[leachio]

Im writing this thread with a sad look on my face! :( Dan my OH and I have joined 2 NZ forums on the internet, 1 of which is a police forum. For the most part they are full of happy optomistic people however today there has been an awful, depressing, worrying comment form a british copper working somewhere nr Auckland. He basically goes to lengths to say how he is living in near poverty (I don't know his lifestyle) he can't afford groceries some weeks after paying the bills. He says the job is crap and he actually gave his notice after only a few shifts and I think is heading back to the UK. He has a wife and 2 kids and is from Newcastle area here. Now Im not that silly that I would swear by his every word but it is well known that wages are lower but standard of living the same and mortgage rates higher so my worry is that we already live month to month with nothing spare are we gonna manage in NZ? We don't smoke or drink, we don't need fancy cars we are happy with food on the table and the kids looked after. We are having the house valued nx wk and hope to come over with £20-£30,000 but expect to dip into that initially until Dan starts work (he is a policeman). We would ideally have a 3bed house but could manage with 2 for a while if it cut costs dramatically, but when we wanted to buy we would rather have 3. We know that NZ life is diff to UK life but we won't truly realise it until we move out but do those of you who are in NZ really struggle? I would be devastated if we could'nt afford to go to the doc or if we needed a dental appt, I guess we take things for granted here.

Despite sounding pesimistic I am not and we are still gonna do it because we would rather try it than not and regret it. But I know that once our little home is sold we could'nt afford to buy one like it again so I feel we have a lot to loose if NZ is worse. I have heard of the living there for the lifestyle but you gotta have some money to enjoy it.

Anyway please give us your honest opinions, good and bad
Thanks Amanda, Dan, Jack & Ella-Maud

[Trigirl]

its not so much i think that you need money to enjoy it - after all many of the things the nz lifestyle is famed for are free. but if you are completely skint and worried about every penny then you are unlikely to be happy - there are very few things in this world more stressful than in the long term being unable to make ends meet.

auckland isn't a cheap place to live. houses are expensive, you need a car to get to work, petrol is cheap in comparison to the uk but not wildly so. food is cheap if you are a fresh food, in season sort of person and are prepared to shop around but wildly expensive if you eat a lot of processed food - especially ready meals.


you aren't bringing a lot of equity over - but people do it with less and survive. each family is different. you need to do yourself a budget for your family and try and see if you can make ends meet. trademe.co.nz will give you good ideas on house prices and car prices. there are a few threads on here where people have gone into detail on how much they spend on utilities etc. emigratenz.org (the front page of this site) has a cost of living calculator. you can look online at woolworths.co.nz for supermarket prices (but be aware that there are cheaper supermarkets than this)

we did a detailed budget before leaving and it really set my mind at rest.

good luck
Mandy

[jess]

Hi Leachio. That's a topic that gets a lot attention here. Some people find it very hard and some people do not. Personally we have been doing fine. We don't have kids though, which is often an issue with school donations, uniforms, textbooks, etc... We also didn't take out as large of a mortgage as they'd allow - we just wanted a decent small house, and an equally small mortgage.

The long threads below have loads of details - even some grocery bills broken down, etc.... Some of the stories might depress you while others say they are doing fine here.

Are you a pauper? (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6200)

Auckland - Finding Finances Hard (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2221)

$55K year - is it enough? (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1752)

[veronica]

what sort of salary bracket will he come under and will you be living in the middle of Auckland. its hard to say because one persons idea of poverty is not anothers.

[Cardy]

HI we know a policeman in matamata and one in palmerston north who both seem to be doing ok (own home ,car etc) and very happy,but have heard a lot leave if posted to south auckland .
Cheers CArdy :cheers

[jo-and-jeff]

Here are some more helpful threads where people discuss the cost of living:

Not for us (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8196)

How do people survive here? (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7740)

Salary 80000 enough for family 5 (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7570)

Expenditure = Income (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6976)


You will definitely want to do a detailed budget (http://www.nationalbank.co.nz/personal/calculators/budget.asp), with conservative estimates (overestimates) of what things will cost, to determine whether living here will be manageable for you.

You will also want to add up all the costs of immigration application and medical fees, plane tickets for your family (round-trip if you don't have PR), moving your possessions if you do so, or replacing them if you do not, plus about $3000 NZD to put down on deposits for utilities [and your initial rental if you don't buy right away] (deposits are returnable, but usually only when you discontinue service, so it's money tied up that you can't use), and subtract that amount from the money you have in savings.

It can be tough, but if you can make it work, it can have some big rewards.

Good luck!

Jo

:cheers

[stu70]

Thanks everyone for connecting all the various threads on this topic in one place. It is very educational. One thing comes to mind; if you have kids and not a heck of a lot of equity to bring in to NZ, then be EXTRA careful and you better err on the side of caution. If you are single or very young and do not have too many responsibilities, hey go for it. Good luck.

[spudulike]

Well, I have been quite vocal on the subject of finances here so won't say too much. :uhoh

However, what I will add to other people's advice is this. We also lived in York and came with more money than you will be (and two children) - we can't afford to buy a three bedroom house here in a decent area, especially when we considered how much it would cost to insulate and install proper heating along with interest rates. We will be taking most of our money back home for our house deposit there.

Out of your capital from the house you will spend to ship furniture, tickets and few thousand in start up costs here so possibly will have 15-20,000 left?(depending on whether you make 20 or 30,000). My worry is, if you get here and find you are really struggling (and dip into your savings to make ends meet) and eventually want to return to the UK you will need to pay up to 10,000 pounds (no pound sign I'm afraid) to go back with shipping and airline tickets and then add start up costs on top of that again, so may have little or no deposit left to buy a house again.

I'm not trying to put you off coming and completely understand you not wanting to have regrets as I share those sentiments but it depends how much of a risk you want to take as you could find yourself with very little of your hard earned cash left.

It does depend on how much you and your hubby will earn - but living here is not cheap! Perhaps putting it off for a year or two and trying to make a little more money on the housing market may be an option for you.....

I don't envy what is a very difficult decision as I don't know what choice I would have made in your shoes....

Good luck!

Louise :)

[firstkings]

Hi,

A lot depends on where you live as well. Auckland is much more expensive, from what I can gather thatn down here in Christchurch (which is more expensive again than some other places down south!).

So much is free to do - if you don't smoke/drink too much/insist on eating out etc the you can have a good life for very little (go biking/walking etc). The usual calculators say we (4 children) can't afford to live, but we get by. They have child benefit (equivalent) here which is, in my opinion, quite generous and helps us a lot.

http://www.emigratenz.org/Work.html does not have policemen as a section, but if you go on public sector workers as a guide (teachers/nurses etc) then your hubby should earn $50k plus according to experience.

With this as a base I would say you could afford a mortgage of about $150-200k (please anyone with more experience correct me if I'm wrong) and live comfortably (I'm trying to scale things from what I know we do afford!). If you want to leave some cash aside for "whatever", then this will give you an idea of the sort of house you can afford...which then depends on area etc (use harcourts etc to give you an idea).

I hope that helps in some way.

Cheers

[wiki]

I've been reading through those historic threads and I want to thank everyone who posted on them past and present.

It's been so interesting to gauge how expenses in NZ have grown.

I haven't lived there for nine years, and holidays back home have always been great because I've been spending my UK pounds :)

But I know going back will be a struggle.

I've done a lot of travelling while I've been in the UK, was never in the right place at the right time to buy a house, and my partner hasn't been working for the past couple of years, but we've made do on my salary just fine (mainly because we live oop North).

I'm under no illusion that I'll be returning to NZ with much more than pocket change, but I'm determined that we can survive on something around $50k

Of course I do have a couple of massive advantages -
1) We're moving to Southland which means I'll be paying around $200 a week for rent until we can get a house deposit together.
2) No kids!
3) We're staying with my Dad to start with, which will mean a 45 minute drive to work, but worth it to know I'm coming home to a warm house and a warm smile (until he gets sick of us!)

I never came to the UK to earn lots of money and come home loaded (I wish I'd thought of that plan earlier) - I came to experience another way of life, immerse myself in history, travel, learn and love. And I managed all of that more thoroughly than I ever imagined.

Now I'm coming home, not richer in pennies, but certainly richer in life!

