NZ is so expensive
#31
Re: NZ is so expensive
I don't know how most folks can afford to live here as it's so expensive. I just don't agree that housing is cheaper here than anywhere else. I don't think 500-600 thousand dollars plus is cheap for three-bedroom houses. Most would think that's a fortune. Because the UK is larger there is much more range of prices than you get here. Everything here is standard down to the price of coffee.
This myth about NZ being cheaper than the Uk is just that. And my O/H,who is in the UK at the moment, just mentioned how great it is to buy Alpen which doesn't cost $21.00 like it does here.
This myth about NZ being cheaper than the Uk is just that. And my O/H,who is in the UK at the moment, just mentioned how great it is to buy Alpen which doesn't cost $21.00 like it does here.
Most 3 bedroom houses in NZ don't cost 500-600k. If you get a map out and look under/ south of Auckland you'll see there's quite a few inhabited places outside of Auckland
FWIW, I don't think 500-600k is cheap for a 3 bedroom house, but on the other hand I know folk on the North Shore paying more like a million and they're happy enough to do so.
Alpen for $21.00 or you could actually buy Kiwi muesli- loads of nice brands here! I sometimes head to the English shop and buy Galaxy but I don't then whinge about the price of it and I'm more than happy with a nice bar of whitakers.
I agree NZ isn't the cheapest place to live but let's not start playing silly games like "3 bedroom houses here cost upwards of a half a million and muesli's $21".
#32
Re: NZ is so expensive
Perhaps it would be more realistic to state what you can get for $300K NZ$ here in NZ and where that would be found,then go on to candidly post about the areas. Of course one also needs to factor in earning power ect but at the end of the day , most of us know, most people look at the real estate pictures and dream, without seeing behind everyday living.
We had a couple on here recently looking at what they thought was a good area , at a reasonable price in Wellington. Turn out to be not where you would want to be.
Link
House sales NZ
We had a couple on here recently looking at what they thought was a good area , at a reasonable price in Wellington. Turn out to be not where you would want to be.
Link
House sales NZ
#33
Re: NZ is so expensive
And I wonder how the dentists fare in London/B/ham price wise relative to wages.
I am a regular dentist visitor so visit below is nought to do with the fact that I have not been for 7 years.
This visit.
$95 for check up.
$250 for hygienist work.
$210 for an extraction.
$570 for 2 fillings...$2k if I would like 2 X crowns which will last twice as long. I think I will go for the cheaper option thanks.
So that is about $1125 for this year's visit....cool eh? Now I know why so many kiwis have shite teeth.
A while back some bastard of a dentist/conman tried to get around $4k of work out of me relative to root canal work. That was back in 2007, have I had any issues of any nature because I declined his kind offer of his service? Yet another of the many, many kiwi rip off merchants that have darkened my door.
I am a regular dentist visitor so visit below is nought to do with the fact that I have not been for 7 years.
This visit.
$95 for check up.
$250 for hygienist work.
$210 for an extraction.
$570 for 2 fillings...$2k if I would like 2 X crowns which will last twice as long. I think I will go for the cheaper option thanks.
So that is about $1125 for this year's visit....cool eh? Now I know why so many kiwis have shite teeth.
A while back some bastard of a dentist/conman tried to get around $4k of work out of me relative to root canal work. That was back in 2007, have I had any issues of any nature because I declined his kind offer of his service? Yet another of the many, many kiwi rip off merchants that have darkened my door.
Since it is not subsidised by the NZ Government like the NHS is in UK (for an inferior quality of treatment especially re advanced stuff like root canals) how is that a rip off?
In UK NHS as an employed person/family on reasonable income you would not have been exempt from charges so even after paying income tax etc, you would likely have been in Band 2 or 3 and paid maybe 198 pounds which is roughly NZ$400.
I am not saying it is affordable for the average Kiwi but it is not a rip off even based on what you just posted.
As for a root canal which can involve 3-4 hours of chair time if done properly, my general dentist charges $1200, a specialist endodontist $2000. If done properly (not UK NHS in 30 mins) it saves your tooth and you don't have to crown it straight away.
I think Kiwi restaurants are more of a rip off, very small portions in general and even charge separately for bread with soup quite often.
You get what you pay for in dentistry more so than in other areas quality and ethics wise. The overheads are higher than in the past just on hygiene regulations. I remember when they used to stick multiple patients with the same syringe...yuck yuck yuck such ignorance as recently as 1970/80s when AIDS arrived.
As another poster pointed out, the level of student debt is also a factor in overheads as well. One of the reasons many USA dentists seem to be such unethical con artists is said to be the high level of debt upon graduation too.
Last edited by luvwelly; Oct 27th 2011 at 7:16 am.
