I have lived a prety mustachian life close to the VUB myself.
Our total expenses (including extensive travel) were around 1500 eur for two (grossly overestimated ;).
- Rent was around 700 including electricity, heating (gas), and internet. This is normal price in the studenty-neighbourhood around the VUB area. (Make sure to have heating included!).
- We spent on average around 80 eur / month on groceries. Buy them in Aldi or Colruyt (both are very near to the VUB).
- Our employers paid for public transport within the Brussels region (ask!), but I cycled to my office (11 km). Do not be daunted by traffic. There are really nice side roads :) (see the map here:
http://www.bruxellesmobilite.irisnet.be/articles/velo/carte-velo ) I would either invest in a very good lock (more expensive than the bike), park your bike inside, or use villo. (
http://en.villo.be/ )
Your salary is typical for a post doc. If your wife is dependent on you, it should be higher.
Your wife can most likely find work with either an international company or one of the European institutions. Most local companies require that you speak 3 languages (French, English, Dutch).
Note that it might be frustrating for her. In our group of friends (post-docs, phds, and expats), the wifes/husbands were usually unemployed for more than a year (due to language issues).
Luckily, you can take free Dutch classes (close to VUB, ask) and almost free French classes (
www.clt.be ). My wife spoke French fluently within one year, while Dutch took her 3 years.
At university, you are going to speak English.
If your wife finds a management position, she should earn between 3k and 5k after tax (depending on the level). I suggest that you or your wife works as a contractor on the side for extra income. You can typically charge between 50 and 130 per hour (depending on the domain, of which government eats at least half).
Your yearly after-tax income should be somewhere between 13 and 14 your monthly income.
Your health insurance works as explained Ayanka. Your employer (university) most likely offers (almost) free hospital insurance (ask). If that is the case, take the normal health insurance with one of the Flemish mutualities (e.g. cm.be ), as they are cheaper than the ones of Wallonia. I paid around 60 euro each January.
W.r.t. retirement: verify whether there is an agreement between Australia and Belgium about retirement contributions. If that is the case, you can transfer the years worked in Belgium (as a post-doc) to your home country. If that is not the case, you probably will receive a token amount from Belgium after age 65. (My wife can transfer the years worked).
Belgium is not a good country to become rich, but it is a good country to be rich. There are no taxes on capital gains (but there is a 25% tax on dividends). Open an investment account with binck (binck.be).
Use a smaller bank like argenta to do your banking (the most well known ones - ING, BNP Paribas, KBC, etc. - are expensive, while the other ones are free (check here for a comparison:
http://www.spaargids.be/sparen/ ).
If you have any questions related to Belgium, Brussels, phds, post-docs, or international companies, just ask. Both my wife and I have a phd. She decided to stay in academia, while I left for an international company.