Give us your honest opinion

[Misplaced]

I suppose the regulars on here have seen my previous posts well the desire is not waning in the family but before we make a final decision I would like true honest opinions from you guys.

 

As a bit if background I am Australian (born Glenelg) and have lived in the UK for 30+ years. I have 2 children who will be Australian Citizens and have Australian passports. My wife will enter on a Partner Visa (permanent).

 

Now to the questions: -

 

I do not have a trade as such but have many years experience working for the UK Government as a Business Analyst - My question is if I am unable to find work in the area what is the likelihood of getting a job paying $50,000 +?

 

Is the cost of living in SA comparable to the UK or more expensive?

 

When I lived there I was fortunate to live in Port Noarlunga (on 'Posh' Hill as it was called by the locals) which was Irvine Street area? What chance is there of getting a similar property or is it more cost effective to build your own?

 

I attended Christie's Beach primary and at that time it good and I would say definitely better than most of the UK primary school's - m question is have you found the schools comparable/better/worse? i know it is subjective but your thought would be appreciated.

 

Any advice on the medical side of things would be appreciated as I have a few conditions that would need care? What's the cost like?

 

Are the prospects for Kids better?

 

And one last question - do you consider that the move there has benefited you or just not changed you?

 

Thanks

 

Craig

[Guest guest569]

mate your probably going to get a range of conflicting opinions as what one person finds from their experiences , another person will completely disagree with.

the big thing you will have going for you is that you are a citizen and centrelink will help you with rent and childcare. with no qualification papers it will take a while to get your foot in somewhere and for them to appreciate your skills.

I had my best mate over at xmas for the first time and he commented on how he found it a bit more expensive her as the uk has the likes of homebrand goods and asda / tesco ect... Myself after almost 6 years don't compare anymore just live to my weekly budget and ozzy income ( which i have to say is better than my mates in the UK !!)

Prospects here for kids is better in my opinion as the outdoor life, beach, nippers and festivals ect is far more due to the better weather most of the year.

last and not least. Has the move benefited me ???? In a lot of ways definately and in a small way ( family ) no !!! My enew life here in Adelaide for the last 6 years has most definately changed me and in my opinion for the better !!!

Good luck. If it doesn't work you always have the choice to go back and carry on where you left off.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Craig

 

Do you mean the equivalent of £50,000 sterling? $50,000 AUD converts to about £18,000 - £20,000 GBP at the moment.

 

Also, who's got the medical ailments, please? You or your Partner? It mght cause visa problems if she is the one with the ailments but it would be irrelevant for you or the children (for immigration purposes) because all of you are Australian citizens.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Amanda12]

Hi misplaced

 

I'm still here so I can't answer your question but I did a search on here and PIO and found several threads. There are a few posts where people have kindly listed there household expenses, bills, weekly shop etc. I found it really helpful. In middle of school, sports club, tutor, goofy runs at present so will look for them this evening for you unless you have success in the meantime.

[Guest moonraker1959]

Sorry i can't help job wise.This is just my own experience and will of course be different than everyone elses.My kids are also aussies(I emigrated with family when little,and then returned to the UK,with kids later on).My kids went to a good school in South Australia,and on return to the UK enrolled them in a school before we even left Australia.This school and subsequently secondary schools were just as good.As for outdoor life?Some people say they havent got an outdoor life here in the UK but i think it depends on (1)what kind of person you are,and (2)where you live in the UK.I say what kind of person because when it snowed before Xmas,I actually embraced it!:cute:Some people might just not bother!Most days here I am able to get outside,either in the garden or go for a walk or whatever,just the same as I did in Australia.I live in the Sth West and its been beautiful all week,where as if you were further north or in Scotland,you might disagree!Personally speaking I would'nt move back to Australia because I thought it was better(I do return every 2 years)Its just different.My OH got his perm visa last year,and we are yet unconvinced a move back to Oz is the best thing for us to do at this time.Both my kids are now grown up and flown the nest and both have done exceptionally well in their education/work,and so have I!!!At the moment we enjoy going to festivals and travelling alot,something I know we could'nt afford to do should we return to SA,or maybe not as frquently.Only you can make that decision,and please remember,whatever you do is never a mistake.At the time it is the right thing to do.Good luck and best wishes!x

[Misplaced]

Gill,

 

It's me with all the health issues!

 

$50,000 Aus dollars Mmmm

Mmmm when I convert that amount it works out to approximately £32,000

[Gollywobbler]

Gill,

 

It's me with all the health issues!

