vrbanana

After much discussion with the wife, we have decided the time is right to put the wheels into motion to emigrate. I’ve started to search for more information on NZ and hence this is where I landed this evening, I was hoping settle my mind on a few issues but I ‘m all the more confused

Forgive me but I’ve only had chance to look round for an hour or so, but I’ve read that some say the earning potential is better than the UK and some says it’s not as good as the UK, similarly with the standard of living. Also some threads mention negative aspects and issues with living in NZ without listing any specifics, I can understand the issues with leaving families back in the UK but are there any other aspects I should be aware of? Better to know about the warts and all now rather than later.

Is the earning potential dependant on willingness to work hard or long hours? Or is the cost of living so much higher in relation to earnings in the UK?

As a little background, I’m self employed and own a small garage, I’m well qualified in respect of the industry I’m in, but because I’ve been self employed for so long I’m out of touch with the employed market. Is the motortrade as poorly paid in NZ as it is in the UK?

Sorry for the random questions but I have so many racing round in my head

alanmacc

Lots of questions but all answerable.

Wages are always relative to where you live, yes you are likely to earn more in the UK but house prices are higher, land tax is higher, petrol if you convert back and forth is higher in UK at present its $1.85 per L here.

Having a quick look about a good mechanic can earn up to $26 - $30 per hours or about $50k per year (ish) pretty decent salary ane livable on too.

Negatives ........ other than leaving family ........ none for me yet....... well shops aside poor shops here but thats about it.

Im sure you will get plenty of feedback on this

Steve and Julie

We all have different views on living in NZ, some positive, some negative.

My story, moved to NZ 9 months ago. Husband been in the same job 24 years. Fed up with UK. Took a 60% wage cut to work here.
The way of life here, to us, is much better. Out door living. Daughter very happy.

Wages are lower here, but cost of living is lower. Houses are cheap compared to the UK.

My husband works half the hours he did in the UK, but pay is a lot lower. It means though we get to spend a lot more time together.

It depends on your way of life you want to lead out here. If you are a big spender or just want a good way of life.

There is plenty of work out here for skilled people.

Positive reasons for being here

Beaches
Cafes
Jet Ski
Out door living
Walks
Auz only a few hours flight away
Warm weather
Friendly people
Houses cheaper
Cleaner
Not so many cars on the roads
Cheaper bills
Sun sets
Listening to the bugs singing at night

I could go on and on

Negative reasons for being here

Clothes shops
Furniture shops
Miss friends and Family
NZ drivers are bad (Some)
Sand fly bites

Cant for me think of many.

irnbru14

It all depends on where you want to live, what you want to do, and what your reasons are for moving really.

Wellington/Auckland/Christchurch/Queenstown are probably the more expensive areas to live. But if you head half an hour outside the central city areas of most of these places, it becomes more affordable (lots of UK Ex-pats on here live up Porirua/Whitby way which is 30mins ou of Welly).

So it depends what standard of life you wish to live, and whether cleaner air, bigger gardens, outdoor space etc is what you want, or would prefer to live in and around a buzzy, busier city.

Some things are more expensive compared to salary, some are cheaper. Mortgage rates are rather high just now, but they are expected to fall later in the year and house prices will hopefully follow suit! Renting is still the cheaper option on houses just now.

You should work out what is motivating you to move abroad and to find out if NZ offers what you are looking for And its always worth popping out for a few weeks to get a feel for the place before you commit to anything.

Genesis

NZ is a great place..BUT wages are generally poor..thus making housing some of the least affordable in the developed world. Ie house prices in relation to wages. Housing stock is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unlike UK stock, very little brick, poor insulation, poor heating etc etc..even suspect build quality.

However if you are bringing over a wedge (sounds like you will if you flog the business) and build your own place with little or no mortgage you will be okay in that dept. I love NZ, the wide open spaces and the amazing low density pop. (out of the 3-4 main cities).

But I personally would not live here if I was not better off than I was in the UK. Fortunately because of my age and circumastances we are way better off here than in the UK. I would not be prepared to live here and scrimp and save. I don't want to do that at nigh on 50.

NZ offered us the chance to be better off not only fiscally but in other ways too..the beach is never far away, generally life is way less stressful than inner city Northampton and traffic congestion never ever figures in our life..and in our neck of the woods neither do hoodies, violence, burglary, litter, graffiti, dumped cars etc etc. Okay town has some issues but we are just on the outskirts. Even in town I have only ever seen 1 maybe 2 dumped cars in 3 years.

NZ is not a paradise it is full of problems. We just no longer have any of the day to day shite we had back in NN1 3PZ! NZ is soooooooooooooooooooo different from the UK is so many ways....but thats what we wanted. We wanted change!!

You have to consider what you want and need. PM me if you like and I will be happy to pass on my phone no. for a chat. Am currently doing this for a friend of a friend who wants to move here.....sometimes it helps to talk things thru'

alanmacc

Yep although we both took a wage drop to come here we actuallt have more money left at the end of the month than we did in the UK, fortunate for us I am paid monthly and my better hald is paid fortnightly so it feels like you are never short even taking into account the expenses.

