Can you sell me on a financial level?

[Basil1]

Good day, SAAustralia Family,

 

Let me begin by saying that we are already sold into the move to Australia for the sheer reasons of better opportunities for our two young boys and overall better safety for our family.

 

But, where I am having my doubts is in the financial sector!  My wife and I are both fairly young in the work-place and it all seems backward to save up all of this money to make the move and to not be putting the money away into RA's/long-term investments, only to have to start from scratch all over again in Aus.

 

I suppose my question/request is to hear of success stories where-by people can indicate that the move, financially, will be worth it and that we are not setting ourselves up for possible large-scale disappointment.   Is anyone able to settle my financial doubts?  Do you find yourselves better off at the end of the month in Aus compared to SA?  I know that t is hard to compare it so simply like that and I know that not everything's about the money, as I have already mentioned, we ARE already sold on the idea and we WILL be making the move - I am just having the initial doubts of " WOW! This is actually going to happen.  Is it actually feasible on a financial level?"

 

Obviously, all depends on what jobs we can secure.  My wife is a Physiotherapist and I am an Engineering Technologist.

 

I really look forward to hearing from you!  Thanks in advance.

 

BMDJ

[TakeItOnTheChin]

As with many other posts here, be aware that immigration rules and laws change all the time. It is dynamic because it is a political hot potato and is also affected by economic and industry requirements. Once Australia moves closer to elections later this year or early next year, there will be more rhetoric or promises about change. So if you do have the opportunity to get to Oz then do it as soon as possible, don't regret it later. As many of us have stated already, the only thing we regret is not having come earlier. Not one person who is already here has regretted the move, from what I can see.

 

We love it............. yesterday spent the whole day on a pristine beach, as we do most weekends. Saw dolphins and turtle while paddle boarding and snorkeling. Kids could enjoy themselves for hours without us having to worry at all. Finance does not come into the picture because we have so much on our doorstep without having to worry about it.

 

As the saying goes, 'the only way to get rid of doubt is to take action'

 

 

[TamTam]

On ‎1‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 8:59 PM, ZADE1234 said:

@TamTam and @SafferBluecan keep me posted on how much nicer Aus is than here!

@ZADE1234 I will be happy to report in once I have moved over. But bear in mind, you guys are settled and happy in Germany whereas I am not happy living in The Netherlands. I am also cautious enough to know that the first two years at the very least will be tough.

[RedPanda]

Let's start with minimum wage: ~$20 per hour....do the maths, not bad?

What it boils down to is that you will be paid a lot more here for the same work, for most occupations. My husband does a similar job now to the one he did in RSA, and we can save more money monthly while paying rent, which we didn't do before. Since you are earning in a stronger and more stable currency it actually means something to be earning more. In South Africa a pay raise means standing still if it doesn't go over inflation and Rand devaluation. Your earning potential over your lifetime is way better in Australia than it is in South Africa.

Of course there are outliers, there always are. But for the large bulk of people this is true.

[Riekie]

You're young enough to start again and still be able to catch up in Australia.  The longer you wait, the bigger the financial impact.  The ZAR went from 1:3 to 1:9 in the few years it took from when we started our visa process  to when we could legally get our money out. 

 

Every Dollar you earn in Australia is worth a Dollar. 

Every Rand you earn in South Africa is worth 10c.

[Basil1]

On 23/01/2018 at 6:12 AM, RYLC said:

 

See this ^^ is your problem: none of us really did it for the financial gain. We almost all did it for safety, security, first world service, our children's future, better job prospects for those with a quota ceiling over their heads. Having a better financial future is just a happy by-product from living in a country with a stable economy overall.  

 

If you start counting the money that the move will cost as not saving for your retirement then you will drive yourself crazy.  It costs what it costs and years from now you won't specifically remember exactly each step and how much it costs, only that you didn't move when you should have. You have to get over this part and just think of it as the price of entry.

 

As relative youngsters in your early 30's with your whole working lives ahead of you, it would be virutally impossible to not have enough for retirement here in Australia (between superannuation and government pensions). You are starting out at the same point as any other fairly young worker.  Actually probably slightly ahead because you'll arrive with no debt.

