Average Wage
 

I know this is going to be a bit subjective, but how much is a good wage for a family of four to live comfortably, when I say comfortably again I know everyones opinion of comfortable maybe different, but for me this would be a warm, decent home with a garden, a car, a little money for the cinema, some for childrens activities and maybe if we're lucky a little savings.

Re: Average Wage
 

At least 100k in my opinion, 120k in Auckland.

Re: Average Wage
 

depends where you live and what standard of living you want. Good luck on the warm home btw. :o

Re: Average Wage
 

This is probably about right as a ball park figure maybe a little less if you are very frugal, It is not a cheap place to live day to day

Neil

Re: Average Wage
 

I'd agree with at least $100k for all places in NZ other than Auckland which I'd also agree at least $120k.

Yes you are correct that it is very subjective and depends which creature comforts you can & can't live without.

Just for your reference :-
We are a 2 adults and a 2.5yr old family (at the moment!).
I earn approx $115k and at the moment my wife doesn't work but is hoping to start working part time soon.
We live in a newish subdivision on the outskirts of Wellington in a fairly new house but still has pretty poor double glazing and insulation when you consider it against UK standards.
We have a family sized 4x4 car, a run around city car and I have a motorbike.
My wife has an annual gym membership which she won't be renewing this year and I have an annual golf club membership which I'll always be renewing.
We have sky tv, broadband, a fixed landline and a smartphone pay monthly contract each.
We eat out maybe twice a week (decent cafe or takeout) and we go out of an evening maybe once every 3 months each for drinks and eats in the city which costs a bomb - the last meal out cost $400 for 4 people with one bottle of wine!
Energy bills are around $200 - $400 a month in winter and dropping to under $100 a month when it's warm enough to live without any heating.
Rent is astronomical.
We struggled to find a house suitable for us and I think our landlord saw us coming!!!
We decided to up the budget and use UK savings to supplement our rental budget so we could rent a bigger house.
We currently pay $830 a week.......yes I know it's a lot and with hindsight we must have been mad, but hey ho, we were in a bit of a rush to secure somewhere and at the time there just wasnt anything else to consider where we wanted to live.
We can comfortably afford probably $500 - $600 a week out of my salary on rent.
We also pay $109 a week for the little boy to attend kindergarden 12hrs a week. This cost will be removed when he is 3 (next Feb) as he then gets 20hrs free per week off the government until he starts school.

Good thing is you receive the salary fortnightly so it's never a long time until you get paid again.
We have around $500 left over each fortnight before pay day and usually just leave it in the everyday account until I get more than a standard wage (like after I've worked a public holiday) and then transfer any surplus into savings.
Hopefully we'll only be in our current rental for the next 6 months and will be securing something much cheaper and smaller in a different area.
My pay should also rise by 10% in the next few months and the wife should start earning.
Not been easy trying to maintain our UK lifestyle here on less salary but higher cost of living and there is a lot of stuff we could cut out to make it easier on the purse, but at the moment that's how we live and we'll be OK until we have sold our house in the UK and can look to buy here instead of rent.

Regards,

Re: Average Wage
 

is that $100k including rent or excluding rent?

Re: Average Wage
 

Including rent.

Re: Average Wage
 

So who is going to point out that N.Z.$100,000 puts you in the top 5% of earners very easily indeed? ;)

Median income when last recorded is $41,912/year amoung those recieving wages and salaries, the rate of increase has been 0.7% YoY.

Re: Average Wage
 

The OP asked what was a good wage not the average, I really wouldn,t like to bring a family up on 40K you wouldnt have anything in the way of luxuries


Neil

Re: Average Wage
 

and $41K is below the required amount required for some visa's

subject line does ask about average but the actual post asks about good

Re: Average Wage
 

I'm on about the household income.

Re: Average Wage
 

OMG wish i was on $100k - nothing near that for an average joe working in an average joes job.....far off.....cost of living here is expensive....

Sounds like we are lucky enough to be l living in an affluent area on the SI that has lower house prices... our mortgage is 500pfn which takes up most of my fortnightly wage....

We have 3 teenagers to bring up...which are costly with college fees, exam fees, uniforms that they keep growing out of......2 of our kids work getting the min adult wage so that helps as they pay their own way for their luxuries...

We cannot get away with less than $300 a week in groceries and believe me most of the time i come away without those little extras that i now consider luxuries like peanuts..yoghurts...deoderant

You need to be in a profession that pays very very well & not need to pay rent or mortgage - thats they only way to live comfortably here.

Not being negative just trying to tell it as it is from a lower wage earner in the land of the long white cloud...

Re: Average Wage
 

I had assumed that the OP was asking about the household wage. This could mean the wage of one or two people. I think 100K is achievable if there are two wage earners.

Re: Average Wage
 

Thanks for this detail - it gives me a good picture. I was looking at a rental budget of around $700 a week, we rarely eat out (to much of a mission with 3 kids and too expensive) but we would probably spend on kids after school activities which upon research looks like everything is around $250 a month (swimming, tennis, music). Ok feeling more confident now.

Re: Average Wage
 

Poor thing, not on a telephone digit salary? ;)
Maybe but I mearly point out almost all individuals and most households have a much lower level of income yet still manage.

So *shrug*.