#34
Re: NZ is so expensive
hey great reply,s from every-one ...isn,t it lucky we all have such different opinions...otherwise nz would be full of winging poms
I can live with it getting dark for a little while at 5-15 BJ ....because at least at the end of that spell of darkness there will b blue skys....
My sis who has lived in nz for 28 years was over here in the uk last october for a month and she couldn't cope with the constant grey skys and grey outlook of most people ....granted she did love a good session in the local pub for a super sunday session
Personally we understand that we will probs take a pay cut...but not by much... yes we will have an old car... yes Alpen might be expensive ..well eat something else if u don't wanna pay that much...toast is always nice haha.. yes the exchange rate is crap...when we went to nz to get married in 2000 we were gettin 3-1 exchange, No i havn;t got loads of spare cash to be able to afford the exchange rate what it is now.... but I also can't change it ....
So what am I trying to say well I guess its this .... The cost of moving lock stock 2 kids and the dog ....is extreme, so it is not done without much thought....I am not moving to nz to become mega rich...... I have researched , researched and then researched and know it is not the land of expensive milk and manuka honey.... but I am happy to do it ... Sorry it hasn't worked for some , but IMO those it has worked are far to busy having a great life to be sitting on expat forums as they are living the NZ life
I can live with it getting dark for a little while at 5-15 BJ ....because at least at the end of that spell of darkness there will b blue skys....
My sis who has lived in nz for 28 years was over here in the uk last october for a month and she couldn't cope with the constant grey skys and grey outlook of most people ....granted she did love a good session in the local pub for a super sunday session
Personally we understand that we will probs take a pay cut...but not by much... yes we will have an old car... yes Alpen might be expensive ..well eat something else if u don't wanna pay that much...toast is always nice haha.. yes the exchange rate is crap...when we went to nz to get married in 2000 we were gettin 3-1 exchange, No i havn;t got loads of spare cash to be able to afford the exchange rate what it is now.... but I also can't change it ....
So what am I trying to say well I guess its this .... The cost of moving lock stock 2 kids and the dog ....is extreme, so it is not done without much thought....I am not moving to nz to become mega rich...... I have researched , researched and then researched and know it is not the land of expensive milk and manuka honey.... but I am happy to do it ... Sorry it hasn't worked for some , but IMO those it has worked are far to busy having a great life to be sitting on expat forums as they are living the NZ life
#35
Re: NZ is so expensive
On the current exchange rate that is roughly 500 pounds for quite a lot of hopefully painless dental work likely provided in an unrushed manner.
Since it is not subsidised by the NZ Government like the NHS is in UK (for an inferior quality of treatment especially re advanced stuff like root canals) how is that a rip off?
In UK NHS as an employed person/family on reasonable income you would not have been exempt from charges so even after paying income tax etc, you would likely have been in Band 2 or 3 and paid maybe 198 pounds which is roughly NZ$400.
I am not saying it is affordable for the average Kiwi but it is not a rip off even based on what you just posted.
As for a root canal which can involve 3-4 hours of chair time if done properly, my general dentist charges $1200, a specialist endodontist $2000. If done properly (not UK NHS in 30 mins) it saves your tooth and you don't have to crown it straight away.
I think Kiwi restaurants are more of a rip off, very small portions in general and even charge separately for bread with soup quite often.
You get what you pay for in dentistry more so than in other areas quality and ethics wise. The overheads are higher than in the past just on hygiene regulations. I remember when they used to stick multiple patients with the same syringe...yuck yuck yuck such ignorance as recently as 1970/80s when AIDS arrived.
As another poster pointed out, the level of student debt is also a factor in overheads as well. One of the reasons many USA dentists seem to be such unethical con artists is said to be the high level of debt upon graduation too.
Since it is not subsidised by the NZ Government like the NHS is in UK (for an inferior quality of treatment especially re advanced stuff like root canals) how is that a rip off?
In UK NHS as an employed person/family on reasonable income you would not have been exempt from charges so even after paying income tax etc, you would likely have been in Band 2 or 3 and paid maybe 198 pounds which is roughly NZ$400.
I am not saying it is affordable for the average Kiwi but it is not a rip off even based on what you just posted.
As for a root canal which can involve 3-4 hours of chair time if done properly, my general dentist charges $1200, a specialist endodontist $2000. If done properly (not UK NHS in 30 mins) it saves your tooth and you don't have to crown it straight away.
I think Kiwi restaurants are more of a rip off, very small portions in general and even charge separately for bread with soup quite often.
You get what you pay for in dentistry more so than in other areas quality and ethics wise. The overheads are higher than in the past just on hygiene regulations. I remember when they used to stick multiple patients with the same syringe...yuck yuck yuck such ignorance as recently as 1970/80s when AIDS arrived.
As another poster pointed out, the level of student debt is also a factor in overheads as well. One of the reasons many USA dentists seem to be such unethical con artists is said to be the high level of debt upon graduation too.
