Yes cost of Living Again

[Stadler Family]

I am trying to Finalise the Cost of Living in Australia and have come up with the Following

Per annum

Home Payment AUD 20,640.00 Will be renting at 400 AUD / Week

Electricity / Gas & Water AUD 1,800.00

Insurance AUD 600.00

Car Rental AUD 13,104.00 Approx 36 AUD / Day

Satelite TV AUD 1,440.00

Internet AUD 840.00 Looking at 3g 70 AUD per Month

Cellphone Wife AUD 3,600.00 My wife willl be phoning to SA at least twice per week

Cellphone AUD 2,400.00

Petrol/Transport AUD 2,400.00

Clothes AUD 4,800.00

Groceries AUD 7,200.00

School AUD 3,240.00

Spending / Entertainment AUD 18,000.00

Flight to SA AUD 5,624.00

Holiday Spending AUD 3,000.00

Total 89 K

Tax 36 K

Please advice how accurate this is . If this is correct it means you need approx 125 K per annum salary ?

Please ad

[DesV]

The cost of living depends very much on how you plan to live, Judging by your calculations you plan on renting a very large house in a very upmarket area, look at www.reiwa.com.au for houses to rent and buy in Western Australia ( Perth) You are close on W&L and Gas if you dont economise and rent this huge house you house is obviously full of stuff my insurance for AUD 100 000 comes to $364.00 Wow Your wife wont have time to phone with you having over 80 channels of TV, TV for free you get 5 channels, satelite starts at $36 per month for basic package and for what you want you get everything, Car Rental? you can buy a brand new small car for what you plan on 1 years rent, Internet is about right for unlimited down load at high speed, You wife can make 4 1/2 hour calls or 2 1 hour calls a week for that amount of money and have change left over, but why not skype its free? Cell phone and transport depends on what you do and where you go school fees correct for private high school, Entertainment if you spend that amount on entertainment you wont have time to watch TV and your wife wont find time to phone SA.

To be honest $125K is an extremly high salary in Aus and if you earn that then chances are you would be given a company car and company phone with unlimited petrol so you will be laughing, On 100K I am buying a house for 400 000 K and not having to count the pennies, You can hire a dcecent house from 280 - 320 and that is a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom type house in a decent area if you need a double storey with river views then yes 400 is right

80 000 and you will be comfy anything more and you are doing well.

[Swerwer]

Onthou jy leef van jou volle inkomste. As mens in Suid Afrika iets koop het jy al intuitief geleer hoeveel jy kan "spend" deur dit met jou inkomste te vergelyk. As jy byvoorbeeld sê maar R15000 per maand uitgekry het na al jou aftrekkings in Suid Afrika het jy dalk vir jouself besluit jy wil nie meer as R5000 aan verblyf betaal nie anders maak jy dit nie. Dit is dan R5000/R15000 = 1/3

As jy dan nou in Australie geld verdien het jy weereens net jou inkomste om van te leef. As dit op is, is dit op. So nou wonder jy dalk of jy 'n huis moet huur vir $500 per week. Is dit duur of goedkoop moet jy besluit...

As jy dieselfde breukdeel van jou inkomste afstaan aan die huur dan bly daar mos 'n soortgelyke breukdeel oor vir die res van jou uitgawes.

Sê maar jou Australiese inkomste is AU$85000 per jaar => AU$7083.33 per maand.

1/3 van dit is dan AU$2361 per maand => Au$550 per week.

Jy sal dus 'n soortgelyke persentasie (as in Suid Afrika) van jou inkomste aan huur betaal as jy 'n huis in Australie vir AU$550 per week sou huur.

Nêrens maak jy gebruik van die Rand/AU$ wisselkoers nie!! Deur hierdie manier te gebruik sorg jy eenvoudig dat jy soortgelyke breukdele van jou inkomste aan dieslfde goed spandeer.

Vat jou jaarlikse (na-belaste) inkomste in Suid Afrika en deel dit deur jou jaarlikse (na-belaste) inkomste in Oz:

12(R15000)/AU$85000 = 2.12 Rand/AU$

Dit beteken jy kan al die pryse in Oz met 2.12 maal om die bedrag in Rand te verkry wat sal verseker dat die persentasie van die uitgawe van jou Aussie inkomste dieselfde sal wees as die persentasie van jou Suid Afrikaanse inkomste waaraan jy gewoond is.

