[shalamyna]

I have just got my residence visa and have been offered a job at $45.500
PA and we are not sure if this is enough to live on.
we are going to rent to start with until our capitol is transfered from the UK.
There are 2 adults and 2 children and we are going to rent in sumner on the south island just outside christchurch.
We are concerned that this is not going to be enough after taxs rent.
Could anyone please let us know if it is a wage we can live on.
The job also comes with a company car and we think that we will also incur fringe benefit tax.
After all of this is that a liveable wage.
Thanks....
Tony & Sue:confused:

[zardell]

Like many people have said in previous threads - what is enough for some is not for others........

$45k per annum seems to be the going rate for a trades person and if you were to transfer your funds over from the UK you would receive very favourable interest rates on it (7% ish before tax) and some people find that their interest actually pays their rent.

Have a look at Avalons Money Thread for a breakdown of costs of utilities...it will give you a good idea of how much they cost..............it all depends on your individual lifestyle.

Not much help I know, but there are many Kiwis that survive on less........

Julie

xx

[nippa&pippa]

My husband's wage is less than $42,000, we live in christchurch and there is 2 adult and 2 children of us..not easy but with very very careful budget, we managed so far...just waiting for our house in UK to be sold so we can buy house outright in NZ to free more money from paying rent. It is depend on what your budget and outgoing will be...are you prepare to limit what you can do to save money? As now my husband been working for 3months now, so hopefully we will get family benefit to bring in more money. Also if you earning low wages you can get community service card, this give you discount at doctors, chemist, leisure centre etc.
Other things for you to think about saving money, i did went to sumner to look for place to rent, we decide not to as will cost us lots of money on rent and petrol. We picked areas that it is not too far from my husband's job but still lovely areas, Burnside. Took him just 10mins to get to work compare 45mins from sumner....save lots on petrol :nice1
hth

[marcia]

As now my husband been working for 3months now, so hopefully we will get family benefit to bring in more money.

You don't have to wait 3 months to get family assistance - Apply for it straight away if you have PR!:yes

[ElizabethD]

We have been in NZ for 2 months now. Is 45,000 enough for a family of four? NO WAY. And from what I can tell $45,000 is a good wage for NZ. i honestly don't know how these people are going it....unless they carry a lot of debt. The only reason I'm okay is that I brought a considerable savings which I am burning through as we speak and hardly "living large" as they say.

You will be hit with charges at every turn--they don't tell you that when you read all the glossy materials they send. EVERYTHING costs more here--a lot more. In my opinion, in order for a family of four to eat healthy food (not $1 meat pies from Pak and Save, attend public schools, live in a decent area and not drive your car too often and NOT save for your retirement you need a minimum of $65,000 per year. Both parents have to work--there is no way around that.

I challenge someone to tell me this isn't so. For land's sake you get charged 25 cents to check the voice mail on your cell phone--you pay 49 cents a minute to use your cell phone. You are charged a dollar for putting a book on hold at the library. I'm sorry--this is my impression of New Zealand--everything is for sale.

I don't think I can make it here.....

[stu70]

We have been in NZ for 2 months now. Is 45,000 enough for a family of four? NO WAY. And from what I can tell $45,000 is a good wage for NZ. i honestly don't know how these people are going it....unless they carry a lot of debt. The only reason I'm okay is that I brought a considerable savings which I am burning through as we speak and hardly "living large" as they say.

You will be hit with charges at every turn--they don't tell you that when you read all the glossy materials they send. EVERYTHING costs more here--a lot more. In my opinion, in order for a family of four to eat healthy food (not $1 meat pies from Pak and Save, attend public schools, live in a decent area and not drive your car too often and NOT save for your retirement you need a minimum of $65,000 per year. Both parents have to work--there is no way around that.

I challenge someone to tell me this isn't so. For land's sake you get charged 25 cents to check the voice mail on your cell phone--you pay 49 cents a minute to use your cell phone. You are charged a dollar for putting a book on hold at the library. I'm sorry--this is my impression of New Zealand--everything is for sale.

I don't think I can make it here.....

I sympathize with you. Your candid comments will definitely serve as an eyeopener for all those wanting to move. It is best to budget for worst case scenario to avoid falling into financial hole. Great post. All the best to you and your family. Regards,

[K&CS]

The amount of capital you're bringing from the UK will also make a huge difference. Are you going to be the sole provider or is your OH going to be getting a job too?

I personally haven't found things to be more expensive than in the UK and, as you're local to me, I can point you in the right direction for the best places to shop etc.

Kate

[Hannah]

At $45000 you are looking at about $650 a week take home pay after tax deducted. Our rent is $310 at the moment, shopping about $300 - that gives you a good idea of how far $650 goes.

Just to follow up on the family assistance thing - i looked into this an apparently you have to be resident here for a year. Marcia, can you clarify? have you applied for family assistance? The FA website suggests this is not possible.....but i'd be interested to know if anyone out there has applied and got it before being resident for a year

[spudulike]

We have been in NZ for 2 months now. Is 45,000 enough for a family of four? NO WAY. And from what I can tell $45,000 is a good wage for NZ. i honestly don't know how these people are going it....unless they carry a lot of debt. The only reason I'm okay is that I brought a considerable savings which I am burning through as we speak and hardly "living large" as they say.

You will be hit with charges at every turn--they don't tell you that when you read all the glossy materials they send. EVERYTHING costs more here--a lot more. In my opinion, in order for a family of four to eat healthy food (not $1 meat pies from Pak and Save, attend public schools, live in a decent area and not drive your car too often and NOT save for your retirement you need a minimum of $65,000 per year. Both parents have to work--there is no way around that.

I challenge someone to tell me this isn't so. For land's sake you get charged 25 cents to check the voice mail on your cell phone--you pay 49 cents a minute to use your cell phone. You are charged a dollar for putting a book on hold at the library. I'm sorry--this is my impression of New Zealand--everything is for sale.

I don't think I can make it here.....

Agree 100000%!! We have been here a year (tomorrow) and are going back to the UK in May for precisely this reason.

Good luck with whatever you decide.



At $45000 you are looking at about $650 a week take home pay after tax deducted. Our rent is $310 at the moment, shopping about $300 - that gives you a good idea of how far $650 goes.

