It's always hard me for to track how I'm going financially, I don't feel comfortable asking my friends their salary, so I though I would ask the OzBargain community.
Usually when you ask these questions you get lots of people posting that earn big money and not many average earners.
I ask this question as I feel like i'm going well for my age but still really struggling to make any progress in terms of saving. Would be good to see how others also spend their earnings.
does that mean homosexuals have an advantage in prison?
9.
21 years old. Day trader trading forex. Make 1mil a year average with 10mil in bank. Should i pay someone to wash my car?
No, I would never let someone else wash my Roll Royce, even though I picked it up cheap.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/169305
Thanks Oz Bargain!
nah. Your 18 yo super model mistress can do that for you.
Only if high yielding 80k car
26 year old
96K Salary IT professional
15K hecs debt remaining
560 rent a month
560 car repayments a month
You from Whirlpool?
Rent = car payments!
25 yo
120k salary in banking
0 hecs debt
3000 mortgage repayments including investment property (IO)
65k rental income
Work at Westpac by any chance?
As if that Westpac kid would have purchased an IP haha
Thankfully not. I don't even have a car - didn't want to buy a depreciating asset.
$65k rental income?? Is the investment property a moon base??
$500/week = $26k/year, so 3 properties perhaps?
One IP, on airbnb
Also have a flatmate in my PPOR
Moved overseas early last year, but for sake of your comparison the following was my situation just before I left Sydney:
25 years old, Salary $85k/year inc super, living at home so no rent, IP rental income $35k/year, IP mortgage $30k/year, transport $50/week, food and entertainment $150-200/week
Rent is obviously the big money drain. If you can't live at home, it is fairly difficult (but not impossible) to save money in substantial amounts, and even worse if you work around the CBD or other more expensive areas.
is this really good, or average? I don't know.
"Average" is very hard to quantify here, do you mean average for single professionals my age, average for Sydney in general, average in some other terms? I was earning more than the "average" for a 25yo person a year or two out of uni but definitely not at the top.
Like I said I also didn't have any rent to take into account, so I certainly wouldn't say I was earning enough to support myself in a general sense.
thanks for the response back. Mainly meant average for your age group…sounds like you did really well for yourself.
What are you doing overseas if i may ask? i'm similarly aged, and would love to move overseas.
@hahaboy: I wasn't unhappy with my situation back in Sydney. Enough to survive comfortably with some holidays and other luxuries here and there, and putting some money aside until it was necessary for me to move out. I was a lawyer in Sydney and moved to the UAE to do the same thing - better quality of work, higher salary with no tax.
Regardless of my situation, unless you have some particular reason to stay in Australia (parents need your help or a long-term partner, for example), I would always recommend working at least a year or two overseas. It takes you out of your comfort zone, opens your eyes in many ways and, depending on where you move, puts you a lot closer to the world than Australia - which is generally quite a long flight from anywhere.
@ninjawarrior: Would love to hear what the job market is like (popular industries) and your experience working in the UAE.
@Your Friend: Job market is naturally very dependent on your current field and position. Oil & gas, financial services, law or some other professions which aren't too limited by different international standards (my friend for example is an optometrist and would find it difficult to deal with licensing overseas etc) - there's very likely a job for you out here. There are certainly always jobs available in "sales" roles - real estate, financial marketers, job recruiters etc, but be aware it's a very risky proposition as these are usually commission-based and the UAE is not cheap in terms of rent or other living expenses. If you're not financially responsible and have some moderate savings to back you up, I would do some extensive research before taking a job along those lines.
Negatives first - summer heat is ridiculous (45 degrees every day) and you never really get used to that. The entire city runs off cheap labour, primarily people from South-East Asia who are underpaid and not particularly well-treated - it's certainly confronting at times. There is a little bit of adjusting to do in terms of religious sensitivity (trying not to be drunk in public for example), but not nearly as much as you might expect. It can be a pain dealing with public sector - government services can either be extremely fast or terribly inefficient.
