45

46

The best thing about this thread is it has revealed just how out of touch many people on this branch are with the real world.

(All these figures are before tax)

- Average FULL TIME wage in Australia is $55,448. That means half the full time working population of this country earns LESS than $55,448. (source - ABS wage figures
- Average total wage (that is, including overtime) is $58,000 (same source)
- The average wage of ALL workers in Australia is $44,517 (that is, all people who work, including part time, casual etc). (Same source)
- According to this year's budget, 80% of TAXPAYERS pay 30% or less - that means just 20% of taxpayers declare income of more than $75,000 per year.

These are all pre-tax individual figures.

The most recent ABS stats on family income are from 2003-2004. A little out of date but still a useful guide (I'm assuming the census has better data).

The excel spread sheet can be seen here

Table 2 shows that:
- About 1 million of Australia 7.7 million households has gross income of more than $100,000
- About half of all HOUSEHOLDS have GROSS income of LESS than $50,000 per year.

So half of All Australian familes get by on less than $50,000 per year. And that's before the child care costs for the 2 parent working familes, the mortgage or the rent.

In other words, the experience of people on this branch who have very comfortable well paid jobs that let them hang around on websites likes this all day while being paid enormous salaries, and taking frequent overseas trips is NOT even remotely typical of what is going on out there in the suburbs.

Some of you might like to think of that next time you complain about having to tighten your belt so you can afford your annual overseas holiday. Most Australian familes regard as week at the coast every january as the highlight of the year, and a trip to Disneyland as a once in a lifetime event they will spend years saving for, and paying off.

47

nette @ 49 and others - you might like to compare your income with the rest of the world

Global rich list

Mr P & I, who don't make anywhere near the average wage, are in the top .91%. In fact we consider ourselves well-off - but we don't live in Sydney.

48

Telephoto- real estate.

Hammer...

Quote

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That means half the full time working population of this country earns LESS than $55,448

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no, it means if you add up the income of all full time workers and divide by the number of workers then the result is $55,448.

You're thinking of median which is different.

49

Yeah, the real estate agent I bought my house off gave up being a dentist. Real estate pays more.

Is your company residential or commercial real estate?

50

Excellent post, Hamer.

Might I just add that in their own obscenely obsessive little ways (in their blinkered quest for the filthy lucre) some posters here would be prime closet candidates in voting for Team Gnome and their sole motivating raison dentre for doing so is hip pocket.

51

The 50% level (half richer, half poorer) in #54's worldwide spreadsheet is an annual income of US$850 a year.

When you are born in the west, you have already won the lottery of life.

52

yep, great post hamer.

i think though that on one hand there's the issue of what, objectively, is a reasonable amount of money to live by, and what is a reasonable amount of money to leave one's 80k pounds sterling job in the UK and move to the other side of the world for.

100K aud as posited by sare and others is probably perfectly reasonable for the latter, but not the former.

i think we're all arguing 2 different points here probably - one that's pertinent to the OP and one that's related but of a more general nature.

i make less than hamer's average full time wage stat of 55 odd thou - and i feel rich! really rich! and let's be honest - i am.

53

No, carry on as you were, Sare. I learn something everyday.

54

#55 - yes, if you want to get technical, but the mean and the median won't be that much different, maybe a few thousand either way.

But the ABS family income figures I quite are percentiles - so I notice you don't dispute those figures.

But then what would I know, I don't own a holiday home or a farm, and only make it overseas once every 2 years.

55

well since you're in a learning frame of mind why not show us all how to correctly use 'raison d'être' in a sentence?

56

Sorry, I've got the flu quite badly and I'm not thinking straight. I'll try harder next time if that suits.

57

aw, c'mon - what's a little misspelling among friends? it won't help us feed the world's poor, etc.

58

Hamer is 100% correct. I count myself as one of the very, very lucky ones of the world.

59

Ps - Thanks nette for bringing it back to the point of the OP - the discussion was begun in the context of OP's enquiry, which set out certain parameters.

If OP is happy to live in a modest suburban house in a pretty part of the western, southern or northwestern suburbs (the world doesn't stop at Central station), then he could be pretty damned comfortable on 100K . . . but would it be worthwhile uprooting family from an established life in London? Well, that would depend on other, extrinsic factors such as quality of life overall.

It's a bit like reading ria's posts about housing in Melbourne....a 58K income, before tax and super and $500/week rent do not go together. OP wants a house, not an apt, probably minimum 3 bedrooms, with a backyard, in a nicer part of town, on a train line. That's looking at a 350/week minimum rent, even in not-posh suburbs.

Families on average and less incomes are genuinely struggling with Sydney rents at the moment, much less mortgages.

As for sare's railway line, well, I'm on the same one, and I haven't had to endure an armpit in my face for years. Sometimes it's just a function of where you get on - and which train you catch, even which carriage (more people in the middle ones). I'm sure OP is well used to the London Tube or rail system and crowding. Whichever line he ended up living on, I'm sure tips could be forthcoming about which station to get on at to secure a seat!