Just to follow up on the family assistance thing - i looked into this an apparently you have to be resident here for a year. Marcia, can you clarify? have you applied for family assistance? The FA website suggests this is not possible.....but i'd be interested to know if anyone out there has applied and got it before being resident for a year

Hannah, you can apply straight away. We thought it was a year too but thanks to ENZ who kindly offered his advice and worked out that we were entitled to it, I applied several months ago and was awarded it immediately.
We applied online and I just followed up with a phone call about a week later - it was really straightforward.

Good luck.

L

[marcia]

Just to follow up on the family assistance thing - i looked into this an apparently you have to be resident here for a year. Marcia, can you clarify? have you applied for family assistance? The FA website suggests this is not possible.....but i'd be interested to know if anyone out there has applied and got it before being resident for a year

We have only been here 3 months and we have been granted it - yes we have PR but still with section 18 condition on it too - filled the forms in sent them back no problems - they have now offered us a community card too!!! So the forms are currently in my 'processing' file to get all the copies of passports etc to complete that!

Apply straight away - it won't do any harm, they can only say no!:nice1

[nippa&pippa]

You don't have to wait 3 months to get family assistance - Apply for it straight away if you have PR!:yes

We had RV at first three months before section 18A lift and now got PR.

[nippa&pippa]

Funny.. a letter about our family assistance turn up today confirm we will get money :nice1 they have been paid into bank last week and we didn't notice it! oops!

[dean1968]

I don't want to be a killjoy. But what kiwi's tend to do is going overseas in particular 20-30 years old make the big money (saving) and then come back and buy their dream home, have kids and raise a family. They reckon stats suggest there is a gender imbalance in NZ with the fertility ages of at least 25 years and upwards with more NZ females to NZ males as the males are heading overseas in particular Aussie and England and come back usually with a foreign wife / girlfriend. Someone reckons that is why we have a lot of females running the country and in positions of power. The only thing left is their career.

I was talking to someone who was saying that have been involved with overseas recruiting drives in particular to get Brits to come here and work as policeman and correction officiers that run the prisons. Over half the Brits returned home and the figure was even higher I think 2/3 for corrections, if I remember correctly. The overwhelmingc complaints were the same, wages too low. They couldn't live on the wages. I think the starting salary for a NZ policeman is $45,000 which is a fairly typical wage for NZ . They thought they were coming to a tropical South Pacific Island paradise. The guy mention Brits living in Invercargill and the place was freezing cold. Its true. They feeel the full force of the Southern Antarctic weather / gales down there. It is a cold and dreary place. They were misled in the recruiting drive program thinking every Kiwi family had a swimming pool. This is the information he told me. I might have my facts wrong but Someone got their facts wrong. Some people think NZ is still part of Australia. Originally NZ was part of NEw South Wakles in the 1860's The cold hard realities sunk in that they were not living the dream that had been waved with a magic wand in front of them.

The reason why there is a shortage of policeman nd corrections offficers here in NZ is that our Kiwi policeman and corrections officers that work in NZ are heading to Australia and living the dream that the Brits were told about. Aussie wages are very high, warmer climate and a lot of familiies tend to have a swimming pool which you can swim all year round. I was just talking to my friend in Aussie and he reckon a female waitress working in a restaurant earns $25 Aussie dollars an hour. He was an highly educated engineer here in NZ earning around $60,000 plus overtime and he thinks he is living day to day. Not enough in wages. HE said the waitress earn more money than him and he is a skilled engineer when he worked in NZ. Also Australia is very unionised which is a workers paradise. They get well paid in overtime etc. work standard 7.5 hours a day. In places like Perth (here is a lot of Brits there -a strong community) there is no Saturday and Sunday trading. It is against the law to be open on those days and it is considered a family day.

The reason why I mentioning this trivial stuff. We use to have all this probably 15-20 years ago. That is all gone. We never had Saturday or Sunday trading either. Overtime was 2-3 times the normal wage. Today it would be a day in lieu or 1.5x the normal hourly wage if you are lucky. They now want people to work on Easter and Christmas holidays. There is nothing sacred left. Someone mentioned earlier on this forum about Kiwis not having enough time for families, having to work longer hours.

In Australia every family gets a medical card and 80 percent of Medical costs which inculdes prescriptions and doctors fees is paid by the government plus there taxes are lower than NZ. On top of that they thrown in $15,000 for first home buyers. We can't compete. It is a lot tougher to gain residence in Australia. New migrants used NZ as a backdoor to get into Aussie.

What I am saying to you potential migrants who have no ties or roots in NZ and that are losinghope. There is still hope. Just across the ditch is Australia if you find NZ is not living up to your expectations. Belive me there are a lot of Kiwi's in Australia and the Kiwis have a good reputation. The Aussies think Kiwi's are great workers.

[willsken]

We have only been here 3 months and we have been granted it - yes we have PR but still with section 18 condition on it too - filled the forms in sent them back no problems - they have now offered us a community card too!!! So the forms are currently in my 'processing' file to get all the copies of passports etc to complete that!

Apply straight away - it won't do any harm, they can only say no!:nice1

I'm being lazy. :o Where do I download the forms from?

[JCM]

Dean1968, there are so many factual inaccuracies in what you've written, I feel I have to comment. I hardly know where to begin but I'll be brief:

Starting salaries for the police force in NZ is around $50,000 pa, not $45,000.
Reference: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0612/S00307.htm

In Perth shops do open on Saturdays and Sundays, contrary your "In places like Perth there is no Saturday and Sunday trading."
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hours

Australia gives $7,000 to first time buyers, not the $15,000 you claimed. (In most Australian states they take more than that back in stamp duty on both the house and the mortgage - absent in New Zealand.)
Reference:http://www.firsthome.gov.au/

In the working age group, there are in fact more males than females in New Zealand not the other way round, as you suggest:
Reference: https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/nz.html

These are just a very few examples and I could go on, and on, and on, but most of what you've written is, in my opinion, either incorrect or a significant exaggeration.

[wiki]

as the males are heading overseas in particular Aussie and England and come back usually with a foreign wife / girlfriend.

And a lot of us females who headed off to England and Aussie have come back with foreign partners too - I can think of at least 12 good friends who didn't marry Kiwi boys and my circle of friends isn't that big.

Don't you worry - there are PLENTY left in the pot


The guy mention Brits living in Invercargill and the place was freezing cold. Its true. They feeel the full force of the Southern Antarctic weather / gales down there. It is a cold and dreary place.

