Bo-Jangles

You might just keep your head above the water for the short term but any unusual or "unexpected" costs will cause you quite a bit of anxiety. Here's what I spent $75k on last year:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/new-z.../#post12146632

$600 a week for rent would be about $3k less p.a. more that we're paying mortgage and rates. We don't have any kids.

Bo-Jangles

So the OP is talking about moving to Auckland where the infrastructure is most certainly designed for a hell of a lot less people and all of the above applies in equal measure. Going on about having better work life balance, and 'way less people' quite simply does not apply to Auckland and you cannot compare it in any way to the provincial idyll NZ that you have settled upon. We're still using a bridge and roading that was inadequate in the 1960s, have abyssmal public transport and no sign or any plans to improving it anytime soon, despite the ever growing population.

simonsi

In Auckland it is very worth trying to find work/housing that doesn't involve a prime-time commute over the bridge if you can help it.

Auckland doesn't just have an issue with rental prices, its demand, some find it very difficult to actually find a rental due to them being snapped up so quickly.

Munchkjn

Strongly agree with this, took us a good 4 weeks to find something in Welly that was barely habitable.

Bo-Jangles

People only ever talk of the traffic problems heading South over the bridge but the North bound gridlock is equally bad and often worse with miles and miles of tailbacks as far as the eye can see.

carcajou

Do you feel you will work less in NZ than in the UK, and that will leave "more time with the kids?" You are going to be in for a shock.

A change of scenery is not going to cure your work-life balance problems. You will be working the same if not more hours.

Come to NZ for a variety of reasons but not with the idea that the same job with same productivity is going to magically free up extended family time that it doesn't in the UK. It won't.

mandvcgs

I hear your concerns and work shy I am not. The problem is I run a company. The hours this takes and the sacrifices you have to make are big. My longest stint is 56 days without a day off, long days too 7am -8pm. The longest day 7am - 3:30am back 6:30 am finish at 6:00pm. You're where the buck stops you have to source the work, get the work do the work then come home and do the paper work, then be a husband and dad. If I went into employment in the uk this would solve half those problems thus doing the same in NZ. One of my two options is going back into paye employment in the uk and we are looking into this also. Hence the move isn't financially motivated as I can earn more money running my company but the sacrifices for us don't seem worth it. For me actually being there as a father and husband mean more than buying nice stuff to compensate.

Stuck in Auckland

Why a shock?

I take my kids to school, pick them up from school, attend squad training with them, and manage a working week (my own company).

Difference is meetings are not 2 hours into London because some poor sod does not know how to work video conference

Bo-Jangles

Lucky for you if you work close to home but it sounds like the OP has a 'tradie' job that requires him to be out on the road with his white van in Auckland traffic.

Anyway it all seems like a lot of pie in the sky dreams when the OP says of South East England:

'The housing market is hilarious and the sacrifices to buy property let alone afford a place you would want to live in seems very backward.'

And then in the same breath tells us they are thinking of moving to Auckland.

Let's get real; the chances of buying an affordable housing in Auckland that he would want to live in versus proximity of his work, will likely impede any chance of improving his work life balance.

mandvcgs

This forum has really helped us a lot. Our first thought was to look at Auckland as it is a major city and one with lots of job opportunities. The balanced response from all posters has shown us that it's probably not for us. The pros and cons of the city, both entirely valid are not what we are looking for. It is a perfect example of doing your research. It hasn't tainted the idea for us more helped in narrowing our search for a future home. We thank you for all the advice and pointers and am sure we'll pop in to say hi once there.

BEVS

Given you are driving a 'white van' - my husband has a grey van it sounds like you have some form of trade or something that involves manual labour at least.

You probably have but please do check that you would have enough points under the skilled migrant category. A quality application needs a job offer and 160 points for a pull from the pool

Also be aware that if the occupation you are in is not in shortage then unless the employer is NZIS accredited , that employer will need to prove to New Zealand Immigration and the NZ Dept of Labour that there is no NZ resident or citizen that could take up the vacancy or be trained for the vacancy.

Another factor is if you have qualifications to match your occupation. Quals means points.

How many SMC points do you feel you would have ?


edit -
If you have occupational/trade quals, I think you would come in at 155 points with an acceptable job offered in principle subject to NZIS approval.

carcajou

Stuck in Auckland, other posters have indicated why I think it will be a shock.

OP said he would be shifting into paid work from company ownership, which would be a start, but unless OP is planning on working part-time that is still a 9-5 day (maybe otherwise/more if in the trades and constantly on call) plus commute time plus extra time because how many of us really show up at 9 on the dot and leave at 5 on the dot.

OP will have to learn how to better manage the workload for a better work-life balance, not just change scenery. If moving to NZ is one part of an overall multi-faceted strategy for a work-life balance - great. If it's the centrepiece of the strategy, I think that will be problematic.

By the way, I also own a business, and it took years of practice and effort to get the balance right and I sympathize with that.

sr71

But, it's all relative, the traffic and time to commute is still nowhere near as bad as many other cities, especially in Australia which is very similar to NZ. Massive growth in the last 2 decades with zero spent on infrastructure.

Most people I know in NZ have a better work/life balance than in the UK, especially lower-middle income earners. (I really don't know how they do it though)