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Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Old Oct 24th 2012, 9:56 pm
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Default Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Hi all,
I'm a 45yr old irish nurse with nearly 20yrs experience and planning to permanently move to new zealand with my husband and 2 kids. We are concerned about how the pension system works in NZ. Is it possible and /or advisable to transfer contributions to a NZ fund? Also nursing in the public system in Ireland is permanent (ie a job for life), is that also the case in NZ.

I also have income protection as part of my job here, which provides me with a salary if I was unable to work due to illness and also provides my husband with a death benefit should I die. This seems important to me as I am the main earner.

I'm also concerned about the job prospects for my husband as they are non existant in Ireland at the moment. He worked in IT years ago and has a degree in QS but he has been a house husband for several years looking after the kids and now they are getting older (10 and 11) would like to work (at anything within reason). Will he find a half decent job.

One of the areas mentioned re work is in Wellington. Would we be able to buy a nice house 3 bed within 30 mins of the city for about 400k. Also would a nurses salary (about 70k) be enough to have a decent lifestyle if other half was not working if we had no mortgage or a small mortgage. By small mortgage I mean 100k and by decent I mean normal (1 car, takeaways once a week, kids playing rugby, swimming activities, no champagne for us)

I know this is a lot of info to throw out there but any info would be very helpful.
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Old Oct 24th 2012, 11:28 pm
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Hi, I dont contribute much nowadays to this forum but your post seemed relevant to my situation - I am in Auckland BTW so cant comment on house prices in Welly etc

Pensions etc, while folks may add their own experiences I would initially contact these folks http://www.broadbaseinternational.com/ they offer very good advice free from my experience.

I work in IT and have had UK roles as a Software Analyst/Network Engineer and Helpdesk tech over the years, came to NZ and had 3 years off as a house husband. Now work as a Systems Administrator and have had a few job offers that I have turned down - a nice position to be in as that never happened in Blighty. My point here being that even though I have not done the job that i do now before I was able to learn as I had an IT background and I generally find that, probably as there is less competition, that employers are likely to be quite willing to "take a punt" if you husband may not have the exact skill set they are after...

My Mrs is a Nurse and is on her third posting in 4 years, each one a setep up from the one before, having worked in Recovery in the UK for 10 years the ladder appears easier to climb here - again, maybe down to less competition ? A job for life - I would say so yes.

Income protection.. as readily available here as back in the UK , in fact all in all the whole feeling of NZ is very similar to the UK I find, the weather can be just as crabby but can also be loads better - still have to pay the bills and feed the kids - same S*** different Hemisphere :-) .. I personally would say that with a small mortgage that we could live on a Nurses salary yes.. all my money goes on our mortgage and we do exactly that, live on a nurses salary, its tight sometimes but it always was in Blighty, we have 2 lads too - one 13 and one 6..
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 12:08 am
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Originally Posted by bga
Hi, I dont contribute much nowadays to this forum but your post seemed relevant to my situation - I am in Auckland BTW so cant comment on house prices in Welly etc

Pensions etc, while folks may add their own experiences I would initially contact these folks http://www.broadbaseinternational.com/ they offer very good advice free from my experience.

I work in IT and have had UK roles as a Software Analyst/Network Engineer and Helpdesk tech over the years, came to NZ and had 3 years off as a house husband. Now work as a Systems Administrator and have had a few job offers that I have turned down - a nice position to be in as that never happened in Blighty. My point here being that even though I have not done the job that i do now before I was able to learn as I had an IT background and I generally find that, probably as there is less competition, that employers are likely to be quite willing to "take a punt" if you husband may not have the exact skill set they are after...

My Mrs is a Nurse and is on her third posting in 4 years, each one a setep up from the one before, having worked in Recovery in the UK for 10 years the ladder appears easier to climb here - again, maybe down to less competition ? A job for life - I would say so yes.

Income protection.. as readily available here as back in the UK , in fact all in all the whole feeling of NZ is very similar to the UK I find, the weather can be just as crabby but can also be loads better - still have to pay the bills and feed the kids - same S*** different Hemisphere :-) .. I personally would say that with a small mortgage that we could live on a Nurses salary yes.. all my money goes on our mortgage and we do exactly that, live on a nurses salary, its tight sometimes but it always was in Blighty, we have 2 lads too - one 13 and one 6..
Thanks for your reply, you seem to be in a very similar position in many ways we will be family wise/income wise etc so your input is great and thanks for your reply. Were actually in Ireland and our big motivation re the move is our kids, the outlook here is not great and while were reasonably comfortable here their prospects are very uncertain even though its 10 years away. Are you happy with the move from the point of view of your kids life/prospects in NZ.

We have posted here about a year ago when we had visas and a job offer in place but our house failed to sell and we had some issues with extended family that meant it just did'nt happen. We are now considering the move but it may mean we take a massive hit on our property (50% ish on what we payed) so we really want to be as sure as we can be so forgive us if we overlap a little on advice sought from a previos post.