 

As for being a success story yourselves in the future: that is up to you, your attitude to money and how you choose to live your lives.  A great book to help you get your head around how to do it in Australia is called The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape. It is a step by step approach geared specifically for people trying to secure their financial future and buy a home.  Everything else is up to you...

@RYLC thanks for your response.  I'd like to make it clear that I am not making it all about the money.  As stated before, we ARE making the move, no matter the cost!  I was just having doubts (as i guarantee you all went through during the process!) This thread has, however, really put my doubts to rest - so thanks again to all for commenting.

I have marked your answer as best because it best states the reason why we are all leaving/have already left - You hit the nail on the head!  Thanks for being so straight and a realist about it.

 

On 20/01/2018 at 9:59 PM, ZADE1234 said:

Your Sa investmests will be worth much less by the time you retire, thanks to the exchange rate and inflation. THe sooner you start over, the sooner you can get on with earning real cash.

I love this.  Thanks!

 

On 21/01/2018 at 3:20 AM, SimpleSimon said:

One word of caution if you are thinking of moving to Australia. Your topic “can you sell me financially”. I’m sure you asked it with the best of intentions and South Africans are generally  straight forward, honest and Frank.

 

However, having been in Oz for a while, my first thoughts were “why do I have to sell to you, it’s a privilege for you to be invited into our country”.

 

The lesson is Australians think differently and it’s possible to annoy us and never know about it.

@SimpleSimon thanks for this!  My apologies if it did come across as a bit arrogant - that really was not my intention at all!  As @AFreshStart said above, immigration is a privilege.  We would feel very privileged to be invited to apply for a visa to Australia.  The direction from which the question was posed was one of me putting my family first and not wanting to get us into any kind of turmoil by moving them Downunder!  By the responses that I have received, I now see that to not move my family would actually be the greater risk.

 

I agree that the matter of urgency is always in play - even if SA is seeing a stronger Rand post the ANC internal elections! 

 

If I may change the direction of this thread slightly (however, still on the matter of urgency) I would like to ask your opinions on taking out a personal loan in order to immigrate.  Does anyone have first-hand experience or as least know anyone who did it that way?  My wife and I have been chatting about various ways of immigrating sooner.  I'm sure that many of you can relate when I say that my wife is becoming increasingly paranoid about our safety in SA, especially knowing now that we are indeed going to immigrate, the feeling of insecurity just compounds!

Anyway, back to the point - can anyone elaborate on the above? Can we leave SA with the debt of a personal loan? Would we still have to have a functioning SA bank account for the bank to debit from, or can it be done from an international bank account (Aus account)?

 

Any information would be appreciated.

 

Thanks all

 

BMDJ

[Mel-B]

Well, it cost us every cent we had to get here. Sometimes I think it was pure madness what we did. No jobs, family, friends, not even a connection. 6 months we were unemployed, and lived on our savings. Now we are 2 years in, living on 1 aussie salary, and 1 freelance income salary from SA (on and off income, sometimes more, sometimes less). And we have some savings saved up again, we have not done a holiday yet, but will do soon I think. Also will be salary sacrificing soon (putting more into the pension fund). We didn't even have a pension in SA. I wouldn't say we are better off financially - maybe a little bit more. But we are better off in every other aspect - freedom and safety, opportunities for kids, etc. We are overall much happier in Melbourne than we were in Pretoria. Wish we had come sooner.

[Basil1]

@Mel-Bthanks for sharing. We honestly cannot wait to experience the lifestyle in Australia. 

[RedPanda]

On 26/01/2018 at 6:18 PM, Basil1 said:

 

If I may change the direction of this thread slightly (however, still on the matter of urgency) I would like to ask your opinions on taking out a personal loan in order to immigrate.  Does anyone have first-hand experience or as least know anyone who did it that way?  My wife and I have been chatting about various ways of immigrating sooner.  I'm sure that many of you can relate when I say that my wife is becoming increasingly paranoid about our safety in SA, especially knowing now that we are indeed going to immigrate, the feeling of insecurity just compounds!

Anyway, back to the point - can anyone elaborate on the above? Can we leave SA with the debt of a personal loan? Would we still have to have a functioning SA bank account for the bank to debit from, or can it be done from an international bank account (Aus account)?

