Route to Savvyness

While searching the net in August last year about wealthy men in Australia and how to become one, I found this website of 21st Century Academy, www.21stcenturyacademy.com. This website made a big impact on mu outlook about money, employment, business, investment and life. Although I'm a fan of Robert Kiosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad and Warren Buffet, currently the richest man in the world, I still became fascinated by the story of this young Australian guy who managed to raise himself up from being broke with $150K debt to being a multi-millionaire in just a couple of years. His name is Jamie McIntyre.

At first ,I thought this website might be another get rich quick scheme like some scams on the net. But because I was really that curious about the ways to be rich, I still went on to his site and read his story and some of his financial strategies.

I found out that his ways to financial freedom is not really different to what I've read on some How to Become rich books. The principles are still the same. You have to be involved in Business, Properties or Shares in order for you to be wealthy. What interest me in his teachings was that he explained most of his strategies in Australian setup. As an Australian Migrant who aspires to be rich one day, it is but right to listen to successful people who made it too in Australia, Isn't it?

He also tackled good questions like If Australia is considered to be one of the wealthiest nation in the world and why 90% of its people are not rich? Why working 40 years of your life and relying just on your superannuation upon retirement is not a good plan and Why working smart not hard is the better way in the 21st century and etc... It also struck me when he said that with internet and faster communications being available, wealth can also be accumulated rapidly and transferred than ever before. This means that even new migrants like us can be wealthy too and get the dreams we always wanted.

Though I have not applied 95% of his teachings, I hope this blog would be the start. That someday, I may also be known to many readers and to many advertisers as well but most importantly be able to share what I knew and have learned to help other aspiring to be rich person like me.

House Hunting

After 15 months here in Australia as a migrant, me and my wife, like anyone else are dreaming and looking forward to buy our very own house. Prices of a basic house with 3 to 4 bedrooms range from A$290,000.00 to A$350,000.00. Monthly repayments range from A$1,800.00 to A$2,400.00 on a 30 year plan. Most of the banks requires 10 to 20% downpayment. I would suggest to go for 20% downpayment not only because it could lower down your repayments but you can also save heaps of money by not paying the Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). It is an insurance to offset losses of the bank when a borrower is not able to repay the loan and the lender is not able to recover its costs after foreclosure and sale of the mortgaged property. The premium payments for this insurance range from A$500 and could get as high as A$10,000 plus depending how low your deposit could get. It's basically for banks/lenders' security. So why would you spend such amount if you could pay off 20% deposit?

Australia New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and some other banks could also help with the processing of your First Home Buyers Grant if you are entitled to. Government grants range from A$8,000 to A$12,000 depending which state you're in. This grant is very helpful for those who are just starting.

Now if you're in a tight budget, you can buy a 2nd hand property about 4 to 5 years old with 3 to 4 bedrooms for A$220,000 to A$240.000 in Melbourne which is really not bad at all. Monthly repayments should be somewhere A$1,600 to A$1,800 depending on the interest rate. I reckon that its also practical to leave an allowance of at least A$100 per month for the fluctuation of interest rates if you are computing how much based on your earnings and expenses, you are able to pay for monthly repayment on a home loan.

You can google for properties and estimated montly repayments at http://domain.com.au/ and http://www.realestate.com.au/

Saving Tips

Most of us migrants are aiming to see some bucks sitting on our bank account. But, how could we do this considering that we are starting a new life and a new living being a migrant? Well, its not easy but its even harder without extra amount to pull out when the need arise. Below are some tips that might help you bring in some excess on your pocket.

1. Be wise in shopping for your food and groceries. Try to shop on wet market for your weekly food. You won't only save heaps but you would also take home fresh goodies. There are also some Asian groceries that offer cheap prices of commodities.

2. Be resourceful in finding the cheapest store for stuffs you need to buy. Compare prices on catalogues if you need to buy something brand new like computers, satnav, and some useful technologies. It often happens that different shops may have different price on the same item and its up to us to find that out. You can also buy some stuffs from Ebay which will truly save you some amount. Buy only those that you truly need at this adjustment stage in migrant's life.

3. Think of a more practical family activity or leisure. Going to some parks and having some picnics could be more practical than going to shopping centres and dining out. Australia, as I mention on my previous article, offers great parks with no fee at all. Plan your destination before hand to avoid going back and forth places to save petrol.

4. As much as possible, save money to buy your own car and pay it in cash rather than pushing through a car loan. In doing so, you are save up heaps from interest as it is not worth paying for considering the fact that cars are highly depreciable.

5. Set up a bank account separate from the one that you access daily for your expenses. If it is possible, plot your weekly expenses against earnings so you would have a clear picture if how much you can save and transfer to the other savings account.

These are some tips that we found useful and I hope that you did too. These may not be applicable on certain cases but at the end of the day, I still believe that you can still think of some other ways for as long as the will to save is within you.

Awesome cars caught on my cam

When I do have my camera with me and there is an opportunity to take shots, I take a lot of photos of the cars that fascinate me. Though these represent not even a tenth of what i saw, these machines arouse my enthusiasm for cars.

This is one aspect I love about Australia, seeing these magnificent cars running on the road. It always makes me wonder what Australia can offer for us migrants and how possible it is to get and drive our very own dream cars.

Rich Migrant in Australia

When I turned 18 years of age, I begun to read business and inspiring books about people who made it from rags to riches and about people with enough resources who managed to multiply their wealth 100 to even thousands times. I am truly a fan of the great authors like Robert Kiosaki who authored the famous book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Group, Warren Buffet "currently the richest man on the planet", Steve Jobs of Apple and Pixar.