I hope all of you who are coming to NZ for the first time gain the emotional and spiritual riches that a brand-new life can offer.

And if you need a shoulder to cry on - give me a ring, I know both sides of the coin!

[leachio]

:) Thanks to all who have replied, it has become somewhat more realistic to expect to struggle. But that said best we know now than get one hell of a shock nx yr! My OH has requested, Hamilton, Huntly or somewhere else there which I can't recall the name of. Part of the reason for this is to avoid Auckland prices. I have been reading old threads from 2005 and a lady called KIWI who can feed her family of 6 or 7 on a fantastic budget every 2wks, now thats a skill I need to master. I just picking things off the shelf as I want. We have made a friendship with a british bobby and his wife who are out in Hamilton somewhere and they have offered help & support, Ive emailed her for her opinion. It's just a pity that we wont be taking enough money to at least pay for half a motgage then it seems life may be easier. We will continue to feed off the forums and gladly take any and all advice offered. Once I know his posting location I shall seek helpfull hints form people in the area, everything helps!

Please keep the posts coming and if anyone can give me the direct address for a cost calculator, I think trigirl mentioned it, I would be gratefull.

Amanda xx

[wiki]

:) My OH has requested, Hamilton, Huntly or somewhere else there which I can't recall the name of. Part of the reason for this is to avoid Auckland prices.
Amanda xx

It's a great idea to start your NZ adventure somewhere a bit smaller. Once your OH gets established with the police, remember that it's much easier to transfer locations than in the UK.

It's just one police force for the whole country, rather than one for each area (and no fears of amalgamation costs!) and from what I can recall from old cop mates back home, there are a lot of postings that come up and be applied for once you've done a reasonable stint in the place they take you on for.

Some police stations are sole-manned (like Heartbeat but slightly more modern) and then there's the big inner-city stations like Auckland so there is a lot of variety in working ways.

I'm sure you'll find something to suit - it is much easier to judge once you're in NZ, but of course that takes a MASSIVE lead of faith to go in the first place.

Best of luck

[jess]

if anyone can give me the direct address for a cost calculator, I think trigirl mentioned it, I would be gratefull. Amanda xx
Cost of Living Calculator (http://www.emigratenz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML) here on ENZ.

[katandbob]

in answer to the cost of living calculator - take the costs as a example.....

and add a bit, I know that Invercargill is one of the cheapest places to live but the calculator says ...."Southland - Invercargill City $115 $130 $150"

I would say you could get rooms for this - but they will probably be something you wouldnt want your pets living in!

I think $150 $190 $220....and the latter is what we paid for a 3 bed house in a decent street in town, the lower bracket the agents said they wouldnt even show us as they were not good enough for us to consider to live in.
And that house was COLD - one heat pump for the whole house - so the bedrooms were cold, damp and the curtains grew mold on them each week!

Food shopping is hard - Meat/Veges are different prices each week - I tend to buy a batch of a meat if it is cheap and freeze it.

I seem to spend all my wages on food - theres 4 of us.
then theres the bills - we are still using the fire - (thank god for the bad DIY farm buildings the previous owner put up as we have been burning the crap wood from these!) the boys put their oil radiators on - so the electic bills are high - and they have gone up by 6.4% so god help me on the next one.
Cars need WOF every 6mths, RUC for diesel, Licencing every year. trailers also need WOF and Licencing.

So do add everything to your budget - we are managing but with xmas/car WOFs/Regos due and bills - xmas is tight - AND it cost me $100 to send the SMALL LIGHT gifts I had bought family home!

I have just bought the boys a Wii for xmas - (hope they dont troll the forum :uhoh ) and they will be happy that NZ still had them for sale after pre booked orders I suppose - but they are rapidly selling out! - its a joint pressy between us and their grandparents as we couldnt afford it on our own.

and thats all they will get!....not that they are wanting to celebrate it! I was told that if I put a tree up - the eldest would burn it!(hes still not happy)

So although I am not intending to fly home - and to those that find it too expensive in the major CBDs then why don't you look to the cheaper parts of NZ, Southland is the cheapest area (if your from Welly then the weathers not going to be that bad!)
we have plenty of jobs going - Robs firm have a massive sign up wanting Engineers - welders/fitters, have advertised etc and havent managed to fill one spot!