That's a matter of opinion. (and a myth we perpetuate to keep the place special and discretionery :laugh )

Yes Invercargill does get Antarctic blasts - but not every darn day. And if ANYONE was coming to NZ on a job and hadn't done the basic research to look at the annual temperatures across the country then they deserve all they get. I know a lot of people who find Invercargill not remotely dreary!

And to be honest, if future-NZ cops were going to go in without any groundwork of their own then they're not the sort of people I want to have policing me!



Some people think NZ is still part of Australia. Originally NZ was part of NEw South Wakles in the 1860's

No it wasn't - NZ was never part of New South Wales.
It has been a colony with seperate administration since 1941 and was administered in part from Australia for about eight months after the treaty was signed at Waitangi purely for practical reasons. NZ was never included in the Australian land charter, nor were its people considered Australian colonial subjects.


Belive me there are a lot of Kiwi's in Australia and the Kiwis have a good reputation. The Aussies think Kiwi's are great workers.

And that's just too funny to respond to!

[veronica]

It may sound strange but having lived over there for 2.5 years and visiting the UK I find I have got used to the NZ way of doing things, here I find there is a lot of waste for want of a better term. I don't bother buying prepared meals anymore, I find the heating in the house is slightly hotter thanI have got used to and people are more inclined to just up the thermostat rather than put a jumper on, drive to the corner shop and bits like that.

On the other hand food is cheap in the supermarkets although do have to watch that its actually cheap and not just the numbers used in the price seem low. So I do agree NZ has got to look to itself and sort a lot of stuff out, starting with higher wages.

Then of course we can look at property. now here in the south east that is really scary. When a young couple with uni loans to pay off and a combined income of over £50k can't save for a deposit or buy a house, when 3 way mortgages are becoming commonplace cos a couple can't buy on their own, when rent for one in a room in a shared house is £100 a week plus utilities that offsets a lot of other things. when you have to queue to get out of the supermarket car park for about 10-15 minutes, when everybody seems to be in such a rush. these are the sort of things that I am noticing while at home here for a couple of weeks.
each of us spends money dfferently and while I haven't ever been a particularly lavish consumer I have changed the way I shop in NZ. As to the library charges, I remember that they were quite steep here in the UK when we lived here. Its very important to weigh up what you want., standard of living or quality of life, and I do realise that for some people its hard to have quality of life while worrying about money. having lived in both places, at the moment I am reasonably content to carry on calling NZ home.

[Singel]

I'm being lazy. :o Where do I download the forms from?
I think this is what you are looking for ............ http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/file/eb6f060d5192f03/fs1-2007.pdf

Family assistance entitlement : http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/file/eb1d730505d4695/fam2007.pdf

Info about family assistance : http://www.ird.govt.nz/familyassistance/intro/whatis/
:cheers

[willsken]

Dean1968, there are so many factual inaccuracies in what you've written, I feel I have to comment. I hardly know where to begin but I'll be brief:

Starting salaries for the police force in NZ is around $50,000 pa, not $45,000.
Reference: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0612/S00307.htm

In Perth shops do open on Saturdays and Sundays, contrary your "In places like Perth there is no Saturday and Sunday trading."
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hours

Australia gives $7,000 to first time buyers, not the $15,000 you claimed. (In most Australian states they take more than that back in stamp duty on both the house and the mortgage - absent in New Zealand.)
Reference:http://www.firsthome.gov.au/

In the working age group, there are in fact more males than females in New Zealand not the other way round, as you suggest:
Reference: https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/nz.html

These are just a very few examples and I could go on, and on, and on, but most of what you've written is, in my opinion, either incorrect or a significant exaggeration.

When I was reading the post a lot of what was said didn't ring true. I was going to respond but it was so forcefully written and I didn't have the facts on hand to back up my feelings. Glad someone did.

[willsken]

I think this is what you are looking for ............ http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/file/eb6f060d5192f03/fs1-2007.pdf

Family assistance entitlement : http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/file/eb1d730505d4695/fam2007.pdf

Info about family assistance : http://www.ird.govt.nz/familyassistance/intro/whatis/
:cheers

:clap :clap Thank you so much!:D

[jailhouse]

I don't want to be a killjoy. But what kiwi's tend to do is going overseas in particular 20-30 years old make the big money (saving) and then come back and buy their dream home, have kids and raise a family. They reckon stats suggest there is a gender imbalance in NZ with the fertility ages of at least 25 years and upwards with more NZ females to NZ males as the males are heading overseas in particular Aussie and England and come back usually with a foreign wife / girlfriend. Someone reckons that is why we have a lot of females running the country and in positions of power. The only thing left is their career.

I was talking to someone who was saying that have been involved with overseas recruiting drives in particular to get Brits to come here and work as policeman and correction officiers that run the prisons. Over half the Brits returned home and the figure was even higher I think 2/3 for corrections, if I remember correctly. The overwhelmingc complaints were the same, wages too low. They couldn't live on the wages. I think the starting salary for a NZ policeman is $45,000 which is a fairly typical wage for NZ . They thought they were coming to a tropical South Pacific Island paradise. The guy mention Brits living in Invercargill and the place was freezing cold. Its true. They feeel the full force of the Southern Antarctic weather / gales down there. It is a cold and dreary place. They were misled in the recruiting drive program thinking every Kiwi family had a swimming pool. This is the information he told me. I might have my facts wrong but Someone got their facts wrong. Some people think NZ is still part of Australia. Originally NZ was part of NEw South Wakles in the 1860's The cold hard realities sunk in that they were not living the dream that had been waved with a magic wand in front of them.

The reason why there is a shortage of policeman nd corrections offficers here in NZ is that our Kiwi policeman and corrections officers that work in NZ are heading to Australia and living the dream that the Brits were told about. Aussie wages are very high, warmer climate and a lot of familiies tend to have a swimming pool which you can swim all year round. I was just talking to my friend in Aussie and he reckon a female waitress working in a restaurant earns $25 Aussie dollars an hour. He was an highly educated engineer here in NZ earning around $60,000 plus overtime and he thinks he is living day to day. Not enough in wages. HE said the waitress earn more money than him and he is a skilled engineer when he worked in NZ. Also Australia is very unionised which is a workers paradise. They get well paid in overtime etc. work standard 7.5 hours a day. In places like Perth (here is a lot of Brits there -a strong community) there is no Saturday and Sunday trading. It is against the law to be open on those days and it is considered a family day.