Positives - if you do have a job with a decent salary, lifestyle is amazing. Services such as taxis, food delivery, dry cleaning are extremely cheap here compared to Australia. Plenty of "luxe" experiences, some of which are surprisingly cheap. No personal tax - call me short-sighted or selfish, but there's something rather satisfying about taking home your entire pay check. 90% of the population are expats, so the "culture shock" is not as bad as people usually think it is. Because less people here have large friend circles they've grown up with or families they rush home to, I found it much easier to get to know my colleagues on nights out over a couple of drinks.
The UAE is not for everyone, but personally I've had a fantastic time here over the last 18 months. Met some really cool people (including a lot of Emirates crew from all over the world), saved more money than I would have earned in Sydney even before tax, HECS and what not, and used the chance to travel to Europe and Asia at least once every 2-3 months.
sales consultant / investor
31, married, 2 kids
mortgage is completely offset but looking to upgrade soon
1x IP is about net neutral after costs and and repairs
try to round it all to annual numbers here:
car and all related expenses $11000 per year (novated lease)
house and related expenses about $8000 per year
groceries $12000 a year
entertaining including eating out $12000 a year
health insurance $2000 a year
misc spending and shopping $5000-10000 a year
phone and internet $2000 a year
total outgoing approx: $52000 - 57000
1 overseas trip per year, about 2-4 domestic trips a year that would be on top of that
Ill use percentages and dollar figures can get skewed. My outgoings are 75% of my monthly earnings. Have a partner who is studying full time therefore i have a single income supporting 2 people.
@overshopper
Differing views I guess in respect to housing.
I believe your first home isn't an investment but more so a place with the intent to live in.
Regardless of the capital appreciation of your home, the likelihood of any real benefits are diminished as whenever you decide to "upgrade" you will be paying more or if you decide to draw out the benefits you will be moving further away or into another city. Horizontal transfer of wealth is usually what happens ie You move to a suburb or down the road at roughly the same price.
With this in mind I saved up and bought one outright 30km from the CBD in a place where I can find plenty of work no matter what.
I could have gone 10km more out and bought 2 for the same price. But I'm not really into housing I'm a shares guy.
I do find the financial freedom of having no mortgage quite liberating at the moment.
In any case my lifestyle choices are not going to suit everyone. Investment wise I believe I'm making the right choice as any of my investment hence forth is positively geared regardless if its housing or shares. Some people love leveraging debt. I am conservative in my investment choices.
I wouldn't say you're doing badly on your current salary (which is now hidden in the revision history). I mean you'd only be a couple years out of uni at this stage. But if you really are a manager in marketing you could definitely be making more at another company. I'm sure larger corporates/multinationals would pay upwards of 100k for marketing managers? Dunno, big corporates seem to pay a lot more for IT salaries so i assume it's the same for other positions.
26 y.o.
High School Teacher + Radio (Brisbane)
Own my own home. Logan (QLD). Soon to be married.
I usually go on two or three overseas holidays per year in addition. School holidays help make time for it!
Why do teachers always complain about poor pay? That's a higher salary than my wife made as a pgy3 doctor. Seems like you're set-up nicely.
Agreed. As a high school teacher that is much more than I expected.
I partially agree. It's the salary ceiling that's the issue. Remember I have two jobs, not just teaching!
I did very well at uni and school. I could be on a six figure base salary by now in another profession. My younger sister (who's also very capable) started off at a lower salary than me as an analyst at KPMG, but with her talent is already out earning me in her first 3 years, and will likely make partner in the next 10-15 years.
In 10-15 years I may be JUST cracking six figures… if wage inflation keeps steady.
I love my job though and I love influencing students lives. If it wasn't for my successful investments, I'd be looking to another profession though. A tradie out earns me.
Would just like to add to the comments.
Teaching is an incredibly stressful job at times. One week it can be easy, the next - crazy! My personality is extremely thick skinned, rational and I can manage very high levels of stress. However, at times, I wanted to throw in the towel, wishing I had a job that finished at 5p.m. and didn't take a toll on my health and relationships. Many these issues come from parents and gossip. Some parents will do anything to protect their kids from their own mistakes (esp at private schools).
