Would you pay £20k for a year in Sydney?

[DilemmaDame]

Not an AIBU but a WWYD.

Have NC’d for this as very outing.

No kids (and don't want any)

29 and 31

Married

One of us has a City-type job; one of us has a media-type job.

Own two properties in London: one flat (rented to long-term tenant) and one house (would rent out if accepted posting)

Together currently earn £165,000

Spouse with City-type job has been offered 12 – 24 month posting to Sydney with right of return to UK (would slot back into same role / position / team).

Should be good career-wise (expanding network, new work, new challenges, fresh environment)

Company would cover both spouses’ flights (at start and end of posting), shipping allowance for personal possessions, apartment for 2 weeks while a rental is sorted out, but no other benefits / perks.

The catch is that spouse with City-type job would need to accept a drop in salary (£20k p.a.) for duration of stay in Sydney.

Mortgages back in UK can still be covered easily, and there would still be plenty to live on and to enjoy a nice lifestyle with, but £20k is a huge sum of money.

If you were me / us, WWYD?

Nope. I can enjoy Sydney for a week, but that’s about it.

We did this when we were both 28 and with less security (a professional job in Sydney for only one of us, and no job in the UK to return to) and have absolutely no regrets - one of the most memorable years of my life. I would have stayed longer if my contract hadn’t ended due to the financial crisis. Do it!

Skipping to the end from page 2 to say: we are in similar careers than you but further on. If you have ANY inclination to travel and live overseas, take this opportunity. There are virtually no downsides. Trailing spouse gets a visa: tick, trailing spouse gets to continue career and can return to it in UK: tick. No dependants: tick. It is so, so rare to get offered a package that disadvantages neither of you, that is somewhere palatable in every sense (ie not some strange finance outpost in Middle East/ an island somewhere where all the spouses have to do is get bored and drunk). All this will become so SO much more difficult once you start thinking about having kids - taking them away from extended family, having no support, having worse/different entitlements, worrying about schools places etc.

We always wanted to get offered such an amazing opportunity but it just didn’t happen at the right time and now we have two school age kids and ageing parents and a ton more responsibilities. This comes around SO quick - we laugh (sob) about the good old days in our cool London when we were DINKys and could fuck about doing whatever we wanted with massive disposable incomes.

Sounds absolutely brilliant.

Just a word of warning though: the comp package is not overly-generous (for the city). Usually when people are sent abroad they have an uplift to cover the inconvenience (some remuneration consultants offer a ‘price list’ of what this should be for every major city) plus kids school fees or nanny or apartment paid for. Sometimes you can even negotiate one set of return flights (for visiting family).

Think about what value is to you, but also check you aren’t missing out on market level perks.

ask around to check what market practice is nowadays

Some (outdated) advice here:

www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140507-expat-smarts-get-a-good-package

For a good city job in big firm, earning over £100k a year, i’d expect overseas location to be worth more than what you have been offered. Unless your partner has requested the location themselves.

Having had 20 years as an expat the contract is really quite mean. Please check out normal allowances and provisions.
The whole switching to a local employee then coming back needs to be solid - as does any continuous payment requirements of your pension.
There seems to be no real support set in to maintain your UK post.
However everyone I know who has expated there has hated to return.

Go have the adventure! Lucky you!

I’d have to work out bills etc first but hell I would go for 12 months.

Knowing I would be able to come home. What an amazing experience.

Go!
and I hope your diamond shoes don't pinch your feet too much.

It really sounds like an amazing experience. And you're going to have plenty of disposable income! Do it now when you have no kids, it will be harder to move once you have kids. :)

I did this - different country, 3 years away, also City-type job (before social media and internet). I lost many friends. They all move on while you are away. I still have some friends from the country I was based in but again over time you dont see them and you lose touch.

Work wise - it wasnt of that much benefit to me in my career. I am not sure that overseas work is that valued. My friends here who did professional secondments within the UK seemed to actually do better. I am not sure now that I would recommend this.

Clearly if you want to experience a different way of life then go for it but the upsides are overstated and the downsides barely talked about. Perhaps you could do a shorter version if one of you changes jobs and there is sabbatical time/garden leave.

You earn 165k and you are dithering over what sounds like a fantastic opportunity because a 20k salary drop is a 'huge' amount of money?