The reason why I mentioning this trivial stuff. We use to have all this probably 15-20 years ago. That is all gone. We never had Saturday or Sunday trading either. Overtime was 2-3 times the normal wage. Today it would be a day in lieu or 1.5x the normal hourly wage if you are lucky. They now want people to work on Easter and Christmas holidays. There is nothing sacred left. Someone mentioned earlier on this forum about Kiwis not having enough time for families, having to work longer hours.

In Australia every family gets a medical card and 80 percent of Medical costs which inculdes prescriptions and doctors fees is paid by the government plus there taxes are lower than NZ. On top of that they thrown in $15,000 for first home buyers. We can't compete. It is a lot tougher to gain residence in Australia. New migrants used NZ as a backdoor to get into Aussie.

What I am saying to you potential migrants who have no ties or roots in NZ and that are losinghope. There is still hope. Just across the ditch is Australia if you find NZ is not living up to your expectations. Belive me there are a lot of Kiwi's in Australia and the Kiwis have a good reputation. The Aussies think Kiwi's are great workers.

Police Wages - $45K NZ Start
http://www.police.govt.nz/recruiting/role.benefits.html

Mortgage Grant - Increased to £14K Aus
http://www.abelrealty.com.au/news/FHOG6.htm

Hope this may add a bit of clarity.

jh

[ruthyroo]

Returning to the OP's question...

$45,000 is right on the borderline IMHO. I agree with Elizabeth's post that $65,000 is far more liveable for a family of 4 and that you may struggle on $45,000 unless you are willing to make some changes to your lifestyle...

$45,000 is pretty close to the average income in NZ - so yes there are lots of families here who live on that, or less. But they do it by living the kiwi way: they shop at Pak n Save and eat a lot of mince and sausages and Basics products, they budget very very carefully, they rarely buy clothes and they make good use of op shops, they very rarely go to the cinema / eat out / theatre, they holiday in NZ either at the family bach (free) or camping (cheap), they drink wine from a box rather than a bottle, they drive older cars.

We have been living on around $47,000 for the past year or so, and there are two of us (no kids), living in the SI. With careful budgeting we can afford to eat well, pay our rent, pay our power / phone bills, pay our various car costs (petrol, WOF, rego), pay our insurance. We plan all our meals and shop strictly to a list. We can usually afford a couple of bottles of wine a week, and we go out for breakfast once a month. What we can't do off that salary is have holidays or save for the future. No savings. At all. And we tend not to do anything leisure-wise that invovles spending money (which is easy to do in NZ - probably because people can't afford it other than tourists!). We kayak (bought in richer times), we camp, we walk a lot.

To sum up: IMHO yes you could survive on $45,000 but it won't be easy. Most kiwi families have two working parents - bringing in two salaries makes a huge difference (We had a joint income of around $110,000 when we first came to NZ and wow life was good fun!!!).

Of course if you bring enough capital to buy a house outright and have no mortgage then you will be sweet, no worries, she'll be right!

[incredible hulse]

Personally, I would be in the no camp - 45k (even with no mortgage). I would equate that to about 15-18k sterling in living terms

[Moorf]

If you have little or no mortgage, live frugally, don't intend going back and forth to the UK and budget well living in an inexpensive area of New Zealand you could do it.

Kiwi's are used to the way they live and they do manage to do a lot with what they have, they are more resourceful and more willing to make do (even those with lots of $$). Some would Kiwi's would quite like $45k for their family income and have good life out of it, but being realistic it's harder for immigrants to maintain the lifestyles they've been accustomed to on that sort of money - I'm talking average UK lifestyles, nothing ott. Just my observations after 2.5yrs.

[Radders]

Hi, we are living on a similar amount 2 adults , 1 kid. Renting at mo. Its not easy, but I know people on a lot less. Our rent is almost half of my take home pay, but we save in other ways (I bike to work), the beach is a block away - lots of free fun, and free food. I'm not particularly good at saving money, but we seem to manage ok. But really consider what you can live with and without, and when you have your list halve your what you can live with pile and you'll be in the right ball park.

[westi]

On a wage of $45000 - take home : $678 - you would get around $158 a week tax credit which would give you around $836 a week in total ( going by their Working for families calculator )

My OH was on $45000 when we moved to Auckland 6 years ago and we really struggled untill I got a part time job. Unexpected costs seemed to crop up every where ,plus things we weren't used to paying like bank charges. They ate into a lot of the money we had put aside for a house deposit plus the kids insisted on keeping on growing out of their shoes. It doesn't help with the settling in period when you're worrying about money either.

We're living in the SI now, quite near Sumner - which is one the pricier areas of ChCh - We haven't found the cost of food etc. any cheaper than the NI but rents are a bit lower - you could probably rent for $350 - $400 a week. You would have to decide if you could comfortably live on the remainder.

[nickydwuk]

This thread has worried me a little. I knew the wages were about $45000 but as we plan to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage ($100 a week) I had worked out we could manage on my wage alone (with OH, 2 kids & 4 dogs) and live in a similar way to UK. If this is not possible we may have to rethink our plans which would be absolutely awful as I really want to make to the move. I suppose I could send OH to work :laugh

[Lupin]

We're living on less than $47k atm (just) and it is really very tight. We have to pay rent and will have a full mortgage. We are running two cars and eating healthy (and some not so healthy) food. We have not yet had to buy clothes but we're managing. We anticipate our income improving in the not too distant future so can manage. We couldn't afford sky or to fly back to the UK etc on this though. HTH

[mish&al]

As a lifelong (but well travelled) Sydneysider, not all is rosy in sunny Australia.

Yes, we do have higher wages, but we need them for the extravagant housing costs.

The $7000 first homebuyers grant is great, but has only been in for a few years. When I purchased my first home in 1994, it was means tested.

To buy an older style home that may be closed to the CBD, you would be looking at least $800,000 and that would be for a 3 bedder. Most suburbs are at least 30 minutes by public transport from the cbd. If you are thinking Bondi or one of these well known suburbs-forget it! Half a mil would probably get you a 2 bedroom unit. And we have stamp duty-most people who buy a home (the median Sydney house price is $530,000), would have at least $20-30,000 of costs on top of this.

This is why most people live out west or south west of the city-at least one hours drive on our clogged motorways (which we pay tolls for), and don't even mention the public transport.