And yes a others have said it does have its problems in particular the growing number of P addicts but compared to any major city in the UK ....... NZ does not come close to it.

We feel safe to wander about here at night in the city ctr something id have thought twice about in the UK, although the locals do say how bad it is ...... try going to Glasgow on a weekend !!!!

But as others have also said the positives far outweigh the negatives, if you come with a decent wad of cash and depending on where you settle you can get far more for your $$ here, for example for approx $450k just outside of chch you can get a large 4 bed house on a plot of land 1000m2, doing the sums backwards for 180k (ish GBP) what do you get ??

Cars are cheaper here, mostly imports from Japan but nealry all low km's and in good nick, countryside is amazing, drive to Queenstown ...... stunning, whale watching in Akaroa, dolphin watching too,

We are far happer here then we were back in UK even taking into account not seeing family

Genesis

Like you we earn way less in NZ than we did in the UK, but we are far better off as we cashed in the equity of our house and started again. We earn about $70k here but in the UK earned the equivalent of about $115k. Even if you take off the hefty mortgage costs we had in the uk there is still a disparity of $30k per annum. I guess $70k here goes further than £47k in the UK with a big mortgage.

We miss loads about the UK truth is the things we really miss only figure about 3-5% of our daily lives. All the family lives out across the UK and when you have a busy life in a big city how often do you get out to the beach or the counrtyside?

We think its worth the sacrifice.

I_Will_Freckle

You need to consider what you want from the move and be know what you are prepared to put up with to get it. That means finding out what the negatives are and deciding if you can hack them. If you can't then all the positives in the world won't compensate.

For example, say I wanted lots of sunshine and a fat salary. Saudi Arabia would provide those but I could never, ever live there due to the restrictions on my freedom.

So like someone mentioned, do lots of research. Read this forum - also read the "Moving Back to the UK Forum" to find out what kind of issues drive people back to the UK and decide whether you could cope with the downsides.

My own opinion is that NZ is great for entrepreneurs. The car stock there is kinda old... I think there would be opportunities for you.

pumpkinlou

Hi,

You could pm Frenchy who posts on here. Her husband is in the same Trade. They have been in NZ almost 18months now, and he has landed a great job, it just took a while. They are in Blenheim.

Good Luck

PL

Bellasmum

Both my husband and son are in the motor trade (OH is a Brit) and they both make good money but have had to work their way up for that.

I can't speak for as a Brit as I am a Kiwi. But I have spent 11 years living outside of NZ in four different countries.

My personal opinion is that moving county is a much bigger thing than many of us realise. It reminds me of a broken marriage (which I do know about ).

When you move on there is first relief until things get tough on your own (especially with children). It is then however fleetingly the negative things tend to fade and only the positives remain (if you get my gist).

Good luck for your future. Life is what we make it wherever we choose to lay our heads.

vrbanana

Thanks for the replies, Genesis I will take you up on the offer of a conversation but not yet, I’ll do more research first so you’ll only have to answer the hard questions

My personal circumstances and wish list...............

I will walk away from the UK with aprox £150k, I’d like to live about a 30 min drive outside a city centre or 30 mins from work anyway. As I’m totally unaware of the motortrade in NZ I’d expect to go back and become employed, given the circumstances are ok then become self employed at a later date. As someone said, the car market mainly consists of Jap imports, it’s the amount of German cars that interests me, my brother moved to OZ 3 years ago and said specialists in German cars were few and far between, or ones that were recommended.

The wife has a ladies Boutique at the moment, she may start another in NZ or the other thing was to try and find some land to build some holiday log cabins on, that’s just a thought at the moment until she looks into importing stuff and the costs involved.

One thing that’s bothered me today whilst at work, someone (don’t remember who as I read quite a bit last night ) said they wouldn’t have thanked their parents if they had brought them to NZ as a teenager, why I’m not sure as there was no explanation. |I have 2 boys, one 19 and one 14, the plan is to move once they have finished school/college (in about 14 months) obviously they are my main concern, I’d be devastated to make the wrong decision for them. The eldest wants to continue at college with music, where the youngest wants to train as a vet. I’d appreciate it if anyone can give an insight into what it’s like for teenagers in NZ.

Ok, that enough questions for post number 2 thanks fore the replies so far

Genesis

Ohh! I drive an Audi..come live in Palmy!!!!!!!!!

vrbanana

VW and Audi are my thing, that one potential customer then

Genesis

You got to start somewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

tigerjock

The position that i'm going for is actually more ££££££ than the ££££ i get at the moment in the UK...but to us that's a bonus as it's about a complete lifestyle change in a number of area's...........as far as i'm concerned i'm proud to be a Brit, but i hate what our country has become and i'm not prepared to take the chance of my tin lids growing up in that type of place...slightly off topic....interview in 38 days