[Belmont Babes]

Hi all. Please help. We are in turmoil. Can we make it in NZ? OH Electrician can earn between 25-30 NZD per hour. I hope to earn also in the fitness industry but not sure how much. Wouldn't be able to work for a while until kids 8 and 10 are settled etc. We hope to buy home outright or rent UK home to finance rent in NZ. Have read a few previous posts about NZ being expensive. We need to make a decision and stick to it before we lose a fortune in the immigration process. About to send of to NZQA and then ITA. Feel it is proving difficult to make an informed decision. We aren't spend thrifts and don't smoke and drink alcohol rarely...sounds boring I know! We all love sports and exercise regularly. Can we make it? Don't hold back :roll

[Trigirl]

hello

no one can tell you if you can make it or not. everyones situation is different and budgets are different. but anyway here's some things to help you start organising your thoughts a bit.

$30 an hour = approx $54k a year. you'll pay $12,500 in income tax and $700 in ACC levy. take home pay is therefore $40,800 or $785 a week. you'll also be entitled to $124 a week family tax credit.

$25 an hour = approx $45k a year. you'll pay $9500 in income tax and $600 in ACC levy. take home pay is therefore $35,900 or $690 a week. in this case you'd get $158 a week family tax credit.

so your overall income will be between approx $850 and $910 a week.

you aren't going to be paying rent / mortgage. so you need to do yourself a budget for things like food, heating, car, insurance, medical bills, school costs, clothes, rates, tv, internet, phone etc etc etc.

avalon's money thread is quite long but really really good. its a sticky in the money matters section - give it a read. http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9357

[zardell]

Excellent post Mandy - very informative .


I have noticed that lately,there seems to be a lot of 'trades people' on the forum who are concerned about NZ wages.


I tried to give you rep, but hey-ho !!


Julie

xx

[Belmont Babes]

Wow what a great informative post. I don't like the sound of Family Credit as we have never had to claim in the UK and hate the thought. Is it regarded differently in NZ? Will check out the other details. :roll - what's ACC LEVY?

[Sam B]

One of the things you need to budget for will be the first few weeks here - we had to spend far more than we had accounted for just to buy the basics, stuff that we wouldn't bother shipping, but actually all really adds up - like cleaning stuff, restocking a food cupboard from scratch, hoover, ironing board, crockery and stuff. Plus if you have to rent for a bit, you have to pay a bond and also a week's rent in fees to the agent. The electricity, phone and gas all wanted bonds from us because we didn't have references with us. Each individual thing is peanuts really, but add it altogether and watch all your money disappear!

Once you have all these basics, you can live quite cheaply. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be a skill I possess!!

[nippa&pippa]

I don't like the sound of Family Credit as we have never had to claim in the UK and hate the thought. Is it regarded differently in NZ?

If your wages is low, you will be very grateful for family credit :yes ....I know it is low compare with UK's child benefit, depend on the total income of your and OH's wages. Our family credit for a whole month is nearly same as my OH's wage per week. It is like having an extra week payment for us! :clap

[CjChris]

Go to the IRD website. You can use a calculator to estimate what your family might receive based on what you think your income will be and ages of your children, etc.

http://www.ird.govt.nz/familyassistance/

I'm with the rest of them. Take what they offer; on the whole, NZ has lower wages than what you would get in US, UK, etc. It's a fact (and don't you bet NZ is aware of this in spite of booming housing prices), and they have set up this system to help folks with kids because life is hard enough as it is! :roll

[Trigirl]

acc levy:

accident compensation commission is basically a no fault insurance scheme for everyone living in NZ. if you have an accident at work, at home, in your car etc then ACC covers medical bills, compensation etc without anyone having to go through the courts to apportion blame. it is funded by a 1.3% levy on every earner in NZ.