RE: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Been looking at cost of living in Auckland and also salary scales (take home pay) to try to understand what salary band I would have to be aiming for . It is just me and my 12 y/o son so based the rental I had a look at for 2 bedroom on Trade Me, I would say $500 a week should be about right ?

I used an online COL calculator which offered most of the figures and I entered in most cases ‘frugal’. I think some areas are high , for example the food at 299 a week but I could be wrong. Here in Scotland I would say our grocery bill is around £50 a week.

I would appreciate any input on this as I have been looking at jobs in Auckland online and trying to gauge the figures. See below ....

Thanks and have a good weekend;)

WEEKLY
RENT - $500
FOOD - $299
OTHER - $15
HOME & MAINT - $20
CLOTHING - $25
CAR - wof / maint / fuel - $30
HOUSE - contents insure - $2
CAR - insure - $5
Internet - $15
Electric / heating - $40
Misc entertainment - $25

Sub total per week = $976

Take home Pay @ $65 k take home p/m= 4294 after overheads 390
Take home Pay @ $75 k take home p/m= 4853 after overheads 949
Take home Pay @ $80 k take home p/m= 5126 after overheads 1222
Take home Pay @ $85 k take home p/m= 5399 after overheads 1495

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Food is expensive but not 3x as much! If you currently do 50 quid so roughly 100 bucks I'd make that figure 150-200 max deffo not 300.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

I think your electric bill / heating is too low, during the winter months
I can get well over 400 month, that's 2 people in a renovated and insulated Villa.
$30 of petrol won't get you very far at all.
You'll probably need sky TV, free to air is awful.

You have listed salaries from 65 to 85
What do you do for a living, it would help with giving
a clearer indication of potential salaries.

Initial outlay for school uniform can be high so brace for that
there is also the annual school donation, this varies from
school to school so check as you go.

Just a heads up, most salaries are paid fortnightly

Personally I think you will seriously struggle on less than $75k

Many rentals will have an open day and lots of applicants,
so agents can and often do pick and choose Tennant's.
Initial costs and bonds for rentals can be very high and
there is also water rates to take into account.

Sorry for the randomness of the post, I've just added things
as I thought of them

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

I usually get Co car so used to putting some gas in at weekends

I wouldn't waste my money on Sky so that will sort out the elec ;)

I'm in management and looking at the roles on Seek that do indicate salaries I think that is best to look at that band (65 – 85) rather than aim higher and be disillusioned.

Although I must say that the majority of roles don’t mention salary.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks mate. I did kinda think that but I am trying to get a good idea from folk that have done it and know so I can know where to aim (salary etc), rather than get there and be a wingin' Pom :lol:

Cheers

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

I think those are good ball park figures. My summer electricity on a 3 bed house is $100, winter is around $230, but I am a bit of a softy and have the heat pump on more than most.

I don't have Sky - it's expensive for very little. Highly recommend unlimited broadband which I pay $85pm and subscribe to Netfix and perhaps Lightbox. With a young boy your subscription choices may be different to mine.

I work from home so my fuel costs are very low, so hard to compare there.

When searching on Seek, put a salary range in the search. It will give you a clue of how much the employer is anticipating paying.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for the input

Yeah, I am with you on the uncapped broadband, especially with the wee lad ;)

I’ll try that on Seek – cheers for the valuable input and enjoy the rest of your Sunday :thumbup:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

as well as school donations for your son you will need to pay towards trips and some additional class activities, as well as buying stationery and books. Our daughter, although older than your son is going on a school trip this year and it is costing over $3K. Our younger son is going camping with the school, not sure yet how much that is going to cost but he goes in March apparently. Be prepared for short notice of these type of things.
also your son will probably want to do some activities, football, tennis, basketball etc? these will also cost.

Hope this is not to personal but you say it is just you and your son, do you have/need permission to take your son out of the country long term? You would need to prove this.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

All green lights on that one Mrs F but thanks for considering

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

We are a couple . No kids. One cat. Two ducks & two hens.

Grocery bill is around $150/$200.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

You need to factor in GP visits (mine is $40/ visit) and dentist (I just paid $158 for two x-rays, check-up and a clean and polish). I don't have children so can't comment on costs for them. I believe that GP's no longer charge for children's appointments, however I have heard that some still do.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

GP's are not meant to charge for anyone under 13yrs, but believe they still have to pay for any prescriptions. Our Dr's fees are just under $50, it does depend on surgery as to how much they charge and remember if it is covered by ACC it is often still not free but just slightly cheaper.
Not sure if on those wages you have factored in kiwi saver contributions or ACC levies .http://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax-in...aries-acc.html

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for your input. Good point/s, not sure how it all works but I will look into med insurance.