 

$50,000 Aus dollars Mmmm

Mmmm when I convert that amount it works out to approximately £32,000

 

 

Hi Craig

 

OK, your health worries are irrelevant as far as DIAC are concerned. Do you need prescription drugs? If yes, I think those are about $35.00 for a couple of months' supply of one drug. Filling prescriptions is easily twice as expensive as in the UK, despite the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Scheme.

 

For Individuals - Medicare Australia

 

Seeing a GP is not free, either. I think Medicare contributes about $35 per visit but the doctor usually charges around $60 per consultation. You can claim back the Medicare contribution but not the whole amount of the cost of the consultation.

 

With the figures, you might be right but I am not sure. The last time I heard, the spot rate was about $1.57 = £1 about 3 or 4 weeks ago? That sounds nearer £20K than £30K to me? I'm hopeless at maths, though.

 

The OMARA are the people below:

 

https://www.mara.gov.au/

 

They are based in downtown Sydney. Originally the MARA function was carried out by the Migration Institute of Australia, which is a private company. In July 1999, the Minister for Immi decided to move the MARA function into DIAC, though there are supposed to be Chinese Walls between the new OMARA and DIAC. Initially, all the existing MARA staff were offered 6 month temporary contracts, to help them to settle into working for the Government and giving the Government time to figure out what their job-roles ought to be. Eventually it was all sorted out and they all had to apply for their own jobs, in effect.

 

The adverts for the OMARA staff's salaries varied between about $90,000 and about $120,000. Some of that may have been a Sydney weighting. No specific skills or qualifications were required. The job - like most jobs - is 98% common sense. I'd say that the $90K job would have been about equivalent to an SEO in the British Civil Service in terms of responsibility etc.

 

On $50K, would you expect that your wife should work full time as well? How many children do you have and how old are they, please?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Amanda12]

Hi again

 

I can't find the thread. Really sorry. It was really detailed too. Soz.

 

A

[Guest Amanda12]

FOUND IT!!!

 

Thread is Living costs originally posted by jenster1 on 09/03/11.

 

[Misplaced]

Gill,

 

My wife will be working as well. Her experience is as a Purchase Ledger clerk.

 

I have 2 children both boys and they are aged 14 & 11.

 

Thanks for the advice- Again

 

Craig

[Misplaced]

Amanda,

 

Can't find the link in this forum category - which forum category is it in?

[Guest Amanda12]

Amanda,

 

Can't find the link in this forum category - which forum category is it in?

 

Hi

 

It's in money and finance.

 

Op was jenster1 last poster was burgessfamily 19th march.

 

I did a search on living expenses and found it. The thread is Living costs.

 

The replies discuss the monthly outgoings so it should help you see if it all falls into your salary or not depending on your own expenses.

 

There were some similar posts on PIO which helped too. May want to search on there too?

 

Good luck.

 

Amanda

 

Good luck

[minty]

Gill,

 

It's me with all the health issues!

 

$50,000 Aus dollars Mmmm

Mmmm when I convert that amount it works out to approximately £32,000

 

 

Exchange rate at the moment is about £1=$1.5

So based a UK wage of £40,000 is about the same as an Aussie wage of $60,000.

 

One more point on this is that historicaly the rate in the last 2 years has always hit a peak of between 1gdp = 1.8-2.0 aud at some time of the year. Before this it was 2-2.5 and way back as much as 3.

[Toni]

If you haven't found it already, I think this might be the link that Amanda is talking about http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/money-finance/22472-living-costs.html

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Hi there Craig,

 

Thanks for your post!

I may be able to offer an opinion on some of your questions.

 

I moved here 4 years ago and bought a house in Port Noarlunga. I bought the house after 3 weeks in Adelaide and have no regrets whatsoever.

 

I didn't know that this area of Port Noarlunga was called "posh hill"!!!!!

 

Would you believe that the house is in Irvine Street? Small world or what!

What number did you live at?

 

I bought another house in Irvine Street 8 months ago and am renovating it.

 

The Port Noarlunga primary school has a good reputation and it's really popular. There's a $4 million upgrade to the school taking place. My grandson will be going there next year and some of my guests send their children there. The Christies Beach primary school is also ok and there's a massive redevelopment going on in the Christies and Port Noarlunga areas (million dollar properties along the esplanade).

 

The house that I bought 8 months ago cost $359,000. It's a 5 bedroomed double storey but it does need work! Prices are flat at the moment and it's a buyers market.

 

If you take a look at this link on the Realestate web site there's a 94% satisfaction rating for Port Noarlunga and it's satisfaction rating is no 4 of all suburbs in Adelaide (the opinion of people who live there!)

 

http://localvoices.realestate.com.au/south_australia/port_noarlunga/review?pid=streetadvisorsubrev

 

It's certainly been the right decision for us to move here.

