I think a lot of people already knows this - the Immi Dept (Msia) is highly aware this is what is happening and from what you read from the press about what the Msian govt plans to do (like issuing fines when found out), it is no open secret. I have a big circle of friends in Sydney and everyone knows it - word of mouth and the whole Msian migrant community knows it. All the Msian Uni students (taken up Aust citizenship) knows about this because word gets around very fast and young kids like to show off bragging they got 2 passports- in fact i was probably one of the last few to find out in detail how they do it because i prefer to do things the legal way.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Nov 13 2017, 10:09 AM

It is illegal to have 2 passports under the Msian law but nowadays when you take up your Aust citizenship, the Aust govt will not take your Msian passport and hand it back to the Msian govt like how it was in the 70/80s. You are supposed to give the passport back to the Msian govt under the Msian law. However a lot of young kids nowadays after having taken up Oz citizenship goes back to Spore to work (cannot get job in Oz) so they keep the 2 passports. Older people wouldn't do this because most of them have decided not to go back to Msia anymore so why still want 2 passports? Also older people prefer to do it the legal way as they have the financial resources to apply for MM2H visa.

The top 10 cities for expats, according to the 2017 InterNations Expat City Rankings

Manama
Prague
Madrid
Kuala Lumpur
Amsterdam
Barcelona
Johannesburg
Bangkok
Basel
Frankfurt

Source:https://www.domain.com.au/news/auckland-beats-sydney-in-2017-internations-expat-city-rankings-20171117-gzlve8/.

Kuala Lumpur is probably in there because it is cheap. Probably also rank highly for retirees.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/cur...120-gzpeev.html

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Australian dollar to slide to 65 US cents in 2019, says Morgan Stanley

Australia's dollar is set to fall to the weakest since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009 as it loses its standing as a high-yielding currency, according to Morgan Stanley.

The Aussie will drop to 67 US cents in 2018 before retreating further to 65 US cents in 2019 as the nation's benchmark rate will eventually go below the Federal Reserve's, said Hans Redeker, the London-based chief global currency strategist at Morgan Stanley, the most bearish forecaster of the currency.
As Australia's yield premium to the US. evaporates and becomes a discount, the currency will break its correlation with emerging-market peers, he said. The Aussie will underperform as developing-nation currencies continue to attract investors with "super attractive" real yields, he said.

"In the past, when emerging markets were doing well, people were buying the Australian dollar," Redeker said. "It is no longer going to work like this. We are going to see that break simply because there is no yield."

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Gold Coast is a nice place for a holiday but if you are Asian, you may experience a bit more racist attitudes. Queensland is predominated by the National Party (LNP) and when going around just watch out for red-necks. Pauline Hanson comes from this area so as I have always said, this is a region where you see a lot of Pauline's uncles and aunties. Retirees like the warmer weather here so you will see a lot of old folks. Residential properties are quite affordable and probably around Perth prices.

Furnished units are hard to come by esp away from city. Rents are a lot cheaper in Paramatta compared to city. Can look up the rentals in https://www.domain.com.au/ (under rent).

Included with the package should be a 9.5% employer super contribution which is mandatory. With that package, should take home around $2300/wk nett. Should be able to save quite a fair bit after allowing for rental - depends on the lifestyle.

A lot of my friends' children find it hard to find a full-time job after they graduate in Sydney. They are ABCs. Most have to resort to part-time work. The job market in Sydney and Melb is the strongest compared to other capital cities and even then they find it hard. ABCs definitely have a distinct advantage over immigrants when it comes to jobs esp in admin/secretarial.

Compare current situation with 1990 when i started in my current job (i had a few other contract jobs before my current job after i graduated in 1983). I was the sole applicant in a job that paid A$40k (package) at that time because a lot of Aussies perceived that to be low at that time and there were so many jobs to choose from. However a lot of my friends at Syd Uni went back to Msia because it was also fairly to get a job in Msia (with an overseas degree) and their starting pay was around RM1,600/mth and a lot of them were earning RM5k within a few years. A lot of them didn't really bother to apply for their PR after they started working in Msia. It was very easy to migrate then esp with a degree. I think the MYR/AUD rate was around 1.7 then - how times have changed!

Yes - you are definitely right. Most young ABCs in Sydney will not relocate to other cities. In fact I spoke to someone from a recruitment company and they told me that 70% of Sydneysiders will not relocate to another city even when their offices have moved to other cities and rather take redundancies. In Melbourne, only 30% will not want to relocate. I think Sydney people feel very proud living in Sydney and they have some sort of superiority complex over people from other cities. Definitely not a very good thing!

