Assanah

Well, I guess Greece is special. In my country (germany that is) retirement age was recently raised to 67 and they are already talking about 70, health benefits are cut, salaries stagnate now fopr years while costs and taxes increase. It is simple: Money is running out fast! And if France and Greece and other European countries won't change their social rules soon there will be payback time in the future. Early retirement, lots of vacation, great social benefits, schools and uni for free....well it is a borrowed paradise. Nothing more.

MNandMN

My two cents is - none of the stats mean anything much to individuals or families, it maybe justifies to some people why they emigrated - but enjoying being in NZ and making a go of it seem to hinge on two main things 1) how much you miss family and friends and 2) whether you can afford to live the lifestyle you want to on the wages in NZ - just an observation from reading the messages over the last year or so

Stormer999

Sounds spot on from my obs as well.....

sue1234

Eh, 15,000,000 immigrants cant be wrong

JohnThePom

Not what Laloo said though. There's a world of difference between 'take into account' and 'base your immigration plans on'.

I would hope that most people who cared, would take a whole host of input about where they were going before they moved including forums like this - unless of course the reason they're going is just for the buzz or adventure of it, in which case they won't care anyway.

The best way, in my opinion is to try it yourself, if you can deal with the risk.

To be honest I'd hope it was obvious that other people's opinions in the form of surveys or internet forums are "worth taking into account" but never worth "basing your plans on". We're all too different to each other.

JohnThePom

Seconded - and I'd third and fourth that message too if I could.

Laloo

Thank you WhingingPom, as I also said, its only a part of the research you should do when deciding on where to emigrate to.

Genesis

You have summed it up mate and that is me. I don't miss family and friends in a debilitating way like some (cos I'm well 'ard). Truth is my family never really did favour me much and i was always a bit of a 'joke' to them from my perspective anyway and as for friends well they come and go and there are always more to be found.

As for the lifestyle we have the kind of life here in NZ that we could never have in the Uk unless we were well the minted ones. I do love day to day life in NZ but I have become more and more disillusioned with NZ as the over 5 years has worn on with respect to law and order and what successive administrations have done and what they have failed to do. The latter having impacted upon me personally to the tune of $80k. I am that utterly pissed off with politicians now that I am withdrawing my vote forever. In the main they are a shower and I have no wish to vote Jo Bloggs in on a bunch of promises that she will not keep. I will forever abstain. Why vote for something one has utterly zero confidence in? I do appreciate by not voting I will apparently not have a mandate to moan about politicians anymore...yeah right!!

Genesis

Alas we also have been voted one the most deadly places to drive...and the worlds biggest user of P both obviously on a per capita basis.

Toon_Nut

Straight from the Hubby's mouth eh Sue!


In fact if he's owt like me he'll double that estimate!

Charismatic

Well all countries servicing high debt loads will need to make adjustments, the UK is worse than most and when it comes to a choice it’s only between a rock and a hard place. Even the U.S. can’t spend its way out of this recession ( I suspect their slightly more socialist northern neighbours will overtake the U.S. on income per capita if the U.S. continues to slew into this rut, the Canadian economy has proved itself remarkably resilient).
That’s a little unfair, Kiwis can be funny, interesting and friendly but you have to meet the right ones. Generally the ones that are educated and travelled or second generation immigrants tend to be the best pick.
But charges a higher rate of VAT. The UK is probably better on taxation if you’re on the bottom end of the normal distribution for income, New Zealand is probably better off if you are a distribution or two out towards the top end.

I dislike this “lifestyle” excuse for every problem we discuss on this forum. New Zealand has some pretty serious problems, most countries do to some extent and they are not excusable in any way. Many countries offer a great lifestyle in similar situations and some can offer a better quality of life. Being a small island in the Pacific is no excuse for a lack of industriousness, “making do” will simply not do and will see us slide further if we continue down this path. We have natural resources we can exploit (Coal, gold etc. Maybe oil and gas), we have intellectual talent being generated at an astonishing rate, we have capital to build businesses (though tied up in real estate for tax reasons but that’s easy to change) and we have a great country to do it in. We just need to be a little bit cleverer about how we do things, both in government and beyond (government is not the answer to every problem but only electing governments with clear economic goals and vision would be a very good start ).

Justcol

Your absolutely right, NZ can be much more than it is but it will
NEVER reach its true potential as the "kiwi way" will always put
a full stop to any real progress.
Look at the two guys who had to battle for almost three years just
to open a small coffee shop by a beach. Why? because it might spoil
the look of the place!! it was hardly any bigger than a burger van but
the "kiwi way" says it isnt natural. God forbid that it might make a trip
to some desolate scrub of a beach more comfortable or enjoyable. It might
even serve to draw people there as there would be some form of basic amenities.
Obviously business and tourism, for all they whinge about it are not a priority.

urbanproject

This was a really interesting read.

I don't how France got the top spot. I was born and raised there (I left a few years ago, at 23) and as far as I can see, it's become the pits Don't get me wrong, I love my birth country but give me NZ any day

sue1234

LOL. Your spot on Eddie. He'd would double it AND wouldn't have called them immigrants!

Mrs Pointer

The Uk is a great place to live - has a lot going for it, has a lot going against it. As does every country.

They way I think about life is that the grass is never greener, it's just different grass and if you can't embrace the fact it's different grass, then stay on your own patch.

The last thing we want to do is take our life here and just move it over there. We're only emigrating because we want to change our lifestyle.

But the one thing that will bring me back is my family & friends. And if that's how it turns out, then hey at least we had the adventure and we'll know for sure where we want to be.