I will make sure our teeth are up-to-date as I know NZ dentistry is expensive.

Cheers for that :thumbup:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

If you buy £50 of groceries in Scotland, the same items in NZ will cost you around $120 or maybe $130.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

and lots of stuff is seasonal

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Ah yes, seaonal fruit n veg
$8. for a cucumber and $24 for a kg of tomatoes !!

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

On noes.

Are we going down the real , really, reality of the tomatoes route again. :cry_smile:



Yup. Get your nashers sorted before you arrive. There seems to be no issue with false nashers or no nashers :p

Has anyone actually ever been called a whinging pom , apart from those with reverse syndrome who need to call their own countrymen whinging. :zzz:

Nopes. If one will encounter racism or prejudice it is far more extreme than that. Either subversive or in your face.


...and TimmyChch is a mate but I am not. :sad_smile:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for that. We don’t eat expensive food and I shop at Tesco which I find very well priced.

So I should be budgeting $480 a month on shopping in NZ.

To be honest I don’t keep a strict account of grocery bills, that’s a rough guess.

The position I don’t want to be in in NZ is – budgeting to have a nice coffee in a café if I feel like one.;)

Cheers for the input

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Geez - Auckland sounds scary :eek:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

It depends on how you shop. If you spend £50 a week in Scotland then yes $480 a month would cover it. I would aim for $600 myself. Next time you do a average shop, jump online and look up the NZ prices at countdown.co.nz

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for that. To be honest I really don’t count how much I spend but in context of considering NZ I need to look at this. It could actually be £40 (my spend) a week but to be honest the difference of £10 a week here is not a big thing as you probably know.

I am going to have a look at countdown online thanks. I did have a look a Newworld and something I need to spend a bit of time on.

Cheers for that

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Pak n Save is the nearest to Lidl/Aldi.
We thought the general grocery prices were a lot more than the UK.
At least at the exchange rate of 2.2NZD to 1UKP.
This makes £50 equivalent to $110 and I would have said that a general shop was quite a bit more.
Wine is reasonably priced, but fresh veggies are more expensive (don't mention tomatoes) and the processed meats - bacon, sausage etc are "different".

Meat cuts are slightly different as well; we found strange things such as NZ lamb was cheaper in the UK than NZ.

I would recommend a pessimistic pricing - if you work out that you can just manage then this isn't good. Perhaps 25% in your budget for contingency?

One thing - AFAIK you don't need car insurance (partly because if you injure someone then the State just picks up the tab). Not sure what happens if you bend someone's car - I assume that they might expect you to pay but then I think most people fix their own dents and if you crash your car then that's your problem. No car. Still haven't fully got my head around it but it seems that you either accept that you will pay for any damage to your car or you take out insurance.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for that info but not my style. Would rather be able to afford insurance or not go to NZ, I really don’t see myself in that situ. With all due respect.

Most of the roles I would pitch for usually offer Co car or car allowance.

Cheers again

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

You'll be fine. Especially in tartan with your knees showing.:tounge_smile:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

And no teeth - geez Johnny Rotten comes to mind :lol:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Some of the others have already mentioned the cost of schools and children activities, but I'll give you a breakdown of how much those things are for my kids.We are in Auckland so the figures will be similar to what you have to pay.

Costs for 1 child:

School donation, decile 8 school $200 per year
Plus extra for stationary and class books $50 per year
Plus if you go to a BYOD school thats $200 per year

School Uniform, when we arrived my initial layout for the entire summer/winter uniform was $600. That gave us a school jumper, 3 polo shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 pairs of school trousers, P.E. kit and school hat.

Swimming lessons are $11 per lesson
Dance lessons are $10 per lesson
Piano lessons are $30 per lesson
Art classes are £10 per lesson
Scouts are $5 per session
Football is £10 per session

School stationary and books for the beginning of the year cost me about $70 for each child.

My children are 10 and 7 so still in the growing like a weed stage, so they need new shoes and clothes fairly regularly. I buy trainers on sale at Rebel sports for about $100 a pair. You can get cheaper but I have a thing about my kids wearing decent shoes.

I don't buy them clothes here. I find the quality shocking and the variety boring so I still buy their clothes from Next, M&S and Boden.

Your grocery budget does look high, I don't even spend that for the 4 of us weekly but what you must remember is that variety is limited here. There might be staple items in your weekly shop that you just don't get here and you'll probably have to go to 3 or 4 different shops to do you weekly shop because even the supermarkets don't have everything you need.