 

Any information would be appreciated.

 

Thanks all

 

BMDJ

Emphasis added by me.

@Basil1 this is not a thread, so you can't really do much about its direction. Let me explain: It's in a Question-Answer format, so it's organised by the 'Best Answer' to your original question. It's not necessarily chronological. So anyone who wants to view it afterwards is going to have a hard time reading it as a conversation. And if people add to it, you might not even really be able to find their answers afterwards, unless it was marked as good. If you want to have a sequential discussion, I suggest you start a Thread. Or if you have a new question, start a new question.

[Nev]

For us Australia has been fantastic,
This is the land of opportunity where you don't need to feel guilty for being successful, and if you make something of yourself it is because you work damn hard not because you were born with an advantage, you wouldn't believe what a difference this makes to your outlook on life, this is possibly the biggest drawcard for me in Auz

 

• We arrived here 7 years ago with $700 in the bank and no stuff (457 visa)
• I started on 50% more than my RSA salary & within the second year i was earning double my RSA salary, in RSA we were living month to month but here even with the substantially higher costs in Melbourne over 3 years we furnished a 3 bed house and saved enough to buy a flat in South Africa cash should we have wanted - Not that we ever would  
• My wife got cancer and we spent all of the savings on private care (she is great now & I don't regret it in the least, you can always make more money)
• We then hit the road as homeless with a 11 month old kid, we wanted to try something that wasn't the office grind,
• We spent a year and a half in a camper trailer, then 6 months in a small caravan, traveling the east coast and working as a Microsoft trainer, when we got started there were many months that I couldn't make my car payment and we learnt to live healthily and easily off under $1k a month with no government help (Family of 3's Food, Rent, Petrol...everything included)
• It started working well but we wanted another kid and indoor plumbing was a must, so about a year ago, I went into business with another bloke here in Sydney and we now have 9 Permanent staff (7 here in Australia) and about 8 Contractors around the world working for us, we have no debt and are working on savings again, 

 

Where i am heading with this is that this is a land of opportunity where you can work hard and make a success of yourself, I don't have a degree, college or a trade qualification, but if you are prepared to work really hard you will do really well and people don't look at your stuff and say that you need to give it to them because you don't deserve it.

 

Stop thinking about it and just get over here and start your new life, it is great

Edited January 28, 2018 by Nev

[ChrisH]

On 1/26/2018 at 5:18 PM, Basil1 said:

If I may change the direction of this thread slightly (however, still on the matter of urgency) I would like to ask your opinions on taking out a personal loan in order to immigrate.  Does anyone have first-hand experience or as least know anyone who did it that way?  My wife and I have been chatting about various ways of immigrating sooner.  I'm sure that many of you can relate when I say that my wife is becoming increasingly paranoid about our safety in SA, especially knowing now that we are indeed going to immigrate, the feeling of insecurity just compounds!

 

As much as I hate personal loans I would say that people need to do whatever they must to get their visas as soon as possible.  If a personal loan means that you can apply for your visa tomorrow vs having to save for a year or two then 100% definitely do it.  Emigration is getting harder and harder and they might not need your skills by the time you have saved up enough money.  

 

In terms of paying it off, you'd have to have a South African bank account with enough money to service the debit orders or you could just whack it quickly with your first couple of $ paychecks.  

[Basil1]

@RedPanda thanks for the correction and reminder that this is the question/answer format! Much appreciated.

 

@ChrisH, thanks for your answer.  I really don't want to go the personal loan route, but if it means leaving SA sooner then its what we'll do.  Our plan is to save as much as we can this year to pay for the admin side (IELTS test, work assessment with EA, Police Clearance, Medicals etc.) and then take out a loan to subsidise the balance to actually get over to Oz.  It may not be as black and white, but that's the plan anyway.

[Basil1]

@Nev thank you so much for sharing your story.  I'm thrilled that things have turned around for you and your family. Oz truly sounds like the land of opportunity.

[tcmiller]

Money is not everything though. I walked through the Brisbane CBD at 11:00pm at night with no worries. You simply cannot put a price on your safety. I literally earn less in Australia than I did in South Africa and my cost of living is much higher. Less money left over at the end of the month and yet I am much happier here. I wouldn't go back for anything.