Re: Wage Differences
 

Hi there.

$45k is not very much but is quite usual for NZ. Most Kiwis however will be supplementing that low salary with government support which immigrants aren't allowed to claim. For instance you will not receive the equivalent of family allowance here.

On a salary of $45K5 it is also the norm for there to be at least 2 people in a family bringing in a salary- so total income may be nearer to $90k. You also have no personal tax allowances so you will pay tax on every cent you earn.

Children will add to your financial burden - school donations, uniforms, games fees, doctors fees etc. etc. there is a constant drip of money in our family - every cheque I make is for school in some way :)

If you are seriously contemplating a move here I say arrange a visit first and see if you like the place. If you do come here don't burn any bridges and leave yourself an exit route incase you decide it's not for you.

Re: Wage Differences
 

All I can say is that the financial side of it is the main reason for my many hours lost wondering if I am doing the right thing. The cost of housing/renting is one of the major issues surrounding potential areas I will live in. I am looking forward to more sunlight and a better outdoor life, and to be versatile to make it work.

The advice I can offer is to look around, read some books, use the forum and try to make an informed decision. Voice all concerns and weigh up the options, only you will know what is right for you.


I have decided I would rather spend less money and have a life more full of experiences rather than a life full of nice things. And that is the mindset I am using, and as always a box of wine in the fridge always helps.

Foot

Re: Wage Differences
 

And I have decided to have 3 boxes in the fridge. (now that I'm home) :beer:

Being serious now, 45K won't see you very far at all and you might be hating the place in a few months after living off that salary. I would say to you to look at what you have already and really appreciate even the smallest almost insignificant things you might take for granted and think about how much you might miss them.

Emmigrating is so hard and such an almighty stress and upheavel on the kids.. you are probably best off staying put and forgetting and thank your lucky stars you didn't spend thousands emmigrating to NZ and being skint and coming home!!

My thoughts.. :(

Re: Wage Differences
 

Agree with all the above $45k will go nowhere.
Sorry just being honest :(

Re: Wage Differences
 

Ditto to that!!

Same here, three children, lower salary, ended up with a bigger mortgage and of course a higher interest rate than UK (ooops some people forget to mention that).......ask yourself if you could afford to live in the Uk on say 18k GBP...because to be honest, no amount of homework putting pen to paper will really give you an idea......
I keep hearing people say they are giving up their higher incomes to come here for a better "quality' of life........not being funny here, but what quality are you hoping to gain by living on the breadline working JUST to suvive the bills?
I am not being offensive here, just like to know when I hear 'quality lifestyle' being said.......what people are talking about and expecting??

And by the way.......I thought the same four years ago!! Thought I was going to get a quality life.......did I?
NO...

have to be truthful, no I didn't and I was VERY wrong to uproot my family IMO.
Having said that, I hope it works out for you here, some it does, some it doesn't......lots go back to the Uk poorer but a damn sight wiser. :)

Re: Wage Differences
 

Yep you are missing something......... :D

Cost of living V Salary not the cost of each item itself.
IE....In UK our salary would be 38GBP pa PLUS Child Benefit of around 2k GBP...= 40 GBP..OK?? PLUS a company car plus fuel, plus pension..OK??

Here......Salary for same job $65k = approx 26GBP.....NO CAR, NO FUEL, NO PENSION AND NO CHILD BENEFIT.....

Makes Sainsbury's chicken quite cheap then huh?

AND Sainsbury's is NOT your 'average' supermarket, its one of the dearest ones in the UK!

PLUS.....in UK we have cheaper shops to buy odd items like beans, peas, tins of fruit, etc which can be bought for around 8 pence......cheapest here???? Budget brands 80 cents........

So, work it out for yourself folks and remember........
Salary V Cost of Living!! NOt the item cost!

