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.
Around 15k on the dole. Around 10k for overseas holiday.
34 years old, with partner and one child.
Work in IT security consulting, salary ~$160k+super
One IP brings in ~$1400p/m
My share of mortgage is $2k per month on PPR, IP mortgage is $1350.
Mid-20's. Single. 90k p.a.
Working in the healthcare industry.
500/mo rent.
100 phone plan monthly
200/wk expenses, etc.
85/mo healthcare insurance
50/wk fuel
No debts/liabilities.
Health care meaning Doctor?
Nope. Nurse.
Not trying to be disrespectful, you're role is very important, but how do you earn more than a Doctor who is the same age? It's Gov set wage so why would they allow that?
@Mysterymeat: It depends on a lot of things: i.e. where you work, what role you are in, your highest educational attainment, experience, etc.
I'm know other nurses that earn around the same amount, if not higher than that.
@Mysterymeat: Nurses can make some great money if they are willing to take advantage of the penalty rates and willing to work the hours
Doctors make the big $$ when they specialize
Early 30's
550k per yr
after 10+ yrs training in healthcare industry
interested to see what similar aged lawyers / bankers are on…
wow 550k? or 55k?
no typo…
keep in mind the 10 yrs of training was paid at about 1/5 of this or less.
only just started getting this level of dosh.
now trying to figure out how to minimise tax…
You make it sound like training paid at $110kpa is a negative
get off ozbargain. You don't belong here
Everyone on ozbargain seems overly rich. I'm officially depressed.
I feel like that was the purpose of this thread… so people can show how purportly well they are doing, but this is the Internet so take it all with a grain of salt. Just keep working hard and smart I'm sure you will smash it!
Most are full of it. I am very successful and most people in real life are extremely jealous of my situation. My partner can stay at home, I own my own place outright and I am on a great wage. I dont even hold a candle to most of these claims.
I tell myself that every time I'm not gonna read it, and I'm not gonna kick myself for not somehow being in IT and earning $200k p/month, living at home with my parents, and having three investment properties in Sydney that I bought in the mid 90s for $150k in total.
I am on 40k per year, you should make more than me.
Dont believe everything you read
Age: 33, Married
Dependent: A lil 9 month young baby
City: Sydney (moved here from overseas in 2013, started life from scratch)
Salary: $250k / yr (on avg, goes up n down based on sales achievment)
Income Tax: Approx 80-90k / yr
Industry : IT Sales
House: $4000 pm
Car: 1000 pm
Other bills & Household Expense: $1500 pm
Ozbargain Expense: Impulse buys —$700 pm on avg
Saving is not consistent avg $2000 pm , if lucky
you’re paying too much tax
With a taxable income of $250,000 - tax and Medicare comes to $90,732 (and a $3,750 Medicare surcharge if he doesn't have private health insurance).
not sure why i was negged. my point was that he isn’t using any strategy to reduce his taxable income, therefore paying the maximum tax and hence paying too much tax.
if you are on 250k a year, you should have a novated lease, take advantage of negative gearing or something to reduce your taxable income.
this guy is throwing his money away
also, if his net expenses are $7200 a month and saving $2000 a month then he has about $50k a year going to a blackhole.
so he is either bad with money or full of it
I'm not very good at saving - plus getting paid monthly is a new and awful experience.
Age: 21
Job: Database Analyst/Admin
Salary: 50k + super (3.6k/pm with on call hours)
Debt:30k (HECS)
Food: $450/pm (15 a day - includes entertainment)
Phone: $69/pm (s8 on a plan)
Gym: $74/pm
Health insurance: $73/pm
Gas: $200p/m
Car insurance: $85/pm
Public Transport: $140/pm (30 day pass)
Internet: $60/pm
Rent: $240 per fortnight (includes bills)
Your rent is dead cheap. Which state are you living in?
Victoria.
I live underneath somebody's back deck - its not great
EDIT - forgot to mention, I split that with my girlfriend. its 480 total
Yeah that makes more sense.
