Urgent advice needed
#1
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2
Urgent advice needed
Help, my head and heart are playing tennis and I don't know who's winning, my husband has been offered a job in Auckland and the plan is for him to start at the end of March on a works visa with me and our 2 young children following once we get the residency visa by the end of April. However we're both in turmoil with the cost of the move, how much that affects our savings which is our deposit for a house, plus what seems to be a higher cost of living and higher house prices, does the outdoor lifestyle really outweigh the 2-5 year struggle to recoup our money. The idea of living in beautiful New Zealand makes me want to hop on the next flight but is it really the best thing to do financially?
#2
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Joined: Oct 2011
Location: Wellington - I miss Castles, the NHS & English school system
Posts: 9,077
Re: Urgent advice needed
don't think any one comes here to make money as most things do cost most because of where NZ is situated in the world. Don't think you should expect to recoup any money outlayed you need to look at it as a cost to make the move, the same as you would if you moved anywhere else.
do you sums, lots of posts on cost of living, look at why you want to move and why NZ.
make sure that you will actually uplift a permanent visa for, all very well getting an offer but it does need to meet certain criteria to actually obtain a visa which isn't temp.
do you sums, lots of posts on cost of living, look at why you want to move and why NZ.
make sure that you will actually uplift a permanent visa for, all very well getting an offer but it does need to meet certain criteria to actually obtain a visa which isn't temp.
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: Urgent advice needed
Unless you and your OH are moving here for the job of a lifetime or on super duper wages you may as well consider and cost of getting here as sunk - it has taken us nearly ten years to get back on our feet financially and still not anywhere near to the lifestyle we had in the UK in terms if disposable income for treats and holidays.
You need to do the maths and be very clear and understand what you're getting into financially. I trust you have already worked through your finances and have figured out the cost of housing in relation to the salary you are being offered?
You need to do the maths and be very clear and understand what you're getting into financially. I trust you have already worked through your finances and have figured out the cost of housing in relation to the salary you are being offered?
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 6,148
Re: Urgent advice needed
Help, my head and heart are playing tennis and I don't know who's winning, my husband has been offered a job in Auckland and the plan is for him to start at the end of March on a works visa with me and our 2 young children following once we get the residency visa by the end of April. However we're both in turmoil with the cost of the move, how much that affects our savings which is our deposit for a house, plus what seems to be a higher cost of living and higher house prices, does the outdoor lifestyle really outweigh the 2-5 year struggle to recoup our money. The idea of living in beautiful New Zealand makes me want to hop on the next flight but is it really the best thing to do financially?
#5
Re: Urgent advice needed
and when the visas expire what options do you have and what are the plans?
#6
Just Joined
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2
Unless you and your OH are moving here for the job of a lifetime or on super duper wages you may as well consider and cost of getting here as sunk - it has taken us nearly ten years to get back on our feet financially and still not anywhere near to the lifestyle we had in the UK in terms if disposable income for treats and holidays.
You need to do the maths and be very clear and understand what you're getting into financially. I trust you have already worked through your finances and have figured out the cost of housing in relation to the salary you are being offered?
You need to do the maths and be very clear and understand what you're getting into financially. I trust you have already worked through your finances and have figured out the cost of housing in relation to the salary you are being offered?
Thankyou all for your advice, it's really helped make our decision, we have good jobs, a nice house, a good quality of life and we have decided not to risk that with a move to nz, it means we're in a position to still afford great holidays so we'll have to visit nz soon and enjoy the life as a tourist
Last edited by BEVS; Feb 28th 2015 at 7:44 pm.
#7
Nz
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Canterbury
Posts: 368
Re: Urgent advice needed
I think you can spend a lot of money moving or not much atall.
I know people have spent 40k moving. It cost us incl flights around 6k including furnishing a house.guess it depends how fussy you are.we have far more money spare here than we would have had in the uk and I see my husband a lot more. It's great but I'm in the minority that it's worked out great we are very up materialistic and easily content with sacrificing all the nice to have stuff for time as a family. Since that's priceless.
I love it here and so glad I made the move
We had NOTHING in the UK. If we had all that you had we wouldn't have took the risk that's for sure
Plus I'd never ever consider Auckland I wouldn't like the crazy rush that I was trying to get away from.plus you need to earn an obscene amount of money to live there.
My husbands on a good wage for where we are but we wouldn't survive on his wages in Auckland
I know people have spent 40k moving. It cost us incl flights around 6k including furnishing a house.guess it depends how fussy you are.we have far more money spare here than we would have had in the uk and I see my husband a lot more. It's great but I'm in the minority that it's worked out great we are very up materialistic and easily content with sacrificing all the nice to have stuff for time as a family. Since that's priceless.
I love it here and so glad I made the move
We had NOTHING in the UK. If we had all that you had we wouldn't have took the risk that's for sure
Plus I'd never ever consider Auckland I wouldn't like the crazy rush that I was trying to get away from.plus you need to earn an obscene amount of money to live there.
My husbands on a good wage for where we are but we wouldn't survive on his wages in Auckland
Last edited by moving2NZ2013; Mar 6th 2015 at 4:40 am.
#8
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Joined: Jul 2007
Location: bottom of the world
Posts: 4,533
Re: Urgent advice needed
you'll never make the money back. Living in Auckland costs too much and the wages aren't high enough.
If you were saying you were coming to live anywhere else but Auckland I would say yes it is worth it.......but not Auckland
There's nothing there, the traffic is horrendous, its not green and seeing as you'll be living in a city, you wont live
the "outdoor lifestyle" there
If you were saying you were coming to live anywhere else but Auckland I would say yes it is worth it.......but not Auckland
There's nothing there, the traffic is horrendous, its not green and seeing as you'll be living in a city, you wont live
the "outdoor lifestyle" there
#9
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 6,148
Re: Urgent advice needed
you'll never make the money back. Living in Auckland costs too much and the wages aren't high enough.