Noem dit maar JOU PERSOONLIKE WISSELKOERS.... Onthou dit en maak gebruik daarvan om te bepaal of iets duur of goedkoop is totdat jy gewoond is om in AU$ te werk.

So as dit AU$12 vir 'n fliek in Australie kos...dan is dit (2.12 x 12) = R25.41 vir jou. Presies waaraan jy gewoond is in SA. Dit is presies dieselfde breukdeel van jou inkomste in beide lande.

Moenie jou aan die wisselkoers steur nie...onthou jou eie faktor (sê maar 2) en bepaal op grond daarvan of iets vir jou duur of goedkoop is...dan kan jy sorg dat jy alles vergelyk met die inkomste wat jy kry.

Dis wat ek gaan doen....ek hoop dit verklaar dinge

[Bianca S]

ditsem Swerwer.

Dankie vir die verduideliking, dit gaan nuttig wees vir baie mense.

Met die pond/rand was dit vir ons ook in die begin maar 'n storie. Nou kan ons sien dat ons op die platteland hier meer kan afford met bv een salaris as in SA. Rentekoerse laer, dus behuising werk op selfde uit oor 'n klompie jare, groceries is goedkoper (insluitende vleis op die oomblik). Maar mens moet die pond of Ozzie dollar vergelyk met jou salaris en VERGEET van rande.

Daardie 2.12 wat jy van praat kan mens die 'spending power' koers noem.

'Spending power-koers' sal altyd verskil van die huidige wisselkoers.

Dankie!

Edited January 25, 2007 by Bianca.UK

[Pixi]

Swerwer jou metode maak sin, maar nou het ek 'n lekker probleem. Wat gaan ek doen met al die geld wat ek gaan spaar op veiligheid en sekuriteit?. Skrikwekkend maar waar. Is tans my enkele hoogste uitgawe - dis gewone versekering(helse duur want dis eiendom en jou eie lewe wat mos zippol werd is), dan die alarmstelsel met armed response, dan die verhoogde huis levy oor in 24 uur sekuriteitskompleks sit, dan Tracker navigasie om voertuie te kan opspoor, dan nog die cash transit mense vir besigheidsgeld.En dan is daar nog 'n duur mediese fonds vir as jy die dag aangeval word , het jy darem toegang tot redelike medies. Sal die sekuriteitsgelde kan spend en party hou

[Stadler Family]

The cost of living depends very much on how you plan to live, Judging by your calculations you plan on renting a very large house in a very upmarket area, look at www.reiwa.com.au for houses to rent and buy in Western Australia ( Perth) You are close on W&L and Gas if you dont economise and rent this huge house you house is obviously full of stuff my insurance for AUD 100 000 comes to $364.00 Wow Your wife wont have time to phone with you having over 80 channels of TV, TV for free you get 5 channels, satelite starts at $36 per month for basic package and for what you want you get everything, Car Rental? you can buy a brand new small car for what you plan on 1 years rent, Internet is about right for unlimited down load at high speed, You wife can make 4 1/2 hour calls or 2 1 hour calls a week for that amount of money and have change left over, but why not skype its free? Cell phone and transport depends on what you do and where you go school fees correct for private high school, Entertainment if you spend that amount on entertainment you wont have time to watch TV and your wife wont find time to phone SA.

To be honest $125K is an extremly high salary in Aus and if you earn that then chances are you would be given a company car and company phone with unlimited petrol so you will be laughing, On 100K I am buying a house for 400 000 K and not having to count the pennies, You can hire a dcecent house from 280 - 320 and that is a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom type house in a decent area if you need a double storey with river views then yes 400 is right

80 000 and you will be comfy anything more and you are doing well.

Thanx for your reply DesV

Last Q 80 000 and you will be Very Comfy and you are doing well. Is this Take home or 80 K Gross

Thanx

[Cornel]

Hi,

I have setup a little excel spreadsheet to do the same calc (COL). Have a look and change where your circumstances are different.

Regards,

Cornel

COL.xls

[Swerwer]

Hi,

I have setup a little excel spreadsheet to do the same calc (COL). Have a look and change where your circumstances are different.

Regards,

Cornel

Where did you get all the info?

[Cornel]

Where did you get all the info?