The suburban sprawl is large-driving for two hours will barely get you across the Blue mountains!

Sydney sounds like nz where it has its benefits and downsides, but believe me it aint no paradise here either, the latest research shows that a family in
Sydney needs at least $100,000 to live on comfortably!

Melbourne is closely followed, and then the other capitals become cheaper progessively.

And I don't know many people with a pool-except a blow up one..:)

[Lupin]

Personally, I would be in the no camp - 45k (even with no mortgage). I would equate that to about 15-18k sterling in living terms

Your response neatly illustrates that it is all so relative. $45 with NO mortgage would be a dream for many Kiwi's so I don't understand how you can imagine that wouldn't give a good quality of life in NZ :confused:

[mish&al]

$45k is good with no mortgage-anywhere is good with no mortgage!

And the blow up pool is mine....:yes

[incredible hulse]

Your response neatly illustrates that it is all so relative. $45 with NO mortgage would be a dream for many Kiwi's so I don't understand how you can imagine that wouldn't give a good quality of life in NZ :confused:
I guess everyone's different but I know that for a family of 4 our living expenses excluding mortgage payments are about 3k per month. That excludes any savings, holidays, big purchases, cars, etc and the kids aren't going through school yet with the associated costs in NZ of that. I'm 30 years of retiring so pensions/investments have to be thought of also. I didn't personally come halfway round the world to not have the money to enjoy it and I think on those figures that's what I would have to do - fair play to kiwis if they can live on that but I couldn't

[Marco]

Hi,
We just started budgeting when noticing we had trouble making both ends meet - but that's mainly because we have a huge mortgage.

To give you an idea what we spend: about $3500 (excl mortgage) per month for the two of us - living in Wellington. But not living a very exhorbitant life. It must be very clear that I would not be able to live on 45K per year with a family - even without a mortgage. And I already try to do things more the Kiwi-way, but it will possibly take a bit longer to really adapt, if I ever manage.

Cheers,
Anita

[willsken]

The last 2 posts said $3000/$3500 pm exc mortgage. Wow! Could you be more precise on what this pays for? So far we don't spend anything like that... am I missing something? That really seems like a scary amount to spend on living costs. :exit

[incredible hulse]

The last 2 posts said $3000/$3500 pm exc mortgage. Wow! Could you be more precise on what this pays for? So far we don't spend anything like that... am I missing something? That really seems like a scary amount to spend on living costs. :exit

Main things from my last month's expenses (total excl mortage 3200). I've excluded rates (341 for 3 months, Kindy 75 per term, and wheelie bins (no idea) but hopefully give a good idea. I agree it is scary ...:

Broadband, Mobiles, Phones: 165
Elec + Gas : 178
Food : 960
Lunch, Coffees : 96
Pub : 45
Takeaways, eat out : 180
Sky : 62
Petrol (2 cars + ride-on): 176
Train, Parking : 226
Chemist + 1 doctors visit: 19
Cash : 160
Nappies : 110
Kids Swimming classes (10 wks) : 131
Golf : 10
Postage, letters, birthdays : 48
Kids toys : 55
Photo development : 10
Portable TV : 120
DIY, tools, kitchen goods : 280
Kids show : 20

[incredible hulse]

Just an indication also - taken a look at October and November's (only 2 other months I have) gas and electric costs and these were 526 and 368 respectively. Hopefull this winter won't be so bad as have binned Contact although the prices have risen twice since then I think

[willsken]

Thanks. I need to look at my spending as you don't seem over the top with things at all. I don't have the same bills as you in the transport cost (I spend $20 every couple of weeks on petrol and no other cost to get around) and mine are past the nappy stage (but expensive all the same!) It's easy to spend a lot. The electric bills are something we haven't had in a winter yet so I think I'm in for quite a shock! :yes

[Marco]

Okay - here a bit of an overview of average cost per month for two adults in Wellington :
Council rates $200
Maintenance house/garden $500
Insurances, incl life/pension $370
Electricity $150
Phone/mobiles $100
Car incl insurance, reg,petrol $110 (don't use care daily)
Transport to work $80
Food incl lunches $800
Clothes e.d. $75
Entertainment/going out $300
Medical cost $100
Hairdresser etc. $100
Study costs $200
Holiday $150

Hopefully this is a bit useful.
Cheers,
Anita

[Singel]

This is what we spend on our disposable income of $3500 (excl mortgage) : average costs per month for 2 adults in Auckland

Council rates $150
Gas/Elec/Water $210
Broadband/Phone $110
Health/House/Content/Car Insurance $320
Petrol/Wof/Road Tax/AA $265
Food incl. eating out $600
House/Garden maint. $150
Entertainment $180
Clothes/Medical/Holiday $250

The balance of the monies are put in savings as contingency/emergency fund (in case we need to fly back to Europe for family matters, upgrade computer, replace electricals/furnitures)

[richard]

I have just totalled up our household bills for the last 12 months then divided by 12 and our total monthly bills are around $3600. That is for 2 adults and 2 children and doesn't include mortgage payments or anything particularly extravagant.

[nippa&pippa]

I am shocked to see other people have spent alot as our is under $3000 months inc rent at $300 per week to pay....We got two adults and two children with third on the way....
Budget came easier with us as been there in UK...
$110 on nappies :o wow! as our nappies is just $20 to pay for my son's bedtime pants whereas our daughter use cloth nappies :nice1
For takeaway and eat out, very rare....

[Trigirl]

I’m not quite sure what you are trying to say there when you say you are shocked. Are you shocked that people choose to spend their money on different things than you?

[Moorf]

I was shocked too until I added ours up :uhoh

[nippa&pippa]

I’m not quite sure what you are trying to say there when you say you are shocked. Are you shocked that people choose to spend their money on different things than you?

We have been careful budget but we were aware there will be extra to pay when our children get older....there is lots of outgoing that we currently don't use..but then we rarely eat out etc.
One things my OH is not happy with...risk of losing child tax credit stopping him to do overtimes to bring in more money, catch 22 :mad: .

