# Is 73K per annum is enough?



## meiang1974

Hello,
I'm just new here. 
We are currently residing in Singapore. My husband got a job offer of A$73K salary per annum in Melbourne. I just want to get your opinion if it is enough for a family of 5. We are not Australian PR and we will come there under hubby’s company sponsor visa.
Expenses:
1. Housing (2 bedroom house)
2. Kids' Education
2.1 Catholic School (x2)
2.2 Special Education School (x1 My son has Autism)
2.3 School bus
3. Electricity, gas, water, phone
4. Food
5. Car (car monthly mortgage price, gas, maintenance, insurance)
6. Health Insurance for non PR like us
7. Health check-up in a nearby clinic or hospital
6. Which suburbs is near to VIC3000(postal code) which is safe and has good school for my kids (Public or Catholic). My hubby don’t mind to drive far to work. Our priority is to stay in a safe community and has good school for my kids. Specially for my son who has special needs.
7. Any child care in the area? I might need to go to work to help hubby until we’re financially settled.
8. Relocation Service of all our stuffs from Singapore to Australia (for any member here came from Singapore)
9. Affordable airlines from SG to AU and vice versa (for member who came from Singapore)

Thank you so much. Any inputs and advices are greatly appreciated.


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## chicken999

What job does he do. 73k is great income for 1 person but don't think family of 5 can live on it and expect ur kids to go to private schools too

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## meiang1974

Thanks for your reply chicken99.
He is in IT.
I know that sending my kids to Private School will be tough. I thought Catholic School is much cheaper than Private School?
Appreciate if you can share your views on my other concerns on expenses. I need a rough figure of how much we need.
Thank you.


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## chicken999

I don't have kids so not much knowledge about that sort of stuff but we only have 2 types of schools public which anyone can go too and which includes special schools for special kids and private schools all of which are pretty expensive whether they are religious schools or not. Hane u checked out the Medicare site to see off uare entitled to any free health care. Aussies pay percentage of our wage to cover us but don't know about foreigners. Rents u can check out on real estate.com.au anything close to cbd in big cities is always more expensive. For example I'm in alderley Brisbane ( use google maps) and I pay 380 pw for 2 bed townhouse cause its only 15 mins on train to cbd where I work. For private health costs go to choosi.com.au as they compare healthins and other ins also. Food depends where u shop cheap groceries at aldi u can see prices at Coles online.com.au but ordering online is bit dearer than in person but will give u an idea. Car - my 6cyl costs 900 a year for gov rego fee and about 500 a year to insure but that's with rating one as newbie with new rating urs will be more. Check out colesinsuranceonline.com.au or youi insurance to give u idea. To buy car check out car sales.com,au. Don't no if I am much help but didn't see anyone else answering so thought I would try 

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## chicken999

Air Asia is cheapest flights

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## chicken999

Petrol 150 litre. Elec is really expensive. Most families will pay around 80 $ a week. My bill is about $200 for 3 months but I live alone. Phons just use ur mobile don't get house phone unless u doa bundle and get it free with ur Internet. I.e 100 per month gets u net, unlimited local calls. Mobiles cheap I pay 30 a month which gives me 300$ credit.

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## Boboa

Chicken your prices are crazy. My Internet is $58 unlimited downloads and uploads. Electricity bill $55 per month with dryer and aircon.

This is not an immigration advice


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## chicken999

U must have better deals than me are in qld? The 100 Internet deal with free calls is Optus. My elec is about 65 a month or 200 3 months so not much different to urs

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## Dexter

I pay $600 per quarter of electricity in 2 bedroom unit in Sydney South. 

As for $73k salary - it is not bad although for IT it is nothing special. If you send your children to public schools, you will not pay much for it. Not sure about cost of special education. 

I would say is nothing special and you would need a second income of around $30 - $35k per annum to be able to survive without stress.


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## cjka

If you aren't a PR, the government charges 4 or 4.5K for public school. Private catholic school will charge half of that. Public school can be waived if you write a letter stating your financial situation (single income family). The government/school can then decide to help you out.

