That’s one of the four tests you need to meet - the 183-day test. I’m not sure if things were different back when you moved, but at present, as long as you meet one of the 4 residency tests, you’re considered a tax resident.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Coming-t...-tax-residency/

Guess I can say goodbye to FIRE there. Cause I can Fat FIRE in Malaysia by 45 based off my calculations. I am currently on LEAN FIRE.

How about final take-home pay after taxes excluding mortgage? Interesting if it's more than Malaysia then might be worth it to make the move.

How many times can you take IETLS? I saw somewhere 2x/year or something.

Sorry, can’t help you with that. I’m very far disconnected from the aviation industry - just realised that I don’t have any acquaintances who work in aviation, other than a couple of flight attendants (who seem to be recovering from the downturn).

Hi TS,

You mentioned that you migrated for the kids. Help me understand what Aus education can offer that Malaysia education can't?
Considering you were already T20-T2 when you in Malaysia, you would have been able to opt for international education here in Malaysia.

Then your thought that Malaysia is hopeless then they can study abroad and not come back?

Trying to understand your thought process.

Thanks.

Haha FIRE can be achieved if you don’t have kids here, but definitely takes much longer than doing it in Malaysia.

For post-tax income, we’re still saving more. Minus childcare, we’re spending roughly 2k per month here. We were spending much, much more than that in Malaysia, probably cause we eat out too often back then

I don’t think there’s a limit to IELTS, well, at least not back then. I’ve had a friend who took at least 4 in a year before getting the results he wanted. Don’t think British Council would impose a limit - they’re raking in a lot of money from re-tests.

Hi TS, if you were a DINK couple, would you still have migrated or remained in M'sia ? Considering the income you have and being debt-free.

Despite our income, good international schools were out of our reach. We’re talking about 6 figures per child per year, it’s something we would struggle with even with one child.

Also, if I lose my job, it’ll be difficult for me to even touch 60-70% of what I was earning even with if I joined our closest competitor. What am I going to do then? Transferring them to local schools would pretty much ruin them. Australia offers much better income stability for me.

I also never liked the rote learning techniques in our local schools. Have you ever noticed how the majority of our students can’t articulate themselves well right out of school? Our blue collar workforce struggles to put pen to paper and in my industry, we have to plop the “engineer” designation for what were traditionally blue collar roles just to have engineers become paper-pushers. What if my kids want to become something other than a lawyer, doctor or engineer and want to earn a living wage? Options are far and few between in Malaysia.

Having gone on a primary school tour here recently, their education system is much better than expected it further reinforced our decision to move.

That’s an easy one - We absolutely would’ve remained in Malaysia.

You are living in which zone? I understand Australia have 7 zones and 1 being the city and 7 being the most rural.

I think Malaysia can FIRE faster as we have the advantage of no tax on overseas income.

Btw how racist are Australian if you are not from Australian uni and if you are Chinese?

But if your children decided to earn a living wage in big cities, they wont be able to buy their own house without parents' help.

Taikor! Long time no see
I’m always Malaysian

Is it possible to retire in Australia with about AUD 100k in passive income (tax-free in perpetuity) ? Simple lifestyle ..

This post has been edited by laksamana: Jun 12 2023, 09:15 PM

You’ll be amazed at how well things are presented vs reality

But it all depends on your expectations, you need to go pretty low

I haven’t heard about zones, but I live about 20 minutes away from the CBD by car.

My wife and I haven’t had any racist encounters so far, which is surprising. I did have the odd racist encounter every couple of months when I was studying here, but that was about a decade ago. Perhaps things have improved.

Same can be said about KL, wouldn’t you agree?

Not only will you be able to retire, but you’ll retire with a huge smile

It seems that our experience here is quite different. Happy to hear your gripes with the education system here.

I live in a good high school zone and so far the people I know who’ve sent their kids there and their alumni have nothing but praise. Curriculum isn’t just academic centric as well, but despite it’s flaws, it’s exactly what I’m looking for - and that’s as good as it gets without going private. Perhaps my expectations were set at the right level, wouldn’t you agree?

This post has been edited by Salary: Jun 12 2023, 09:48 PM

the interest rate is getting higher in australia

rental and home loan also getting higher

Gotta keep inflation at bay

Yes I agree, but I was comparing more with SG hdb, is there anything similar in OZ?