[incredible hulse]

I am shocked to see other people have spent alot as our is under $3000 months inc rent at $300 per week to pay....We got two adults and two children with third on the way....
Budget came easier with us as been there in UK...
$110 on nappies :o wow! as our nappies is just $20 to pay for my son's bedtime pants whereas our daughter use cloth nappies :nice1
For takeaway and eat out, very rare....
110 would have been nappies for 2 kids and would be internet order - would last probably 6/7 weeks. We have tried the cheaper options on nappies but they just weren't up to the job - and with the price of electric over here it was probably a false economy with having the washing machine on all that extra to clean the beds :laugh .Believe me I'm shocked and I've no doubt we could get our expenditure down to closer to 2k per month; drop the sky, bottles of wine, 2 takeaways and eating out a couple of times a month, occasional visits to the pub and occasional work coffees, but to be honest we've rained in our lifestyle to get to the current spending levels and if we had to anymore I would be seriously questioning the merits of moving halfway round the world to do so.

[Carol]

I have just met a lovely mum at my daughter's school who came out here in December - and are heading straight back home to the UK - purely and simply because there is no way they can survive on $45k with 3 young kids at school, and renting in a not exactly affluent area.

She doesn't want to go - but feels she has no options and has put it down to a very expensive life experience.

She has tried working herself - but found the childcare too expensive to justify it. So she is currently working nights at a supermarket to make ends meet.

Quite sad. She is a lovely person
But I can perfectly understand her decision to go home...

Why would you live in such difficult circumstances?

[stu70]

Why would you live in such difficult circumstances?
Agree 100%

[Trigirl]

i would totally understand her decision as you say why would anyone decide to live like that.

but i always wonder in these circumstances - especially when people come for such a short time - just what was it that they didn't already know? low wages and relatively high cost of living isn't exactly a secret? there's lots of info on costs of housing, bills, travel etc out there.

[nippa&pippa]

Why would you live in such difficult circumstances?

I wasn't called it difficult circumstances, but what we doing now is same as what we doing in UK anyway .....:o
I have always used cloths nappies since first baby....brought it with me, cost nothing me for second and third baby...
I suppose I was like this since university that you learn to look out for the money control. Like instead buying toys, use toy library, cheap and kids get different toys each time, use library, free and kids get different books etc..got community service card to bring cost down etc.

Once our house sold (hopefully next week;) ) and buy house in NZ, the finance will be easier for us with no rent and hopefully no mortgage but will be have rate to pay.

For outing...children is young...and we aim at something suit children that are free or cost less, like we regularly go swimming, cost $4 each time, cheap! With food allergies in our family, it is easy to not to go out for dinner or have takeaway anyway as it is already nightmare to explain....

We have no TV, so no need for Sky and my OH and I have already notice the benefit of not having TV that we got more time to talk to each other and doing catch up with hobbies from UK that we never had times to do it etc. Phone bills, easy for me as I can't hear phone and my OH rarely use phone :nice1 so it is down to families call us if they want, otherwise we communicate by emails and letters.

It is our choice of lifestyles and I do respect other people's choice of lifestyles too.

My OH and I agreed that there is no way we go back to UK. If we ever want to move out of NZ, we will look into move to other countries rather than UK unless there is circumstances is out of our control like our children's allergies etc that they might be better off to be in UK.

[spudulike]

i would totally understand her decision as you say why would anyone decide to live like that.

but i always wonder in these circumstances - especially when people come for such a short time - just what was it that they didn't already know? low wages and relatively high cost of living isn't exactly a secret? there's lots of info on costs of housing, bills, travel etc out there.

I completely understand your point - and only 3 months is indeed a short time. However, we knew the finances would be tight and researched as much as possible before coming here but I really don't think that any amount of research can fully prepare you for the reality of living with such a budget especially when you are unable to afford to do very basic things such as putting decent clothing on your children. I'm afraid I just can't bring myself to buy my children's clothes from the op shop or similar which is what so many Kiwi's do - perhaps I'm just more materialistic that I originally thought!

I just know that from our personal circumstances I can completely agree with Carol's friend in that I'll be sad to leave NZ as I love it here, and it has been a hugely expensive 'experience' but we just can't bring ourselves to compromise our entire lifestyle to live here - to me that would be an existance and not a life. I know many people that can and almost envy them - almost!!! :laugh

What I do notice is many of the people who post saying they are not materialistic and want a simple lifestyle are the ones with enough money to buy land/build a house/have a small or no mortgage - would they perhaps have stayed in the UK if they could have done that?? It's very easy not to be materialistic when you have money.... That is not meant as a criticism, just an observation and good on them for being in such a situation. Just trying to say that life sucks when you struggle financially and sometimes a hard decision must be made in order to ease the burden (for those with enough to buy outright coming to NZ does that and for those unable to do so, well they need to live where they can earn more).

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a ramble :roll

L

[wilson182]

Good points from everyone.....

We for one did not come with a huge sum of money and certainly not enough to get anywhere near enough to buy outright. Just enough to buy our cars and a deposit for our house. I need to work, but I would have had to in the UK also - I also knew I would have to work over here. Our standard of living over here is far better than the standard of living in the UK. I just dont feel that we have had to compromise anything to have this. It worries me sometimes that things can be looked at in black and white - If you have a good sum of money and can be mortgage free you will be ok if you dont have a good sum of money you wont. It depends on so many other things, and their are some of us who fall in the middle.

This is not meant as a dig at anybody, just my little 10cents:)

[spudulike]

I didn't mean to cause offence nor did I say it was black and white, and did actually try to point out that there are those who live happily without lots of money and making compromises. Just that I couldn't make quite so many compromises....

I simply said that some of the people who say they are not materialistic are the same ones who are mortgage free or have a very small mortgage - and I am aware they have worked very hard to be in such a position and said it was not a crticism. I do think it is much easier to not be materialistic when you have enough money though :laugh I am aware of the fact there are many in people who fall in between who are happy/unhappy despite their finances. I certainly wasn't picking on anybody or singling anyone out.

Sorry for the confusion!

[zardell]

I just know that from our personal circumstances I can completely agree with Carol's friend in that I'll be sad to leave NZ as I love it here, and it has been a hugely expensive 'experience' but we just can't bring ourselves to compromise our entire lifestyle to live here - to me that would be an existance and not a life.L



Completely agree.

I believe that in one way or another we all came to NZ for a better life and if finances are turning that life into an existence then hard decisions have to be made.

I also think that we British are very fortunate to be able to go back to a country that will financially support us should we be in great need, however, I wonder how we would feel if our only options were to be skint and safe in NZ or more financially secure but living in fear in our country of origin? (I'm thinking of our S.African forumites)

Just a thought that's all..............