Re: Wage Differences
 

I have to agree here too. My shopping Bill seems to have creeped up recently despite buying nothing different?? I actually think its a little expensive to buy food here - but some things are cheaper - and some things are dearer - but compared to cost of living and wages here - food is quite expensive. You can shop at markets etc - if there is one near you - and there are fruit and veg shops which are a lot cheaper than the supermarkets. - If you have the time. I don't think you can compare prices in UK to prices here as income here is very different to the UK income for lots of reasons. There are lots of people living here blow the breadline, just like there at home. We love New Zealand, but I have started to see the real value of the dollar recenly with fuel bills, petrol and food etc all going up, and the dollar getting stronger - we should be getting more for our money - nut in fact we get less?? The elctions are coming soon - we might all get a tax cut?? Taxes here are also very high - especially when you look at income so another consideration.

Re: Wage Differences
 

You've also got to factor in how expensive electricity is. Our monthly bill is always around $150 dollars, if we use a lot of heating it can rise to £200.

The cost of healthcare is also quite pricey - a doctor's visit can set you back $50 plus £30 for the prescription and cost of the meds. Children under 5 should get free doctor's appointments but the government subsidy is insufficient so you could pay $10-15 dollars each time.

A filling at the dentist - around $150 dollars and you're talking $3-5K for orthodontic work.

The principle in NZ is that the user pays: the tax payer should not have to subsidise the services that you use.

Ok for the well off but pretty hard for those on low incomes. NZ is not a good place to be poor in. But there are plenty of people here who have lots and lots of money so why should anyone want to come here to be poor? Doesn't make sense to me.

Re: Wage Differences
 

You can claim family assistance if you have PR & children, tho most seem not to for some reason
:confused:

Re: Wage Differences
 

I don't normally talk about money, and who's got what, but think I will here. At home we earn £33,000 between us - that's with hubby working full time and me working part time. Ignore family allowance and tax credits for the moment as that's what we use to pay towards holidays, days out etc. So, roughly, that's an equivalent of $82,500 coming into the house.

Looking at the job market and the skills we have, we're expecting to earn about $70,000, but have made an allowance for earning less. If we find we have to I can work full time as we don't need to pay for childcare.

At the moment we live in a three bed terrace with a manageable mortgage. Whatever happens with NZ, we know we definitely want to move out of the area we live in currently. This means a minimum increase on our mortgage of an extra £250 per month if we buy in the UK.

We won't be buying an expensive, huge house in NZ, we're expecting to pay about $250,000 for a house that needs some work doing to it, and we have the skills to do quite a bit of it ourselves. We will still have what we can't afford to have here - a decent house, with a good sized garden, off road parking, near good schools. We're lucky that we have a good deposit to put down on a house in NZ, we've researched and calculated that we will have a similar mortgage to the one we would have if we'd have upsized in the UK.

We're not being naive, we know we are going to have to cut back drastically on our living expenses, less booze (thank God we don't smoke), less food wastage, less takeaways and nights out, etc.

I think, and don't all shout at me, the people who will struggle on the move are the people who can earn a lot in the UK and are used to having disposable income. We don't, and have never had disposable income. We pay all our bills, just, and we have the occasional holiday. We own an X reg car, with no HP. We have no huge savings other than what we're bringing over from the sale of the house.

So yes, there will be shocks to the pocket, and some serious lifestyle changes having to be made, but we think it's going to be worth it, and even if we struggle mercilessly, we really believe we're doing the best for our kids long term. I really hope I don't get to eat my words later on, and once we're over there I will be as frank as possible and let you all know how we're finding it.

At the end of the day, we can all research and calculate as much as is humanly possible but nothing will prepare us for what it's going to be like. But for us, we have to try it. We'd rather have a couple of years of doubt and stress than a lifetime of regret.

We're going to give ourselves six month in the first instance, and see how it goes. Nobody is saying it's forever.

Re: Wage Differences
 

I think the quality of life issue, for our children especially, is our main reason for moving to NZ and reading some of the responses I’m beginning to wonder if we have the wrong idea about the place.

The problem we have with the school system in the UK is the highly competitive nature of our educational system. The concentration on league tables, constant testing and the emphasis on the academic subjects over the arts is not what we are expecting in NZ.

