Sydney schoolteacher Hayley Reynolds always wanted to work overseas, but it was never meant to be long-term.<\/p>\n
After moving to the United Arab Emirates in 2020, the 38-year-old initially envisaged a two-year adventure of travel and living in a new country.<\/p>\n
Five years on, the cost of living back home had spiralled and led her into an extended “financial gap year” just to afford returning one day.<\/p>\n
“Sydney is home. Sydney is where my friends and family are and my plan was always to come back,” Ms Reynolds said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Haley Reynolds moved to the United Arab Emirates five years ago. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
When she arrived in Dubai, she quickly realised her tax-free income \u2014 about $105,000 a year \u2014 would get her a lot further than it would in Sydney.<\/p>\n
“It’s very counterintuitive because I know most people think that Dubai is a very expensive place to live,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Our groceries are cheaper here. I’m in a situation where my school provides rental allowance.<\/p>\n
“But even so, the cost of rent here is about a third that of Sydney or at least what it used to be.”<\/p>\n
During her time abroad, Ms Reynolds was also able to buy a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s inner west with some help from her mother.<\/p>\n
But now she is using the next two years to save enough of a financial buffer to afford the increased expenses, which include about $900 in weekly mortgage repayments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Those who have left say it is “so easy to spend” in Sydney. (ABC News: Fletcher Yeung)<\/p>\n
“My mortgage for my one-bedroom apartment would be approximately 50 if not 60 per cent of my income [in Sydney] and it just gives me that little bit of freedom.<\/p>\n
“But the fact that I would have to save for two years just to contemplate moving back to Sydney is heartbreaking, in a way.”From the office to the outback<\/p>\n
For Tim Abbott, moving from the Emerald City to the rugged terrain of Western Queensland was a drastic “leap of faith”.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old worked in digital marketing and was paying about $600 a week on rent in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and spending hundreds a week on tolls, gym memberships, eating out and coffees.<\/p>\n
“It’s so easy to spend so much money in the city \u2026 you leave the house and you spend $50,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I was finding it really hard to save meaningful money and once I kind of added up how much I was spending annually \u2026 I was like, ‘I can’t keep paying almost $40,000 a year to live in Sydney.'”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tim Abbott said he could not keep paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to live in Sydney.<\/p>\n
This realisation came with an opportunity, after a friend suggested he consider doing farm work on a rural property 700 kilometres west of Brisbane.<\/p>\n
The offer to swap the office for the outback would involve big compromises like hard labour, but with the promise of a generous salary and free accommodation.<\/p>\n
“After a couple of weeks of thinking about it, I thought that this could be the best solution here in order to live rent-free but also earn good money,” Mr Abbott said.<\/p>\n
“I had never worked on a farm \u2026 I’ve never done farm work before or operated machinery or driven a tractor or anything like that.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some Sydneysiders are considering leaving the Emerald City for a financial breather. (ABC News: Fletcher Yeung)<\/p>\n
Now, a typical day at work is 7am to 4pm, with his afternoons free to relax.<\/p>\n
“The afternoon is just free time, which is lovely because you don’t have anywhere to spend the money you’re making, so the savings are incredible.”<\/p>\n
Mr Abbott hopes this financial gap year helps him save $100,000 for a house deposit and achieve his ultimate dream of owning a hobby farm.<\/p>\n
“I would love to own some sort of, like, estate \u2026 I’m managing my expectations, I would just love a freestanding home close to the beach somewhere, which I think is most Australians’ dreams right now.”<\/p>\n
Great for ‘financial reset’, but discipline required<\/p>\n
Andrew Grant, an academic at the University of Sydney Business School, said the idea of a financial gap year was becoming attractive, particularly for people in their 20s and 30s who had the flexibility to move away.<\/p>\n
“I think one of the great things is, you know, you’re being intentional about your finances,” Dr Grant said.<\/p>\n
“You’re not sort of thinking: ‘I’m just living pay cheque to pay cheque’ \u2026 it’s sort of helping you to focus on your long-term goals.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andrew Grant said the concept was becoming more popular among young people. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Dr Grant said it not only brought down the cost of essentials but also helped remove discretionary spending temptations.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s great for a financial reset to stop yourself from getting further down into the mire where you might be paying too much on bills, debts and other discretionary expenses,” he said.<\/p>\n
But he warned it was not for everyone and still required self-control, discipline and staying rooted to purpose.<\/p>\n
“Maybe I’m spending a lot more money travelling back and forth, and it’s gonna eat into the savings that I was going to be making anyway,” he said of a consideration to weigh up.<\/p>\n
‘Very optimistic about the future’<\/p>\n
When Ms Reynolds thinks about moving back to Sydney, it fills her with mixed emotions.<\/p>\n
“The reality for me [is] that as long as I live over here, I will enjoy it,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But it’s not home, Sydney is home and my eventual plan was always to move back.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sydney is home, Hayley Reynolds says, but the idea of saving thousands of dollars abroad is hard to turn down. (ABC News: Fletcher Yeung)<\/p>\n
It is a different sentiment for Mr Abbott, who even mulled over extending his gap year.<\/p>\n
“I could absolutely see myself doing longer just to see how much I’m genuinely enjoying it and how much money I’m able to save,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I honestly reckon it’s the first time since before the pandemic that my money has value again.<\/p>\n
“I’m very optimistic about the future now because the money that’s coming in, I’m able to save, and it’s really motivating and exciting.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney schoolteacher Hayley Reynolds always wanted to work overseas, but it was never meant to be long-term. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,2610,5951,164,101228,13330,101227,21131,11142,670,51700,21542],"class_list":["post-150776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-dubai","tag-economy","tag-emerald-city","tag-farming","tag-financial-gap-year","tag-mortgage","tag-rent","tag-sydney","tag-teaching","tag-uae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}