Thanks again for your reply.
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 12:22 am
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Originally Posted by Brucey
Thanks for your reply, you seem to be in a very similar position in many ways we will be family wise/income wise etc so your input is great and thanks for your reply. Were actually in Ireland and our big motivation re the move is our kids, the outlook here is not great and while were reasonably comfortable here their prospects are very uncertain even though its 10 years away. Are you happy with the move from the point of view of your kids life/prospects in NZ.

We have posted here about a year ago when we had visas and a job offer in place but our house failed to sell and we had some issues with extended family that meant it just did'nt happen. We are now considering the move but it may mean we take a massive hit on our property (50% ish on what we payed) so we really want to be as sure as we can be so forgive us if we overlap a little on advice sought from a previos post.

Thanks again for your reply.
Hi, glad to be of some help - at the moment all is very good, the kids are totally settled, and while its not all a bed of roses by any means - and the first year I found quite tough, not knowing anyone etc , into our 4th year now and can't really imagine going back. I have recently been back as we had to get our house sold (we rented it out as a safetynet) and I thoughoughly enjoyed being back - the exchange rate is going to hurt you I guess as the Kiwi$ is very strong as you are no doubt aware but theres not a lot you can do about that - it is what it is - us moving to NZ was the Mrs's doing, I was quite content to carry on plodding along in England so I was pessimistic to start with, but I have been won over. I obviously can't say yay or nay to you and wouldn't wish to, but, knowing what I know now would I do it again, yeah I would, its a horrible thing to do, to leave all you know especially family, but I told myself at the time that "we're doing this for the following generation" ie the kids not the previous generation and think we've been vindicated so far in that thinking.
As a side note, the financial situation here is obviously a lot rosier than in Euro land, but i have a hunch that within a few years it'll all turn on its head.. don't know what my opinion then will be .. see, still a little pessimistic ;-)
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 5:59 am
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Hiya Brucey, I'm also an RN, living in Welly & been here 6 years. Will send you a PM
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 7:03 am
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Originally Posted by Brucey
Hi all,
I'm a 45yr old irish nurse with nearly 20yrs experience and planning to permanently move to new zealand with my husband and 2 kids. We are concerned about how the pension system works in NZ. Is it possible and /or advisable to transfer contributions to a NZ fund?
Loads of pension options, leave it, move it here, move it somewhere else, TBH you should take professional advice on this aspect.

Originally Posted by Brucey
Also nursing in the public system in Ireland is permanent (ie a job for life), is that also the case in NZ.
Of itself, no - ie I don't think it will be contracted - surprised it is in Ireland (or anywhere else these days tbh). Will there be a demand for nurses in NZ for the rest of your working life - probably, a growing population tends to need them.

Originally Posted by Brucey
I also have income protection as part of my job here, which provides me with a salary if I was unable to work due to illness and also provides my husband with a death benefit should I die. This seems important to me as I am the main earner.l.
You may need to pay for it if you can't negotiate it as part of your package, certainly my OH doesn't get it as part of hers.

Originally Posted by Brucey
I'm also concerned about the job prospects for my husband as they are non existant in Ireland at the moment. He worked in IT years ago and has a degree in QS but he has been a house husband for several years looking after the kids and now they are getting older (10 and 11) would like to work (at anything within reason). Will he find a half decent job.
Based on that amount of info, sorry, no idea - what is QS??? I've been in IT a long time but don't recognise that as an obvious IT acronym..."decent" jobs tend to require skills but not enough info to comment. Have a look on seek.co.nz at what is being advertised...

Originally Posted by Brucey
One of the areas mentioned re work is in Wellington. Would we be able to buy a nice house 3 bed within 30 mins of the city for about 400k. Also would a nurses salary (about 70k) be enough to have a decent lifestyle if other half was not working if we had no mortgage or a small mortgage. By small mortgage I mean 100k and by decent I mean normal (1 car, takeaways once a week, kids playing rugby, swimming activities, no champagne for us)

I know this is a lot of info to throw out there but any info would be very helpful.
Sorry, Auckland based so can't comment on the Welly market, with that size of mortgage though $70k should be ok, we survived on less when we first came out.
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 5:25 pm
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Originally Posted by simonsi
Loads of pension options, leave it, move it here, move it somewhere else, TBH you should take professional advice on this aspect.



Of itself, no - ie I don't think it will be contracted - surprised it is in Ireland (or anywhere else these days tbh). Will there be a demand for nurses in NZ for the rest of your working life - probably, a growing population tends to need them.



You may need to pay for it if you can't negotiate it as part of your package, certainly my OH doesn't get it as part of hers.



Based on that amount of info, sorry, no idea - what is QS??? I've been in IT a long time but don't recognise that as an obvious IT acronym..."decent" jobs tend to require skills but not enough info to comment. Have a look on seek.co.nz at what is being advertised...



Sorry, Auckland based so can't comment on the Welly market, with that size of mortgage though $70k should be ok, we survived on less when we first came out.
QS = Quantity surveyor.
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Old Oct 25th 2012, 8:06 pm
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Originally Posted by Genesis
QS = Quantity surveyor.
Ah! Misread it as IT-related :-)
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Old Oct 26th 2012, 3:55 am
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Default Re: Nurse hoping to emigrate with family

Brucey...you have a PM
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