The only word I can think of to describe this attitude is 'avaricious'.

I wouldn't go even if it cost 20p but if you go I hope you enjoy it.

I have always been financially "encouraged" by employers if they want me to relocate, so the package just feels a bit off to me.

I hate to bring it up, but if you are working out of the country come Brexit and not from the UK or have taken citizenship I think you need to consider how easy it would be to move back (If of course you wanted to).

Oh I would, in a heartbeat - money isn't everything, and you're still earning a shedload of money, even for expensive Sydney. I have friends living there who earn nowhere NEAR what you do and they're having a ball.

Lived in both. Go for it. A period overseas gives you so much. Broadens horizons. You will be ok financially: don’t sweat the small stuff. If you can, get husbands company to get you a relocation agent. So when you land they can have arranged two days of appointments to see places to stay. Worth its weight in gold. Have an adventure. We have done two overseas assignments. Learnt loads. Our lives are so much richer intellectually and politicically. Good luck!!!

What a bunch of risk averse mithering fun sponges there are on this thread !!!

You are in your early 30s. Good jobs. Plenty of 'pension pot' (don't think I'd even started one at 30 !!) Jobs saved for your return and you are given this opportunity.. because that's the important word. OPPORTUNITY !!

Perhaps you'll hate it.
Perhaps you'll love it
Perhaps it will be expensive
Perhaps it will be cheaper
Perhaps there will be spiders that you hate
Perhaps there will be spiders that you love.

Don't live your life for others. (Your parents - they don't want you so far away, so will find a thousand reasons) but if you live a life of 'I wonder if.....' you will NEVER know what opportunities you've missed.

With no dependedents and two properties 'money' should be a long way down your list. 20k less of a huge salary is still a huge salary. It's 12 months, not 10 yrs. seize the moment.

Just to add I have been moving about for twenty years and still have my friends. You do have to prioritise maintaining your friendships and work at it - but I’m naturally interested in people and relationships and quite happy keeping in touch with people from more than 20 years ago, just a kind of personal networking I suppose but driven by affection! You do lose some people but all my best friends are still in place. Whatsapp most effective tool plus Instagram and Facebook (I hate both the latter but use insta as a way of occasionally updating what I’m doing).

Everything that kittens said

I really can't see the City employer's logic in imposing a pay cut. City spouse will be doing the same job in a city with a high cost of living plus continues to have the expense of maintaining their house over here - it's not guaranteed that rent will cost that; plus there are all the expenses of relocating and the employers don't know that other spouse can get a job easily. I would have thought that if they want an employee to relocate for the benefit of their business that employee would be entitled to maintain their current salary as an absolute minimum. I'd suggest that City spouse does some hard negotiating.

What a bunch of risk averse mithering fun sponges there are on this thread !!!

Yep! Can’t figure out if they’re boring as hell or just jealous 🤔

my parents think we are absolutely bonkers for even considering this

I think you’d be absolutely bonkers not to consider it. On a salary like that, I can’t see that a pay cut is an issue for such a limited period. My only concern would be the certainty of being able to slot back into our jobs when we came home.
Getting your house ready to rent out for one year only is a bit of a hassle, but probably a necessity? I’m actually surprised for such a short term move, that you aren’t getting more support from the company. Most of my expat friends have had a generous allowance, with school fees and sometimes even rent taken care of.

Jeez, at 29/30 with no kids, my parents would think I was stark raving bonkers NOT to do it.

I'd not be concerned about the £20K salary drop, about to do it myself for a better job and I earn considerably less, so it's a much bigger drop.

But, I also don't understand why you're having a pay cut imposed. When I worked overseas I got an uplift, and that was to work in a city that was cheaper than London. I'd have expected to earn a bit more to deal with the inconvenience of the upheaval, and my move was to a European city, which is a lot less hassle.

I would be concerned about the spiders and cockroaches though!

Outymcoutface, I'll make sure I tell my very cultured, exceptionally polite parents how rude they apparently are 🙄. Sweeping generalisation there, which doesn't match my experience of growing up in rural Victoria one bit. (Sydney may well be different, and if you meant Sydney specifically I apologise...though it still seems a gross generalisation...)