If you were saying you were coming to live anywhere else but Auckland I would say yes it is worth it.......but not Auckland
There's nothing there, the traffic is horrendous, its not green and seeing as you'll be living in a city, you wont live
the "outdoor lifestyle" there
If you were saying you were coming to live anywhere else but Auckland I would say yes it is worth it.......but not Auckland
There's nothing there, the traffic is horrendous, its not green and seeing as you'll be living in a city, you wont live
the "outdoor lifestyle" there
#10
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 201
Re: Urgent advice needed
I'm actually really surprised when people say you can't have an outdoor lifestyle in Auckland.
I genuinely think we do loads of outdoor stuff here. Some of the things we or people we know do - beaches (must be 50 or 60 in the Auckland region?). Regional parks - walking and camping. Kayaking, surfing, fishing, snorkelling, cycling, climbing the many (extinct!) volcanic cones around the city. Visiting the Hauraki Gulf islands. Loads and loads of parks/playgrounds.
Other stuff we haven't tried yet - paddle boarding, sailing, horse riding etc.
But we are also 20 mins from the CBD of a biggish city so plenty of access to cinemas, theatre, museum, zoo, festivals, shops etc
To the OP, I do really like Auckland but it has to be pointed out that buying a house here now is very expensive. Can't get round that one really. Renting is also very pricey.
I genuinely think we do loads of outdoor stuff here. Some of the things we or people we know do - beaches (must be 50 or 60 in the Auckland region?). Regional parks - walking and camping. Kayaking, surfing, fishing, snorkelling, cycling, climbing the many (extinct!) volcanic cones around the city. Visiting the Hauraki Gulf islands. Loads and loads of parks/playgrounds.
Other stuff we haven't tried yet - paddle boarding, sailing, horse riding etc.
But we are also 20 mins from the CBD of a biggish city so plenty of access to cinemas, theatre, museum, zoo, festivals, shops etc
To the OP, I do really like Auckland but it has to be pointed out that buying a house here now is very expensive. Can't get round that one really. Renting is also very pricey.
#11
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 0
Re: Urgent advice needed
I'm actually really surprised when people say you can't have an outdoor lifestyle in Auckland.
I genuinely think we do loads of outdoor stuff here. Some of the things we or people we know do - beaches (must be 50 or 60 in the Auckland region?). Regional parks - walking and camping. Kayaking, surfing, fishing, snorkelling, cycling, climbing the many (extinct!) volcanic cones around the city. Visiting the Hauraki Gulf islands. Loads and loads of parks/playgrounds.
Other stuff we haven't tried yet - paddle boarding, sailing, horse riding etc.
But we are also 20 mins from the CBD of a biggish city so plenty of access to cinemas, theatre, museum, zoo, festivals, shops etc
To the OP, I do really like Auckland but it has to be pointed out that buying a house here now is very expensive. Can't get round that one really. Renting is also very pricey.
I genuinely think we do loads of outdoor stuff here. Some of the things we or people we know do - beaches (must be 50 or 60 in the Auckland region?). Regional parks - walking and camping. Kayaking, surfing, fishing, snorkelling, cycling, climbing the many (extinct!) volcanic cones around the city. Visiting the Hauraki Gulf islands. Loads and loads of parks/playgrounds.
Other stuff we haven't tried yet - paddle boarding, sailing, horse riding etc.
But we are also 20 mins from the CBD of a biggish city so plenty of access to cinemas, theatre, museum, zoo, festivals, shops etc
To the OP, I do really like Auckland but it has to be pointed out that buying a house here now is very expensive. Can't get round that one really. Renting is also very pricey.
What I will agree on is that house prices are stupidly expensive and that traffic can be a pain in the bum.
#12
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Joined: Jul 2007
Location: bottom of the world
Posts: 4,533
Re: Urgent advice needed
1st picture is of Aucklands Rural views from One Tree Hill, very pretty if you like looking at city skylines
2nd is the view from the top of Pirongia, 5 minutes from Te Awamutu
3rd is from the top of Maungakawa, 5 minutes from Cambridge
Both very pretty if you dont want to look at city skylines
4th $1.9 Million Auckland
5th $450 Cambridge
Now what could you spend the $1.5 Million you save on
If you have the option look elsewhere
2nd is the view from the top of Pirongia, 5 minutes from Te Awamutu
3rd is from the top of Maungakawa, 5 minutes from Cambridge
Both very pretty if you dont want to look at city skylines
4th $1.9 Million Auckland
5th $450 Cambridge
Now what could you spend the $1.5 Million you save on
If you have the option look elsewhere
#13
Re: Urgent advice needed
It's all relative. Moving to Auckland from sunny Brentford is a positive move to an outdoor lifestyle.
There certainly aren't hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres of beaches within an hour of Brentford.
Nor could a grab a fishing charter at short notice, arrange a SCUBA dive or go mountain biking that easily from Brentford.
Need I go on? I'm sure you get my point.
To the OP - I think you made the right choice in staying in the UK given what you've told us.
If you change your mind New Zealand will still be here to welcome you with open arms.
#14
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 6,148
Re: Urgent advice needed
It's all relative. Moving to Auckland from sunny Brentford is a positive move to an outdoor lifestyle.
There certainly aren't hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres of beaches within an hour of Brentford.
Nor could a grab a fishing charter at short notice, arrange a SCUBA dive or go mountain biking that easily from Brentford.
Need I go on? I'm sure you get my point.
To the OP - I think you made the right choice in staying in the UK given what you've told us.
If you change your mind New Zealand will still be here to welcome you with open arms.