[sandi28]

Hi everyone!

I have never been in New Zealand before, I live in Canada and but just got a job offer to work in Christchurch.
I'd like to find out more about things like:
What is a good wage to live in Nz?
How much % of income tax is taken out of my paycheck?
What type of taxes does Chirstchurch have?
How expensive are goods and services in comparison with US and CANADA?
What quality of life can a couple have living in Christchurch?
What are things that are expensive and/or dificult to find?
are there any Websites to look for buying properties?

Thank you all!

Sandy

[liamnrach]

Hi everyone!

I have never been in New Zealand before, I live in Canada and but just got a job offer to work in Christchurch.
I'd like to find out more about things like:
What is a good wage to live in Nz?
How much % of income tax is taken out of my paycheck?
What type of taxes does Chirstchurch have?
How expensive are goods and services in comparison with US and CANADA?
What quality of life can a couple have living in Christchurch?
What are things that are expensive and/or dificult to find?
are there any Websites to look for buying properties?

Thank you all!

Sandy

Hello and welcome to the forum Sandyhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/innocent/innocent0005.gif

Wow! Lots of questions!

Take a look at Avalon's money thread, it is quite comprehensive about many costs associated with living in NZ....

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9357

It is a good starting point, and if you need any more information you can use the search bar at the top of the page. We are a good bunch on here and people are more than willing to share their experiences and knowledge. Good luck with everything:nice1

Liam n Rach

[nippa&pippa]

Welome to forum!:cheers
Agree with Liam and rach, lots of questions. Have you search the forum to answer all your questions? as everyone have different lifestyles and outcome of living in christchurch like myself, Pip, K&CS, Moorf, Joanne100, olivia etc. We will try our best to help you anything on christhurch.

[sandi28]

Hi Everyone.
Ok, sorry about that I guess I made tooo many questions...!
I still would like to hear about your experience living in Christchurch, is it 60k a good wage there?
Thanks
Sandy

[migratory birds]

Hi Sandi,

Welcome and congratulations on the job offer.

I'm still in the US - on the side of this forum where, I, too, have more questions than answers and have found people get better response if they pose their questions one at a time.

Wages are often, and have recently been, discussed on this list.

Just by listening in, it sounds like ChCh is a wonderful community to live in with ample cultural opportunity, family friendly n'hoods, great libraries, small enough to be close to the outdoors. But look back in the catagory called "Locations" or search "Christchurch" and you'll get lots of info.

One topic I haven't seen asked in my time on the forum (since Dec 2006) are the ones on taxes. I'd imagine similar nationwide though. Put it out there and see what comes up.

Cost comparisons and what's not available in NZ often comes up...

Real estate - maybe others can jump in - but check these:

http://www.trademe.co.nz

http://www.homesell.co.nz

http://www.realestate.com.au (I believe this has some NZ homes on it)

Lots of people have recc'd renting first, looking around at different n'hoods to get an idea of where you want to buy, then buying once you're there.

[constablechuck]

Whether you can get by on 60K in Christchurch depends on your lifestyle, if you rent a flat, drive used cars, have occassional takeaways and maybe go out once every week or two then you can probably do ok on that income.

If you want to buy a house, drive new cars, go on overseas holidays every year and eat out all the time then 60K may not be enough.

I think 43K is the average income for people in the Christchurch area, so 60K is not a low income in comparison to local standards.

Here's a link to a thread I posted on concerning typical expenses in Christchurch.
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10158&page=11

[sandi28]

Thanks for the info!
The Website you gave me has a lot of information!

Thanks.

Sandy