"my annual salary is $170, 000, plus my husband's income, $300, 000 a year, but I still don't think it's enough."
That's from a mother in Australia, Stef.
Seriously, when the editor first saw the news, he thought it was a joke.
You know, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians earned an average of $1653 a week on full-time income in May, up from $85956 a year.
An annual salary of $170000 is twice the average! Two people's annual income of $300000 is tossed out of countless families hundreds of streets, is definitely the high yield in the middle of the labor.
To earn so much money is not enough to spend, then let us these income drag the average level of people, how to live?!
But after reading her spending bills, the editor thinks her situation may be a microcosm of the Australian middle class.
Let's start with the mother's basic family situation. She is an adviser to a financial services institution and earns $1700000 a year. What her husband did not mention in the story, only to know that the two people's income combined, a year of $300, 000.
Stef has been married to her husband for 16 years and lives in Sydney with an 8-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter in Penrith,. Both children went to a public school near their home.
Compared to private school, a year of tuition can save at least tens of thousands of dollars! But even so, why not spend enough? Let's take a look at Stef's spending bill.
1. Childcare expenses
Stef says parents want to be the best for their children, so the biggest part of her family's daily expenses comes from the extra-curricular activities of two children and the cost of child-care services.
For example:
Daughter's ballet class per semester $135
My son's quarterly football class is $120.
Daughter's cheerleader training session $80 a month
Son's guitar class $490
Swimming class for two children, $200 per month
These are only cost-effective, expensive two-child care services. A fortnightly $481, or nearly $1000 a month.
This is just normal, school holidays will be more expensive!
If you take the kids out to play, at least $50 a day, $1500 a month.
If a child is enrolled in a holiday care program, at least $80 a day and $4,000 a month!
In addition, Stef attaches great importance to participating in some activities with the children and getting valuable family time, so the whole family goes skiing with Thredbo every year.
Including food and accommodation, children learn to ski class fees, rent ski equipment, at least $7,000 at a time.
In this way, it is not only domestic, but also very expensive to raise children in Australia.
2. Daily household expenses
Apart from raising children, daily household expenses are not a small sum.
Although the family seldom went out to eat and saved a lot of money from restaurants, Stef was a quality-of-life person.
So, she likes to buy some more expensive organic ingredients, takeout, more expensive wine.
It also led to the high cost of her family's daily life.
Weekly food, daily groceries: $400
Monthly takeout: $300
Coffee per month: $64
Money spent fortnightly on wine: $120-$200
That alone costs about $2400 a month.
3, personal expenses
Stef loves a herbal tea called Ketones Pruvit, which costs $481 a month to buy.
She also goes to priceline every week to buy something like shampoo, bath and skin care, which costs about $74 a week.
As a professional woman, professional clothing is also indispensable.
Stef loves the Marks & Spencer brand, which costs about $300 a few months.
Her other clothes are popular brands like Uniqlo and Zara, which cost about $300 a quarter.
The maximum cost of buying a bag is $1200 a year.
As a result, she spends thousands of dollars a year on clothing accessories, which is really not much at her income level.
4, other overhead
In addition to this, there are also some miscellaneous expenses, which can not be saved, such as:
Mortgage: $3300
Quarterly tariff: $850 / 1250
Gas cost per quarter: $800
Quarterly council tax:$407
Recreation: $200
Telephone charges: $103
Net fee: $120
Family insurance: $77
Car expenses: $872.35
Personal training: $140
……
The money doesn't seem to be much, but it adds up, and the result is scary!
What's more, it's just a calculated expense, plus all kinds of invisible expenses, and the rest of a year's hard work may be enough to buy a bottle of water pressure.
So the mother said, "my husband and I don't know how families with only one person make money to support their families."
This question, netizens hundreds of comments have given the answer:
"WTF? Our family is also a four-member family with two children, earning only $44,000 a year. Oh, my God, these people really don't know how lucky they are. A few months from the bottom income level, she knew how happy she was. "
"my two daughters and I lived on only $32000 last year, so I think it's because she spends too much!"
"she spends at least twice as much on daily necessities as the average person, and people who can afford organic food can't afford to say they have a hard time living? It's a joke! "
"my husband and I also live in Sydney and earn much less money than she does. I don't think you can make as much money as you can if you don't manage your finances well. "
"living in Sydney is not a problem. The real problem is herself. Her mortgage is not too much, it is only a small part of her income, all of their money is spent on luxury lifestyle, so wherever she lives, she will feel that it is not enough to spend. "
From the comments of netizens, most people think the mother is moaning without illness, and the money is not enough to spend because her life is too extravagant.
However, some people think, it is these netizens "can't eat grapes say grape acid."
"what people don't realize is that people who earn $ one hundred and seventy thousand a year don't get any government benefits, and not only do they have to pay the highest taxes. With an annual salary of one hundred and seventy thousand, taxes alone cost between 60, 000 and 70, 000, which are used to subsidize low-income groups. So you should thank her. "
The editor also felt that apart from eating well, the mother did not seem to have much luxury. The reason why the money is not enough is not because the cost of living in Australia is too high!
Sydney, for example, has the highest cost of living in the world. Melbourne is not bad, the world ranked 14th! Every year that point of income, really can not climb such a ranking ah.
Even if you earn $ one hundred thousand a year, after deducting the tax, your income will only be around $70,000.
According to the latest Australian Securities and Investments Commission report, Australian families spent an average of $74301 a year on their daily living in 2016.
If there is only one person in the family to work, you will have to lose money after a year.
In the case of a family like Stef, two adults, two children between the ages of 5 and 14. The average weekly cost is $2085, up to $108402 a year!
An annual salary of $ one hundred and seventy thousand, after deducting the tax, is basically the same as spending.
Moreover, the weekly figure of $2085 does not count as a home loan.
If you still have a few thousand dollars a month to repay the mortgage, the end of the year, the result is still not enough to make ends meet, no wonder the mother's annual salary of $ one hundred and seventy thousand is not enough to spend.
So, what do you do if you want to spend enough money? The best way is: stay single!
Think about it. If you're single, it's enough to rent / buy a one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment. You don't have to buy a house.
In this way, do not have to pay the annual increase in council taxes, do not have to pay all kinds of meat pain weeding, insect, toilet costs, there are 100 dollars an hour of plumbing also do not need to invite ah!
More importantly, $120 a day for kindergarten, $34, 000 a year for private schools, $25000 a year for universities, and more than $10, 000 a year for extra-curricular tutoring are all saved!
Not to buy them milk powder, clothing, shoes, electronics, air tickets.
It's enough to save more than 400,000!
Moreover, single words, do not spend hundreds of dollars to send gifts to each other for a holiday, also do not have to spend dozens of knives to go to the restaurant ah, watch a movie or something, not only save heart, but also save money!
So, do you think it's lucky to be single?
Not to tell you, this year Qixi Festival, editor is relying on the calculation of this account, just resist a variety of dog food attacks.