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Salary and cost of living


orca

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This thread has been an interesting one for me.. We're living in Perth- Stirling..currently on 457 awaiting our PR results. My first reaction is what is everyone spending their money on ...ha Sorry but I'm just curious as to what your reactions would be to my situation:

 

My salary 55k

Partners 67k

122 combined.

 

Now we've been here for 2 years.

Have paid approximately $11-12k in visa fees.

$10k car Loan which we paid in 6 months

 

Monthly Outgoings-

1760 pm rent 3x2 modern unit

95 pm Foxtel

70 pm Telstra

100 pm Fines- payment plan

200 per wk Food Shopping

100 per wk petrol

Based on 8k monthly

Leaves us with roughly $4700 disposable... Which is what we've been able to furniture our house with & pay visa etc

 

OTHER BILLS-

Gas, Electric, rego

 

I feel we really live quite comfortably ... If we had 125k combined I wouldn't be settling for anything less than a 4x2 with a pool & we do plan to move a little further out to get it. Probably SOR.

 

Am I being foolish here because I'd definitely appreciate you guys input. I start maternity leave in 12 weeks & if our visa isn't through by then we'll be on my partners income alone & I'm really not that worried about it. I just feel like I'd be far worse of in the UK so anything here is a bonus & we make our money work for us not the other way around.

 

Anyway some smart cookie fill me in :)

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Leaves us with roughly $4700 disposable... Which is what we've been able to furniture our house with & pay visa etc

OTHER BILLS-

Gas, Electric, rego

 

Am I being foolish here ......

 

Ok I will bite as usual.....:wink: You say $4700 disposable income and then after that you say "other bills" like gas, electric and rego. Is the disposable not the $4700 less your total utility costs and rego?

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I thought that would have been fairly obvious... If I'm living more than comfortably from less than 125k ... Has everyone else got loans or credit cards attributing to outgoings? Just confusing! Surely I must be missing something...

 

Sorry, without a question mark anywhere is was hard to tell ;)

 

I posted in a 'cost of bills' thread today, but for us we spend over $55k on bills etc, before food/entertainment etc. a year.

 

We are comfortable. So much so it allowed be to start my own business, and the wife is hopefully following suit soon.

 

I'd imagine on one *average* income, things become harder.

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Correct but I've listed them below as they aren't monthly like the others & are normally minimal.. Of course they come out of our 'disposable' we're talking $300 per quarter

$300 per 6 month rego... No exactly megabucks...

 

Eh? :wink: So it is now $4700 less $1200 utilities and $600 rego = $2900 disposable really. May not be megabucks to you but a big difference in terms of disposable surely for others reading this thread? :wink:

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I thought that would have been fairly obvious... If I'm living more than comfortably from less than 125k ... Has everyone else got loans or credit cards attributing to outgoings? Just confusing! Surely I must be missing something...

 

Children? The more kids then the more outgoings?

Two cars?

Golf club fees?

Gym fees?

I don't know but sure there are numerous others.

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We've worked out the costs for the babies arrival.. We have most large items bought & we're now buying nappies etc each week to stock up... The baby isn't going to cost us any significant amount until I return to work after 5 months.. We'll gain my salary but incur child care. That's why we've held of on the house buying until I start back to work... Other than rates what other home owning surprises can we expect? Neither of us have bought before... I've always rented on my own from I was 16 so I'm pretty good with household budgeting but a mortgage will be a new experience for me!

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First thing might be hard is a bank may want 12months of salary from you before giving a loan.

 

If you don't have 20% deposit you have to pay insurance.

 

If the house is under 500k you get a small hand from the government. Between 500-600k it's less and over 600k you get nothing.

 

My main expense on the house had been decorating it for our requirements.

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This thread has been an interesting one for me.. We're living in Perth- Stirling..currently on 457 awaiting our PR results. My first reaction is what is everyone spending their money on ...ha Sorry but I'm just curious as to what your reactions would be to my situation:

 

My salary 55k

Partners 67k

122 combined.

 

Now we've been here for 2 years.

Have paid approximately $11-12k in visa fees.

$10k car Loan which we paid in 6 months

 

Monthly Outgoings-

1760 pm rent 3x2 modern unit

95 pm Foxtel

70 pm Telstra

100 pm Fines- payment plan

200 per wk Food Shopping

100 per wk petrol

Based on 8k monthly

Leaves us with roughly $4700 disposable... Which is what we've been able to furniture our house with & pay visa etc

 

OTHER BILLS-

Gas, Electric, rego

 

I feel we really live quite comfortably ... If we had 125k combined I wouldn't be settling for anything less than a 4x2 with a pool & we do plan to move a little further out to get it. Probably SOR.

 

Am I being foolish here because I'd definitely appreciate you guys input. I start maternity leave in 12 weeks & if our visa isn't through by then we'll be on my partners income alone & I'm really not that worried about it. I just feel like I'd be far worse of in the UK so anything here is a bonus & we make our money work for us not the other way around.