You can rarely 'relax' in front of a class, you have to constantly monitor your surroundings, making quick and justified decisions every few seconds - it's like you are in 'flight or fight' mode 4-5 hours everyday. No wonder so many teachers are bald….!
I am going to have a tiny bit of a teacher whinge here. I hear so much from teachers I know about poor pay and too much work, but that's not a bad salary and you've got enough time to have a second job.
Not trying to have a dig, i'm suitably impressed by your attitude, and approach to life (i.e the holidays make time for holidays!)
Not forgetting that they get 3 months off every year too.
@Brianqpr:
Sorry but this is BS. All the teachers I know work weekends doing marking and afternoons in meetings and planning lessons. Those holidays?…writing reports and lesson planning. I know civil servants and some private sector workers who get 9 day fortnights. This works out to be more pay and more holidays than teachers ever get.
@VicKiwi: Like in any job some manage their time more efficiently than others. There's always someone who is in the office way longer than others for no apparent reason.
My brother and sister in law are both experienced teachers. He's home by 3pm most days, and working during holidays is minimal, certainly not even scratching the surface towards making up the two month difference between school holidays and the 4 weeks annual leave most other people get.
Don't get me wrong, they do a great job. Its the constant moaning about how tough it is that is irritating. Many teachers have done it their whole career so don't know what its like to work other jobs with longer hours and far less leave/time at home.
It's because it doesn't scale much. Imagine being capped at 90k and some teachers do a lot of extra curricular stuff that isn't paid for. I reckon being a teacher is pretty selfless to be honest and should get a lot more respect than they do. In most other cultures teachers are a lot better paid and respected than they are here.
That's complete BS. Australian teachers have pretty much the highest wages in the world.
Teaching is more like 1.5 jobs - it can often be 12 hour days, opposed to the usual 8. You don't get paid for the extra.
That's like any other corporate role, I usually left the office at 7-8pm.
I have been teaching for 14 years and currently on $105k (including extra responsibilities). I started off on meagre $36k and the only way my salary goes up is inflation or I go for deputy/assistant principal or to become a principal (which is essentially a CEO with a salary of around $160k)
Or use your union and March in the streets ;)
Intern is PGY1 pay.
Intern don't get paid much as base wage but it builds up quickly when she's doing overtime (night ward call, weekend shifts).
Make sure she also do salary sacrifice (Remserv in QLD).
Big bucks comes when she's become a specialist :)
How do you have a $10K CC debt interest free?
Amazing. Will have to keep an eye out if it happens again. I'm in the process of paying mine off argh. Probably need to do a balance transfer soon.
Balance transfers with no interest, (and not BT fees!). Keep doing it from one bank to the next, taking advantage of their long interest free periods. It's helped me invest.
Sounds like you have your head screwed on. good job.
30 years old.
IT/Finance Industry (Brisbane)
Income:
$290k salary
$35k investment property
Expenses:
Approx $50k annually including rent.
I manage to save a bit.
Well done mate! With in an income that high, how much are you managing to invest? Do you have any other investments (aside from the property?). You could retire before you 40th birthday if you play tour cards right.
oh my gosh…. 290k………. so good………….
someone who makes this much money shouldn't be on ozbargain! I mean really, why would you care if you save a few dollars here or there, you can afford to pay full price.
But congrats on the great salary.
Just the one property, $100k left on $500k mortgage.
I should really work on some strategies to put my feet up earlier….
Yes. Don't squander your high income. Put it to work. I'd be buying 3-4 investment properties a year in your situation.
Everyone here is so rich, here I am 25 years old, owning 40k per year :(
Only people who think they are doing well are likely to post (strokes their ego haha) I don't think it's a fair survey!
Totally agree, you always see the people get paid really well, then you have 80 - 70% on minimum wage to barely survive :~(
It's an OzBrag thread.
We haven't seen a "I have a $million what should I do with it" thread for a while.
