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The cost of Living in NZ?

The cost of Living in NZ?

Old Oct 12th 2011, 12:00 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Fair points NJ16, but honestly most people would consider that plentiful to have a great standard of living and lifestyle in Auckland. However it is all a matter of perspective and what doesn't work for you will of course work for another.

I would suggest that many NZ born health professionals like other professionals leave the country, largely across the ditch, to earn money, get experience, but awful lot come back later in life as a senior person to enjoy the lifestyle whilst having a great standard of living.

NZ is not the place to go to earn big bucks in most careers, or to build a career although some do. Yes you can simplistically earn more in other places but NZ will never be a place for that on its own.
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Old Oct 12th 2011, 5:59 pm
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by Bo-Jangles
How very odd, having have since read some of the OPs history and it seems he's been around the world and back; with talk of coming to New Zealand / Auckland/ Australia/ Brisbane/ Adelaide/ Canada / USA some time soon - for the past six years. So perhaps we shouldn't hold our breathe to read the 'We've arrived' thread from the Jones family.

BoJangles,

Yes it is true we have been looking around. I'll be honest my original plan was to move to Australia but the only relatives we had a link to there refused to sponsor us. I have looked at Employer sponsorship in Oz - hence the questions about Adelaide etc. that your research discovered - but realise that there is actually more demand (and it's easier to get in) for someone my age and with the skills I possess to find work in NZ.

We have looked at NZ before and I have spoken to both recruitment agencies and on the odd occasion directly with employers via phone interviews. One of the things that slowed things down was my daughter gaining a place at University here in the UK. She is pursuing a subject she loves so we have put things on hold. This course will finish in 2012.

The other locations you found were things we flirted with briefly mainly because something came out of the blue. One example was contact by a recruitment agent in the U.S which was not a location I had ever previously considered but which I felt needed looking into before I committed myself to something rash. Another was contact from an agent in Singapore. As my wife spent part of her childhood there, and was keen to know more, and is also somewhere we have visited and liked this too merited investigation on my part as somewhere we could possibly move to, but to be honest I am not sure I would like to live permanently in that climate.

But anyway, we are where we are after all that and short of my family moving to Oz individually we have decided as a family to make a serious stab at making a move as a family unit to NZ hence the questions about the cost of living.

Things have moved on from research I did on the cost of living in NZ several years ago and we know from both personal experience and anecdotal evidence that the cost of living in Australia has increased several fold since we first investigated there as well.

We have never intentionally mis-led or set out to waste people's time and appreciate any and all comments that help us to accumulate enough details to form a picture about the topic at hand


Hope this helps..

Stephen
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Old Oct 12th 2011, 6:04 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by Spacecake799
Hi Stephen,

Wages are usually low here compared to cost of living.

How big/old is your family and what area of IT do you work in? Does your wife work?

With those answers we may be able to offer more advice.

Carole

Hello Carole,

We will be hoping to come as a family of four, possibly five although I do believe that at least one of the more adult children will not be classed as a dependent and will instead have to apply on their own.

I am currently employed as an analyst programmer with in-depth experience of C#.Net, its development tools, SQL etc together with over 20years of AS400 RPG for all the techies out there.

My wife doesn't work currently but she does have some shop-work experience that I am sure she could put to use.


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Old Oct 12th 2011, 6:07 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by Browner_
Your concerns are very valid. However, if you have good IT skills then you are likely to be able to get an income much greater than most in NZ and possible more than adequate.

One issue is that you may well find most jobs in Auckland or Wellington, from where you may find it hard to get the 'lifestyle' that you seek.

Dont spend all your savings and have no way of getting back to UK though, particularly if you havent got permanent residence visa.


Thanks Browner,
I have from reasearch come to realise that these would be the areas I would be most likely to obtain work from in any case.

That being said, I think Auckland would suit me fine.


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Old Oct 12th 2011, 8:35 pm
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

According to the Mercer Cost of Living survey (2010) London is the 17th most expensive city in the world in which to live. Birmingham around 150th. Auckland was 149th most expensive, Wellington 173rd. That takes into account food prices, cost of services, rentals etc, mathematically.
I simply don't believe someone saying that they were living modestly in the UK, but would find $170,000 not enough in NZ. I'm sorry.
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Old Oct 12th 2011, 8:46 pm
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

^ So, if the economists are to be believed, NZ is not more expensive than the UK in which to live. Although, the average wage is lower, so the money you earn in NZ will not go as far (assuming your wage in NZ is lower).

Therefore, what I reckon is, if the OP can get a job in NZ paying at least what he is earning in the UK (once exchange rates are factored in), he should be no worse off economically (Well, that's what the mathematics say anyway).