So although its expensive to live in NZ, its also an experience I am glad I have decided to live. But I have a job I enjoy, but Rob is a bit stressed with the work load and OT that he has to do most of the time - ONE day off a week is not what we expected when we were in the UK!

But things will hopefully settle down once we have got over the initial cost of setting up!

Kat

[felix]

Im writing this thread with a sad look on my face! :( Dan my OH and I have joined 2 NZ forums on the internet, 1 of which is a police forum. For the most part they are full of happy optomistic people however today there has been an awful, depressing, worrying comment form a british copper working somewhere nr Auckland. He basically goes to lengths to say how he is living in near poverty (I don't know his lifestyle) he can't afford groceries some weeks after paying the bills. He says the job is crap and he actually gave his notice after only a few shifts and I think is heading back to the UK. He has a wife and 2 kids and is from Newcastle area here. Now Im not that silly that I would swear by his every word but it is well known that wages are lower but standard of living the same and mortgage rates higher so my worry is that we already live month to month with nothing spare are we gonna manage in NZ? We don't smoke or drink, we don't need fancy cars we are happy with food on the table and the kids looked after. We are having the house valued nx wk and hope to come over with £20-£30,000 but expect to dip into that initially until Dan starts work (he is a policeman). We would ideally have a 3bed house but could manage with 2 for a while if it cut costs dramatically, but when we wanted to buy we would rather have 3. We know that NZ life is diff to UK life but we won't truly realise it until we move out but do those of you who are in NZ really struggle? I would be devastated if we could'nt afford to go to the doc or if we needed a dental appt, I guess we take things for granted here.

Despite sounding pesimistic I am not and we are still gonna do it because we would rather try it than not and regret it. But I know that once our little home is sold we could'nt afford to buy one like it again so I feel we have a lot to loose if NZ is worse. I have heard of the living there for the lifestyle but you gotta have some money to enjoy it.

Anyway please give us your honest opinions, good and bad
Thanks Amanda, Dan, Jack & Ella-Maud

I am an ex copper and know some of this. I have chosen not to be a cop in NZ for many reasons. All I can say is that I know something of policing in Auck and apparently there are some 'issues' surrounding certain areas. Add to this silly house prices and all the traffic aswell as the high crime rate..especially in South Auckland I think I would rather be back on the beat in Northampton. I would make best efforts to secure a job in a provincial area where costs, crime and traffic are less. PM me if you like. NZ is great and there are lots of british coppers who come here and are happy I am sure..but I have heard lots of neg. stuff about policing and Auck.

But life here in Palmerston North is awesome. Okay I am not policing but I work in an area of crime reduction and work very closely with police. Theres no traffic, cheap housing, limited crime and a superb work-lifestyle balance. A new life in NZ really can be awesome!! Good luck!!

[jo-and-jeff]

Cost of Living Calculator (http://www.emigratenz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML) here on ENZ.
The estimates on most items in that COL calculator look rather low to me (i.e., we're paying more than the "Good Living" estimate for many of them, and we don't have a lavish lifestyle), including the rents for Auckland flats and homes.

Jo

http://darkfriends.net/backup/images/smiles/icon_scratch.gif

[MB]

I won't recap financial ground I have covered in other threads. Instead, I think that -- whatever a family's budget -- it is worth bearing in mind Shakespeare's
"... tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune..."

That is, while I think it is very important to try to optimize the amount of funds one can bring to NZ, it is arguably more (or at least as) crucial for an applicant to sense whether the time and general 'state of play' feel right or optimal for the move to NZ.

Perhaps more to the point, I think it is worth anyone thinking very hard before they ignore, or decide to persist beyond, what feels to them to be that optimal time purely for the sake of gathering a few more quid.

For many, if not all of us, preparing to move to NZ calls for quite a few ducks to be in a row, and to risk some of those going off course just for a slightly fatter wallet might be worth thinking about carefully.

Only an individual family/applicant can know when their optimal time is -- if, indeed, they believe in such a thing -- and this post is certainly not a call for financial recklessness. I just wanted to put the thought into the mix. :nice1