cmcgarvie1974

hi folks I have not been on for a while ,getting to new zeland is getting closer but I'm starting to have some doubts about the cost of living , I've been offered a job it comes with a salary of 75.000 nz dollar , I roughly earn the same in the uk and my wife doesn't work she looks after the kids but she does some part time hairdressing in the evening so we have quite a comfortable lifestyle over here . thing I'm wondering are after tax what does your wage work out as , and renting is quite expensive we will need a 3 bedroom house which roughly comes in at about 400 to 500 nz per week what else do you need to pay when renting ie council tax .gas .electric .can any one roughly know what these exspenses are .also we will be living in or near Christchurch what are the good areas to live in and also good schools my kids are 8 and 5 .any info would be greatly appreciated thanks .

MrsFychan

this is how your tax works out over the tax year for 2014-2015

Income up to $14000, taxed at 10.5% $14,000.00 $1,470.00
Income over $14000 and up to $48000, taxed at 17.5% $34,000.00 $5,950.00
Income over $48000 and up to $70000, taxed at 30% $22,000.00 $6,600.00
Remaining income over $70000, taxed at 33% $5,000.00 $1,650.00


Total $75,000.00 Tax $15,670.00

So your actual in pocket after tax would be $59,330.
If you say rent is $500 per week then you are then looking at $26,000 for that bringing it down to $33,330.

not sure about the cost of the rest, but trademe and checking out coutdown and new world on line will help with rental costs and grocery costs. Then you need to take into account school "voluntary fees" and stationary fees for the children and possible uniform costs. Plus GP costs, cost of transport, content insurance and all the other day to day costs.

marooned5

we lived on about the same for a while with rent at 350 p/wk. electric was cheap, although winter heating bumps it up. in general we made ends meet but it wasn't a great standard of living - having to watch costs at the supermarket, holidaying only in NZ, needed UK savings to fund flights overseas etc.... do-able but not really a lot of fun!

Northern Henry

You could try this little calc on the salaries.co.nz website.

cmcgarvie1974

when you say the same what was you earning ? I thought 75000 nz was quite a good salary ,when renting a property what other payments do you have to pay and what salary would you get a good living off of thanks .

bourbon-biscuit

I was wondering how you decided that $75k was roughly what you earned in the UK. Did you use the current exchange rate to determine this? If so, you worked out how much money you would get for money exchanged but not how many UK £ a dollar earned in NZ equates to. A rough rule of thumb would be that if you wanted a similar income you would need to earn 2.5-3 x your UK income, though that gets less reliable for high incomes where the multiplier can come down a little.

cmcgarvie1974

hi bourbon biscuit ,I earned about£38.000 last year and the company over there are offering me a salary of $75.000 to $80.000 a year they have not come back with a solid figure yet I'm trying to push them a little ,they have also offered company transport to use when and how I like ,but looking in to the cost of living over there is a little bit frightening when you see the price of rent and the price of cars to thanks for your reply .

davros1984

If CHCH - I would recommend you talk to Pom_CHCH, from various discussions she has provided some really good info on CHCH and its a different beast to Auckland, so I would not be best placed to advise you.

The only thing I would say - in my view, a salary of 38,000 GBP at home is not the same as a salary of $75,000 here. I moved from Southampton area to Auckland, where in the UK I earned 35K GBP and in Auckland - $78,000. I found that the salary in the UK went much further.

Mark Smith

Also have a chat with Tom1983 for his humorous take on south pacific life. He loves road cones you know.
I'd also factor in the cost things you make take for granted in the UK, such as kids needing dental braces... that'll be 10k please. I've just paid $2000 for a root canal as well ouchy.

bourbon-biscuit

$75k will feel nothing like £38k in the UK; sorry Don't let anyone lie to you and tell you otherwise: the CoL/salary calculation is NOT GBPx2=NZ

That doesn't mean you shouldn't come here - I've no idea how motivated you are to live in NZ, how much you would value the positives that come with life in NZ, and what you will be able and willing to sacrifice and compromise on to achieve that.

A 'use as you will' company vehicle will be a great bonus- we had that for about a year and it was brilliant. However, renting over here can be quite challenging as the rental stock is generally quite poor and there is limited legislation that puts onus on landlords to provide adequate heating, ventilation, safety checks, etc.