 

Anyway some smart cookie fill me in :)

 

Ok I'll share. $122k combined a year would scare me, but if you can make it work then hats off to you. I'm under no illusion that there are things we could 'cut' from our living costs, but I guess the more you earn the more you spend! I'm just showing how it can all go so easily if you want...I'll do this monthly as that's how I work it out...

 

$2,400 mortgage (we overpay by about $150 a month)

$355 car loan

$60 2x paygo mobiles

$130 Foxtel

$99.95 Broadband

$289.75 Health Insurance (for a couple)

$109.20 Home Insurance

$60 Life Insurance

$230 Utilities (Gas, Electric, Water)

$120 Parking

$230 Gym Membership x2

$200 Cleaner

$114.75 Rates

$250 Petrol

$79 Car Insurance x2

$91 Rego for 2 cars

$650 Food

 

$5,468 per month basic. In addition to this we also have the following debt/payments:

 

$350 UK Student Loan

$425 UK Professional Studies Loan

$200 Finance for Furniture

+ Credit Card payment which can be anything from $500 p/m to $2k depending on how much we've left after entertainment.

 

So $6,443 before it becomes disposable income and not including the credit card payments.

 

We try to live on a budget of $500 a week and save/use the rest for renovating our house. We don't usually manage it though!

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We try to live on a budget of $500 a week and save/use the rest for renovating our house. We don't usually manage it though!

 

Just out of interest, because you do not say are you DINKY's? Or is this all based on one income?

 

Had a go at maths above in another post, and failed, but reading your post to get to this you would need around a minimum of $140k pa gross? Would that be right? I am adding the $6443 x 12 months + CC of $500 say x 12 months + $500 weekly budget x 52 to get circa $109k then adding 30% tax = circa $140k pa.

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Just out of interest, because you do not say are you DINKY's? Or is this all based on one income?

 

Had a go at maths above in another post, and failed, but reading your post to get to this you would need around a minimum of $140k pa gross? Would that be right? I am adding the $6443 x 12 months + CC of $500 say x 12 months + $500 weekly budget x 52 to get circa $109k then adding 30% tax = circa $140k pa.

 

Certainly are! You're maths hasn't failed you this time, we get $185k give or take combined per year, guess the missing $40k goes on holidays and entertainment and home renovations!

Edited by CookieCrumble
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Wow glad of that as I thought an aged persons home was next on my list for outgoing expenses :wink: Two reasonable incomes and it is not hard to get to the level of expenditure you note and nothing wrong with it if you can do it. It is all about people making choices and decisions based on what we all have or do not have.

 

And the good news is that you are not missing $40k only circa $28k because it will be an after tax amount you have lost..... There saved you $12k or did I?? :wink: That darn maths again......:wink:

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Wow glad of that as I thought an aged persons home was next on my list for outgoing expenses :wink: Two reasonable incomes and it is not hard to get to the level of expenditure you note and nothing wrong with it if you can do it. It is all about people making choices and decisions based on what we all have or do not have.

 

And the good news is that you are not missing $40k only circa $28k because it will be an after tax amount you have lost..... There saved you $12k or did I?? :wink: That darn maths again......:wink:

 

Lol, thanks for that, was getting worried for a second there!

 

Yes it is, we've survived on a lot less for over a year when one of us wasn't working so you can do it, I just wouldn't choose to, and I guess that's why we've ended up with the credit card debt, buying a house on one income was very hard and ultimatley we needed the credit card to get us through the tough time.

Edited by CookieCrumble
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It depends on what your used to. If you are moving from northern England and earning 30k a year, you will feel a lot better off on $100k. It also depends on how the salary is split. If it is two salaries combined to make $100k, then it is a lot better off than one income of $100k because of the tax allowances - one income = 1 lot of allowances. Two incomes of $50k, gives a major tax advantage

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guess I will struggle on $100k and a family of four then... oh well!

 

$70K in your mitts after tax. You may, you may not and only you and time will tell.....:wink:

 

Of course as you no doubt know it is about a combination of things as to how people manage the financial aspects of their lives, e.g. what else do they have in terms of assets when starting life here in Perth, mid to longer term opportunities to earn, level of debt currently, level of additional debt they get into on and after arrival and can they service it all , big eaters, small eaters, high utility users or not, one car or two cars, state schools versus private schools, meals out or family picnics, etc etc. It just goes on and on. I suppose the thing is people survive and adapt in relation to where they are. It is probably not always about what people have but how they use it I guess.

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I currently earn......wait for it.......£26000 PA. I live in the northwest. Will be debt free with about 20k on the hip. If I have to drive I'll buy a second hand car, which I will choose with care (cost of repairs, fuel consumption etc). Average eaters, don't eat out often, low utility users, will be choosing state school, drink very little alcohol (but that could change with the lure of Australian wine lol). On a nurses salary i think we'll scrape through. To be honest that's all we do here so it'll be no different financially. Im used to being skint so it doesn't bother me.

 

Debs

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