Hope that this helps.

 

Tamara

[Misplaced]

Hi tamara,

 

Thanks for the reply and the info within it.

 

I lived at 9 Irvine Street and we had a great time there. When I was there there were loads of paddocks empty but I see it's now built up :-(

 

I saw your property at 18 Irvine and before I realised where it was I thought to myself "that's do like my old house".

 

It is a small world indeed.

 

Another of my concerns is what kind of property can I get for the sort of wage we'll be getting? How does the Aussie Mortgage system work? Is it similar to the UK?

 

Once again thanks for your input and enjoy "posh hill"!!

 

Craig

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Hi there Craig,

It has changed since you were here!

 

There are now houses right down as far as Moana and all the farm areas are being swallowed up.

 

People are buying the Port Noarlunga houses and knocking them down to built two properties on each plot!

 

I took the grandkids (am not old...my daughter made me old before my time!) down to the Port Noarlunga jetty two weeks ago. There were scuba divers, anglers, kids jumping from the jetty and families on the beach...just brilliant. There's an $8 million beachfront development happening in Port Noarlunga right now. Port Noarlunga took Austrlalias cleanest beach award in 2010 as well!

 

Mortgages are interesting! I have three thanks to a brilliant bank manager at the Noarlunga AnZ bank. Lending has become more difficult in the last few months but it might relax by the end of the year (was in the bank last week trying to borrow some more!).

Mortgages are typically 30 years. At the moment I am on 3 year fixed rates at 7.1% which is far higher than the UK.

 

You need to be a permanent employee for at least 3 months for your salary to be taken into account for a mortgage. Not a good idea to get any debt or even a credit card as your credit card limit counts against you when they work out affordability.

 

Hope that this helps...

 

Tamara

[Misplaced]

Okay Guys and Girls i have done some calculations with the OH and this what we have come up with. Let me know if you think they are there or there abouts or wide of the mark.

 

Mortgage = 1,400

Electric = 110

Gas = 40

Rates = 150

Petrol = 280

Car Reg = 60

Car Ins. = 30

Phone/BBand = 100

Health Ins (family of 4) = 150

Prescriptions = 150

Schools = 70

Water = 70

Food = 600

Clubs = 150

Socialising = 150

 

Total = $3,510 per month

 

Which would equate to $42,210 a year. Taking into account Super Ann and Tax I think that a job of approximately $50,000 would suffice or looking at it another way a 2 jobs that pay $25,000 a year.

 

Please let me know what you think to the above as if it isn't too far off I think the decision has been made.

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

Hi Craig

 

OK, your health worries are irrelevant as far as DIAC are concerned. Do you need prescription drugs? If yes, I think those are about $35.00 for a couple of months' supply of one drug. Filling prescriptions is easily twice as expensive as in the UK, despite the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Scheme.

 

For Individuals - Medicare Australia

 

Seeing a GP is not free, either. I think Medicare contributes about $35 per visit but the doctor usually charges around $60 per consultation. You can claim back the Medicare contribution but not the whole amount of the cost of the consultation.

 

With the figures, you might be right but I am not sure. The last time I heard, the spot rate was about $1.57 = £1 about 3 or 4 weeks ago? That sounds nearer £20K than £30K to me? I'm hopeless at maths, though.

 

The OMARA are the people below:

 

https://www.mara.gov.au/

 

They are based in downtown Sydney. Originally the MARA function was carried out by the Migration Institute of Australia, which is a private company. In July 1999, the Minister for Immi decided to move the MARA function into DIAC, though there are supposed to be Chinese Walls between the new OMARA and DIAC. Initially, all the existing MARA staff were offered 6 month temporary contracts, to help them to settle into working for the Government and giving the Government time to figure out what their job-roles ought to be. Eventually it was all sorted out and they all had to apply for their own jobs, in effect.

 

The adverts for the OMARA staff's salaries varied between about $90,000 and about $120,000. Some of that may have been a Sydney weighting. No specific skills or qualifications were required. The job - like most jobs - is 98% common sense. I'd say that the $90K job would have been about equivalent to an SEO in the British Civil Service in terms of responsibility etc.

 

On $50K, would you expect that your wife should work full time as well? How many children do you have and how old are they, please?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

 

Legend

 

:notworthy:

 

HG

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Hi Craig,

The rates are about $50 too high but you can add the $50 to your food which is too low!

 

It might even be more cost effective to earn below the threshold (around $36000) depeding upon number of children...and then you qualify for the Health Care Card (a concession card). With this card all doctors visits and medicines are free (prescriptions cost $5.30), schools are less than $100 per year, cheap travel etc but it depends upon whether it's possible to live at this level.