Petrol use is subjective to where you live and how much time you will spend in traffic. You may only live 20 mins from work but if you're in Auckland prepare to spend hours in traffic. That's just what it's like here. My husband works 25mins form home but easily spends at least 3 or 4 days a week stuck in traffic for up to 2 hours. He spends $100 every 10 days or so on petrol.

You forgot to add water to your list. We pay about $80 per month.
Also some places have gas heating or wood burning stoves, you need to add that cost in.

I think that about covers it but if I think of anything more I'll post again.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

We're two adults and we go mega minimal on the groceries, shopping at Pak n Save for the most part and rarely is it less than $140 and then usually some extras at fruit and veg shop, bread, milk and such like during the week. Cat food is another extra from vets.

$25 won't go far in the way of entertainment - a beer or glass of wine is $8 to $9, normal price for adult cinema ticket $18.50 ($13 Child), soft drink, tea or coffee at a cafe $4.50, eating out, parking, ice-cream etc. all adds up.

Our most recent electric bill was $136 - supposedly cheapest summer month / usually nobody home all day but would have been a bit extra over the Christmas holidays. The only way from there is is up and Winter can be anything upto and around $350pm

I know it depends a lot on what sort of a car you are insuring but mine is $49 a month (fully comprehensive on a small old nanna car).

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Yes that is true, although I would personally never go without car insurance. Just to clarify - if you are at fault during an accident then your repair bills aren't covered by anyone or anything. Very risky financially especially if you end up with lots of damages or writing off the car.

I had an "incident" in the UK where I accidentally parked my car on the neighbours wall (don't ask). I was going slow at the time but the way the bricks hit my car it completely stuffed it up beyond repair underneath. If that was in NZ and I didn't have insurance I would be left with no car, which is a bit of a bugger if you are reliant on it! I suppose in hindsight I shouldn't have parked my car on my neighbours wall but the car had other ideas...

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Personally I've not come across a role that offers a company car in NZ, outside the Utilities where management may attract a branded Ute, true company cars are quite rare and attached to more senior roles than the $65-$85k salary you are looking at.

As you have seen, Seek can be ultra-vague on salary let alone benefits but be wary of assuming the roles you look at will be likely to come with a profusion of benefits.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Yes company cars are a different concept here; most people that I know with company vehicles are pool cars. So they're not attached to an individual and not technically allowed to use them for personal use, some aren't allowed to take them home, others have trackers and do get pulled up if seen somewhere they are not meant to be and its not unusual to have to leave them at the office when on leave.

The difference being in the UK company cars are a perk of the job and employee pays tax accordingly so no issue wth personal use; here however the employer pays the tax and they have to declare and pay Fringe Benefit Tax to IRD , hence the restrictions on personal use.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

OH was offered a company car with his previous job but it would have come out of his salary to the tune of approximately $10k pa. The choice of cars he was offered weren't that flash, so he took the money instead.

I've yet to hear of anyone having a company car in NZ in the same way they do in the UK.

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

From what you've seen so far Andy, does a move still appeal ??

Have you looked at any specific areas / suburbs that seem to fit the bill of what you're after ??

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Seems like Co car (in NZ) doesn’t exactly mean company car.

Thank you :thumbup:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Maybe ;)

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Belated thanks. I need to chew over all the info on this thread as it would seem the online COL calculator was a tad conservative :lol:

I didn’t take schooling costs or extra activities into account as here I just have to consider his uniform and school trips otherwise it’s covered (including his social club).

Thank you for taking the time to input. I appreciate :thumbup:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Belated thanks. I need to chew over all the info on this thread as it would seem the online COL calculator was a tad conservative. :lol:

Also looking further into the Co Car scenario seems like I need to adjust my spreadsheet somewhat. That’s where these forums are excellent for getting info from the folk that are in the know.

What's a nana car :lol:

Thank you for taking the time to input. I appreciate :thumbup:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

A lot of rural jobs have company 'cars' eg Wrightson, Farmlands. Niece works for Monsanto and has a company ute - unlimited milage/petrol and uses it for everything. Judging by the cars on the roads during the holidays (towing boats/holiday trailers) a lot of other firms do too - may not apply to JAFA's or similar :-)

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Thanks for that.:thumbup: Interesting , is Monsanto quite big in NZ ? Is their food mostly GM also ?

What if a JAFA?

I know what a Jaffa cake is :lol:

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Is that about the going rate for water in Auckland ?

Is there a waste / removal fee/s also ?

Cheers

Re: Looking at Auckland – Cost of living , trying to gauge salary I need to aim for
 

Just another f'ing Aucklander