REASSURANCE NEEDED - nurses salary, can it support a family?

[Hazel M]

We have got aour PR visa and flights are booked for the end of the year. All well until...

 

After looking at various websites my OH is having a major panic now that on his nurses wage as the main income that we will not be able to afford to live there.

We have 3 children, 2 school age and a 1yr old.

 

I will be working also but part time hours , maybe at a bank (as I might be able to be relocated thru my work over here) I reckon his salary as an intensive care nurse to be about $75 K ish -and maybe mine about 10- 15k

 

 

Our main overheads are going to be mortgage, running a car and motorbike for OH to get to work on, and the usual other general bits and bobs. Were not after a glamorous life and the best of everything but dont want to be worse off than we are now.

 

Please please can you let us know your thoughts ... we are used to shopping around to find stuff cheaper, so thats what we are expecting to do there also. The main concern is that we dont want to be worse off than here.

 

Let me know what you think - am hoping to find some reassurance!!!

 

Thanks guys.

[Guest Carolandcraig]

Hi Hazel, your concerns about money and surviving are all natural but please dont worry, my wife is a nurse and we also got PR and two children. The added benifit to PR is that youll be able to get Family Tax Assistance for your children, and if your renting you should be able to get a bit of help towards your rent as well. Whilst we are not well off, we manage quite well, go out more, kids are out more and enjoying life here.

[ozzieclare2be]

well im a nurse, single mum of one i rent a home and run a car, and manage quite well, depends how long hes been qualified really as to pay etc but wouldnt think youd have a problem

[jim and adel]

A couple of times you mention that you don't want to be worse off than you are in the UK, but without knowing what your circumstances are (and I'm not trying to find out - that's your business!) it's hard to tell. If you currently have a large mortgage and will settle for a smaller house/cheaper neighbourhood and less of a mortgage, then this will be a significant factor. Equally, if you currently have a small/no mortgage and will be taking on a much bigger debt, then you might be in a predicament. Same applies, but to a lesser extent, with cars etc.

 

It's very hard to compare because hardly anything will be the same as you have currently - it's unlikely you'll buy the same car, same sort of house, travel the same distance to work, eat exactly the same things etc. I think what you have to do is decide you will manage and then look for tactics to ensure this is the case ... in other words you cut your cloth to suit your needs (I think it's obligatory that any lengthy reply has at least one cliché!)

[Guest The Dimmocks]

Hi Hazel I sent you a PM on facebook. xx

[Guest Trakki]

You certainly can survive. When we arrived I worked full time and Pete was a house husband, we were quite comfortable and thats with 6 of us (at the time) . Don't know how long you have been qualified but if you have been qualified 9 years or more you will be on a 1:9 scale and the pay is good, better than the UK.

 

HTH

[Rachiegarlo]

True you will have setup costs, but if you ship your furniture out then that's one major cost of replacement gone. As a resident your husband will also be able to salary sacrifice from his pre tax pay. This can be used as payment for rent, mortgage, loans, credit card repayments. He will be able to use upto $8700ish of his pre tax pay this way. He then gets taxed on the rest of his pay and will actually be about $100 a week better off than if he had paid everything out of his income after tax. Your children are still young, so no major education costs yet.

 

You have 3 children and the Aus gov now classes this as a large family and will give you a little bit extra child benefit. Have a look at the family tax benefit webby , there is a calculator on there somewhere that will show you how much child benefit , rent assistance etc you may be eligible for according to what you earn. There is also benefit for child care, again worked out on family income. I work with a single mum at work (nursing) who has 3 boys and was able to buy a house, drive a car and still have holidays etc when she became single and had to start from scratch again. It can be done, BUT it will take time to build the lifestyle you want here.

[Guest shella_n]

Hi

 

We have 2 kids and my husband earns a lot less than that and as we are on a 457 we are not entitled to child benefit, medicare etc but we are surviving...just although there is no savings in the bank. I am happy to give you more detailed info if you PM me.

 

I think you should be fine on the money you will be eanring.

 

Michelle

[Diane]

$75k a year is actually a pretty good salary, and that's before any of your earnings are taken into account.

 

We're surviving on a lot less than that at the moment, and pay private school fees for two teenage children!!

[Guest guest5559]

Funnily enough I often ask the nurses from UK with young families this question about wages and how they mangage to support themselves compared to the Uk. Everyone tells me that they are definately better off and most say they even have savings for the fist time! So, not sure how it all pans out but I get the impression (I'm in ICU) nurses from UK with families manage better on their wages and that is as their wage as main income! Good luck & I'm sure there are folk who will give you more concrete info on this!

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

I personally reckon you will be good on that sort of money....we started on alot less than that when we came over nearly 2 1/2 years ago....we had 4 kids in tow and i was the only one working, then i lost my job and the good lady was working all the time earning alot less than 75k.....

 

She be right as they say down here....good luck with it all.

 

The feelings and thoughts that you affre going through are so normal....

 

Catch you soon...

 

 

HG