UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Dear All,

I have a few questions in relation to moving to New Zealand. I have just been offered a position and I am contemplating on accepting. I have looked at the cost of living and have seen that there are many threads and articles of how expensive everything is.

The company I shall be working for is providing a great package which includes relocation fees, VISAS for me and my dependents, apartment and car for a couple of weeks until i find my feet. I will be located in Auckland but have been advised to live outside the CBD and then look at travelling into work.

I have done a lot of research, looked at Countdown - New Zealand and did a sample shop, looked at the rental market and cost of general living.

I will be earning around $140,000 a year and wanted to know whether I could live on this. I know that it will depend on how we live.

Any advice would be great. I have never been to NZ but I do have a few friends there with a family who say it is amazing. But that might be a biased view.

Thanks for reading

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Well depends on how many dependants you have but as that salary will put you in the top 3% or so of earners yes you will be able to live comfortably on that.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

A family of 5 should be able to live comfortably on 140k per year, however you will probably still have to manage your finances closely depending on your outgoings even on that salary.
Rent will be your highest expense and it's unlikely you'll find anything decent for less than $600 per week. You'll also need some money behind you to set yourself up. As an example for a rent of 600 per week youll have to pay minimum 3675 up front (4 weeks bond, 1 week letting fee + 15% GST and 1 week advance) then you'll have to pay another week on the day you move in to maintain the week in advance.
Don't underestimate how much it costs to set yourself up in NZ. You can easily muller $40k in a heartbeat when considering rent plus a bit of furniture, an appliance or two for the rental then cars yada yada.

Also be aware your potential company can't promise visas for anyone. It is completely out of their hands. All they can do is pay the costs and maybe employ an approved immigration consultant to work on your behalf to assist with the process. Sounds like a decent relocation package.
Yeah not wise living in the CBD for obvious reasons. Not the place to bring up 3 kids living in an apartment or town house with no garden.
North Shore is a fairly popular place to live but if you have friends there already I'm sure they'd advise where to head for.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

You and your family will be fine on that salary. In fact you may be able to look at some centralish areas for housing. Somewhere like Remuera wouldnt be out of the question at a pinch, which is like 5 to 10 minutes from the CBD and is mainly detached houses with a yard and or garden. Although the less expensive Ellerslie or Mt Eden areas would probably suit your salary better, about 15 to 20 minutes from CBD. Plenty of options really and maybe also dependent on your ideas for schools.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Thansk for the message. This is great. I have looked at Mt Eden, looks really nice. Also Parnell but that looks like it is out of my league.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Thanks for the message. I will be bringing most of my stuff from the UK so just getting quotes now. Apparently voltage wise our appliances are fine but not sure. Still researching.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

3 Children will be coming. 8 yr old, 6 yr old and 1 yr old. Plus my wife who probably won't be working until we find our feet.
Thanks for the message.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Voltage will be fine but the sockets here are only rated at 10A so 2.4Kw is your limit - don't bother with any heaters (or other appliances), continuous rated over this.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

$140,000 will be fine.

Is this a temporary or a permanent visa?

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Permanent visa which my employer will help with.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

I wouldnt entirely give up on Parnell. I know someone renting a 2 bedroom place there on I think under 100k of salary although she is single. But Mt Eden is good and rental should be cheaper. Point Chevalier another nice cheaper than Parnell area closish to the CBD. Or the North Shore if you want something a bit more beachy.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Sounds like it all adds up to me.

Only you can decide where is good for you to live in. A lot of people are now commuting to the city from The North Shore and north by bus. Kiwis said it would never happen.. but it has and is in increasing numbers (maybe led by migrants?). So, you can now seriously consider public transport into Auckland if you can use the Northern Busway corridor.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

The OP says they will earn $140k and are a family of FIVE. This income places them on approx high-60s percentile rank NZ households. Average individual income is meaningless if the income has to support five people.

OP, I don't feel quite so optimistic for your Auckland lifestyle on $140k. We lived in Cambridge and our household income 2014 and 2015 was approx. $110 with 2 kids and we did OK but couldn't buy a house, take holidays overseas or even really afford much beyond a 'decent' day-to-day lifestyle. We ran out before the next pay day almost every fortnight. Although, of course, teens are much more expensive than younger kids! Also, living where we did we had to run two cars. We spent $400 weekly on rent and could have stretched to $450 at a push.

Once your wife is working, assuming she can earn at least the average income, then you should be fine. Until then you will need to live carefully and should look for your housing costs to be less than $600 weekly. Of course, if you are bringing some decent equity to offset housing costs then that's a game-changer.

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

Sure but on June 11th it wasn't stated how many of those 5 were dependants (ie not earning).

That was clarified by the OP a day later.

See this link below, with that income and 3 under-15s it is at the 90% mark so not a million miles off. Not sure where your 60% figures come from as you haven't quoted but these are statistics and no doubt vary with the question asked.

Interactive: See how your household income compares | Stuff.co.nz

Re: UK to NZ Move with Family of Five
 

I thought it was fairly clear as he asked about whether the income would be enough for them and he talked about getting visas for him and his dependents. Seems a logical interpretation of the post even before the extra info.

I actually used that interactive! I remembered when it was published and discussion we'd had on here using it then, so it was easy to Google. If you input $140,000 and 2 >15s and 3 < 15s into it you get rank of 67%. Quite far from both 97 and 93, which are the two figures you've now given. Not at all sure where you got your figures from ... :blink: