[YouMeAndThree]

I've read many of the "Could you live on $XXX..." threads and notice that many people say they have taken a pay-cut when moving to NZ and have therefore struggled. My DH has been offered a job with a salary about £5-6K above what he's earning in the UK :clap - Does that mean we are actually going to find ourselves doing okay or will be still be struggling? We get by in the UK on the single salary that my DH brings in, plus he has a small MOD pension (for his 22yrs in the RAF). So in NZ we are going to be bringing in a higher salary plus his pension. We should fit in, or near to the £90K mark.

We are planning to clear all our UK debts (don't think we can get away with leaving those behind, LOL!) which currently take a large proportion of DH's wages :o. We don't eat out much, but do have a take-away once a week (gotta have a break sometimes from the kitchen :D) We also don't tend to go out much either (cinema, pubs etc. we do of course do all the free stuff), but would very much like to change that when we move. Our DD's are 5, 4 and 19mths and not really at the age to try out pester power, apart from the odd box of cereal, LOL! I knit and do dressmaking for them, but not myself or DH (don't have the patience for adult sized clothing) and DD3 is currently in cloth so no nappies to pay out for. We run on a pretty small/tight budget and hope that we can live slightly better in NZ........am I being realistic or do we really need to look at our finances very, very carefully before making the move.

Oh, we are also planning to rent out our UK home for the next 2 years and rent a property in NZ until such time as we sell up. DH's job offer is very near to Auckland Int. airport and we think we'd like to settle in the area between Green Bay to Laingholm (Laingholm being at the very far end of our search area), as this seems commutable for DH (he'll need a car for work so we can't rely on public transport). If there are other areas you can think of feel free to let us know.

Sorry for the long post

Lx

[marshanite]

My opinion is that if you budget carefully for the holidays to the UK every 2 or 3 years, you should live happily on $90,000. We are returning to the UK as we cannot manage in Auckland on $46,000 with 4 yr old twins. We would have stayed on $90,000.

Fi.

[YouMeAndThree]

Thanks Fi, firstly for getting through my post, and secondly for taking the time to reply. Sorry to hear that things have not worked out as you planned. Do you think that this was due to the cost of living being higher in Auckland, or would you imagine it would be a struggle on $46K in NZ fullstop?

Lx

[Carol]

It all really depends on how big your mortgage is going to be and where you are going to live.
No mortgage? You will be fine.

[Kerry and David]

So long as we sell our house before we go with the view to buying in NZ then we will be better off in NZ. When we were over in April we did a cost excercise - we worked out how much a mortgage would be (taking out the maximum amount), utility bills, family allowance etc, we even went round the supermarket to give us a rough idea on grocery shopping!
I think there are some links on the forum about cost of living if you do a search.

K x

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

My opinion is that if you budget carefully for the holidays to the UK every 2 or 3 years, you should live happily on $90,000.
Fi.

Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, but holday in the UK ? Why ? Lived there for 38 years, I want to see somewhere new on holiday. Less than four hours to south pacific islands or Oz, why go to UK ? A holiday is to relax and de-stress, not live in relatives pockets, get on each others nerves and feel obliged to visit in-laws you don't really like much, or go places you've seen a million times.

To see friends and family ? no draw there for me particularly (although I understand there is for others), would welcome them here of course - They can holiday here, makes a lot more sense to me. If I had the inclination I'd save up to bring them here, not the other way around.

Each to their own of course, just my opinion.

It all really depends on how big your mortgage is going to be and where you are going to live.
No mortgage? You will be fine.

Totally agree. Others may argue differently (and probably will) but we find the general standard of living broadly similar, so if you're earning more, with no mortgage, you should be fine.

[nippa&pippa]

Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, but holday in the UK ? Why ? Lived there for 38 years, I want to see somewhere new on holiday. Less than four hours to south pacific islands or Oz, why go to UK ? A holiday is to relax and de-stress, not live in relatives pockets, get on each others nerves and feel obliged to visit in-laws you don't really like much, or go places you've seen a million times.

To see friends and family ? no draw there for me particularly (although I understand there is for others), would welcome them here of course - They can holiday here, makes a lot more sense to me. If I had the inclination I'd save up to bring them here, not the other way around.

Each to their own of course, just my opinion.

:clap agree with you but I have suggested to my OH few days ago about going to UK in 5-10 years time (better start save money, somehow :uhoh) so our kids can remember their visit to UK because eldest two was 3years old and 9months old when we left UK and third child was born in NZ, so they have no memories of UK.