Julie

xx

[wilson182]

:) I wasnt offended Louise and I do understand the point you are making. I didnt mean to just single you out either:o I was just trying to put across another perspective, (and not making a very good job of it)

[spudulike]

:) I wasnt offended Louise and I do understand the point you are making. I didnt mean to just single you out either:o I was just trying to put across another perspective, (and not making a very good job of it)

No problem - I find it hard sometimes to write on here as often the tone of my post doesn't reflect it's meaning no matter how many times I rewrite it!! Sorry for the confusion :o

[Trigirl]

i completely agree louise. i don't know what its like to have to live without the basics (at least i dont anymore - though i've certainly been there) and i certainly wouldn't claim to be not materialistic. we have chosen by coming here to have a less materialistic and simpler lifestyle than our uk one. but also we've chosen not to have children which does free up our finances somewhat to allow us to choose other things.

funnily enough though i was thinking about you as i made the post and it was why i particularly added the thing about the time. people can and do budget well, then come over here and realise that they just can't live long term the way they expected or wanted to. i just think that if you basically decide that the minute you get off the plane then you could probably have decided it before getting on the plane!

[Carol]

i would totally understand her decision as you say why would anyone decide to live like that.

but i always wonder in these circumstances - especially when people come for such a short time - just what was it that they didn't already know? low wages and relatively high cost of living isn't exactly a secret? there's lots of info on costs of housing, bills, travel etc out there.


And I think that she would be the first to admit - that they simply didnt research enough.

A valuable lesson to be learnt by ANYONE out there contemplating a move to the other side of the world.

I hate to sound like my mother LOL .... but..."in my day" - i.e. when we emigrated 11 years ago - we actually didnt have ANY internet facilities at all.
It just amazes me - that this lady hadnt even discovered this forum - I consider it an absolute mine of information.
Both positive AND negative incidentally - before that debate starts up again.

It is certainly something I wish WE had had when we came to live here.
And email too. I was so incredibly homesick - the first year we were here - my phone bills were $400+ a MONTH - and that was 11 years ago!

You guys are so lucky.

Also - don't you find the shift in technology mind blowing in the space of 11 years?

[Carol]

Something I have just remembered....

When we came (sound like my mother again!!)
We had PR before we got here.
Hubby had a job offer with a bank

And we simply had no idea - that when we went to the SAME bank he was working for - to get a mortgage - we would be turned down - because at $50,000 (what he was earning at that point) we were told we weren't earning enough money for a 150k mortgage.



We actually sat with our mouths open in amazement.



No wonder I ended up with depression!

[incredible hulse]

i would totally understand her decision as you say why would anyone decide to live like that.

but i always wonder in these circumstances - especially when people come for such a short time - just what was it that they didn't already know? low wages and relatively high cost of living isn't exactly a secret? there's lots of info on costs of housing, bills, travel etc out there.

There is lots of info but I don't think you can get a full feel for a place without living there. Ideally a visit prior would help - although with kids, holiday quotas, work, costs, etc that is not always feasible - but I do not think that still gives you an idea fully. I had done plenty of research before coming here and had an understanding that cost of living was high but some of the things that surprised me were :
- cost of housing : You can do as much internet research as you like but you cannot get a feel for an area, house layout, etc. We personally thought we could get a house that ticked all the boxes for us for about 250K less than we ended up paying. This was mainly down to the fact that we didn't want to live on a slope, wanted a decent sized garden for the kids, didn't want to be overlooked too much and a few other things and the internet can't help there.
- cost of travel : Until you get a place you obviously don't know how much you're going to have to pay. Train travel is a similar cost to the UK imo.
- cost of food : Again you can research this to some extent but seasonal variations in costs is high and cannot always be accounted for.
- costs of heating : wow. Until you get a winter power bill you're not prepared for the shock. :laugh
- insurance costs : again depending on what/where you buy/drive. Must admit was shocked how expensive this was as I had read that it was cheap.

Things like white goods, electrical goods, etc can be found in advance so you can get an idea that these are high compared to incomings.

So yes, you can prepare to some extent but time constraints as well as some of the unknowns can often catch you out. I personally have been surprised slightly that the salary in/costs out ratio is as unsavoury as much as I'm experiencing but I was prepared that moving to NZ was not going to have financial rewards for me compared to the UK. I had hoped the lifestyle improvements would make up for that but must say the jury's still out for me on that one just yet.

[zardell]

I personally have been surprised slightly that the salary in/costs out ratio is as unsavoury as much as I'm experiencing but I was prepared that moving to NZ was not going to have financial rewards for me compared to the UK. I had hoped the lifestyle improvements would make up for that but must say the jury's still out for me on that one just yet.



Excellent post and I can particularly relate to the above paragraph.

Julie

xx

[Trigirl]

incredible hulse - i'm not saying you'd know every penny you were going to spend and actually i agree with most of what you said. cough choke splutter at the cost of train travel being the same as the uk though! you obviously didn't live/work in london!

travel costs have been one of the big savings for us. our monthly train tickets used to cost £350 each. now the absolute most we would have to pay would be $95 each for a monthly ticket for the bus. obviously thats not comparable though as we are much closer into town. but i see you are out in paraparaumu - that would be about the same distance from welly as we were from london in the uk. yet a monthly ticket from there is only $216 - less than a quarter of the price we paid to travel into the uk's capital.

but as i said - overall i agree with pretty much everything you said. we've also found it slightly financially harder than expected and it would be very hard to get it exactly right. but some people still seem to come over with no clue at all having done no research and with no concept of likely wages, housing, cost of living etc

[incredible hulse]

cough choke splutter at the cost of train travel being the same as the uk though! you obviously didn't live/work in london!

travel costs have been one of the big savings for us. our monthly train tickets used to cost £350 each. now the absolute most we would have to pay would be $95 each for a monthly ticket for the bus. obviously thats not comparable though as we are much closer into town. but i see you are out in paraparaumu - that would be about the same distance from welly as we were from london in the uk. yet a monthly ticket from there is only $216 - less than a quarter of the price we paid to travel into the uk's capital.

Sorry was comparing like for like. Used to live in Surrey and commuted into London for 5 years. Train Dorking to London (including all tube zones) was 180 quid (as they never met their targets! ) and took 50 mins. I think you could get cheaper if no tube included. 216 dollars from Pram and same distance. That for me in real terms is about same amount as my UK salary wasn't tripled (unfortunately :laugh ). I take it you were on Thameslink at those prices ?