Everywhere!

www.careerone.com.au (salaries)

www.motormouth.com.au (fuel prices & related)

www.allianz.com.au (you have to make out like you are in AUS already and put in the details of the car you want to insure)

www.bmw.com.au

www.holden.com.au

www.ford.com.au (you get the picture..)

www.ato.gov.au (australian tax office, happy reading!)

www.realestate.com.au (house prices)

www.telstra.com.au (telephone & cell)

www.interestratesaustralia.com (interest rates)

The other bites & pieces (like food prices) I got of the forum

[Springbok]

Sê maar jou Australiese inkomste is AU$85000 per jaar => AU$7083.33 per maand.

1/3 van dit is dan AU$2361 per maand => Au$550 per week.

Jy sal dus 'n soortgelyke persentasie (as in Suid Afrika) van jou inkomste aan huur betaal as jy 'n huis in Australie vir AU$550 per week sou huur.

Nêrens maak jy gebruik van die Rand/AU$ wisselkoers nie!! Deur hierdie manier te gebruik sorg jy eenvoudig dat jy soortgelyke breukdele van jou inkomste aan dieselfde goed spandeer.

Vat jou jaarlikse (na-belaste) inkomste in Suid Afrika en deel dit deur jou jaarlikse (na-belaste) inkomste in Oz:

12 x R15000 /AU$85000 = 2.12 Rand/AU$

Dit beteken jy kan al die pryse in Oz met 2.12 maal om die bedrag in Rand te verkry wat sal verseker dat die persentasie van die uitgawe van jou Aussie inkomste dieselfde sal wees as die persentasie van jou Suid Afrikaanse inkomste waaraan jy gewoond is.

Noem dit maar JOU PERSOONLIKE WISSELKOERS.... Onthou dit en maak gebruik daarvan om te bepaal of iets duur of goedkoop is totdat jy gewoond is om in AU$ te werk.

Die soortgelyke persentasie-benadering werk nie met alles nie - sommige dinge in Aus is goedkoper, ander is duurder. Soos ek en Swerwer vandag gesels het, daardie persoonlike wisselkoers is nader aan 4 - 4.5 Rand/AU$. Ek het dit vandag vir myself aan die hand van die volgende bevestig:

12 sessies met 'n Personal Trainer (PT) by Virgin Active in Johannesburg het my R1299 gekos.

Hier by Fitness First in Sydney betaal jy $80 per sessie vir 3 sessies per week, dus $960 vir 12 sessies. Betaal alles upfront, en jy kry 5% afslag, dus 0.95 x $960 = $912.

Die huidige wisselkoers is rondom 6 Rand/AU$, dus $912 = R5472 vir 12 sessies (!)

dus, R5472 / R1299 = 4.21

Die koste van 'n PT in Sydney is dus 4.21 keer duurder as in Johannesburg.

Veronderstel jou bruto salaris in Johannesburg was R456,000 per jaar, dis R38,000 p/m.

Dan is R1299 = 3.4% van jou bruto maandelikse salaris.

In Sydney behoort jy omtrent bruto $76,000 p/a te verdien, of $6,000 p/m.

Dan is $912 = 15.2% van jou bruto maandelikse salaris.

15.2 / 3.4 = 4.47

[DieSkim]

Hi Cornel

Please note that you have not completed the COL for Perth. An update by COB will be appreciated

I have attached my spreadsheet on COL based on some book we got in Perth and cross references to friends over there.

COL seems very dependant on where you buy/rent and whether you opt for private or govt schools (can be as much as $1000 per child per month in private school).

Aus_Budget.xls

[Enrica]

Hi Cornel

Please note that you have not completed the COL for Perth. An update by COB will be appreciated

I have attached my spreadsheet on COL based on some book we got in Perth and cross references to friends over there.

COL seems very dependant on where you buy/rent and whether you opt for private or govt schools (can be as much as $1000 per child per month in private school).

Die Skim

If you are earning K150 per annum you are doing extremly well!!! Your budget for rates are too high(average in a good area is $800.00 per annum) and your medical insurance is very high as well on a monthly/annual basis.We pay $184 per month for top cover for a family of 4. Your bond repayment is based on a bond of around $370 000.00 , but I suppose if you are earning K150 per annum , you can afford it.The majority of people are not earning that kind of money, they are earning perhaps half of that if they are lucky and they can still live well. $1000 per month for school fees is the private schools the likes of Hale College /Guilford Grammer/PLC ETC.

