall back on but I am reluctant to rely on this as it would be a nice deposit on a house when/if I obtain PR. Does any one know the going rate for a nurse in Sydney? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MackyD Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 What is this living away from home allowance? We never got a penny!? MaryRose its not about "doom and gloom" thats a ridiculous thing to say. None of us want anyone to fail. Thats also ridiculous. I think we are just trying to give realistic advice based on experience. Its very expensive here. $60k is in no way the equivalent of 40,000 pounds. We shouldnt just be telling people to jump on board and they will be ok. As a nurse you can find someone who will get you PR in 6 months and pay you double what the OP is being offered. Its irresponsible to not suggest they look at other options. If you were on a 457, the company could apply for a living away from home allowance (LAFHA) for rent and food. This amount would be free from tax and cost the company nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachall Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hi Macky D, have been told by a chap who posts on here that most employers won't consider it at the moment due to the fact it could go very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MackyD Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hi Macky D, have been told by a chap who posts on here that most employers won't consider it at the moment due to the fact it could go very soon. This is true. All the details have not been released yet but it looks like they will explicitly remove it for those coming from abroad and tighten it up for those moving within Australia. What isn't clear yet is what they do about school fees. At the moment these are tax deductible for those on 457. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpot Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 This is true. All the details have not been released yet but it looks like they will explicitly remove it for those coming from abroad and tighten it up for those moving within Australia. What isn't clear yet is what they do about school fees. At the moment these are tax deductible for those on 457. Not sure that's right In some states (NSW and ACT), people on a 457 have to pay school fees for government schools. In NSW it is $4500 per child, per annum, paid up front. In ACT I think it is double that but you can pay in instalments This is out of your taxed income. So if you are coming on a 457 it makes it even more squeaky if you are having to pay school fees You should not expect any change in the school fees position regardless of what they do with LAFHA. LAFHA rules are about income tax and are therefore a federal (commonwealth) matter, school fees are charged by the State governments and nothing to do with the Feds. So don't expect the NSW government to stop charging 457 holders school fees to make up for the fact they may have lost their LAFHA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 We enquired about whether the school fees were tax deductable with the ATO and were told that they aren't for temp visa holders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MackyD Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Not sure that's right In some states (NSW and ACT), people on a 457 have to pay school fees for government schools. In NSW it is $4500 per child, per annum, paid up front. In ACT I think it is double that but you can pay in instalments This is out of your taxed income. So if you are coming on a 457 it makes it even more squeaky if you are having to pay school fees You should not expect any change in the school fees position regardless of what they do with LAFHA. LAFHA rules are about income tax and are therefore a federal (commonwealth) matter, school fees are charged by the State governments and nothing to do with the Feds. So don't expect the NSW government to stop charging 457 holders school fees to make up for the fact they may have lost their LAFHA Apologies. Got my wires crossed. I'd had the discussion with someone about whether they would make fees tax deductible As a result of doing away with the LAFHA benefits and it wasn't clear they would. If LAFHA goes away then those on 457 will be paying full tax and still have to pay for the things those taxes are supposed to pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blobby1000 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 No bugger told us we could claim this allowance and we sat on a 457 for nine months. Pretty much sums up my sponser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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