NZ or OZ please help?
 

HI all,

I thought i had it all planned out and was moving to nz later this year but now i am seriously confused:confused::confused::confused:since reading threads on here. I'm woried that i won't be able to afford a decent lifestyle or make ends meet with only 1 income of around $45,000 to start with.

I am a newly qualified midwife and a single parent of a 7 year old. I will be coming over with about £100,000 and hoping to buy a 3 bed house (in a decent area) as will need an aupair due to working shifts.

Just unsure now as to whether i should move to oz instead??
Where will i be better off financially.
Any midwives that have made the move to either?

Thanks in advance for any replies. i have post the same thread on the oz board.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

I'm afraid I can't help but I share all the same worries as you. Being financially better off wasn't our main driving force but we hoped that we would still be comfortable but after reading lots of the threads I also worry about the fact it sounds like we could be living off beans on toast forever (and not even heinz!).

I think we all know that the UK is expensive, we look at houses on the net and think wow look what I can get for my money but I am starting to realise that the cost of living and the wages seem to make it a level playing field. From my research I think with a £100k if you were going to use it all as a deposit then it would stand you in good stead but if you needed it to pay for everything and then whatever was left over be a deposit that could make a difference.

I appreciate that you want to live a nice area, but where abouts in NZ? this makes a big difference to house price. I also belief you can get help relocating as a medic.

Sorry I couldn't help, but I think that there are lots of us in the same boat. I suppose that it is best to know and go with your eyes wide open that having a nasty surprise. Are you going to any of the expos?

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

I have no idea about your lifestyle now and your spending habits, but suffice to say you will probably need to readjust your way of doing things if you are going to make a go of it here on NZ$45K/year. If your posting is in one of the small cities such as Gore, Wanganui, Waipukurau or Te Kuiti you'd probably keep dry when it rains and have a warm meal in your tummy. If you end up living in Auckland your £100k will be eaten up if you buy a house and you'd still have a painfully high mortgage to service. The £100k would buy you a nice place though in Southland or Taumaranui for example.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

I'd like to be in tauranga as there is a possible job there. i also have the possibility to go to Counties Manukau. didn't know you could get help with relocation - where did you hear this?
Went to the expo last yeard which was really helpful, but noone tells you abou the financial side of things.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

My husband is a medic too and his job is on both skills lists(s/t and l/t). We have spoken to a couple of employers and they would offer to pay airfares and shipment if went to work for them aswell as help sort out his nhs supperannuation pension (although not sure about the impact on the actual pension yet, but not being rude I getthe feeling you are starting out rather than heading towards retirement! so won't be as big an issue for you if that is the case). We have also had advice from a recruitment agent (don't worry everyone it is legit and they charge the employer not us! - a topic of many threads!!) and we would be able to discuss this in our terms and conditions, sort of using it as a negotiating tool. I also read something about being able to apply for a refund on relocation expences if you were on the short term skills list on another forum.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

i think i may be realising that nz doesn't seem to be all its made out to be.

in the Uk despite being a single working parent, i am well off! My morgage is nearly paid off (bought 12 years ago when houses were cheap) I don't have huge extravegances (sp) but always have money in the bank. We eat nice food and also run a car and have at least 1 holidays abroad a year if not 2, with the help of collecting tesco points!

maybe i should stay here?
Oh but i don't like uk anymore.

dilema, dilemas!!!

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

Why don't you like the UK? It sounds as if you have it pretty cushy.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

yes Im interseted in the answer to this, it may be informative or open a whole can of beans.
I´ve only been on the Forum a couple of weeks, what I´ve picked up from the postings is, don´t go if you are money orientated, you have to go for other reasons. Why not invest your money in a secret Lichtenstein account and then go without using your money, rent a place work at first.
Yo may then want to switch to OZ, if you have no assets you may recieve financial help from the Health authority to relocate.
Just some food for thought
Meat and two veg

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

i guess i do have it cushy when i write it all out. I guess cushyness isn't the bee all and end all.

I don't like where we live (leicester), run down, ugly looking, full of immigrants who are not contributing to society - my road is filling up fast with them!
As for UK, the same as everyone really.

I have had this growing urge to be in nz for the last 6/7 years - something i can't explain. I also wanted to come to nz as want a better quality of life for my daughter to grow up in and to some extent the weather (hense wanting to live in the north of the north island).
Also nz has one of the best maternity care in the world and i want to be a part of that. Here in uk, midwifery is stressful, massive staff shortages, lack of support, no resources, massive rising birth rate due to immigrants who do not speak english - which makes midwives jobs even more stressful!

so all in all, whilst i don't mind making some sacrifices to move to nz, i really don't want to be very worse off.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

Frankly those are the wrong reasons to choose where you are going to spend the rest of your life. I understand there is a national shortage of widwives, so you can probably have your pick of areas.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

Don't mind opening up a can of beans as long as i don't get covered and shouted at :o

Apart from what i wrote in the above post, in no particular order, i feel i don't feel that the uk is where i am ment to live forever. My family is originally from italy (we were all born here though) and very slowly over the past few years most of my family have moved away to different parts of the world. in a couple of years there will be noone here. In a way i don't want to be left alone in a country that i have no affection for. The immigration problems uk has, the cost of living, crime, ect all back my decision to move.

That said, in all honesty, i have to say that uk has been very kind to me. It has provided me with so many opportunities and i am very thankful. No where on this earth would i have the standard of living whilst being single parent. I managed to buy a house, educate myself at uni whilst receiving a bursary and i am very comfortable financially. But life has to be more than this doesn't it?

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

i know i have a pick of area's - how lucky am i :). But i like warmth, and because i can choose where i am based i have chosen north of north island. Have to say that as a newly qualified there are only a handful of programmes for us and they just so happen to be in the north od the north island.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

Hi, this lady will be able to help you she is a midwife on the south island,
she teaches and has her own regular blog.
Sarah's Musings <snip>
With Italian genes running trough your body I can understand why you don´t like the Uk
Bye
Meat and two veg

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

You would need to chose wisely with that kind of income (btw- we came here with a base income less than that and quite a lot less cash) and resist the lemming like rush to the big cities. Tauranga has the the second most un-affordable housing in NZ and I'd avoid Auckland too for the same reason. In your shoes, considering you want the warmest areas of NZ, I'd be seriously looking at Hawkes Bay (east coast NI) or Nelson area, top of South Island. Neither of these areas offer big cities but they both offer long hot summers, large towns (although they're called cities) adn a good standard of living. Plus housing in Hawkes Bay is the second MOST affordable in NZ and I think Nelson area is reasonable too.

The other thing to bear in mind is that your 45K would hopefully increase in not too distant future. We came with a salary of 40K, my husband then got a job with a 58K salary and I got a very part time job with (a very laughable) 9K salary. Tax system is not kind to us and I'm sorry to say we're quite broke, but we do have a 260K mortgage to service on that :ohmy:

Also, if general wisdom is to be believed the market here is going to drop considerably in the next few months, so rent first and see.

HTH, BB

PS If you really want big city living with like for like standard of living, I'd be considering Oz, but bear in mind the cities in Oz aren't cheap by a long stretch.

Re: NZ or OZ please help?
 

You mentioned something in your original post about needing an au pair......I'm not even sure this is an option in NZ and I'm pretty sure live-in professional childcare (are you thinking about when you are on nightshift?) would not be affordable on the salary you have quoted.