Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My family and I are Asian Australian expats living in Singapore. We have two boys, 6 and 4 and we would love to experience living in the USA and my husband's work allows their employees to transfer to their branch in Morris County. We are trying to work out the cost of living for a family of four.
So far I have the following costs and would like your opinions please, if these seem reasonable:
Food - $150 a week (how easy is it to obtain Asian groceries?)
Utilities - $300 a month
Cell phone- $100 a month
Car - leasing - $300 a month
Rent - we would like to live in a safe, family friendly area - so not sure what $2800 a month will get us. Would prefer living in a house rather than an apartment.
What about healthcare costs - not sure how that works, I know his work pays for some of it but do we purchase private insurance ourselves? How much would that be for a family of four? Our two boys have special needs, (mild) but require Occupational Therapy.
Have I left anything out? I have already included taxes and am aware of the sales tax. I would be grateful for some tips and pointers. Sorry if some of my questions seem silly as we have never been to the US before.
There are a few expenses that you haven't figured in: clothing (you need warm clothes and boots for the winter), fuel for your car (are you sure you only want one car? what happens when your husband drives to work and you're left alone at home?), dental care (dental insurance may be supplied by the employer, but not always and it usually doesn't cover much), cable TV, the TV, itself (the one you have in Oz won't work here). I think that 150/week for food is underestimating things a bit.
Typically, the way medical insurance works is that you have a policy that will cover 80% or 90% of the bill, if you use an out-of-network doctor, and you're responsible for the remainder. If you enroll in an HMO (health maintenance orgnization) or other health care network you'll have a more limited choice of doctors but no co-pay or a smaller co-pay. Policies on medications vary. My employer covers the entire cost of meds, but not all do. Typically there's a co-pay or a proportion of the cost is your responsibility.
Not unexpectedly, the answers are all "well, it depends".
"Food - $150 a week (how easy is it to obtain Asian groceries?)"
It would be very easy especially with a couple young kids to spend over $150 per week on groceries. But, if you're very careful about what you buy, I suppose it's possible. Asian groceries are easiest to get in locations with large concentrations of Asian residents. I don't know how easy they are to get in Morris County. You'll find the Chinatown area in Manhattan best, surely, and there will probably be some more difficult-to-find things that you'll only be able to get there. But there are Asian groceries, especially smaller ones, scattered throughout Northern New Jersey.
"Utilities - $300 a month"
Just electricity, gas and water? Depends on how big your place is, how well sealed it is, whether you try to run central air in the summer, how careful you are about running appliances, etc. $300 is definitely doable, but in a bigger place, you could probably go over that if you're not careful.
"Cell phone- $100 a month"
For up to two phones, you should be able to go a bit under that, as long as you choose the right plan, don't go over your "free" minutes, etc.
"Car - leasing - $300 a month"
You can actually get a decent car for under $200 per month. Note however that car leases require initial payments of $2000-$3000.
"Rent - we would like to live in a safe, family friendly area - so not sure what $2800 a month will get us. Would prefer living in a house rather than an apartment."
I don't know prices to rent homes in New Jersey very well, but you should be able to find a nice place for less than that, I'd think. Heck, you could buy a decent house for that much per month, and with nothing down. It should be easy to go quite a bit under that amount.
I notice that you didn't include a regular telephone line, internet or cable television. The regular telephone line you can do without maybe if you just use your cell phone, but you have to be careful that you do not go over your minutes, as you'll be using it a lot more then. I can't imagine doing without the Internet, especially with kids in school. And you'd probably quickly get frustrated (and the kids will complain) if you do not have at least basic cable. All of that stuff together is probably going to run you $100-150 per month. You can get package deals--for example, my telephone and internet are both through Verizon, or DirecTV has cable plus internet, and some services offer all three, but even with the supposed discount deals, I've heard that for most people it ends up being between $100 and $150 per month.
Also, do not forget to factor in gas/commuting costs. Gas has gone up a lot recently, and you also have to add in subway fares, bus fares, train fares, toll charges, etc. as necessary. You'd need to figure out where you're going to be commuting to and how you'd like to do it to estimate that cost. If you live a bit outside of Manhattan, have to commute to Manhattan daily, and also drive a bit on the weekends, drive the kids to various things, etc. You can easily spend at least $400 - $500 per month on traveling expenses, and that's just with one person commuting daily to Manhattan. It will obviously be more (though not double) for more than one person. Of course, if you're just commuting to somewhere close to you in Jersey, that will be a lot less, but you still have to factor in gas, tolls, etc.