My rent is $90 per week including all bills (gas, internet, electricity, water whatsoever) and I guess it's the cheapest in the country. In return, I don't really know when I have to leave the country a.k.a refugee life pretty much.
For real? under a deck?
23 y/o
Warehouse and logistics
80k
Living with parents
Gym - $32 p/m
Phone - $30 p/m
Miss those days, save like a mofo! you will never get this opportunity again.
I was on $50k/salary until I got a job from Westpac and bought an $80k Audi. Now that high yield investment has paid off and I'm on $1m/year
31yo. 135k sal in sydney.
~$700 expense a month excluding rent.
Anyone have any good strategies to minimise income tax besides negative gearing?
Thx for the link.
Yeah I've got a mate who uses a trust fund but he runs a business.
Do you know if it's possible to set this up as a contractor or even just a regular employee?
Business partnership maybe for contracts?
Earn less money is the easiest way.
45yo professional electrical/electronics engineer, degree, automotive engineering for 20 years (moved around companies), still casual contractor (no job security, holidays, sick, no perks or benefits, no pay rises) , on just $80k.
Supporting wife and children.
Seems like I'd be better off doing anything but this!
This!! Serious question, why do engineers not get paid as much as IT these days? To me they are both similar and just as important as each other and the fact that the government is really pushing for people to work in STEM you would think that there would be a high demand? To me it seems to be a pretty underpaid profession for what engineers do? Or is it just me that thinks this?
I've got a few engineers in my team, mostly are about 120k+ mark, with a couple at 90 being early in their careers and grad at 55k. Depends on the industry and what you actually do i guess?
Sorry I don't mean to be nosy but what industry are you in?
55k before tax or after?
Sister's in her last semester of civil engineering,got offered a few grad positions and they were all above 60k. She took the 70k offered in the end.
55K + super
With everything… different companies, different positions, different starting pay.
I can't speak for OzzyOzbourne's situation but I thought the 'Engineer' title had just become fluff in some jobs… Eg I've seen 'Support Engineers' advertised, when the role is really just a helpdesk grunt.
I absolutely agree. In many countries, you need to have a Beng to be called an engineer. Australia, minus QLD, any tom dick and harry with no real degree can be called an engineer.
Note when i use the term engineer above, it means graduated in Beng, as a lot of the work we do needs to be signed off by someone certified and verified.
Well some of them are engineers even without the Bachelor of engineering.
I know a couple of guys that started PLC programming when they were young, dropped out of school went into the industry, now they are the 2 leading engineers in my company, programming and commissioning monitoring systems, backup fuel and emergency systems for data centres for one of the big banks and other non bank data centres , and I have honours in robotics…
Age: 39
Job: Senior Manager in IT/Finance (21 years in the same company)
Salary: $240K + yearly bonuses + carspace + work mobile + company credit card
Debt: None
Cards: credit union debit card and prepaid credit card (Velocity) which I put money on if I want to purchase things online and earn points
Food: $800 per month (between two people)
Personal Mobile: $10 a month (old iiNet plan)
Internet: $59.95 a month (old iiNet plan)
Health insurance: $125.75 a month Premium Hospital and Platinum Extras (employer discount)
Electricity/Gas: roughly $600 per quarter (discounts if paid earlier)
Public Transport: $172 a month
Car Expenses: I haven't owned a car in over 5 years but my wife has a 2nd hand sub-$20k car
Pets: it varies here because my wife pays pet insurance and we buy pet stuff in bulk when it's on sale or Petbarn has 20% off
Additional Income: I rent my company carspace to someone in the work building for $350 a week
No investment properties but we own our modest 2br unit in Sydneys innerwest bought for a little under $420k over 8 years ago
Fitness: I workout at home
Additional Expenses: Varies but I set a budget if going out for dinner and all the special days
Combined household income is a little under $600k excluding bonuses. My wife and I have separate accounts.
Even though we might be in the higher income bracket, we still live frugally. We buy clothes at outlets or online only when there is a sale with at least 20% off. I download all my books onto tablets and buy the odd hardcopy from online stores.