[YouMeAndThree]

Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, but holday in the UK ? Why ? Lived there for 38 years, I want to see somewhere new on holiday. Less than four hours to south pacific islands or Oz, why go to UK ? A holiday is to relax and de-stress, not live in relatives pockets, get on each others nerves and feel obliged to visit in-laws you don't really like much, or go places you've seen a million times.

To see friends and family ? no draw there for me particularly (although I understand there is for others), would welcome them here of course - They can holiday here, makes a lot more sense to me. If I had the inclination I'd save up to bring them here, not the other way around.

Each to their own of course, just my opinion.


Totally agree. Others may argue differently (and probably will) but we find the general standard of living broadly similar, so if you're earning more, with no mortgage, you should be fine.

TBH, that is how we feel. Our holidays, if we can afford them, will be looking round NZ and that side of the world. Luckily we have my parents support in our decision to move and they have already said that they intend to visit every 2-3 years :clap My youngest brother is due to move to Oz next year, something he's been planning for a couple of years. My parents had said all along that they'd visit him for a week or so before going on to NZ as they prefer it there. Us deciding to move adds just that extra incentive for them. We only holiday in the UK at present, so 'just' holidaying in NZ wouldn't cause us any problems.

For the time being we will have no mortgage in NZ. We'll reassess the situation as time goes by and sell our UK home prior to buying in NZ. We will need a mortgage then, hopefully just a small(ish) one.

Thanks for every ones replies. Looks like we should be OK, not well off but that's not what we are expecting from this move. We are trying to look at this from all angles and work out expenditure, but it's just guess work at the moment. Although I did do an online grocery shop a little while back (Woolworths) which did look a little expensive until I realised that I was shopping as if I was in the UK and buying what I'd normally put in my shopping basket. Of course in NZ I'd be sussing out the cost of meat, seasonal veg etc.

This move is happening so quickly that I've hardly time to breathe. I am so thankful that I was recommended to join this site. Your combined knowledge and support is being gratefully received by this lass from Hampshire :cheers

[thejoz]

$90,000 Jeees! We planning on being very happy living on considerably less than that!

Each to their own and all that, but the improved lifestyle of living in NZ must surely be worth a paycut let alone a payrise! Well done, all the best:clap

Ps - I quite agree, make the relatives visit you! Forget about old England, the kids won't be impressed! Or is that just me?:laugh

[Moorf]

Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, but holday in the UK ? Why ? Lived there for 38 years, I want to see somewhere new on holiday. Less than four hours to south pacific islands or Oz, why go to UK ? A holiday is to relax and de-stress, not live in relatives pockets, get on each others nerves and feel obliged to visit in-laws you don't really like much, or go places you've seen a million times.

:clap:clap:clap

[dharder]

Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, but holday in the UK ? Why ? Lived there for 38 years, I want to see somewhere new on holiday

I've lived in Germany for 24 years, I haven't even begun to see all there is to see, and I often feel that people who come as tourists have seen more of it than I have. Same goes for England.

But that is just my personal experience, that is of course different for everyone.

Daniela

[JandM]

I've lived in Germany for 24 years, I haven't even begun to see all there is to see, and I often feel that people who come as tourists have seen more of it than I have. Same goes for England.I know what you mean. As an extreme example, before I was married, I'd lived my whole life within a 40-minute train journey of central London, and often went in for specific things - shows, meetings, shopping etc.. It wasn't till my bridesmaid, who came from Lancashire, stayed with us to shop for wedding outfits that I made the effort to go and look at the top tourist/cultural things.

When we get to NZ, I know we won't have the wish (or huge amounts of money) to come and go very often to Europe, so right now, before we can do anything about migrating, we're taking the chance to go and look at places we've always thought we'd like to see - building up an experience-bank, if you like. Some of the things are general interest (Hadrian's Wall, Pompeii), and others are more personal to us (M wants to follow where his grandfather went in France in the first World War).

[Familyofmonkeys]

To see friends and family ? no draw there for me particularly (although I understand there is for others), would welcome them here of course - They can holiday here, makes a lot more sense to me. If I had the inclination I'd save up to bring them here, not the other way around.



We feel much the same way...unfortunately in-laws are not able to fly due to poor health so will never be able to visit us here. We are planning trip back to UK in about 3 years (and hope MIL lasts that long) as they have only seen their youngest grandchild once (at 11 weeks old) just before we left UK. Hoping by that point the 2 youngest might actually remember some of the trip as we will probably take them to some of our old haunts like Warwick Castle etc.....and other intersting places we never made it to like Eden Project etc.