#36
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,130
Re: NZ is so expensive
Figures for 2011:
Net migration of Kiwis was downgraded to 'deteriorating' status from 'improving' a year ago with the 30,000 New Zealanders departing in the year to June being double the number seen a year earlier.
young women are at high risk with New Zealand having the highest suicide rate for women aged between 15-24 in the OECD.
Balance.
Net migration of Kiwis was downgraded to 'deteriorating' status from 'improving' a year ago with the 30,000 New Zealanders departing in the year to June being double the number seen a year earlier.
young women are at high risk with New Zealand having the highest suicide rate for women aged between 15-24 in the OECD.
Balance.
#37
Re: NZ is so expensive
Would the last young person to leave please turn the (candle)light on so the oldies don't trip over their unfunded retirement liabilities
#38
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: NZ is so expensive
doubt that immigrants have shoved the prices up more than the land bankers, local planning authorities (who hold the area open for development tight so that land prices are kept hight) and developers who appear take the profit and vanish into the mist
the home-oweners who made all that dough on the property boom are now retirees or multiple home owners with enough family trusts to salt the money away
these and their advisers from property development/get rich quick/tax avoidance fiddles are who you should be blaming not the poor sops who came here and bought leaky homes, over-priced homes and other property. their effect was a drop in the ocean in comparison.
#39
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: NZ is so expensive
I have researched , researched and then researched and know it is not the land of expensive milk and manuka honey.... but I am happy to do it ... Sorry it hasn't worked for some , but IMO those it has worked are far to busy having a great life to be sitting on expat forums as they are living the NZ life
#40
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: NZ is so expensive
Figures for 2011:
Net migration of Kiwis was downgraded to 'deteriorating' status from 'improving' a year ago with the 30,000 New Zealanders departing in the year to June being double the number seen a year earlier.
young women are at high risk with New Zealand having the highest suicide rate for women aged between 15-24 in the OECD.
Balance.
Net migration of Kiwis was downgraded to 'deteriorating' status from 'improving' a year ago with the 30,000 New Zealanders departing in the year to June being double the number seen a year earlier.
young women are at high risk with New Zealand having the highest suicide rate for women aged between 15-24 in the OECD.
Balance.
I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to leave such a wonderful country for a better life and to earn more money elsewhere.
Yeah, right!!
#42
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: NZ is so expensive
anyway NZ is expensive - just work out how many hours you need to work to buy such and such an item or service. very little works out cheaper than it was in the UK or that it is in the US, etc
I don't see many dentists claiming benefits, many of them are driving Astons, etc The only dental work I've had done here was OK but not great so I'm not an expert but many Kiwis I know have done some tourism/dental work holidays and they aren't complaining.
Tens of thousands of $$ in student fees are not a great deal of dosh, the newly qualified dentists I knew in the UK could see that off in a couple of years. Just another excuse for expensive services. The dental cartel here will be broken at some point just as the opticians one is being dealt to by Specsavers, etc.
I'm also finding it hard to see how so many people earn more here than in the UK. Talking to plenty of expats over trhe past 5 years I've only come accross it in about 1 in 20 cases. Lots of people I know have gone back having been here for a couple of months or 3 - 5 years (usually) cause they couldn't make it work. MrsL is on about 60% of UK salary, I was on 40%, even without the benefits, which were useless here, in terms of leave, sick pay, medical insurance, permanent health cover, parental leave, pension, etc, etc.
Anyway good luck to those who can do better here, best of luck to those of us who struggle and have fun to those who are about to come.
I don't see many dentists claiming benefits, many of them are driving Astons, etc The only dental work I've had done here was OK but not great so I'm not an expert but many Kiwis I know have done some tourism/dental work holidays and they aren't complaining.
Tens of thousands of $$ in student fees are not a great deal of dosh, the newly qualified dentists I knew in the UK could see that off in a couple of years. Just another excuse for expensive services. The dental cartel here will be broken at some point just as the opticians one is being dealt to by Specsavers, etc.
I'm also finding it hard to see how so many people earn more here than in the UK. Talking to plenty of expats over trhe past 5 years I've only come accross it in about 1 in 20 cases. Lots of people I know have gone back having been here for a couple of months or 3 - 5 years (usually) cause they couldn't make it work. MrsL is on about 60% of UK salary, I was on 40%, even without the benefits, which were useless here, in terms of leave, sick pay, medical insurance, permanent health cover, parental leave, pension, etc, etc.
Anyway good luck to those who can do better here, best of luck to those of us who struggle and have fun to those who are about to come.
#43
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
#45
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: NZ is so expensive
oh yeah and if you can work for yourself here - do it, it can be a great experience, you get a real good tax deal and many many Kiwis are self-employed.
although filing GST can be a pain - hence I am on here when I should be doing the darned books
although filing GST can be a pain - hence I am on here when I should be doing the darned books