Last edited by waikatoguy; Oct 12th 2011 at 9:14 pm.
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Old Oct 12th 2011, 9:25 pm
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Stephen,

Start at seek.co.nz - find out what you should earn.
Next up, nz inland revenue... They have a handy website for your nett salary
After this trademe.co.nz for rentals / property sales
Then I'm not sure about other places but Christchurch council let you search by address for council rates.
Woolworths.co.nz for a quick comparative food shop to sort out your food budget
Google media, utilities and mobiles... You can pretty much work out to the dollar what you're going to spend.

Finally, nz version of moneysupermarket type website has an excellent budget planner that helps you suss out all the other stuff.

That said I don't arrive for another 3 weeks, so all my careful planning might be nonsense!
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 1:54 am
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Back to average salaries, on taking it upon myself to do some research, there doesn't appear to be much difference between UK and NZ salaries afterall, according to this site :

http://www.broadbaseimmigration.co.u...formation.html

UK = 25,500 pounds
NZ = $48,600

So with the exchange rates :
UK average salary = $51,000
NZ = $48,600

And with cost of living surveys being comparable between the 2 countries, I would have thought things were pretty much even stevens in terms of wages vs costs ????
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 2:20 am
  #24  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by NJ16
My wife is a hospital consultant with 20 years experience in a speciality where there is a chronic shortage in NZ

She could attract a salary of £100k+ in UK or $400k+ in Aus.

I'm afraid $170,000 (c.£85,000) is not a huge salary for the profession and, as another contribitor said ,not enough for NZ to retain or attract the doctors it needs.If it was there would not be a chronic shortage of doctors!

On returning to UK from NZ my wife commented that people she met in NZ seemed to have confused the concepts of "standard of living" and "quality of life".

The former was (again and subjectively) low the latter quite possibly high relative to someone who lived in say a large city in UK.We live in a rural area in the UK and so except for the beaches in NZ (which were fantastic) we would not gain to move.

I suppose the point I'm (badly) trying to make is simply that in our particlar case NZ would have proved to have been a low wage high cost country where we would not have gained from the move - financially or otherwise but that does not mean that NZ is not perfect for many other people.
I am on the other side of the fence.... in that I have made the move to NZ, and now feeling the pinch. Although I am not a Medical Consultant, I too can command a 6 figure salary in the UK.... regretably I NZ seems to think I am only worth half of that! I agree that it is quite unpalatable to be a professional and being paid relatively low wages in NZ... and that plays with my head daily.... I kind of feel like I am being taken for granted! I do think that $170K is a bl**dy good wage here though.... and not sure why you couldn't have a very nice life on that... especially when you also combine your wage too.... you could be upwards of $250K - $300K.

Although I agree with your comments on the cost of housing, I am not sure where you are living in the UK, but if you are anywhere south of Milton Keynes.... you will be paying a LOT of $$ for your house.

I have a friend who is a consultant here, and they moved as they were paid more here than the UK.... so I am not sure this is true in all cases. They have a 14 acre, 5 bed, lifestyle plot.... not sure they would have that in the UK?! I also have a friend who is a specialist nurse.... who again earns more than in the UK.... so it is not a one off.

Having moved to NZ and having recently been in a position / dilemma of having a great job opportunity in the UK, I relate to some of your concerns about NZ.... ultimately, having experienced all that NZ has to offer (outside of $) I made the decision to stay, but it was a really difficult decision.
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 8:18 am
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by NJ16
My wife is a hospital consultant with 20 years experience in a speciality where there is a chronic shortage in NZ

She could attract a salary of £100k+ in UK or $400k+ in Aus.

I'm afraid $170,000 (c.£85,000) is not a huge salary for the profession and, as another contribitor said ,not enough for NZ to retain or attract the doctors it needs.If it was there would not be a chronic shortage of doctors!

On returning to UK from NZ my wife commented that people she met in NZ seemed to have confused the concepts of "standard of living" and "quality of life".

The former was (again and subjectively) low the latter quite possibly high relative to someone who lived in say a large city in UK.We live in a rural area in the UK and so except for the beaches in NZ (which were fantastic) we would not gain to move.

I suppose the point I'm (badly) trying to make is simply that in our particlar case NZ would have proved to have been a low wage high cost country where we would not have gained from the move - financially or otherwise but that does not mean that NZ is not perfect for many other people.
I can understand your point and the fact that its a real issue to you.
The point is, hardly anybody in NZ earns $100k, let alone 100k pound. I dont think anyone in NZ could even relate to your situation.
$170k is probably more than the Prime Minister gets

Having said that , if I could earn NZ$170k, I wouldnt be too worried about the supermarkets, expensive as they may be.

But I agree - dont even come cos your expectations will never be met
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 9:08 am
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by Stephen Jones
Things have moved on from research I did on the cost of living in NZ several years ago and we know from both personal experience and anecdotal evidence that the cost of living in Australia has increased several fold since we first investigated there as well.

