nicolac34

I guess like ali suggests it really depends on the motivation behind the move in the first place. If you were to come over on tourist visas would you be able to stay with your family the whole time? Would you want to? Would they want you to?? It's a nice idea but unless they have a self contained accommodation or you are going to buy/rent somewhere for the duration of your stay it makes it difficult. The parent visa is a massive cost, and I think I would reconsider not wanting to work at all - even if you just found something part-time. My parents came over on the 173 and then converted to the 143 to split the cost. They arrived on a tourist visa, bought a caravan and traveled around Australia whilst waiting for their visa to be granted. They were in their mid-50's when they arrived and intended to work (and still do at 60 now) and really enjoy their work so intend to keep doing it for a while yet (FYI they both do completely different jobs from what they did in England). The financial position they arrived in allowed them to purchase a house outright and have some small savings (once paying for the visa) but very little in the way of funds when they retire, so they need to work and build up some retirement funds. If that's not something that you think you'll be able to do, or you think you'll struggle - then it's probably not a good idea.

Hi Reidy Costs of childcare range from around $90 per day per child up to $150 per day per child depending on the centre you use. The long-daycare centre I use for example charges $115 per day per child (this is in Caversham, so suburbia). One I used in the CBD was $140 per day. Family day-care (childminding in the persons own home) is usually a bit cheaper. The system is changing as of 1 July, basically as long as you meed residency requirements (perm visa/citizen) and work/study the required hours you will be entitled to an amount off the daily fee. This is all dependent on your household income and is a sliding scale, the less you earn the more rebate you get. As an example, an average family, earning average earnings will be entitled to a 50% rebate on the fees. If your household income exceeds $180k a year then your rebate will be capped to $10k per year per child (so if your childcare fees are $22k per year and you earn over the threshold you'd be out of pocket $12k a year). If your income exceeds $350k a year (I think) then you get no rebate at all.

I'll give you ours, you can take out what you wouldn't have. We are 2 adults a toddler and 1 on the way - renting whilst we build a house. Weekly: Rent - $350 Broadband - $18.50 Foxtel - $14.70 Home Insurance - $16.35 Utilities - $35 Private Health - $43.33 Mobile Phones (2) - $8.65 Parking/Train - $75 Rego - $16.35 Car Insurance - $9.62 Car Servicing - $9.23 Fuel - $35 Food - $160 Childcare - $172.50 (3 days per week) Swimming Lessons - $15.30 We also have a mortgage, rates on the land and utilities on the land but didn't think they'd be relevant.

We will be moving to South Guildford next year and I'm trying to do a bit of research on schools. We have a 2 year old and one on the way currently. We will be in the catchment for Guildford Primary and Woodbridge Primary as public schools, but I know there are a few private options dotted around. Just wondered if anyone had experiences of the public offerings? We wouldn't be looking into sending them to a religious school, which I know counts out many private ones given they are mostly catholic!

You can get started whenever you want, you don't need to wait for them to tell you how much to pay. Just log on to their website and start giving them some money

Only if you don't pay the balance every month. You'd have to question your financial sense to pay a loan with a credit card and then not pay it off straight away.

When we had loan commitments we used to send back larger sums of money for the direct debits that came out of our UK accounts. You could ask but I'm not sure bank loans and the like will let you pay it of via credit card (can't pay for credit with credit). We used Ozforex (now called OFX I think) as you have to send back about $2k at a time from memory. The beauty of the Student Loans website is that you can just make random payments so you can use a credit card to pay (although make sure you select 'debit' card from the drop down list to avoid a fee)

I've paid off my loan already and we are nearly done on my husbands loan. It's all fairly simple - they send you some paperwork to complete, basically stating your income, or if you're not working how you are supporting yourself, send it back along with proof (3 months payslips or a contract) and they write back and tell you how much they want a month from you. It can appear to be eye-wateringly expensive to pay back from here, and be aware that you don't have to take their first offer They told me to pay back £364 a month - which was stupid so I wrote back and said I couldn't afford that (was supporting my unemployed husband at the time) and they negotiated it down to £200 a month. We use a credit card that doesn't attract overseas fees and pay it monthly on their website, we've also paid off chunks at a time if we had it and then not paid anything for a couple of months. They are quite hot on chasing you for money if you don't pay now - they keep emailing and telling us we are in arrears - we are not - and we keep replying telling them this, but it takes them 28 days to read and email and then get around to replying - we'll have paid it off by the time they work out what the hell is going on.

