Personally I only know one person who returned to Malaysia, but it’s a bit of a different case. He couldn’t secure a professional role right out of uni and wasted two years working odd jobs - but he’s quite reclusive and didn’t really fit in though. He’s an insurance agent back home now.

A lot of my friends and acquaintances here are a mix of engineers, accountants, auditors, 1 nurse and 1 doctor (who left NZ for Australia for better pay). Everyone seems to be doing well so far.

You’re right on the second point though - there are Malaysians who struggle here and are living paycheck-to-paycheck. They came here for a higher salary, but did not factor in the cost of living.

Yes, foreign investors are buying up homes in Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane trending at the moment, but it’s just a drop in the ocean when it comes to affecting housing affordability. Media loves to zoom in on foreign investors because it generates views. Buying a house within 15 mins from a Sydney is pretty much the same as KL - it’s out of reach for the average joe. Property prices here are driven by migration and if you look at the current property vacancy rates here, it’s around 1% whereas it’s approximately 20% in Malaysia.

Personally, I feel that there’s diverse range of both white collar and blue collar roles here, and both pay relatively well on the global scale. I believe migrants who fail mostly either couldn’t fit in (and thus unable to secure a job), are homesick or came ill-prepared. For example, someone who plies their trade in the semiconductor manufacturing industry would probably find themselves having to start over again here.

This post has been edited by Salary: Jun 13 2023, 05:02 PM

Edit: double posted

This post has been edited by Salary: Jun 13 2023, 05:02 PM

What jobs are they doing do you know?

Isnt cost of living here in Aus cheaper (if you don't convert)?

Is it possible for me to keep my Malaysian citizenship and let my kids (I don't have any yet) to attend their school?

Reason is when I am retired, maybe retire in Malaysia to avoid the taxation in Australia.

u didnt include your work experience as in you still go through the "Skills Assessments" and summited 0 years of experience or you did not go through the Skills Assessments at all?

Enroll them to Peninsula in Msia

This post has been edited by jojolicia: Jun 13 2023, 09:32 PM

Wife made a life changing sacrifice so she taught our kid everything, tutors can’t beat that

There are ways but best to consult a tax accountant, this is an open forum

Cheaper if you cook at home…

Informative AMA, TS. Some questions for tomorrow based on more recent posts

1. Picking up from that crisp response to the DINK question and Hansel's input, what other motivations for you to get up and leave if you were single?

2. You mentioned fitting in. Anyone who made it there would have passed the language language requirements so I'm pretty sure you have some traits in mind but didn't elaborate on. I mean AU, like MY, would be big enough for the common social traits on both ends.

3 SOL and your friends aside, do you have acquaintances or a relative of so-and-so not in medicine, accountancy, or engineering who lives comfortably? Low to mid M40 if they're in MY.

I'm thinking those who gave up and returned are simply ill-prepared in the funding department. Or I'm just missing the obvious.

Thanks.

I know someone who got the whole family PR 20+ years ago, could not get himself a good paying job but got one in China, whole family stayed back n got the citizenship, eventually he lost the PR as he continued working in China n still Malaysian. Soon to retire n need to reapply PR based on family reunion, need 3 years.

This post has been edited by MGM: Jun 14 2023, 07:21 AM

Where did your children study in primary n secondary school, MY or Oz?

This post has been edited by MGM: Jun 14 2023, 09:53 AM

What most Malaysians would do in Malaysia after 5pm?

Depending on the age demographics...

Older folks - Restaurants, Shopping or at home watch tv
Family - Shopping center, Restaurants
Young adults/couples - drinking at cafe, kopi shop, mamak, see movie, pub bars clubs

Like I say earlier, most of these can be done in Australia, maybe not at the smaller cities, NT, SA or OLD where most shops close very early, but sure got some place that are still open till late....

Use to lepak at Southbank/Crown area and chinatown during the weekends in Melb back in the days as most other place close early or just visit the surburb pokies for a cheap or free drinks due to limited budget.

Is Wise the best way to transfer money?

- MY Bank to WISE (MYR) - Pay bank fees transfer and wise fee take a small sum
- Wise (MYR to AUD) - Pay wise fee
- Wise AUD to AU bank - Pay wise fee

End up paying lot of misc fees

compare to traditional bank transfer

MY Bank to AU Bank Pay one time SWIFT&Forex Fee

Just to addon, i think mostly missed out a point where for those who are bringing young kids / have a baby there .. you might want to consider the following

child care support - expensive there, unless either parents are wfh / full time taking care
community support / family - if you're down with sickness or anything, you're kinda on your own
mental health - same as above especially with young kids / babies

This post has been edited by error: Jun 14 2023, 10:29 AM

Don't look at fees. Look at final amount received. Eg cimb always promote the have zero fees but when use cimb to transfer, you find that you received less foreign currency per ringgit used.

I saw it myself with RM--> SGD. Hence didn't go though with the transfer.

Btw your concept is wrong.

You are not storing AUD in wise. You are using wise as transfer. It should look something like that.

MYR -> WISE -> AU bank account which is cheaper than MYR -> Malaysian banks -> AU bank account. You can always try Sunway money. They are way cheaper than Wise for SGD transfer. Not sure about AUD transfer (get more foreign currency with Sunway money Vs using WISE)

In wise, your money is in MYR until you convert to AUD
After convert the money is in Wise until you transfer to your bank hence the steps I listed.

- MY Bank to WISE (MYR) - Pay bank fees transfer and wise fee take a small sum
- Wise (MYR to AUD) - Pay wise fee
- Wise AUD to AU bank - Pay wise fee


Unless you can MYR convert to AUD and Bank directly (maybe save a bit of fees) This option I have not checked if I can do it or not.
- MY Bank to WISE (MYR) - Pay bank fees transfer and wise fee take a small sum
- Wise (MYR to AUD) and bank - Pay wise fee


At the end of the day, I would want final amount received to be the most like you had mentioned, but its hard to figure out which as all have fees all over the place.
Since TS did multiple of transactions and a big sum at that, I am sure he had done his home work as well.

1 AUD is now 3.12 MYR lol...

You can just direct transfer MY -> wise -> foreign currency via FPX. Hence no bank fees. Wise only charge fees once for the transfer (sending money). Unless you are using wise a a multicurrency acocunt.
https://wise.com/my/pricing/