[Terry549]

Hi Everyone,

This is our first thread here and this is a little bit about us:

EOI - 12-12-06
ITA - 27-12-06
Job Offered by the NZ Army 01-12-06
Points - 110

Kristina and I are engaged to be married and hope to marry soon after we arrive in NZ. We have a friend in Papakura who is a minister and we hope she will do the deed for us. :raebanana

We are really excited but panic has set in with Kristina as she is worried that this is not a livable wage for the pair of us (after all this equates to approx £18700 in the UK), and because Kristina is coming out as my partner, she does not have a job yet. Also as this is both our second time around (Kristina is 50 and I am 43), to come out to NZ will take most of our savings and like she points out, this is something we can not afford to get wrong.

We will (hopefully) be based at Linton camp in Palmerston North, any replys would be much appriciated.

:roll

Thanks

Terry & Kristina

Brigg - UK

[Jenny & Mark]

Welcome to the forum Terry and Kristina. :)

As you will find it mentioned when talking about comparable salaries and the like, the lifestyle that you have and the lifestyle that you expect to have are great factors in determining if the wage is enough. Another factor to consider closely is housing. You may want to research housing costs in Palmerston North as owning a dwelling is increasingly difficult in some areas of NZ.
My personal opinion is that $52k is a livable wage.

Mark.

[gil]

Terry and Kristina,
Welcome and good luck with the move. We are both in our late forties and have 4 kids, sold up in UK and here on PR but as yet without jobs. It's worth looking at the job websites so you can get an idea of what is available, should you want to work (full, part-time, temping, permanent etc) www.seek.co.nz is a good starting place and there are plenty of agencies on the net (Sheffield is a big national name). Local and national papers are a fertile source as well as.
As mentioned endlessly elsewhere, "how much is enough" is very subjective and depends on your preferred lifestyle/location/needs, wants, desires etc so good luck and ask anything you want on here, someone, somewhere will know,
All the best,

Gil

[spudulike]

Hi Terry & Kristina,

There are lots of threads on this with breakdowns of outgoings and incomes from people who are already living in NZ. Just tap financial or similar into the search facility and you'll find lots of info. If I get chance later I'll try and find some of the threads and give you the links.

We are earning more than that and are going home next year because we are struggling and we don't have extravagent lifestyle by any means. It depends how much you are bringing with you too but I really don't think $52,000 is a livable wage at all and I would hate to see anybody waste their life savings.

I'm sure others will have an opinion on the matter.

All the best.

L :)

[Angelonthemove]

Hi Terry and Kristina

We are a couple and I have left my original job so we are having to live off one wage. Not easy but you get by somehow.

Work out your monthly rent cost ours is a little high as we are in the centre of Wellington so its $2600 per month ouch I hear you say. Then we survive on $1500-$2000 for spending and utilities etc but that includes broadband, telephone cost to UK & OZ. wine every night and we eat really well around £200 pw. Central heating with gas & elec bills of $600 per month!!! well above average. Plus the cost of running a car and car parking in town.

Its really depends on what your rent is, as we have a 4 bed 2 baths. And how much you drink and eat I suppose.

Kristina will get an open work permit on the back of yours, so she can temp straight away and that will help. A lot of people on work permits temp here.Or depending on her skills get a job.

Good luck

p.s. we have used all our savings getting here IMO it was worth it, but it does go quickly.

[ruthyroo]

hi guys

We are a couple trying to survive on my salary of around $50K a year before tax, in Dunedin, and finding it just about do-able. We can pay our rent ($255 per week for 3 beds, 1 bath, good views, no heating or insulation, big garden), our food and drink costs (by strict meal planning and shopping to a list, eating lots of beans and not much steak, drinking wine only 3 nights a week), and our bills (electric, telephone, wood for fire, transport to work, petrol etc). We try to save enough each week to cover yearly one-offs like WOF / MOT on the car, car rego, contents insurance etc and some random costs like medical or dentists. We don't have sky, very rarely buy new clothes, never buy books or newspapers, hardly ever eat out or go to the cinema (our big Xmas treat was going to the cinema to see the new James Bond film). We can't afford to save anything for the future i.e. pensions etc, and we cannot afford any holidays - well we might stretch to a week camping in Central Otago but not anywhere overseas. Also big unexpected expenses (such as emergency dental treatment at $400 a pop or OTT car services) are really difficult to cover without using credit.