Hi Andy, Does this apply to just government funded pensions? I was just about to start the process of transferring an employer (private company) stakeholder pension that sits with Legal and General currently over into Kinetic Super - should I hold off?

Yep, that's why I said it was legal to drive, but not entirely sensible. Finance companies do require you to have fully-comp insurance (and provide proof) before they'll loan you the cash. I just bought a car from Landrover and before I got the cheque (through RAC finance) I had to take out insurance, was easier to just go through the RAC as it was all done at the same time, even if they weren't really the cheapest. For me, Progressive Online is the cheapest - but it changes from year to year and is a pain that they don't all subscribe to the comparison websites!

Will you have bought the car from the UK? If you don't have the car yet you can't insure it, but if you do, like anything these days it can all be done online providing you have an address where the vehicle is being kept. Forget your no claims, you start from scratch here. Oh and you can drive straight away without comprehensive insurance, part of the car's rego covers 3rd party insurance so it's legal to drive, if not entirely sensible.

Just to clarify - if your wife isn't working why would you have any childcare costs? Childcare is about $95 per day per child before the rebate - and you are entitled to $7,500 per child per year to cover childcare costs. Your commute into the City - depends where you will be renting, a return from Cockburn for example is $7.64 per day, 5 days a week is $38.20. You can have a look on the transperth website for the different zoning and stations to see what your costs would be, but $100 seems steep per week. Gas we pay $50 a month, Elec $100 a month, water $100 a month (but you wouldn't have water rates if renting, only usage which is only about $20 a month). Internet is pricey, expect to pay around $80-$100 per month for this depending on your plan. Fuel - depends where you are driving, we spend about $70 a weekish on fuel, but we commute by car into the City every day. Healthcare is another one depending on your policy, we pay nearly $300 a month for this a couple, but have quite high coverage, it can be done a lot cheaper. Food, probably right, we spend nearly $200 a week and there is only two of us, but we chuck whatever we like in the trolly, so could be cheaper if we tried harder. Other things that spring to mind: Cars? Will you buy outright? You'll need insurance and rego costs Foxtel? Not necessary, but free to air TV is pretty dismal Home contents insurance? Quite expensive out here $130k is a decent salary - is that plus super? Certainly enough to get you started on anyway, but don't be surprised with how quick it gets eaten up!

My recent experience is that it's tough, and even if you are prepared to 'do anything' there are lots of other people willing to do the same. My parents started looking for work in October last year, mum has just recently got a casual care job - so driving round to people's houses and cleaning mostly, it's hard work and she never knows how many hours she'll have in a week or where they will send her (some weeks 20 hours, others 5 hours) so she's still looking for something else in the care industry - but again not picky - applying for anything. (She was a childminder in the UK, but doesn't have the quals required here) Dad managed to get a job with TNT for 6 weeks through someone he met at the golf course, being driven around and loading and unloading deliveries. Again hard work and very long hours, but he's not complaining as he knows it's only for 6 weeks. Dad was a Materials/Production Planner in the UK. I was made redundant from Oil & Gas in June last year, other than an 8 week temp assignment it took until November to secure a permanent job. For me I was being relatively picky - I wanted to work in my industry (governance) and there are hardly any jobs in Perth. The two jobs I applied for that came up in that space of time I got offered on the same day, so even though I was out of work for 4 months I count myself lucky.

Hiya Do you have a link to your gumtree add with previous works? I'm getting quote for a bathroom renovation and it's taking the plumber forever to get back to me. We are splitting the current semi-ensuite into two (ensuite and main bathroom) and keen to get going with it all. We also need a quote for the kitchen, installing a sink and new range oven/cook top and moving the taps in the laundry and installing a new sink in there. So quite a few jobs Based in Yangebup though, would you come this far south?

For those of you using an aussie card make sure you have one with zero foreign transaction fees - will save you a lot in the long run. I've got a Bankwest Platinum card for that very reason. Also if a shop asks whether you would like to be charged in AUD or GBP make sure you always say GBP!!! They'll stiff you with the exchange rate otherwise and you'll still be charged a foreign transaction fee with your bank/card if you don't have a zero fee one.