need advice: moving to Austrlia.

[jazzman]

Hi there,

I live in Canada and have been offered a full-time position in Sydney as a software specialist. The assignment is at least 2 years long and the technology is top-notch that I have not been ablt to get into it in Canada.

But I am torn with all the logistics and financial issues. I have been offered a $120 package which includes the base, car allow., bonus, and superann. The title is Systems Specialist, so it is not a project manager role. Is this a reasonable package? Any items that I should pay particular attension to in signing the deal?

What is the cost of living in Sydney anyhow, say for a modest 2 bedrm apartment and all the health and car insurances for a non-resident? Any help will be appreciated!

Jazzman

[Richary]

$120,000 is a pretty good package for Sydney. House prices are the scary thing there now, if you wanted to buy.

Have a look at www.domain.com.au which will give you an idea of rental and purchase prices. Affordable if you move out to the Blue Mountains or Central Coast but be prepared for a long drive or train trip.

Not sure about current car/house insurance prices there, having lived out of Sydney and now over in Adelaide.

[SNIFTER]

The $$$ look good for that sort of deal. It really will depend on the location that you will be working in. Most of that sort of thing is either in our CBD or at North Ryde. It will depend if you need to be near transport at all. You have a car but do they supply parking for you if you work in the city. It takes 1-1 1/2 hours to drive from the outskirts into the main cbd. If I were you and had this sort of opportunity I wouldn't let it pass me by.
I know that there are several Sydney cachers in IT so they may be the ones to chat to.
The only thing you need to watch out for are the kangaroos going down Pitt St in the CBD.

[EcoTeam]

The $$$ look good for that sort of deal. It really will depend on the location that you will be working in. Most of that sort of thing is either in our CBD or at North Ryde. It will depend if you need to be near transport at all. You have a car but do they supply parking for you if you work in the city. It takes 1-1 1/2 hours to drive from the outskirts into the main cbd. If I were you and had this sort of opportunity I wouldn't let it pass me by.
I know that there are several Sydney cachers in IT so they may be the ones to chat to.
The only thing you need to watch out for are the kangaroos going down Pitt St in the CBD.

Don't forget the Drop-Bears, and our famous Harbour Bridge which connects Australia to NZ

EcoDave

[SNIFTER]

I didn't want to scare him that much.

[leek]

I'm in the same line of work and $120k is a reasonable salary considering the market at the moment.
<br><br>
One important thing you can do to make it stretch a lot further is to persuade the company to class you as "Living Away From Home" and thereby eligible for the LAFH tax concession. If you get that status, you can do the following and more:
<ul><li>pay your rent out of your pre-tax salary, thereby reducing it by about 48% or afford a better place to live</li>
<li>Deduct the cost of one flight home for you and your family per year out of your pre-tax salary</li>
<li>Claim a tax deduction for clothes and food due to the different cost of living here</li>
<li>Other neat stuff that will save you money (it's so long ago that I did it - I forget what)</li></ul><br>

You can do all the above for about 4 years, OR until you show any intention of staying in Australia (whichever is the earlier). Just don't tell the Aussies about it coz they get jealous - Oh dear, I think I just did...<br><br>

There is a public health system in Australia which is free, but you will may need to wait for non-essential stuff and you may need to pay for some specialist treatments. Private health insurance will cost about $120 per month for a single person... <br>
I don't know what sort of car Eco-Dave drives, but my fully-comp car insurance costs $900 per year.<br><br>

Hope this helps... Take the opportunity - you'll never regret it... Sydney is a great place to live and besides that, the caches are much better than you will have seen anywhere else...<br><br>

p.s. the most important thing you need to do before coming over is learn how to spell Australia properly

[EcoTeam]

I'm in the same line of work and $120k is a reasonable salary considering the market at the moment.
<br><br>
One important thing you can do to make it stretch a lot further is to persuade the company to class you as "Living Away From Home" and thereby eligible for the LAFH tax concession. If you get that status, you can do the following and more:
<ul><li>pay your rent out of your pre-tax salary, thereby reducing it by about 48% or afford a better place to live</li>
<li>Deduct the cost of one flight home for you and your family per year out of your pre-tax salary</li>
<li>Claim a tax deduction for clothes and food due to the different cost of living here</li>
<li>Other neat stuff that will save you money (it's so long ago that I did it - I forget what)</li></ul><br>

You can do all the above for about 4 years, OR until you show any intention of staying in Australia (whichever is the earlier). Just don't tell the Aussies about it coz they get jealous - Oh dear, I think I just did...<br><br>

There is a public health system in Australia which is free, but you will may need to wait for non-essential stuff and you may need to pay for some specialist treatments. Private health insurance will cost about $120 per month for a single person... <br>
I don't know what sort of car Eco-Dave drives, but my fully-comp car insurance costs $900 per year.<br><br>

That's about the cost of mine too for a $27000 vectra. But if you have a WRX or something equally "steal-worthy" insured for the same amount you could pay 5 times that. Live in a supposed "bad" suburb and you pay a LOT extra - up to double or more... If you are under 25 you get hammered, and if you are MALE you get hit with a bigger excess too...

I only pay $20/month for my private health cover, and I'm a single male! (just so I can save money on the Medicare levy )

EcoDave

[jazzman]

Goodness, am I embarrassed or what! I misspelled Australia on the subject?!? It was the end of the dayÂ…excusesÂ…excusesÂ….

Anyhow, THANK YOU so much for all the information. Your responses are most helpful! The company is in Rhodes and the company is classifying me as “Living away from home.Ââ€

[tolmh]

I am excited!

Geez, 'e's not even 'ere yet and 'e's awreddy tawkin' loik Big Kev.

[SNIFTER]

Don't come the raw prawn just yet. Give him a sec to decide what to do. Ah Rhodes...Opposite Congregation is the local cache and RF is close by. I can just see you living in Newington. That is the suburb that used to be the Olympic village.
Come on down, we would love to have another cacher in our midst.

[Ebenezer]

I have been offered a $120 package which includes the base, car allow., bonus, and superann.

Are they looking for any more employees??

[Geodean]

I hear it would perhaps be cheaper to live in SA and buy your own jet and travel to work everyday than living in Sydney

[SNIFTER]

Can I be your PA?

[ToolkiT]

I have been offered a $120 package which includes the base, car allow., bonus, and superann.

Are they looking for any more employees??

That was my first thought too.

I got offered a substantial smaller package and can live very well off it..
Especially with the LAFHA. Mine is allready part of the payroll so I dont need to mess with receipts etc, very convenient..

Send me an email to fwilbrin at hotmail and I can probably give you some more info...

all in all your package sounds pretty good and I can recommend comming here, biggest problem is you may not want to go back anymore

[Bronze]

Australians take Australia for granted most of the time - I left the country for four months and when I returned is when I fell in love with it. Guess its true that you don't know what you have until it gone.

Bronze.