Also be careful to factor in parking charges if necessary. If you do not have parking at home or at work, you'll have to pay there, and if you drive into Manhattan for leisure, you'll have to pay for parking.
"What about healthcare costs - not sure how that works, I know his work pays for some of it but do we purchase private insurance ourselves?"
If your place of employment has a health care plan, they pay part of the cost and you pay part of the cost. I've never actually had health care through employment (partially because I've primarily worked as a freelancer/independent agent for a long time, and my wife has always had it through her employers instead), but for a family of four, I'm guessing it might be a couple hundred per month? Then you'll have co-payments for medical visits and medications, but those aren't usually too much.
I'm sure you know you also have to budget for clothing, entertainment, etc.
I can't think of anything else major that you're overlooking, except that you'll need to make sure you budget every month towards your kids' college/university tuition.
It sounds like they're not planning to stay in the US forever, and even if they did, university in Australia is free...so there's no reason for them to have or want their children attend college in the US.
Again WINTER clothes, which aren't needed in Oz, are MANDATORY, and especially things like jumpers (pullovers in the US) are helpful, because you can turn down the thermostat at home and save fuel, but stay comfortable by pulling on a sweater.
I live in Morris County. I'm sure you can rent a decent house or condo for $2800 a month. I would probably look in either Parsippany or Montville, both have a pretty significant Asiain communities. Montville probably has slightly better schools. Both my kids went K through 12 in Montville. Big Asian influence there. Both towns are considered safe I am sure.
As far as your kids, Morristown Memorial Hospital has a very good Child Development Center. My son went there for Occupational Therapy and they were very good. I would see if your husband's insurance is taken there. They are part of Atlantic Health Systems.
Hope this info helps.
My family and I are Asian Australian expats living in Singapore. We have two boys, 6 and 4 and we would love to experience living in the USA and my husband's work allows their employees to transfer to their branch in Morris County. We are trying to work out the cost of living for a family of four.
So far I have the following costs and would like your opinions please, if these seem reasonable:
Food - $150 a week (how easy is it to obtain Asian groceries?)
Utilities - $300 a month
Cell phone- $100 a month
Car - leasing - $300 a month
Rent - we would like to live in a safe, family friendly area - so not sure what $2800 a month will get us. Would prefer living in a house rather than an apartment.
What about healthcare costs - not sure how that works, I know his work pays for some of it but do we purchase private insurance ourselves? How much would that be for a family of four? Our two boys have special needs, (mild) but require Occupational Therapy.
Have I left anything out? I have already included taxes and am aware of the sales tax. I would be grateful for some tips and pointers. Sorry if some of my questions seem silly as we have never been to the US before.
Thank you to all.
Foong
Others answered most of your questions but I can tell you that OT or any type of therapy is very expensive. Some insurance companies cover it, make sure yours does, otherwise it gets very expensive. If you're paying out of pocket, it will be between $80-100 per session (usually 45 min).
Thank you so much for you replies. At this stage our transfer would be a 2 year commitment, but there is an option to make it permanent should things work out. We were just after some sort of idea as to whether our estimates were in the ballpark. Appreciate all your comments and will incorporate them in our revised budget.
We have factored in the school but not the clothing. I am excited about the shopping in the USA because things are so much cheaper here than in Singapore or Australia. (books, quilt fabrics, clothes, toys - all the fun things!
Re the car, good point about hubby taking it to work. I can't drive so I will have to learn. My husband's work will be in Morristown so I don't think there will be a need to commute to Manhattan very often. If we do, we will be taking the train.
Schools - here in Singapore, the buses come to your house to collect your child, in Australia, you have to send them to a convenient pick up point nominated by the bus company. How is it done in NJ? Just trying to figure out also how much driving I have to do.
Thanks once again, you all have been terrific with your comments.
Last edited by gmsale; 03-16-2008 at 04:00 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
as we have never been to the US before.
