Yeah, that's what I was suspecting. Which is why I prefer UK instead. I had lots of short 1 week/long weekend like Belgium, Madeira, Austria/Slovakia in the past half year or so

I stayed in a hotel for the first two weeks while looking for a place to rent. I got a little luckily though and managed to secure something in the first week. I also rented a car for my first week and made it a priority to drive away with my own car by then end of the first week.

I budget $100k or around RM300k to last me a year without a job ($42k for the first month and $48k for the remaining 11 months), but I had more than that after selling my assets in Malaysia.

I was lucky to start working around 2 months after I arrived (could’ve started in 1.5 months but had a better last minute offer).

Did you compare Australia with Singapore before? What make you choose Australia compare to Singapore?

Whats ur fallback plan if cant secure a job and u finish your rm300k? Would u think it would be hard to restart without money?

Would u think a late 30s guy with rm200k cash still could buy a landed house in AU or he would need to rent forever?

How did you move your big items/collections to Au?

No, I’ve never considered Singapore. It was always between staying back in KL or moving to Australia.

As much as I enjoy travelling to Singapore once in a while, I couldn’t bring myself to live in a small HDB and work longer hours than what I was already putting in. Also, since I’m in the upstream O&G industry, there won’t be any jobs for me unless I pivot to refining, and there’s not a lot of options in that area too.

I think we’re digressing a little here, let’s stick to Australia, shall we? Also I’m a lousy investor so you wouldn’t want my advise on money 😜

Congrats for your achievement!
Are you working in service company, or operator?
Technical, sales or support function?

no no i mean kwsp money, if you guys spend it all in australia what you guys will buy?

Haha my bad, yeah those places usually close at 5pm. You’ll also find that for a lot of small businesses, sometimes they close on short notice when they don’t have enough workers. With the minimum wage at $21 (rising to $23 soon), small businesses can’t afford to employ too many people. Having people work after 5pm will cost businesses more as well as they usually pay >1.5x more. I think that’s probably why they don’t open longer hours.

It’s great for me because I can get my EPF money and no longer have to pay tax on the dividends. And I don’t have to renew my PR every 5 years 😅

Other than that, not much difference to having a PR other than being able to work for certain jobs like defence.

Try getting a specialist in local government hospitals in Malaysia - depending on the severity of the illness, it’ll take time to make an appointment as well. It’s the same here in Australia.

I’m sure your sister went to a private specialist which is comparatively cheaper in Malaysia. She has the option of going to a private specialist here as well, but I’m sure she’ll tell you it’s cheaper to buy a flight ticket back to Malaysia to see a specialist there. And if she can wait until her breaks to do so, don’t you agree it’s non-life threatening?

Oh, and there’s no “cheapo” doctors here. They’re all qualified and how much you pay doesn’t equate to the quality you get. Similarly in Malaysia as well - “cheapo” public hospitals have some of the best specialists that will see patients that private hospitals refuse. Gotta get rid of that mentality - you’re discrediting the medical profession.

Yes, private medical is expensive in Australia, but then again what isn’t? That’s why her pay is higher here than in Malaysia 😉. May I ask why she doesn’t want to return to Malaysia if she feels the quality of life here aren’t as good?

No, but we plan to. In order to withdraw, we will need to give up our Malaysian citizenships. We won’t be able to renounce our Malaysian citizenships until we’ve gotten our Australian citizenships.

The reason why we’d like to withdraw is because all our annual KWSP dividends are included as part of our taxable incomes in Australia. Mine’s being taxed at 45% which is pretty painful.

Why keeping EPF and the dividends in Malaysia are taxed by Aus govt? must declare ? how do they know?

First 4 years is non taxable for NZ. Australia may be the same, you may want to have a look.

I am keeping my KWSP so I get double retirement fund.

Also keeping my Malaysian citizenship, the best country you can be in, as a Malaysian.

When nearing retirement, spend 5 months in Malaysia and 7 months overseas, perfect plan.

Hi All,

I’ve been browsing Lowyat Forum on and off for the past decade or so and I’ve seen a lot of threads every now and then that centres around the topic of moving to Australia. There’s a lot of good information on here, but there’s also an equal amount of misconceptions about living and working in the land down under.

One saying that I’ve come across a lot which stands true is that the grass is not always greener on the other side, and this is something that I’ve always kept at the back of my mind when I was planning the big move. I’ve seen many migrants struggling as they did not deliberate enough when making the decision to uproot their established lives in Malaysia to give what they perceive as the land of opportunity a go.

I have a bit of time to spare over the next week, so I’d be happy to shed light on and provide some first-hand insights into moving, living and working in Australia. Some context about myself to kick start the AMA:

- I obtained my Australian permanent resident visa prior to the COVID pandemic
- I moved early 2022 at the tail-end of COVID border restrictions
- I am English-educated while my wife is Chinese-educated
- My wife and I are in our early 30s
- We are both currently working in our respective industries, either at the same level or higher that the jobs we had prior to leaving Malaysia
- We had a combined monthly salary of approximately RM35k per month in Malaysia with our house and cars paid off, which made the decision to move even more difficult

Feel free to ask me anything and I will endeavour to provide a candid answer based on my personal experience.