I think things need to be put into perspective a bit more, if I was looking at migrating to Perth and reading this COL that you have gone to so much trouble to put together , I would certainly be put off and never even think of leave SA.

Hopefully, any new arrival , would at least arrive with some money ie pay for a cheapy car and not expect to spend $400 per month on clothes and a further $400.00 per month for entertainment and a further $250 per month for resturants , thats an avergage of $1000 on luxuries!!!

Cheers

Enrica

[Rodz]

Good graciuos people these amounts are so out of my league.There are some lucky people out there!!!!

[Nilo]

DON"T panic guys!!

That budget is hugely exagerated. My husband earns just over $1000 per week after tax (without overtime) and we live very well. And he is frustrated because they don't work as fast/hard as he is used to. So he's not working himself to a standstil.

Came here with NOTHING or just about R50 000 and have bought 2 cars and furnature etc etc. We arived with 2 suitcases.

IT CAN BE DONE ON A NOTHING BUDGET!!!!!!!!!!!! we did it!!!!

Nilo

[Rodz]

Hi Nilo

I know it can be done.Luckily i dont live the "high bucks" life here so it will be easy to adjust to the salary that i will be getting over there...no matter how meagre it is.We are resilient people.We have lost so much in this process but know its gonna be worthwhile!!

What intrigues me is that fact that people want to leave SA but always wanna know if they will survive in Oz. The day i decided "thats it" i just closed my eyes and starting focusing on my goal. I did not look at living expenses or nothing. The only concern was getting my family to safety and security.

I initially started with NZ and the fact that i could not get a job beforehand was scarying me. If ,once again thanx, if it were not for Nilo and Des , i would still be worrying about that NZ no job factor...but i would have gone over in anycase, but they put me on the 457 route.

Personally the only thing that matters is how you take care of your family.I made a promise to my wife the day she fell pregnant that she will never work again until my kids can fend for themselves......because no matter where in the world i ddont trust my kids with no one. If she feels she wants to work in another 5 years time,then my daughter 11 then so be it. Once she does that we will also be sitting in the 100k plus bracket........

[TheBs]

So true all. Everyone has very different circumstances. We are a big family with 7 in the home and there are people here in SA who cant believe that we can survive on our income. One has to prioritise and decide what is really important in life. When we arrived in SA four and a half years ago we came with a few suitcases to a new country where we knew one family and ended up in a R5000 a month job. Guess what??? WE SURVIVED. When I look back over the last few years I cannot believe that we started off like that but we did, and our children learnt life lessons, one of them that not everything revolves around money and that it costs nothing to go for a walk in the park and play on the swings or frolick on the beach - free entertainment. Life is certainly what you make of it!

[DieSkim]

Please note that the numbers in my budget is based on information I obtained from friends and books on aus. Very glad to hear some are too high as we were getting concerned as well over the cost of living.

As the sole breadwinner at this stage for a fam of 4 I guess I am erring on the cautious side and doing homework before plunging into an abyss of costs.

The salary and other stuff is FICTIONAL and for illustration purposes only !!!

[Swerwer]

Hi

Yes, with pleasure. All I said is: use your intuitive knowledge of how much things cost in South African rand that you have learnt over the years. You have learnt how to get by on you salary by determining if something is cheap or expensive based on the fraction that it makes out of your total salary in rands. Every month you just have your salary to live by. In Australia it is the same, you just have your salary (or salaries) to get by on. You still need to determine is things are cheap or expensive and you still have to calculate the price of things as a percentage of your salary.

In SA, you would pay a mortgage of 1/3 of your gross salary for example....meaning in Aus you must still try to only pay 1/3 of your salary in Aus, otherwise you would be living above your income.

So, if your monthly transportation cost works out on $220 in Aus, and your net salary after tax is: $3800 per month (for example). Then your transport cost is 220/3800 = 5.8% of your income into your bank account.

To determine if this is expensive or not, your now determine the same percentage of your South African monthly salary after tax.

Say it was: R19000. Then 5.8% of that is: R1102

That gives you a feeling of how expensive/cheap it is compared to South Africa (taking only the fraction of your salary into account). In this way you do not worry about the exchange rate.