This. Close this post down.
go on whirlpool, everyone there is under 30 on 150k
Its all horse sh!t
I would thinks that's normal. Most of my friends work retail and would earn similar. You get many outliers on here.
So brutally true :), but I guess 40k is just enough to survive, you can not save much at all.
At least you're only 25, you aren't doing badly.. But that feeling when everyone is younger and richer than you and has less expenses and owns 3 invebadlystment properties and paid off their ppor with no hecs..
If it makes you feel any better, I'm 26 and I just got a job that pays 43K a year. And I've got a 26K uni debt…
And my SO is on 55K and is 32 (no debts though :) ).
Not everyone is massively rich here :)
EDIT: I, however, managed on my Hospitality (read: gourmet fast food [It makes sense…kinda…]) income of 42K to save 10K+ (can't quite figure out exact amount) while renting and living with said SO last year :) Also, just finished paying off my 4.5K Cert 3 all by myself recently :)
30 Years Old, Married w/ 2 kids
Manufacturing
Income combined: 130k
HECS paid off
Expenses per month: $5000
Mortgage, Child care, groceries (nappies) and eating out contribute most to my expenses.
Saving about 40% each year and putting it towards paying off mortgage.
OP, you should have disclosed your details first….
It's a long story. Read revision. I don't want ppl commenting on what i'm doing wrong the entire time as I now know.
Good move
How do you know they have not done the mistake and people commenting on it?
Do you think people will tell you the truth in public forums?
Its like whirlpool topics where everyone is between 25-25 and earning over 100k…
edit: You can always go through seek or other job websites to compare the salaries…
Late 20s,
Married,
Combined 100k income (expected to improve next year)
No debt
Expenses : <$800 a week and this is upkeep for two locations as we're working in separate areas.
I easily save more than 60% of my pay.
To OP, rent is killing you. You can easily save $50 on food and drop entertainment by half doing it only once a week. The wife is just going to have to learn to get by.
That was an amayzing one
OZB is more of a community where people support each other. Nothing wrong with asking.
1) too old, 2) not enough and 3) too many to list
Kids?
not that I know of.
I like JetLi. High Five bro.
27yo working in IT, 110k p.a. $580 rent per week, $200 general expenses pw, $500 pm other expenses (internet, pay tv, electricity etc), $5k CC Debt Interest free.
Why do IT people get paid so much? What makes them so special?
It's the future of the world. Our workforce will change pretty dramatically and they are in pretty high demand. Jobs like accounting and marketing have way too many grads and it's hard to differentiate early on, whereas IT you can be 16 and already a whiz.
Depends entirely on where in IT, it's a pretty general label…
IT Security is pretty high paying, but it's your ass on the line (possibly legally too) if anything goes wrong.
Programming is quite well paying, but it depends entirely on the project.
Otherwise, most of the other high paying IT jobs are management positions - either above help desk/support staff or project managers.
On the contrast, there's many lower paying jobs in IT. Help desk/IT Support workers can earn under 40k/year at times.
My SO is also IT but his work is a SOB so he's earning 55K rather than the 70-90K he deserves :/
@ OP
I think you should consider % savings after tax as that's the only real control you have
Recurring expenses will need be adjusted according to your location and senses
Financial freedom is not an easy path
21 Years Old
Working in advertising (Print shop) doing design and pre-press. (no degree)
$52k p.a
Weekly: $125 towards rent, $50 aside for bills, $50 for food, $50 for fuel. Rest goes into savings and I usually spoil myself to something every few weeks.
Don't own a credit card. Purchased my FG XR6 outright. Do not owe any money.
Im 33, earn 180k year + 40k year in share bonus - own 1x IP and house in Sydney and no degree. Sounds like alot of people need to work harder….how am i doing?
Very good. Enjoy.
btw im joking..im broke like a TA user :(
I feel you bro.
This-> -.-
I make millions as a Nigerian prince. If you don't believe me send me your bank account details and I will deposit a large some of money to prove it.
I also bat for both teams