[Canadian]

I am from Canada and looking at bringing a pension and assets (in Can $) to NZ. The Can $ (about par with the US $) is about 25% stronger than the NZ dollar. If NZ prices were 25% higher (on average) than Canada, we wouldn't see much of a difference in purchasing power. Is this the case, or are NZ prices more than 25% higher?

Can anyone comment on how much the higher price for oil (and fuel) has (or is apt to) affect the price of goods in NZ given it's proximity to where the goods come from compared to other western countries?

[kanatakiwi]

I am from Canada and looking at bringing a pension and assets (in Can $) to NZ. The Can $ (about par with the US $) is about 25% stronger than the NZ dollar. If NZ prices were 25% higher (on average) than Canada, we wouldn't see much of a difference in purchasing power. Is this the case, or are NZ prices more than 25% higher?

Can anyone comment on how much the higher price for oil (and fuel) has (or is apt to) affect the price of goods in NZ given it's proximity to where the goods come from compared to other western countries?


I am in receipt of Canadian money each money :raebanana thanks to the BC government! and so I keep a pretty close watch on the exchange rates etc.

Generally speaking you are correct about things evening out quite well. Some things like rent are (I think) a lot higher than Canada although depends where you live, maybe in the large cities in the east its also very high, but I think in Auckland the average rent for an apartment is $300 to 400 a week, and for a house considerably more . ( I hope someone can help with these figures as we are not renting so don't know for sure) By contrast a comparable 3 bedroom townhoue in Victoria rents for about $1200 to 1400 a month and would be about $500 a week here.

Petrol is nearing $2 a litre, what is it in Canada these days? Utilitities are also probably much higher here, however we use less heat (no central heating:uhoh ) and less electricity it seems

Food prices would probably about 25 percent higher so that evens out quite well. Clothes prices run the gamut from very affordable (warehouse) to very expensive. designer labels etc, so I think on balance they are about the same in both countries.

Hope this gives you some idea.
G

[cani]

Hi another BC'er here. Gas is $1.24 where I live but some places in the lower mainland are $1.30-$1.34. I was wondering if you know about getting pensions in NZ from here and how the taxes work concerning them. Hope this makes sense, thank you. Kristina

[Canadian]

I am in receipt of Canadian money each money :raebanana thanks to the BC government! and so I keep a pretty close watch on the exchange rates etc.

Generally speaking you are correct about things evening out quite well. Some things like rent are (I think) a lot higher than Canada although depends where you live, maybe in the large cities in the east its also very high, but I think in Auckland the average rent for an apartment is $300 to 400 a week, and for a house considerably more . ( I hope someone can help with these figures as we are not renting so don't know for sure) By contrast a comparable 3 bedroom townhoue in Victoria rents for about $1200 to 1400 a month and would be about $500 a week here.

Petrol is nearing $2 a litre, what is it in Canada these days? Utilitities are also probably much higher here, however we use less heat (no central heating:uhoh ) and less electricity it seems

Food prices would probably about 25 percent higher so that evens out quite well. Clothes prices run the gamut from very affordable (warehouse) to very expensive. designer labels etc, so I think on balance they are about the same in both countries.

Hope this gives you some idea.
G

Thanks for the reply. Gasoline in Victoria, BC, just went up today to $133/litre.

Please comment on the lack of central heating. I know it can be an issue in NZ. How hard is it to find a house (I'm thinking on Napier as a place to live) that has central heating, or is at least well insulated? Assuming the homes have an attic, I assume one could add some insulation there which is where much of the heat is lost. You could also add weather stripping to doors and windows (if they sell it?).

[Canadian]

I am in receipt of Canadian money each money :raebanana thanks to the BC government! and so I keep a pretty close watch on the exchange rates etc.

Generally speaking you are correct about things evening out quite well. Some things like rent are (I think) a lot higher than Canada although depends where you live, maybe in the large cities in the east its also very high, but I think in Auckland the average rent for an apartment is $300 to 400 a week, and for a house considerably more . ( I hope someone can help with these figures as we are not renting so don't know for sure) By contrast a comparable 3 bedroom townhoue in Victoria rents for about $1200 to 1400 a month and would be about $500 a week here.

Petrol is nearing $2 a litre, what is it in Canada these days? Utilitities are also probably much higher here, however we use less heat (no central heating:uhoh ) and less electricity it seems

Food prices would probably about 25 percent higher so that evens out quite well. Clothes prices run the gamut from very affordable (warehouse) to very expensive. designer labels etc, so I think on balance they are about the same in both countries.

Hope this gives you some idea.
G


I thought you might have some ideas on one other question I have. Did you work in NZ before retiring? Ideally I would like to move there after retiring. Unfortunately it would seem as though me or my spouse will have to gain employment in NZ for us to be allowed to enter. I then have to find out what the minimum amount of time we must work before we can retire and be allowed to stay.

[JandM]

Thanks for the reply. Gasoline in Victoria, BC, just went up today to $133/litre.