If you get PR, then you can pretty much transfer to public school. Public and private provide the same quality education. Even public school has religion classses.

Try salary market research for Melbourne IT jobs that you're husband will get. Since 457 (work sponsored visa) no longer has LAFHA, you get all the tax that the government wants. Also check the contract if salary has annual increases or not. If you get stuck on that pay, you may not be happy in comparison to others working in the industry.

Also try to search the rental rates where you plan to live (realestate.com.au/domain.com.au)


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## citaherbst

Hi, we moved here 6 months ago on 457 visa. We are in QLD. We are a family of four and we pay $30 per year, for one child. Our elecktricity is high $700 every 3 months. Maybe its because we are in a remote town?They say everything is more expensive here and my husband gets a salary of $93 000 a year, normal 3 bedroom home is $600 a week. 
Good luck to you


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## randomwally

I was ready to come in here and say, "Yes, $73,000 is plenty to live on". With a family to support and children to send to school, I think it will be tight, but definitely doable if you budget well. A second income would make things much more comfortable.


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## savage

It really comes down to a lot of factors, and the choices that you make. With regards to housing in Melbourne, the prices swing wildly. If you want to live in the Eastern suburbs or anywhere near downtown, you will pay a huge premium. If you're happy to live in the Western suburbs you will pay a lot less, but it isn't as nice (generally).

I'm an IT professional here on a spousal visa and I'm making $78,000, not including superannuation. We are single income, and my wife stays at home with our daughter. We were able to purchase a home about 40KMs west of the city (on the train network) for $250,000, and it's a beautiful home on a large block of land. I personally work in the Western suburbs, so my commute is very short 20 minutes. To take the train downtown from Melton/Caroline Springs is less than an hour.

With regards to Catholic or other Christian schools, you can expect to pay $3-5000 per year per child tuition. The public schools are good here, well funded etc. But if you are religious, there are plenty of good Christian schools around to choose from.

There are just so many factors and it really comes down to what you NEED to have versus what you can live without. If you want to eat at restaurants a lot, well Australia is just not an affordable place to live that way on only $73k and a family of 5. If you make your own meals, are energy conscious around the house, are willing to drive used cars etc, well then in my opinion yes you can pull it off, but it will still be tight.

I'll also point out that experienced IT professionals in Australia can generally earn $90-100k without much trouble. Perhaps your husband should insist on a better package... I certainly would.


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## oompaloompa

Hi meiang,
I earn round the same salary, live in Melb, and originally frm Malaysia. My kids go to Catholic school as well. OK here are my thoughts hope I am not too late! PM me if u wish.

For what u require 73K is a tough struggle lor. Even 100K is enough only.

Rental - $1300 
Electricity - $ 80
Water - $80
Gas - $100
School - $670
Car repayment - $300
Petrol - $400
Insurance - $70
Car reg - $45
Internet unlimited - $60
Land line - $30
Public transport -$150 (Zone 1 travel)
Food - $600
Health insurance - non PR have diff rates so no idea. If u dont have Medicare means u have to use health insurance for GP visits.

Most rentals would not allow a family of 5 to rent a 2 BR house. U would need at least a 3 or 4 BR house. For rentals go to Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au. Rental depends on where u live of course. Where does hubby work? Is there public transport there etc.? For example a 3 bedroom house in Tarneit, 28km from CBD, is $300 a week. In a old 2BR apartment in an area like South Melbourne, 3 km from CBD, is $250 a week.

Cars are cheap (no 10 year old rule, no COE). If budget can go for cheap car less than 10K.

Private Catholic school fee depends on year level. Year 11-3.3K, Year 12-4K. Includes special needs as well (but dunno how severe yr son is and whether school got special programs). Also many catholic schools bursting 2 seams so sometimes no choice. Question is if u non PR whether u have 2 pay different fees.


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## savage

No 50k is definitely not enough... have a read back through everyone's comments so far on this thread. Your wife would need to work as well.


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## 27272 - deactivated

Thanks for reply. It really helps.



savage said:


> No 50k is definitely not enough... have a read back through everyone's comments so far on this thread. Your wife would need to work as well.


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