In reality Mr Rr also works and we have income from that but as its supply teaching it's not too reliable, so we are trying to live off my earnings alone, and use his for savings (holidays) and emergencies. It's working okay, but it took a bit of getting used to, budgeting for absolutely everything.

When we first came to NZ we had a joint income of over $105K pa and it was sweet. I would say that as a couple at $50K you can survive, at $75K you will be comfortable, and at $100 you can live a very nice lifestyle. Be aware though that 'average lifestyle' in NZ is very different to that of the UK and materially it is much poorer. If you are willing and able to adjust to that you'll be okay.

[Singel]

Hello Terry and Kristina

Welcome to the forum :raebanana

We are a couple in our 40ish.
Have a read of my thread on "Expenditure = Income" http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?p=79270#post79270

IMHO, the only financial that would affect your daily living in NZ, is the costs of rental or mortgage. Therefore, the challenge is to keep this major expenditure as low as possible.

Good Luck with your emigration process and move to NZ
:cheers

[willowshouse]

We will (hopefully) be based at Linton camp in Palmerston North

So will you be living in married quarters? That would make a big difference to your living expenses.

Maybe the army could help you out with some info .. put you in touch with another family on the camp so you could discuss your concerns. I'm sure they would rather do this than risk you being unhappy and leaving after a short time.

Good luck,
Dawn

[jess]

If you scroll down this thread (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9074) you'll see links to several threads on this topic and a cost of living calculator. Hope those are helpful. As has been said, it often depends on your own lifestyle. We get along just fine and manage to tuck a bit into savings on $60K NZD. We don't have kids, and we live about an hour from Palmy. We just need one car, which helps.

[dean1968]

Average weekly household expenditure in NZ was $888 in 2003/04, up from $765 in 2000/01. Around $46,200 a year. Using CPI base figure and you can work this out for 2007. Average annual household income was $60,433 in 2003/04, up 12.3 percent from 2000/01. USing CPI adjustment figures
(Sept 2004) 941 / 1007 sep 2006 = cost of living adjustment 1.07
By my calculations based on CPI for Sept 2006 around $49,023 for Average weekly household expenditure. Average annual household income in Sep 2006 $64,700.

Download 2006 Census data for personal incomes for Palmerston North table 11 http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-data/regional-summary-tables.htm

I think you will have to compromise and sacrifice a few luxuries. There was a recent artilce in the Sunday Times. Both his wife and him worked and there household income was $60,000 and they said they struggle to make ends meat. No money left over for maintenance of house or fixing the car.
If you have some assests behind you then you will be ok. IF you have no assets then buying a second hand car is the norm and having 20-30 year is typical of most average NZ families.

[dean1968]

I wanted to follow up on my earlier comment. Not knowing your financial situation - I would seriously suggest you seek expert financial advice. An accountant or financial planner who can take a cold hard look at reality regarding your personal circumstnances. You not only have to think of the short term picture but the bigger picture regarding retirement. Saving for your retirement will be essential. If you have a nest egg or some financial assets behind you then life will be a lot easier. If you read the earlier comments you will see that the salary is is just barely adequate. You will be treading water in my opinion at least staying afloat.

"The vast majority of Kiwis will retire poor. There's no two ways about it. The state superannuation currently pays $13,722 for a single person or $21,112 for a married couple. That's not a lot to live on. "It's a pittance," says economist Gareth Morgan, who recently wrote a book called Pension Panic. Only 3 per cent of the over 65s have an annual income of more than $50,000 according to Statistics New Zealand. By the way Gareth Morgan is a financial economics / commentator / guru who is the Father of the founder of internet company Trademe and also had a stake in the company; now been bought out for the value of NZ$700 million he is mega rich on that one investment alone.

Due to asset inflation in property, retirees are struggling with the low pension and paying for essenttial services. The govt has been generous and has given them a break with a $NZ500 subsidy to pay their rates. As you can see then retirement pension is barely adequate.

[Super_BQ]

The NZ gov't should consider raising the asset limit for the elderly who are looking into a retirement/home elderly care. Currently the asset limit is $160,000 before the gov't pays for the care. In any of the major cities in NZ, a house of that value can not be found. Don't count on moving move of the real estate assets in a trust as any sizeable amount will take 20 years go put into a trust (assuming you had $1 million in real estate assets).