You therfore have the formula:

220/3800 = 0.058 = 1102/190000

AusCost/AusSalary = SACost/SASalary

Therefore :

SACost = SASalary*(AusCost/AusSalary)

SACost = AusCost * (SASalary/AusSalary)

This means you multiply any cost in Australia with the ratio of (SASalary/AusSalary) and you will get the equivalent rand value which will make up the same fraction of your salary as it would have had in South Africa.

So...if your (SASalary/AusSalary) factor is 5, then you multiply everything by 5 and get a good estimation of whether it will fit into your income.

[Dax]

What intrigues me is that fact that people want to leave SA but always wanna know if they will survive in Oz. The day i decided "thats it" i just closed my eyes and starting focusing on my goal. I did not look at living expenses or nothing. The only concern was getting my family to safety and security.

Excellent attitude Rodz

And I can almost guarantee you that this is the mindset that will pull you through during your settling-in period.

We were in much th esame situation when we rocked up here more than a decade ago. We economised like you would not believe, and to be honest there were times when we really despaired and felt like we were at our wit's end.

But in the end things got better, you slowly replaced what you lost in material ways, in time.

So, I don't have to convince you, you are sensing it in your heart of hearts already; it can be done!

Swerwer also posted some spot-on info above on how you can compare costs, salaries etc. between RSA and Oz.

Cheers,

Dax

Edited July 11, 2007 by Dax

[martyn]

....

Please advice how accurate this is . If this is correct it means you need approx 125 K per annum salary ?

Please ad

As people have said it depends how you choose to live - we watch our money and manage to live on a family income of a lot less than that. For example instead of your wife phoning SA on her cellphone use something like voipcheap.com and it will only cost you about 2c (Oz) a minute . Also why rent a car for a year, buy an old Honda or something for about $10k. With regards clothes if you're happy with "Made in China" stuff from Target / Big W then they are dirt cheap - obviously if you can afford more you can buy better stuff but you don't need to..... Remember the average Aussie salary is about $50k a year and those people are surviving just fine

Martyn

[Rodz]

Excellent attitude Rodz

And I can almost guarantee you that this is the mindset that will pull you through during your settling-in period.

We were in much th esame situation when we rocked up here more than a decade ago. We economised like you would not believe, and to be honest there were times when we really despaired felt like we were at out wit's end.

But in the end things got better, you slowly replaced what you lost in material ways in time.

So, I don't have to convince you, you are sensing it in your heart of hearts already; it can be done!

Swerwer also posted some spot-on info above on how you can compare costs, salaries etc. between RSA and Oz.

Cheers,

Dax

Thanx Dax. Thats just how i see it.

[Santosh]

Hey Guys, can you do us all a favour and then you quote average "salaries", can you be spefiic if this is Net or Gross. Makes a huge diff. Is the average Aus salary 50k before or after tax.

Tax rate have just changed this week in Aus.

Santosh

[Dax]

Hey Guys, can you do us all a favour and then you quote average "salaries", can you be spefiic if this is Net or Gross. Makes a huge diff. Is the average Aus salary 50k before or after tax.

Tax rate have just changed this week in Aus.

Santosh

A valid issue Santosh!

I would imagine that all salaries quoted should be gross - mostly when you give a ball park idea of a salary then you give the gross figure. That's what I do when I quote salaries.

The thing is with taxes, nobody's taxable income is quite the same, even more so here in Oz. There are a myriad of things that salary earners for example can cite as deductions for taxation purposes.

Example, if you belong to a Union in Oz, you can deduct your annual subscription fees from your taxes, (something like $650.00 in my case), that does have an influence on the amount you either "get back" from the ATO ot that you have to pay in.

Cheers,

Dax

[Garfield]

Hi to Everybody

Interesting topic. I can understand that the amount of tax is different to everybody's circumstances, but what would the average tax be on a average salary of 50k a year?

That would be about 4160 aus dollar a month. I really thought the average to be around 5000 aus dol.

Anyway. Does not matter as long as one can survive on 4160 a month.

Is it true that people gets paid weekly in Aus instead of monthly?

Garfield

[Mara]

Hi Garfield

It is more usual to be paid weekly or bi-weekly in Australia than monthly.

If you want to check tax rates, I suggest you use www.ato.gov.au for that.