This thread didn't ask for your whole life story
lul
Its his dream life story.
that health insurance is good value
Salary: $240K + yearly bonuses + carspace + work mobile + company credit card
Additional Income: I rent my company carspace to someone in the work building for $350 a week
You lost me here. Another Whirlpool story. Why will someone not have a lux. car when earning that much. You may not deserve that post.
Secondly, I cant believe any company paying senior manager that much in IT. I can be wrong though..
I don't need a luxury car. I just know I've worked hard to get to where I am now. Btw…I only got this promotion in September last year due to my manager retiring. So I was earning slightly less than that.
I've definitely seen those sort of salaries in IT, especially in financial services. Maybe I should have stayed working there…
$350 per week for a car space seems extreme, is this in Sydney CBD?
Yeah. The average is around $400 a week. Mine is at Barangaroo
That's insane, so public car parks are more than $70 per day to make this worthwhile?
" Additional Expenses: Varies but I set a budget if going out for dinner and all the special days
Combined household income is a little under $600k excluding bonuses. My wife and I have separate accounts. "
With your combine income you can have a special day every day.
Love the thrifty living. So what do you do with your money?
Just gonna say I'm working class. I make a quarter of some of the more eyebrow-raising claims here. I read ozbargain every day and I don't buy anything on here because I feel crushing guilt about wasting what meagre income I do have.
Only very highly paid people are replying.
Well, I guess they feel they have something of which to be proud. I would if i made that much, but I don't. I'm just a normal guy, working hard to get by.
Age: 34
Job: IT Service Desk
Salary: $55k + Super
Debt: $0
Rent: $220 per week
Weekly Weekday Expenses: $100
Weekly Weekend Expenses: Max. $100
Utilities/Mobile/Internet: $30 per week.
Savings: $420 per week approx.
I am similar to you. We need to push harder.
yeah that's what she said too.
Yep absolutely right mate. By the time I realised I needed to push myself more in life I decided to work on my health and lose weight. Doing ok now after several years but it turns into a lifestyle that I'm not prepared to sacrifice for study. Hopefully Ill live longer then my wealthy parallel world self ;)
Good job, and good luck, good to see the more honest answers, or lower paid people actually answering.
25.5 YO
147K salary in IT (Public Sector)
(S) = Shared expense with partner earning 45K
Rent: $360 per week (S)
Car loan: $0 - own my car
Food: $200 per week (S)
Entertainment: $300 per month (S)
Electricity and Gas: $100 per month (S)
Phone Plans: $85 per month
Car and home content insurance (1 cars): $20 per week
Internet: $90 per month (S)
Tolls: $0
Health Insurance: $45 per week
Petrol: $45 per week (S)
Need to jump into an investment…..
$147k at 25? Which government department do you work in? Because I work in the public sector and most I've ever heard is 23yo engineer earning $90k or a 30yo earning $203k (both permanent full time) and even then I was shocked. Are you a contractor?
Education? Because at that age you'd be fresh out of Uni…
Not far off. I'm semi-fresh out of uni and now back into uni studying my MBA!
Yeah, I wasn't clear on that. I'm a casual.
More or less the same pay and conditions as a contractor, but less bureaucracy. Paid day rate at top cap for the work I do.
Been extended for the last 9 months with no view to end for as long as I want to be there.
yea, right….
23 year old
2 kids
Wife doesn't work
120,000 a year as a Sales Manager
2500 a month mortgage
200 per week in food
150 per month electricity
50 per month gas
200 per month phone
Own a 2016 Outback Premium Outright and have a company car for myself
23 years old and a sales manager? Where?
I'm a new car manager for Nissan
sales manager = more money and no degree.
26yo single no kids
Pet food industry - quality control
Job title: senior inspector
B Science (chemistry)
Mortgage: 1600 a month
Expenses: 1000 a fortnight
Income: varies if ive met my targets but approx 95k with extras.
Long hours. On the flipside i get paid to home our "work" cats (live with 8 atm). Obviously their food is free.
Old enough to know better, young enough to still do it.
Enough to live on.
None of your business.