Blade Down Under

From my research so far, based on Australia and New Zealand - you do not pay council tax, that's covered by the landlord. All you pay is rent rates

Just to advise to be "open minded" when viewing rentals. Some of the properties I've viewed in both countries have been shocking, absolutely shocking! Some of the stories the tenants have told me put me off considering. I did hear that heating was a problem, well that's putting it kindly. This place I viewed in the suburb of Avonside for example (here), had no heating at all. The family in there had sleeping bags and winter clothing on at all time to keep warm. I dread to think of damp

It's a problem to in Australia they were telling me. However the climate in Sydney is slightly warmer so winters are ok there.

Pom_Chch

Hi,

$75k may be a on the low side with two kids. If you could squeeze some more out of your potential employer and if your wife could pick up some work so your combined income was more like $90k then you should be OK. Families here survive on helluva lot less and you probably could too. But as expats I am guessing you do not want to come here to live on the breadline, you want to be able to enjoy life - take the kids on trips, afford some treats now and again, perhaps some trips to Australia in the future etc. If you would like your kids to get involved with activities such as paddle boarding, surfing, sailing etc then those will cost you.

You are dead right in saying that the rentals in Chch are high at the moment. You are probably looking at $500+ per week for a decent place in a nice suburb, which takes a big chunk out of your income so factor that in when negotiating salary. As for bills there are really very few in regards to renting. The landlord will factor in "rates" (equivalent of council tax) to your rental payments. You will then need to pay power. Water and sewerage are inc in your rates so no extra payments there. Not many places have mains gas so no gas bills.

Generally I would stick to the western side of Chch. You may not have much of a say in which suburb you live in as rentals are so scarce you generally accept one if it comes along! We used to live on the eastern side of town, which is viewed as the poorer area. Having said that we never had any problems and although not a place I would choose to live long term it did us fine. That may be the route you take - get any rental possible and then look for a better one. Alternatively you can try out of Chch - Rolleston, Lincoln, Kaiapoi and Rangiora. Google map them and see how far you would like to drive (bearing in mind north of Chch does get a bit congested in the mornings).

Hope that helps!

escapedtonz

Also, another couple of considerations......

You will have to pay ACC contributions on your salary which I think is 1.7% of earnings.
Also you've got to think of you're future. Are you intending to be here permanently ?
Will you be coming here on a Resident Visa ?
If so you can opt in to Kiwisaver which is a savings scheme for your retirement years and also allows you to withdraw funds at certain milestones for kids - eg a major purchase or a house deposit etc.
Many employers will match employee contributions up to 4%. You can specify the amount taken out of salary - 2, 4 or 8% of earnings.
Once you enter Kiwisaver the government will give the account $1000 and you will be eligible for annual bonuses of around $561 per annum so long as you pay in the minimum amount. The minimum investment to get the annual bonus is $1122 which should be covered by your contributions and matching employer contributions alone, but you can top it up from the bank account if you wish or add lump payments.
You can also open a Kiwisaver account for your wife and children and they will get the free $1000 start up each and so long as you invest at least $22 per week for anyone over 18 years they will also get the annual bonus.
I pay in 4% which is matched by my employer. Been here 2 years and 2 months and my Kiwisaver is $21000.
We also put $20 a week in our boys Kiwisaver and $20 a week in the wife's Kiwisaver but she also has some going in from her part time work also.

To be eligible for Kiwisaver you must be a minimum of resident status and have an IRD number.

Just more expenses to be aware of.

Rental is usually paid weekly as you have found. Other expenses will be electric which is paid monthly (around $100), there's no mains gas in Christchurch that I'm aware of so it's around $95 for a big bottle which should last a while. We don't have water charges in Wellington as it's all with the rates which are paid by the landlord/owner.
If any property has a water meter you will probably have to pay for water / waste water.
Other costs - sky tv, broadband, mobile phones, home landline.
Also there's bins to pay for. No council tax here so you can either rent a bin from a bin company and pay weekly to have it emptied - about $12 a week, or you can buy refuse sacks in the supermarket and just leave them out on council bin day. These are around $2/$3 each.
You may also have a log burner in the house, so you'll need to buy firefighters, kindling and wood to burn. This may be you're only heating source unless you buy heaters.

marooned5

Agree with previous posters - but electric is about $100 p/month for us in summer - in winter it can be up to $400 p/month, depending on just how cold / damp / miserable we want to be...

Pom_Chch

I don't think this applies in Chch city. We haven't paid to rent a bin or have them emptied or pay for bin bags. The refuse sacks apply out here in Waimakariri but not in Chch city (cost about $2.50 from local supermarket).