The Aust superannuation system is a little difficult to understand. Contributions can be concessional (before tax) or non-concessional (after tax). You can only put in maximum of A$25k/yr concessional or A$100k (non-concessional). Most people will put using concessional but you can only put in max A$25k (contribution tax is 15%) - contribution to super is very good if you are a high income earner. Super can bring down your marginal tax rate so say someone is earning gross A$100k and they put A$20k concessional, this will bring their gross income to A$80k and taking them from the 37% tax bracket (this is for the tax bracket $87k-$180k) to the 32.5% tax bracket (income $37k-$87k).
Govt (esp. Labour!) is slowly clamping down on benefits on having a big super balance as this is a very effective way of bringing your tax down. Young people may not find super very attractive as this means having their money locked up till age 60. Also a lot of people may feel that the old-age pension (age 67) will be suffficient for them so why save? You can get some kind of part pension if a couple's assets are below $800k (home is not counted) but this will keep changing as the govt encourages people to be less dependant on them. This part pension entitles them to a lot of discounts (electricity bill, car rego, prescription discounts,...)

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Apr 7 2018, 07:55 AM

Getting life insurance from super is the most cost effective strategy.

Regarding private health insurance, if your taxable income is more than $90k then you should get private health insurance as there is a 1% surcharge for anyone earning more than $90k (single) on top of the 2% Medicare levy. If your taxable income is less than $90k, a lot of young people tend to skip buying this insurance but you will need to pay more in future as you will need to pay 2% more for every year after age 30 that you didn't buy. Most young people would just buy the most basic hospital cover which should be about $1200-$1500/yr. I know a lot of my friends' kids who skip buying private insurance eventhough they are in their late thirties because they think Medicare is sufficient. If you have a family buying private health insurance is definitely advisable. Hunt around the different health fund as they will quote different prices (Bupa, HCF, MBF,..).

I need to clarify about the $25k concessional super contribution. This $25k is inclusive of your employer contribution so if your employer is contributing 9.5% on say income of A$80k, this will come out to be $7,600 (9.5% of $80k). You can then put in $25k-$7.6k=$17.4k. Since you are only just starting your career in Aust, you may not be so keen in putting so much in super as you will probably want to save up for a home deposit (property prices in Sydney is crazy but it is slowly losing steam which should be good for you). Actually property prices going crazy over the past few years (in Melb and Sydney) has been propping up the economy as people feel richer when the values of their homes go up. However it is not a good thing for younger people like you unless you have got rich parents.

In Aust, the term life insurance means buying 'death cover' and you need to pay a premium for it which is lost forever. I think buying life insurance in Malaysia is defined as buying an 'annuity' in Oz which means that you pay premiums for a set number of years and you get a lump sum at the end of the term. Death cover is popular in Oz because you leave something to your closest ones when you pass on. Looking at what you have written, you are probably more interested in growing your savings so it is probably best not to buy the life insurance component in your super. Like in me as an example, i have a death-benefit cover in my State Super for about $900k but i pay a small premium for it and the premium is lost forever. Most super have life insurance coverage and it means a death-benefit cover.

As a sidenote, i initially thought you were a young kid around 20 years old after looking at your name xxxxxPewPew.

Sorry for not understanding what you are trying to get at.

How are you liking Sydney? I go to Chinatown a lot on the weekends with my wife mainly for meals and walking around the city. There is a Msian place opposite Paddys called Ho Jiak which opened about 6 moths ago. I find the food quite good. I have reached the stage of pre-retirement so food is my favorite topic.

Oh? Ok. I didn't realise this as most of my friends have a death benefit built-in into their super and you pay a premium which is quite cheap.

Sourced from SMH:
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/olde...405-p4z7vp.html
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First home buyers getting older
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Everyone is familiar with the plight of first-home buyers trying to get a foot on the property ladder. But it's not just a problem for Millennials – first-time buyers are becoming older and they face particular obstacles.

The average age of first-home buyers, nationally, increased from 27 in the early 1990s to 29 in the early 2000s. As at December 2017, the typical first-timer was 31. That's based on figures provided to Money by ING, using its own lending records and broader industry data.

Sydney and Melbourne first-timers are likely to be older again, given the rate at which prices in the two capitals have outstripped the growth in incomes.

Though most people aspire to home ownership, it's likely to take longer to save for the deposit, not only because of price rises but because lenders now require larger deposits than just a few years ago.
Home ownership

Melissa Attard from Melbourne is looking to buy for the first time with her husband, who is also a first-timer. They have been together for more than 20 years and have rented in Melbourne over that time.
Attard says their experience with renting has been good; though, they have had to find new accommodation on two occasions after the landlord sold.

Attard, a personal assistant, is 40, and her husband, who works in insurance, 41. They are not particularly old, but they don’t see themselves renting at 60.

“My husband wants to own a house more than I do but we are reaching the point where we have spent the past 20 years travelling and, as we get older, we want the security of a house,” says Attard.

They are taking their time to get the right house as they don’t want to compromise and have to sell and buy again, but want somewhere that's going to suit them long-term.

They are saving for a 20 per cent deposit, which they are “putting the finishing touches on'', Attard says. That will make it easier for them to satisfy the requirements of a lender.

Ideally, they would like to buy a block of land and build a house on it, but if the right established house come along for the right price, they would look at that.

“We have a mortgage broker who advised us to just keep powering away with the deposit and get rid of the credit card debt," Attard says. “It's like many things in life, where you just have to focus on it and do it."