Please comment on the lack of central heating. I know it can be an issue in NZ. How hard is it to find a house (I'm thinking on Napier as a place to live) that has central heating, or is at least well insulated? Assuming the homes have an attic, I assume one could add some insulation there which is where much of the heat is lost. You could also add weather stripping to doors and windows (if they sell it?).

Probably the easiest way to start gathering impressions is to use the Search facility on the site. These issues have often been discussed - you'll find a lot of useful information.

[kanatakiwi]

Hi another BC'er here. Gas is $1.24 where I live but some places in the lower mainland are $1.30-$1.34. I was wondering if you know about getting pensions in NZ from here and how the taxes work concerning them. Hope this makes sense, thank you. Kristina

From what I know about this (I get both BC government pension and CPP), I am taxed in Canada and am filing Canadian income tax. I came to NZ on a partnership visa and didn't plan to work so was not going to need to file taxes here. From what I can gather I am going to have a hard time proving to Canadian government that I am a non-resident for tax purposes, since I still own a piece of property there and have a bank account.
I have now started a little job working two days a week here so am going to have to meet an accountant to sort out the income and tax from the two countries.

I still get my Cdn pensions put into my Cdn bank account as they cannot electronically put it into an NZ bank account, and I would have to have them mail me a cheque which I thought didn't sound too reliable so prefer to get it depostied electronically into my Cdn account and then withdraw it here at a bank machine and put it in my NZ bank. Complicated I know but haven't figured out a better way.

[kanatakiwi]

I thought you might have some ideas on one other question I have. Did you work in NZ before retiring? Ideally I would like to move there after retiring. Unfortunately it would seem as though me or my spouse will have to gain employment in NZ for us to be allowed to enter. I then have to find out what the minimum amount of time we must work before we can retire and be allowed to stay.
see my reply to another question on this thread:

I came here on permanent residence in the partnership category as my husband is a kiwi. I took early retirement in BC and didn't have a job here when I applied and it was all fine, all because my OH is kiwi. I think in your case if you are counting on employment to give you enough points to immigrate, one of you will have to get a job for a while.

[Super_BQ]

The big question is "IF". If your reason to coming to NZ is for financial reasons then I say you far better off to stay in Canada.

When in retirement, you income may be limited to a fixed annuity. If this is the case, your level of income tax would be much lower in Canada than in NZ. Even after recent drop in NZ's income tax, it still does not match to Canada's current rate of income tax. The biggest part is Canada's $9k personal exemption (1st $9k of income is tax free).

It's interesting to see the changes between both nations. My 1st visit to NZ over 10 years ago was a great learning experience. By far it was quite clear that living costs was lower than in Canada (on comparable locations). Of course during the NDP period in BC, Canada has been nortorious known for high income taxation. It wasn't until recently in the past 3 or 4 years that Ottawa has made great efforts to lowering taxes. (lowering of GST and capital gains tax). Although not relavant to you, it's interesting to see that NZ has last year aligned it's corporate tax rate to match Australia's 30% flat rate. In Canada, Harper gov't has already set corportate tax rate to 15% by 2012. Currently I believe it's around 19.5%.

Something to think about is that NZ's housing market has been invaded by many foreigners (like yourself?) which has caused a huge surge in property prices in the past decade. However, I will say Canada's rise in housing prices isn't even comparable to NZ's hyper-compounding rate. Just see for yourself why interest rates in NZ pays 9% where in Canada, banks only pay around 3% in term deposits.

Again, I go back to IF because it all depends if you love the country for what it is and not love it because you are looking for a financial gain.

You mention about central heating in the homes. Be assured that houses in NZ are not heated like in Canada - nor will they consume the same amount of energy. Would you be use to heating 1 room at a time during the winter months? How does a cold toilet seat feel like at 2am? Because power prices are going close to 20 cents/kwH, you can not afford to heat any home in NZ like one would do in Canada. 6 cents/kwH in BC for eg may get you a $200/month heating bill. In NZ to do the same thing (factoring how homes are not built air tight in NZ), that could be well over $1000/month for heating. So be prepared to adjust to 1 room heating and electric blankets.

Be aware that NZ residents have to pay paper gains on their investment portfolios overseas (outside NZ/Australia). If the value of the portfolio is over $50K NZD value, then any gain in value in each year is taxable in NZ. This is well talked about in this forum under the FIF rules. Of course, there's nothing that can stop a person from selling their assets in their portfolio prior to coming to NZ and investing all that into NZ securities which are not subjected to the FIF rules.

There still exist some tax advantages in NZ over Canada. The biggest being in investing into real estate. You can own multiple houses and sell them off in 20 years time without attracting capital gains tax. Whereas in Canada it is quite clear that any other house apart from your principal residence will have capital gains tax. There is the infamous Smith manuver you can do in Canada but that's not well documented.

It's also possible to be taxed twice in both Canada and in NZ if one doesn't properly maintain non-residency in either country. If you become a non-resident in Canada, then there is no requirement to file a tax return but make sure not to trigger future ties. My advise is to see a tax specialist prior to moving to NZ.

BQ