Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

Here's a ray of hope for those reading the posts saying you need squillions to emigrate with...

I was shredding my old bank statements and came across some interesting reading... we made £28,887.41 on the sale of our house, less the packer's, shipper's, estate agent and solicitor fees.

Once we paid off the loan (£8,030.65), paid for flight tickets (£2,011), paid for the animals' flights (£1,547.48 for the dog and £2,000 for the cats), and dithered in Hollands saying goodbye to everyone, we emigrated with a cool £13,306.65.

That's right - £13,000 was our sum of money that we emigrated with. This was converted to approximately $25,000. We used $10,000 of it to put down a deposit on our mortgage, $8,000 on a car and the rest was fiddled away on new beds, rental, clothes and generally tiding us over for three months before I found a job.

It can be done! Have the :thumbup: attitude!

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

That's great for those that might be put off by thinking that they cant afford it.
I'm another example, we had even less than that! And we started from scratch, didn't bring a thing with us that wouldn't fit in our cases.
It can be done!
Oh, my first time seeing the new smilies...not sure which to use..too much choice!

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

Respect :cool: ... don't know how you did it :)

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

There were times I wondered why we'd done it. :blink: But three years later, I don't think we'd move back.

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

:thumbsup: Congratulations to you for making it work! It shows it can be done ... i really admire Jude for going with nothing - no Visa, zip! I worry that we're doing the wrong thing selling up and taking our chances on jobs etc - but I have hope because I'll get all the support we need from here!

Thanks for your great post - Karma on it's way!

Michelle & Carl :thumbup:

PS: I miss the scared emote!

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

£13000 no money ,jesus we are going with probably 5000pound between two, just backpacking then staying starting from scratch, wish i had that much .:)

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

that's good to hear that it can be done...my concern is not what i'll be taking out but what i'll be earning

ie will it be enough to live on?

I've just got my contract through and it states that i'll be on $40,000 NZD while in the UK i'm on over $60,000 NZD, so my concern is that will i be able to live comfortably on that ($40,000) wage...we're not big drinkers, don't smoke and don't go out clubbing etc, we prefer nights in with friends, but i do like to buy good food and nice (not expensive) clothes and have two teenage daughters. Any info gratefully received
Mandie :unsure:

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

If both of you are working you should be fine. If this would be your sole income for your family for any period of time, then you would probably need to top it up from your savings now and then (teenagers not cheap to keep anywhere!), until your OH gets a job.

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

Oh forgot: Don't forget to check your entitlements to family/child allowance etc when you arrive

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

[QUOTE=Michelle&Carl;4293049
PS: I miss the scared emote![/QUOTE]

I agree. I like having more to choose from but also liked the originals :(

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

So what happens if it all goes wrong for you? Do you have an escape plan??

As for benefits, forget it for 2 years!

Burt ;)

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

Um, what if it all goes wrong for me or another poster? :confused: Well, if you mean me, it nearly did go wrong. We had to remortgage the house at one point, we thought we might have to sell up, but it was really just a case of rebudgeting.

What saved us what Aunty Helen desperately wanting to win an election so she handed out lots of money in the form of Working Families Tax Credit and dropped the income levels to which you could apply for Childcare Benefits - we became $250 a week better off!
* $110 covered on the $150 bill for 3yo daycare
* $85 covered on the $100 bill for 5yo and 7yo after school care
* $175 a fortnight in Working Families Tax Credit.

But I believe you need PR to get these... as I'm a citizen (and so are the kids), it wasn't a worry.

If we hadn't had to pay the $250 a week childcare costs, we may not have ended up in that situation. I'm still bemused as to what caused it - I think it was the cars breaking down and needing $$$$$ to fix that took all our "emergency" money.

The other interesting thing about my old english statements? The money in was always exceeded by the money out :o every month... that doesn't happen here and I'm very chuffed to say we have no debt (apart from the mortgage). In the UK, I had overdrafts, loans, catalogues. It is a different lifestyle here, but hey, if you can fill a 20ft container with possessions, what more can you possibly need to buy? :lol:

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

You get family assistance as soon as you get here as long as you have PR - you DON'T have to wait two years... and on $40k with 2 kids you'll get a fair amount. My dp was on $43k for the first year or so here and we have two kids and although i can't remember the exact figures it was around $300 a fortnight... check the Government site!

Will you have a mortgage on that salary? It'll be tight, it depends how good you are at budgeting? With no/low mortgage you'll be fine. ours is in the upper 100ks and I ended up working p/t to supplement dp's salary (which has thankfully gone up now, i think he's on around $54k - teachers aren't highly paid in NZ (although he doesn't have many years experience, which effects pay, but also has management points).

x

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

I wish you well, but don't forget that my £13K was divided between caring for 5 people and your £5K is only divided between 2 ;) Good luck in your adventure!

I was just tired of hearing those people saying "I'll be mortgage free and earning $70K - will that support the wife and myself?"

Re: Some hope for those with no money to emigrate with!
 

British citizens returning to UK can also have to wait up to 2 yrs for main benefits (habitual residency test). Family/child allowances I think come under a different category as they are a provision for the dependant children. I seem to recall others getting these payments in NZ who had not been there that long. Worth investigating all/any entitlements upon arrival (or earlier if poss).