waynepfry

Recent poll on best places to live.

Food for thought:

Weblink
http://www.alliance-leicester-group....code=PR0310081

Word doc
http://www.alliance-leicester-group..../PR0310081.doc

PDF File
http://www.alliance-leicester-group..../PR0310081.pdf

Genesis

All very good BUT if you don't like NZ..and many don't thus the positive stuff about NZ remains a mystery. I personally love NZ and love it warts and all. For me at this juncture in my life its nigh on perfect for me and my family. We have the lives here we could only have dreamed of in the UK and strangely we earn about $60k less than we did together in the UK.

I admit we are very lucky having found this neighbourhood and the luck of all the other wonderful things we have here!!

mickey_d

Well, they're wrong with the average house price for a start, at todays exchange rate it is around £135000.
Fuel I agree with, but food & drink, you can still do an imaginary shop online in the UK for less than here.
& tax, I would rather have the UK rates & allowances.

Oh & my OH (full time Nurse) works 10 hours more a month & gets 1/2 the annual leave she used to get in the UK.

Still love it here though

janek

I can't be done with 'ideals'....not a lot is ever ideal......stick with ideas, much better way to live....

lardyl

Personally I'd be happy with at least some facts....

Clearly Wayne you are becoming "native" as the weblink just points to the .doc and .pdf links - there is nothing there........not a good start eh?

Some of the content is total hogwash.....

With South Africa 7th I'll have to talk to my ex-Pat Saffa mates who will all say "how can that be? as home is hell for most people....would never go back" - most people would rather live in
than in a sealed compound in South Africa with all the murder, death and rape there..........

More rubbish on the annual leave - NZ is pretty rubbish compared with UK and Europe apart from bereavement leave, why do we have these regulations requring four weeks of annual leave? Sick leave entitlements are poor in comparison for public servants, etc, etc...... Maybe some of the parental stuff is a little better but what they are characterising is plainly wrong......

Was only complaining *along with a Kiwi mate* today about taxation:
Utter rubbish - just think about the total lack of a tax-free allowance, got to be worth a few percentage points on the higher rates as does GST on food, kid's clothes.....the list goes on..... OK some stealth taxes aren't there but if the money ain't there in your pocket you can't leave it to the kids or buy a house.....

Can't be bothered to read the rest - most of it must have been written by NZIS or the 100% Pure folks - or maybe someone who has swallowed a statistical table and never been/lived/worked here.

Come on be real A&L - like Genesis for isntance or no-one will take you seriously.......

waynepfry

Lardyl - weblinks work fine for me but I only cut and pasted so not sure why they didn't work for you?

I've not said that I agree 100% with the report (because I don't) - just that it was food for thought and it doesn't do any harm to have balanced polls etc amid everyone's opinions. The poll's not representative of myself at all.

Also the data was compiled from various sources including Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, worldwidetax.com, bbc.co.uk and globalpropertyprices.com - not Pure NZ or the like. I'm sure there's a more detailed report on their website which lists facts and the like.

I know stats and polls are never dead-on accurate (as Vic Reeves said 88.2% of them are made up on the spot) and there's always other considerations to take into account but they rated everyone the same and NZ came out top - food fo thought as I say.

lardyl

Sorry Wayne but as I said, if you can't be bothered to check your own information and then look at what it says then you are becoming more of a Kiwi and doing yourself a disservice.....

Try clicking your link and it takes you to a page with the links to the pdf and word document...... in IE and Mozilla it does the same and the parent page in Media Centre does the same:

http://www.alliance-leicester-group...._releases.aspx

The poll is not a poll at all, just read the methodology:

Go on, ask them....I dare ya......

It is completely the opposite of what you want to see.....just someone taking data fom web sources and having a stab comparing it......
I think I might sell my A&L shares as soon as they get a little more value back.......

"You get a smarter online tester at Sprocket & Sylvester...." or something like that........

Bo-Jangles

Like all these claims from companies who have a vested interest, especially where migration is concerned, one does need to take these polls and surveys with a HUGE pinch of salt.

IMV humblest opinion, that survey is pure stuff and nonsense. Stuff and more nonsense! What possible food for thought can those claims be? It is indeed very misleading food for potential migrants and can only fuel bitter disappointment. Because they heard it there first it must be true, eh? They are a respected and well known brand name, they would not lie would they?

Without doing the maths it is patently ridiculous to claim that NZ has a preferential tax regime - it can't get much worse than being taxed on every cent earned with no personal allowances and being taxed again via GST at 12.5% on every cent spent.

In the UK you can earn 34 thousand pounds (at an assumed exchange rate of 2.60 = NZ$88,400) before you reach the higher level of 40% tax. In NZ you are taxed at 39% on NZ$70,000 (very recently increased). Remembering also it is possible in the UK to avoid some tax by investing in ISAs and pensions.


Favourable working hours? Lies! Typical office hours here are 37.5 or 40 hours per week. Usual UK office hours = 35 hours per week. Trades hours are typically the same in both countries 40 hours.

Generous annual leave? More lies! NZ upgraded to 4 weeks only last year, prior to that it was a grim 3 weeks. UK also has 4 weeks by right and many companies give over and above this; 25 days is not unusual.

lardyl

B-J - it isn't a poll or a survey (welll there is no data indicating sample type/size or controls) - it is just a sort of survey of online/public domain information leading to a grading depending upon weightings

It's just another re-hash of those regular "Lists" of the best places to live in the world, but not done as well as the Economist or OECD.........

Bit like the Lonely Planet guide done by the bloke who had never been to Columbia, only slept with a waitress from whereever.......

Best filed under "B" for "BIN".......IMHO.......

Anyone who has lived or worked here should be able to see through it like a NZ bank note..............

BEVS

You know. I keep reading this as the best place to live in NZ. The answer to which is , of course, Nelson and Bays. Second to that is my beloved Bournemouth of Dorset.

lardyl

blimey all I can think of now is Labour of Love by Squeeze........sorry BEVS but Bournemouth is a bit like Orewa.............except Orewa has a little less night life.........

lardyl

labelled with love ----even

twas late......

sr71

Who also seem to rate NZ Cities very highly.

lardyl

yes, and I agree as I happen to live nice and close to one, but suggesting that this "study" is a "poll" or any evidence of itself of "NZ Ideal Place to Live" is not really going to help anyone much is it?

Or am I just being cynical, too critical or whingong over those darned stupid Pommie surveys..........

sr71

I think some are reasonably valid, although they obviously can't really scientifically measure any intangible things.

The Mercer one for example is probably pretty accurate, especially if you are an executive who has all expenses paid, a house provided and kept on the same salary as you were in the UK + a hardship allowance for being away from your home country.