We have never intentionally mis-led or set out to waste people's time and appreciate any and all comments that help us to accumulate enough details to form a picture about the topic at hand

No need to explain and I meant no offence, just seemed a bit random from a quick flick through your posts as if you had been trying to get to anywhere you could that wasn't the UK.

But good luck to you if coming to NZ is now a concentrated effort, the world is indeed a different place to what it was three / four / five years ago. Who'd have believed we'd be $2 to the pound and shopping online in M&S would become such a bargain for us at this end of the world. I have certainly been making the most and stocking up. Who knew or could predict that the UK is now the shopping capital of Europe, rather than historically all the Brits skipping across the Channel for cheaper supplies, the traffic now comes the other way.

So yes it is important to keep abreast of the financial situation and the latest economic outlook. None of it ever looks good! The recent financial downgrade of NZ and elections coming up, the projected further delays for the Christchurch rebuild have sent stock markets and financial gurus into another spiral of doom, threats of interest rate rises, rampant inflation, continual suggestions of earthquake / disaster levies being imposed and surprise, surprise, revealed this week that the Government books are maybe slightly more of a mess than they've been letting on.

We have so much to look forward to still, with plenty of bumps in the road to get past before things return to any semblance of 'normality', whatever that is.

Some people are struggling with cost of living and conversely a great deal more will never have had it so good, with the relatively low interest rates. I include myself here, as feeling for the first time in a good number of years that we can relax a little about money and can actually breathe for a bit. If mortgage rates do start to make a shift back to the usual 8 to 9% then you might begin to see quite a bit more hardship and general squeals of financial pain being felt around this forum.


Apparently it will all come right when the All Blacks win the Rugby.
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 11:23 am
  #27  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by waikatoguy
Back to average salaries, on taking it upon myself to do some research, there doesn't appear to be much difference between UK and NZ salaries afterall, according to this site :

http://www.broadbaseimmigration.co.u...formation.html

UK = 25,500 pounds
NZ = $48,600

So with the exchange rates :
UK average salary = $51,000
NZ = $48,600

And with cost of living surveys being comparable between the 2 countries, I would have thought things were pretty much even stevens in terms of wages vs costs ????
I always have my doubts about these surveys, being in regular contact with family & friends in the UK you get a good idea of how cost of living compares.
Things like electric, phone/internet, Sky TV take a big chunk each month, comparing to what my sisters family pay. For those 4 things we pay on average around $450/month, My sister pays around $200 equivalent with current exchange rates, including gas!! Council tax, we have now overtaken them very slightly. Petrol is cheaper here, but is catching up.

Food is definitely more expensive on the whole. I have a short bill from last Saturday from a small shopping trip to Countdown which I can show a big difference.

5 items, 1kg Chicken Nuggets ($14.30), 1KG chips ($2.69), 3L Milk ($5.46), 3L Orange Juice ($5.49), 4 x Energizer AA ultimate lithium batteries($31.39!!!)
Total $59.33.
From Tesco you could do the same shop for $29.18!!!
I know the batteries exaggerate it quite a lot ($10 at Tesco), but it just shows what a big difference there can be.
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Old Oct 13th 2011, 8:51 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Stephen, I would suggest you don't see it as a permanent move. Since you have marketable skills which would bring in a good salary, you could afford to give it a go and if you don't like it move on to somewhere else.

Your daughter is of an age where her future plans could change on the drop of a pin so you may want some degree of flexibility. My suggestion would be to rent out your property, come over here and see if you like it. In the back of your mind might be the possibility of citizenship and thus a gateway to Australia.

Future years could also mean grandchildren, so being flexible is probably a good idea.
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Old Oct 14th 2011, 12:18 am
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Originally Posted by jmh
Stephen, I would suggest you don't see it as a permanent move. Since you have marketable skills which would bring in a good salary, you could afford to give it a go and if you don't like it move on to somewhere else.

Your daughter is of an age where her future plans could change on the drop of a pin so you may want some degree of flexibility. My suggestion would be to rent out your property, come over here and see if you like it. In the back of your mind might be the possibility of citizenship and thus a gateway to Australia.

Future years could also mean grandchildren, so being flexible is probably a good idea.

JMH thanks for this. That actually seems a good idea.
My previous thoughts have always been - when/if I go I am going for good but, as you say, things change.

Steve
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Old Oct 14th 2011, 1:51 am
  #30  
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Default Re: The cost of Living in NZ?

Can i say that although it would seem that it is not typical,
I make about the same as I did in the uk and the better half is better paid.

I have a nicer house on a bigger section nearer to (what used to be a) city centre than i could ever of afforded in the UK, and manage quite happly to run 2 cars a motorbike and what is left of a vw van.

The secret, dump the kids, get a dog
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