115k
39 age
Analyst at big4 bank
1 house living worth 1mil
1 investment property valued at 1.3mil with 21k rental income
2kiddies
I need cash in hand jobs…
Ive hit the bamboo ceiling ….
Mountain of debt owing to bank - i pay interest only
Sydney life is hard
Walk to work
Impulse shopper thanks to my ozb addiction
1 overseas holiday a year
Drive a jap hatchback
What's the plan with the debt, borrow as much as you can and die before you pay it back? Otherwise paying interest only doesn't sound like you are ozbargaining right.
Damn… $1.3 mil worth but weekly rent averaged at $400???
How is the property worth 1.3 and you only get 21k rent? i'd say sell and invest it elsewhere buy 3 houses somewhere else and double your yield
Hope that's net rental income.
If gross, rent to me, I'll offer more without the agents fee.
As an electronics engineer, I now think I'm severely underpaid…
As a mechanical engineer I also have that feeling.
It seems 'finance' is the most highly valued profession on this forum. Sad
I earn about 54k per year gross and am 24. I am currently supporting my partner through uni so I take on all the rent ($240 a week) and bills (not huge, maybe $350 a quarter for gas and electricity combined and $60 a month internet). I saved about 12 grand in the last 12 months and I don't consider myself particularly frugal. It is mostly a side effect of living on centrelink and then getting a job. The apartment and related expenses are the same as when I was on the dole but instead of $550 a fornight I get $1500. I work my savings by having multiple accounts. One for everyday things like food etc, one for one off purchases like video games and dinners out, one for rent and bills and one for savings (gets the most interest). I put $1000 in the rent and bills account every fortnight and then move anything over $2000 into the savings account. The rest gets split up between everyday and one off account with $100 going to savings on the off chance I get a new job and end up paying hecs. It is a bit confusing but it works for me and I haven't had to touch my savings account at all.
It's refreshing to hear from a real person on this thread.
24 yo
$91k + 11% super (Shift worker on IT service desk at mining company, would be closer to $72k without shift allowance)
Expenses:
- $250/month to parents (living at home)
- food / living / hobbies / rego for 2 cars probably rounds to another 500-600 a month over the course of a year
I realise this is good for a 24 year old but I would like to acknowledge that it is extremely likely I didn't deserve my job purely on merit and was just in the right place at the right time, like many in good positions. Keep creating opportunities for yourself and you might get lucky too. I've had a v. privileged upbringing so don't take my position as normal.
36 yo, single no kids
186k basic, 200-220k incl. annual bonus, niche IT-related job, over 10 years experience
no debts apart from mortgage
mortgage 4k/month capital+interest. House in Melbourne worth about $1.3m, owe 500k, should be paid off within 10 years
1 property overseas bringing in about 30k/year
1 car bought for $39k used 5 years ago
never really bothered to make a personal budget or analyse spending much, everything left over goes into the mortgage offset account
23, living at home, full-time student
<18k (part-time)
~87k HECS-HELP by the end of my masters
Saving 80-90% of my wages; expenses are only public transport, car (diesel, rego, ctp), uni food (muesli bars/crispbread/byo coffee), and maximum one meal (usually fast food) eating out per week.
87k that's so grim, what field are you studying?
Master of Sustainability, I was looking for an applied field of sociology (my undergrad), and it's also interdisciplinary covering business and science. Full-fee postgrad fees are crazy here, and I was considering doing it overseas where fees are lower, but I wasn't able to secure upfront funds for it :(
Ah nice, I was actually looking at Masters in enviro and business but the cost through me off postgrad haha. Work for my local council so hopefully I can get them to pay for 30% through education assistance
Age: 28
Job: Brewer, 2.5yrs exp. (previously chemical engineer)
Salary: $45k + Education (~$6k/y)
Debt: $0
Rent: $100 per week
Expenses (transport/food/entertainment etc.): $200?
Utilities/Mobile/Internet: $80 per week.
Savings: $300-350 per week?
$100/pw on rent.
UNREAL.
Living with partner who owns the house.
Ah okay that makes more sense.
"large some of money"
Just to clarify, are you depositing lots of money or just some money?