The rat race in the UK where we work long hours to save for a fortnight holiday in the summer, the latest car or a beautiful house is not very appealing to us. We no longer trust the food that’s available in our supermarkets, which is shipped in from all over the world and laced with preservatives. We have a government which declares war on anyone the Americans think ‘dangerous’, against the wishes of the population. We work until 60 – 65 years of age, only to be told our pensions are now worthless because of the aging population. A health system where we have to go on a waiting list for eighteen months to get hospital dental treatment and if our children are ill, the GP refuses to see them. These are just a few of the examples of our poor quality of life in the UK.

We are not expecting any sort of Utopia by moving to New Zealand but it would be nice if we could have a place with a bit of land to grow our own fruit & veg without having to get a mortgage for £500,00. It would also be nice if the kids could play out on their own and not be pressured into buying the latest trash that being advertised everywhere they look. Maybe I have a naïve view of NZ but I think some people are forgetting what its like in the UK at the moment.

I hope people will put me right if I’m expecting too much ;)

Re: Wage Differences
 

Hi Wanda, I wish you ever success in your move to NZ. In my view its very important to get a balanced view of life in NZ as it would be terrible to go over thinking its all going to be roses only to find that the roses also have thorns! :D The more realistic you are about your trip then the more chance you will have to make a success of it. That way you are not in for any surprises.

The only thing that worries me when I read on these forums that the UK is rip off Britain and everyone is moving for a better life is that, Britain is actually a great country and is very supportive of its people. I guess unless you have got away from the place many people cant see that. By all means emigrate for an adventure as it is exciting. But if you think that you life will be instantly brilliant then you will be in for a surprise. We can all make our lives great wherever we live by making changes, like turn off the TV and go out and do something. You don't need sun to do this. Its been over 80 degrees where I live for weeks and I dread going out! :D I guess all I'm saying is go for the right reasons and not because you think your country is bad, because you may be surprised that other countries have their problems too only many of us then don't have our families or a lifetime of friends around for support. :)

Re: Wage Differences
 

With ya there Wanda!

I must say though that many of the negative posters give much food for thought and certainly sober my giddy view of NZ as some kind of utopia. In all honesty I don't know what to expect but I know that our quality of life in the UK is being seriously eroded. I crave change and I want a better life for my kids. I don't see a very rosy future here in the UK. I don't see a very rosy future anywhere on the globe really, but I reckon life will be better in a sparsely populated NZ than it'll be in an overpopulated UK.

Regards.

Re: Wage Differences
 

Totally agree with you and Wanda. I hate the attitude I see so much of in Britain now - the compensation culture, the 'it's not my fault' outlook, and the light sentences offenders get. I have lived near and know so many people who will claim benefits all their life, rather than work. The majority of them are better off financially than we are. I hate being stopped in the street for 'any accidents or injuries over the past three years madam?'. I hate the disrespect for older people and the fact that teachers and doctors can't do their jobs effectively for fear of getting sued. I hate the fact that teenagers can roam the streets at all hours and intimidate people, that you can get burgled and then be arrested for hitting the burglar, that people are attacked and everyone is scared to help, or that a man was killed a few weeks ago by a gang of kids who were trying to take his car. I hate the fact that when somebody's child I know was sexually assaulted in a park the police weren't sure which of the 8 known sex offenders in the area to start with. I could go on and on, but suffice to say - compare your childhood to your children's childhoods, and then think about your grandchildren. What kind of life will they have here? And what about the fear of terrorism and war? Am I the only one to be concerned when my kids go on a bus to a city centre? Thought not.

The UK is not the worst place in the world, but it's far from the country it could be, and definitely on the way down in terms of quality of life.

Yes, NZ does have crime, and all those of us going over will have checked that out, but where doesn't? But undeniably, our children will be a little safer, their bodies and minds will be a little healthier, and their outlook, having been taken away from the culture that is growing in the UK, will be healthier.

Re: Wage Differences
 

Hi

Brilliant post...completely sums it all up!!

Laura