 

There are plenty of jobs that pay $25,000 per year. A 25 hour job at the local hardware store pays $20 per hour as a permanent and $24.50 per hour as a casual.

 

If it was possible to reduce the mortgage that would be great. A house with a granny flat for instance that you could get an income from?

 

Tamara

[Anne B]

There's an $8 million beachfront development happening in Port Noarlunga right now.

 

 

We were at Port Noarlunga last weekend and sadly most of the new development (including the roof) and many places surrounding were covered in graffiti - such a shame.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

It is a shame. They try to secure building sites but hooligan kids still get access to them. Onkaparinga is pretty good with it's graffitit cleaning squads but you do still see fresh graffiti around especially when there's construction happening.

That building is a bloody eyesore while it's been constructed. There was a programme called "Postcards" on channel 9 last weekend with a focus upon the Port Noarlunga village and they were careful with their scenery shots to avoid the construction in the background!

 

Tamara

[sally1968]

Hi Craig

 

Our story is very similar to yours. I was born here but went to the UK with my family when I was small as dad is English. We have been here for almost 7 years now. Children have citizenship and hubby is also now a citizen having come over on a spouse visa.

 

Just taking a look at your budget plan and there are definately a few things that look a little low to me.

 

Mortgage - ours is higher each month than that but that will be dependant on how much, if anything you are bringing as a deposit. And also how much you plan on spending.

 

Our electric bill for a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 teenagers - is higher than that, but again it very much depends on how careful you are.

 

Car insurance for fully comp is also low in my experience.

 

School fees - about right for state schools, will obviously be much higher if you choose private.

 

Just another pointer -someone has said it is not free to see the doctor but there are some out there who do bulk billing. This means they don't charge you over the medicare amount and they claim their fee straight back from Medicare. We always go to a bulk billing dr.

 

As for living off $50k per year, possible yes, comfortable , in my opinion, no.

 

Sally

[Gollywobbler]

Exchange rate at the moment is about £1=$1.5

So based a UK wage of £40,000 is about the same as an Aussie wage of $60,000.

 

One more point on this is that historicaly the rate in the last 2 years has always hit a peak of between 1gdp = 1.8-2.0 aud at some time of the year. Before this it was 2-2.5 and way back as much as 3.

 

Hi the Bacons

 

I've heard a story that traditionally, when the AUD goes high against sterling, it stays high for 7 years.

 

I am a bit sceptical about this claim. It sounds rather Biblical to me and makes me wonder whether droughts and locusts also follow the currency markets.....

 

However I don't understand international currency so the 7 year claim might have a solid foundation in historical fact. If it has, though, does that necessarily mean that it will be another 7 years this time around?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Craig

 

I've been looking at the APS jobs website for jobs in SA. Most of them seem to be jobs in the medical profession of one sort or another but there are some others as well.

 

One job is as a Project Officer and the minimum pay for the grade is about $72,000 AUD. However LOTS of the jobs have minimum salaries of around the $50K AUD mark. It is unlikely that you would be able to stroll into a job as a Project Officer when your colleagues would not have had a chance to test you out first, so I agree with you that getting a job at around the $50K mark seems like a realistic goal for you if you stay in the Public Service.

 

With the Project Officer job, they didn't say what the Projects are about. However I "know" a woman who is a Project Manager for Thomson's Holidays. That is, her husband has been a colleague and friend of mine for about 20 years but most people (including him) are terrified of his dragon of a wife so most of us stay out of her sight!

 

Anyhow, chatting casually with Mike one day, I asked whether Sue only knows how to do Projects relating to holidays? He said that if you can manage one type of Project, you can manage any other type of Project as well. He said that the basic techniques are pretty similar as far as he knows. I don't know anything about Project work but you ought to be able to judge whether or not Mike is right, I suspect.

 

That said, my guess is that managing Government projects would not be the same as doing it in the private sector because Governments always have loads of special rules and protocols which only somebody who has worked in the public sectpr would understand. However if you do understand the special Government rules then a Project skill is probably easily transferable from one Government department to another, I would guess.

 

It sounds like if you allow about $50K for you and maybe $25K for youru wife's salary, you should be able to manage in SA according to your own figures and those that the other contributors to this thread have provided. On,say, $75K gross per year between you, you wouldn't be able to afford luxuries but you shouldn't starve.

 

Remember that life will be easier if you take a hefty chunk of capital from the UK because you would need to buy cars, put down a deposit on a house etc. It would help if you do not have to bend the plastic too much in the early months.

 

Cheers

 

Gill