Quite often elderly couples are forced into selling their homes as their major asset (their home) is valued far more than this threshold. The scenario would be much different if retired couples had passive income that generates monthly income (ie. dividends from the stock market, interest from term deposits, etc).

Unfortunately the typical case for most kiwis is they take on a 9 - 5 job career for most of their lives and by the time they reach retirement, there is no savings left to generate this 'passive income' or they've just paid off their only home. So don't count on any NZ super-annuation pension plan to save you from the cost of elderly care which is roughly $600 - $1000 a week depending where you live.

BQ

[Trigirl]

The NZ gov't should consider raising the asset limit for the elderly who are looking into a retirement/home elderly care. Currently the asset limit is $160,000 before the gov't pays for the care. In any of the major cities in NZ, a house of that value can not be found. Don't count on moving move of the real estate assets in a trust as any sizeable amount will take 20 years go put into a trust (assuming you had $1 million in real estate assets).

Quite often elderly couples are forced into selling their homes as their major asset (their home) is valued far more than this threshold.

I'm sure BQ already knows this and just thought it wasn't worth mentioning but many people when first looking at these rules fail to realise that couples are treated differently to individuals. If you are a couple (where only one of the couple is going into care) then your house and car can be excluded completely from the asset test. Obviously this is not the case when both of the couple are going into care. The assets limits go up by £10k a year.

Superannuation here is in fact a pittance. As it is pretty much everywhere. No two ways about it you are going to have to save for retirement.

[Nathan]

Don't count on moving move of the real estate assets in a trust as any sizeable amount will take 20 years go put into a trust (assuming you had $1 million in real estate assets).
BQ

Can you expound on this, please? If I understand, there's an annual limit in NZ on how much can be shifted into a trust. Is that correct?

Thanks.

(Sorry if we've drifted off topic!)

[eternalkiwi]

You can 'gift' up to $27,000 per year per person to a trust or person without paying any gift duty. Therefore a couple who jointly own assets can gift $54,000 per year without paying gift duty.
Off hand I think gift duty starts at 10 or 15% and increases as the value of the gift increases.

[felix]

Hi Everyone,

This is our first thread here and this is a little bit about us:

EOI - 12-12-06
ITA - 27-12-06
Job Offered by the NZ Army 01-12-06
Points - 110

Kristina and I are engaged to be married and hope to marry soon after we arrive in NZ. We have a friend in Papakura who is a minister and we hope she will do the deed for us. :raebanana

We are really excited but panic has set in with Kristina as she is worried that this is not a livable wage for the pair of us (after all this equates to approx £18700 in the UK), and because Kristina is coming out as my partner, she does not have a job yet. Also as this is both our second time around (Kristina is 50 and I am 43), to come out to NZ will take most of our savings and like she points out, this is something we can not afford to get wrong.

We will (hopefully) be based at Linton camp in Palmerston North, any replys would be much appriciated.

:roll

Thanks

Terry & Kristina

Brigg - UK

Hi there, we live in Palmy..its awesome, i agree with someone elses comments..if you have married quarters you should be ok. If you have to stump up rent or a mortgage on $50k you will be tight. From memory you will pay 22% on every cent up to $38k and about 34% on the rest...thus you can work out your earnings..i earn $47250 p/a ( thats for a 40hr week, but only do 20hrs a week) full time i would clear about $1450 a month. So I guess you will be close to $1600 ish a month? PM me if you wanna chat about Palmy, been here 2 years and adore the place. Kind regards, Dom.

[KerryS]

Hi there, we live in Palmy..its awesome, i agree with someone elses comments..if you have married quarters you should be ok. If you have to stump up rent or a mortgage on $50k you will be tight. From memory you will pay 22% on every cent up to $38k and about 34% on the rest...thus you can work out your earnings..i earn $47250 p/a ( thats for a 40hr week, but only do 20hrs a week) full time i would clear about $1450 a month. So I guess you will be close to $1600 ish a month? PM me if you wanna chat about Palmy, been here 2 years and adore the place. Kind regards, Dom.

Felix I think your maths is a bit off! If you earn $47k pa then your take home each month would be about $3000 (for 40 hours full time). On $52k it will obviously be more, I think after tax about $3200, at a guesstimate.