I also admire people who courageously conquered fear and continued to pursue perfection like Michael Jordan who we all know is the greatest basketball player, Manny Pacquiao who started as a struggling boxer to world renowned boxing champion pound per pound. These people obviously did not start big but they made their way as to what they want themselves to be. This made me realize that I myself is not different to them. If I could just apply the values and the right attitude, I realized that I could also get on to my dreams.

When we arrived in Australia as migrants in May 2007, I do had a dream of making it big. Even though i knew that it's gonna be tough, I do believe it's possible after all. Why do I say this? It is because I want to set my mind that everything is possible as that's the fact the one should truly believe on. All I want to say is that all of us migrants should stick to our minds that we can get what ever we want in life if we persevere and conquer our fear as we already did when we migrated. Having that decision is basically one step forward.

I would like to introduce a story of a successful migrant in Australia. His name is John Ilhan. His family migrated here from turkey when he was 5 years old. For those who don't know him, he is the man behind the largest mobile phone retail chain in Australia called Crazy John and employs more than 700 people with more than 120 branches across the country. In 2007, he was the 126th richest man in Australia with a net worth of $310 million. Not bad for a migrant who started as a boy who struggles speaking English to a car salesman and turned to be a multi-millionaire in his early 30's. Though it was a big loss because of his sudden death last year at young age of 42, I am very inspired of his life story. He is a perfect example of a migrant who dream big and made it big in Australia.

Again, this story reminded me to think that I and all of you fellow migrants are no different to him. If we would just believe in ourselves and patiently persevere, all our dreams could come true regardless of where we are and who we are.

Savvy tips in Applying for a Job in Australia

One of the most frequently asked question by an aspiring or new migrant in Australia is the availability of jobs or work for them for obvious reason of survival. Questions like how long before a migrant can find a job, how do they start and where do they go to usually pop out of their minds. In my case, it took me around about two months to find the suitable one for me. I would say two months of job hunting may either be too long or too short depending upon how you'll look at it. It is definitely too slow for those whose skills are highly in demand like accountants, engineers, mechanics, I.T professionals, electricians, plumbers, doctors and nurses, etc.. On the other hand it could also be quick for a not so in demand overseas marketing graduate like me. Just to give you further information, within that period of my job hunting, I was really taking my time to find the right job for me as that was my chance to look for where I would really fit. My first job was a hard labor one in one of the biggest car companies here in Australia. I am not discounting the blue collar jobs as they are noble and decent jobs also, needless to say that they even earn more than the white collar jobs do at times. The point i am driving at is there will be a point that you need to find better job. Not just in terms of money which is important but a job that will develop or broaden more your skills and experience may it be in communications, sales, etc... Being a savvy migrant is not about getting whatever available job and be contented with it. Its about getting out of your comfort zone and finding what you really want in life and do whatever it takes to get it. Don't give up and pursue to live your dreams. After all, Australia is a first world country and offers lots of opportunities.

A very useful job site is www.seek.com.au and www.mycareer.com.au. These 2 websites often I've used on a daily basis in applying for the job i want. The response is good because upon using these free services, recruitment agents are sending me emails of whether i passed their initial screening or not. If i did, they will organize a best time for you and your prospective employer could meet for an interview. In short recruitment agents will be the one to fix everything right from the start. These job sites are very useful because it doesn't only gives you the latest job listed but also the current jobs which is in demand, the salary rates, and also teaches you to format your resumes. A savvy migrant should looked into in applying for a job.

COST OF LIVING DOWN UNDER

In every step we take, decisions are often made from simple things to more complicated choices. Much more when we speak about raising a family that we need to ponder more on our decisions as there are more lives at stake. Deciding on where to raise your family and settle your life in is not easy I know. In our case, migrating had been an option to us but before my wife and I finally decided to migrate in Australia, cost of living was one of our concern. Well, all aspiring migrants should know how much it would cost to survive each month, shouldn't they? That is one of the aspect that should be carefully looked into. Unfortunately, unless you have a relative or friend here, information will not be available. With this, I decided to write them down for you to give a bit of a picture.

Our monthly expenses are broken up as follows: (All in AUD)
Rent: $600.00
Groceries & Food: 600.00
Clothing & Accessories: 150.00
Telephone/Internet: 100.00
Water : 20.00
Electricity/Gas heating: 125.00
Cable channel: 40.00
Mobile phone recharge: 90.00

Public transport: 160.00
Car maintenance: 50.00
Petrol/Gasoline : 250.00
Car Registration & insurance: 200.00
My and my son's haircut: 30.00
Dinning out: 200.00
Gifts for friends/relatives: 50.00
Church: 40.00
Miscellaneous: 200.00

Our monthly expenses total $2,905. Please take note of the below conditions how these costs came up to be:

• We are currently renting a 2 bedroom flat. Monthly repayment when you decide to get a home loan is roughly about $1500 to $2000.
  
• We only have one child at the moment and he's 2 and a half years old.
  
• My mother is on one year tourist visa and currently living with us to look after our child. So, we don't incur any expense for daycare centres. Average cost of daycare is $80.00/day. Government provides childcare assistance depending on a couple's combined income.
  

I hope this would give you an idea on what and what not to expect in Australian living. This is how we spend and live our life at this picking up stage. Amount may vary depending on how you would want it to be as it still will depend on the decisions you make at the end of the day. However, these figures are realistic, I would say, to live a well balanced life. Just don't ever forget that it's not how much you earn that matters but it's how much you save that will pull you through.

I'll be updating this article in the future for more detailed and helpful information to future migrants.