[Trigirl]

no not thameslink thankfully - wagn (now "first capital connect") out to the hertfordshire/bedfordshire borders. i'm astonished dorking was so much cheaper - although i guess its only just over half the distance we were travelling so maybe its fair enough.

i do find it interesting though what different things people find expensive compared to others.

[Moorf]

£3655 - ingrained on my mind, the amount I used to pay for an annual ticket from Brighton to London, but could not be guaranteed a seat....

I think what stumped us initially was that we didn't know the areas as well as we thought we did, we had never been here before we made the big move, and there is only so much you "imagine" from facts - so we were looking at houses on the net from the UK and thinking ooohh, that's nice, and ooh that's cheap and when we got here the cheap ones were cheap for a reason and we had to raise our house budget slightly. I mean by $100k or so, not $250, that would have proved a real prob! I don't think we appreciated that there would be such run-down areas, that hadn't figured in our perception of Chch ;)

Sorry, rambling....

[jubjub]

Its all down to circumstances/rentor mortgage/personal preferences.

On 45K we would not be here,we could not survive, we struggled as a couple on 58 and that was before our baby & the mortgage.

However if you check out Moorf's poll on disposable income, there are people saying that 1000 is enough, and people saying that 3000 is not enough.... to me 1000 does not even cover our groceries/petrol....., to others it covers everything...

[Sam B]

Yeah, I know, how do they do it? (live on $1000). I must be such a lush!

[Moorf]

I was actually going to start the poll at $1000 + as I really didn't think anyone could survive on less... with just two of us our food bills (including those little trips inbetween the big trips) comes to about $200 a week, excluding eating out and takeways... and lunches... :confused:.. and coffees...

[KerryS]

With just two of us our food bills (including those little trips inbetween the big trips) comes to about $200 a week, excluding eating out and takeways... and lunches... :confused:.. and coffees...

I dread to think how much mine come to - I've never added them up. Sometimes I pop to the shop, sometimes my boyfriend does. Until we start living together properly in one house rather than two we just haemorrage money on food and eating out!
And lunches. I'm terrible for just grabbing some sushi or whatever when I'm out rather than making something to take with me...
And coffees... In my last position I'd nip out a couple of times a day to grab one! Thankfully my new post they aren't into the coffee culture so much, which is saving me a fair bit...

[zardell]

I think what stumped us initially was that we didn't know the areas as well as we thought we did, we had never been here before we made the big move, and there is only so much you "imagine" from facts - so we were looking at houses on the net from the UK and thinking ooohh, that's nice, and ooh that's cheap and when we got here the cheap ones were cheap for a reason and we had to raise our house budget slightly. I mean by $100k or so, not $250, that would have proved a real prob! I don't think we appreciated that there would be such run-down areas, that hadn't figured in our perception of Chch ;)

Sorry, rambling....


Spot on.

I was talking to a friend today on msn. She is in the UK and has never visited NZ. I had previously sent her the TradeMe link so that she could see NZ properties and their costs etc. Understandably, it was really hard trying to convince her that the estate agents pictures weren't quite, shall we say, representative of some of the advertised properties features.....:roll

Yes, the run-down areas came as a shock to us too.

However much a person researches, perception and reality can be and often are 2 different things. It's hard to take off rose-coloured specs from 12,000 miles away.

I won't tell you what she said when she looked at TradeMe's Job section, but suffice to say, she was shocked at the low wages versus the cost of living scenario.............but then, aren't we all ?

Julie

xx

[willsken]

Yes, the run-down areas came as a shock to us too.

Julie

xx

We ended up touring up and down every street in the town we are living in and marking them off the street map as a yes or no to buy a house in. We only ended up we about 20 streets we would be happy to buy a house in. Admittedly we were being very fussy. I went to the estate agents and got the details of every house up for sale in these streets, we ended up with a huge pile of details. We were left with 7 houses in our price range! :roll

[Jauhari]

Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum. I have been offered a job in Auckland with a salary of
c $90,000 pa. I've been reading on this forum that the average salary in NZ is around $45,000, is that before taxes or after taxes? ($90,000 which I've been offered is before tax:( ). Please enlighten, thx

[swissmissdesigner]

I also agree with ElizabethD.
I look the overall picture and ask my self: Can I keep the same living standard or even improve it? If not then certainly moving is not a good idea. Just because I love the beauty of the country maybe is not the right place for me to live there.

[nippa&pippa]

Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum. I have been offered a job in Auckland with a salary of
c $90,000 pa. I've been reading on this forum that the average salary in NZ is around $45,000, is that before taxes or after taxes? ($90,000 which I've been offered is before tax:( ). Please enlighten, thx

before tax.

$90,000 seem good pay BUT it is depend on your lifestyles you wish to be and how many people in your family, how much mortgage are you prepare to have?

As when we arrive last oct, my OH's wage was under $42,000 before tax, that for four of us, two adult and two young children, living in christchurch. We live on budget all the time, hence 'The money diet' posts came handy!!
Now my OH got pay rise to just over $46,000 before tax, for four of us and baby on the way, we are still on budget but happy and enjoying new life in NZ. We knew what we are in for with low wages and prepare to change our lifestyles to get the life we want in NZ, living in the rural location :raebanana
Some people couldn't cope with low wages as some of them not prepare to change their lifestyles from it was in UK or USA and miss it.

[willowshouse]

Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum. I have been offered a job in Auckland with a salary of
c $90,000 pa. I've been reading on this forum that the average salary in NZ is around $45,000, is that before taxes or after taxes? ($90,000 which I've been offered is before tax:( ). Please enlighten, thx

As nippa&pippa has said, the amount of money being enough or not really depends on how many in your family and whether you want to buy a house. Have a good look through the Money Matters section of this forum and you will see some fantastically detailed posts about how much people spend per month.

If I were you I would take no notice of 'average wage' - it is very unhelpful in my opinion. A person could read 'average wage' to mean the amount of money that most people earn and live on and I don't think that is the case .. the average of a Shop worker's wage and a top Real-Estate Agent's wage will bear little resemblence to either of the actual figures earned.

Dawn

[Jauhari]

Thanks nippa&pippa and willowshouse:)
you guys are right....it is a very subjective perception. We are two, me and my wife. It will ofcourse depend on many factors like you say. Thanks again, let's see how things work out...cheers