The couple is young enough that they're unlikely to face extra obstacles to borrowing. But if they were to delay their purchase for five years they might run into some challenges.
Exit strategy

Mortgage brokers says lenders start asking additional questions of borrowers once they hit 45 to 50.

Jonathan Preston, a senior mortgage broker at Home Loan Experts, says he is getting more inquiries from older borrowers, including those who are separated or divorced and looking to buy a place of their own for the first time.

“Once you get to 45 to 50, lenders do want to know how the mortgage will repaid,” he says.

Lenders operate under responsible lending obligations and can only lend to those who have the capacity to repay the loan without financial hardship.

It will vary from lender to lender, but generally a lender will not lend for loan terms that extend beyond the likely retirement age of the borrower, Preston says.

However, if the loan term does exceed expected retirement age, the borrower would have show how they intend to meet their loan repayments in retirement or have an ''exit'' strategy , says Kirsty Lamont, a director of comparison site Mozo.

“Older borrowers should ensure they have a solid repayment plan once they retire, which could take the form of a superannuation payout, or continuing income from investments, like shares,” Lamont says.

Another exit strategy that may be acceptable to some lenders is to eventually downsize from a free-standing house to an apartment, she says.

I don't use Facebook or any other social media - most people my age tend to shun social media because we don't want to use our pcs or devices too much. I just happened to discover LYN by accident last year when i was trying to find out more about retirement costs in Msia. I must say i have learnt quite a lot from reading the threads about cost of living here - i had totally no clue before i started LYN so i must admit that LYN has been a good thing for me. I am very free at work so i just read LYN to pass time. I didn't even know why some people posted in Serious Kopitiam compared to /k until not too long ago.

Sydney weather has gone crazy this year - normally around Easter, it is quite cool in the afternoons (low 20s) but this year in the last few weeks tops has been around 26-30. In terms of weather Sydney is quite pleasant (esp along the coast) but sometimes winter can be quite cold (6 degs along the coast in the morning) - people from Melbourne will probably find Sydney winter a bit like their spring weather. Ha.Ha.

Hope you settle down well and plenty of promotions in your career!

Aust is unlikely to cut immigration intake as they need this to increase economic growth (as new migrants need to get housing and start buying furniture, cooking utensils and white goods, etc...). There are not enough jobs generated to meet the new arrivals which is why under-employment is such a problem now. You are officially classified as employed even if you work 1 hour a week in Aust. If you are on welfare and govt sends you on a training program, you are also not classified as unemployed. The govt is trying everything to fudge the employment rate but the truth is it is very hard to get a white collar job if you are a migrant. With high wages combined with low productivity, the only alternative is to force the Aussie dollar down (which is why most currency hedge funds are shorting the Aussie) to remain competitive. Govt will of course not acknowlege this as they want to remain in power and opposition is happy to go along with this as they take turns to govern. Most migrants to Aust are workers and not employers as the cost of starting/maintaining a business is too high (too much red tape and loads of regulations to follow). With such high minimum wages (about A$20/hr) and a 9.5% employer super, any labour-intensive business will definitely struggle to survive unless you start a family-business and all family members help out. With the Labor govt backing the unions so strongly, Aust will always remain a 'has-been' and will remain lagging further and further behind.
If you notice carefully, the superfunds are all slowly increasing their 'international shares' percentage in their portfolios. These superfunds are hungry for performance and if they are buying foreign shares (rather than local ASX shares), isn't this telling you something about local Aust shares and their performance? Why would the superfunds be decreasing their ASX-holdings and increasing their international shares holdings? I have been researching extensively into superfunds performance over the last few years as i am about to retire.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Apr 13 2018, 04:15 AM

My father told me that the future in Malaysia looks very bleak for Chinese in 1981 when I came over to Sydney to study. This is the main reason why I stayed back after my studies.

If you are only working 3 months (April-June), there is no tax on the first $18,200 so you should not make any super contribution if your gross is less than $18,200 during these 3 months as you will need to pay a 15% contribution tax on the voluntary super contribution. If you do make more than $18,200 during these 3 mths, the next personal tax bracket is 19% (plus 2 % medicare levy) so it is also not really worthwhile as you are only saving 4% (and you will have the money locked up till age 60). Unless you are making more than A$37k during these 3 months, you shouldn't make any voluntary super contributions in these 3 months. You should only start after 1 July 2018 when the new financial year start.

Actually I must thank you for answering my queries last year as I was so new, I didn't even know there were so many different sections in LYN. I didn't understand a lot of what people were writing in /k as this is my first time on social media and there were so many trolls. Actually I did not know what /k meant until I started using my mobile much later as I don't like using mobile for social media. I have come a long way now and understand quite a lot after seeing what people write. When users say they were earning rm1.8k/mth, I thought they were trolling as I didn't realise people could be earning so little. After reading more, I only realised that a lot of uni graduates were only earning a few thousand ringgit after a few years experience. I must say I understand a lot more about the cost of living in KL after joining this forum.

The next 2 weeks is school holidays so you will see a lot less people on the public transport. I drive to work and the roads are a lot less busy during these 2 weeks.