need some more info before we get really serious about emigr

Sandie Perks · Testing The Water Joined: 29 Dec 2003 Posts: 4

Hi all, just wondered if anyone could help us on our way with a few queries we have? We have a lovely 5 year old. We want something a bit different to what we have now - safety for our daughter but also some fun, outdoor life, skiing, more money to enjoy our life etc.

My husband is an engineer coming out of the royal navy with experience as naval engineer, fitter and turner, refrigeration and will also have qualifications as project manager. I am a registered nurse, midwife and have worked as a health visitor for 7 or 8 years. We don't particularly want to work full-time so we can enjoy our life. We will have no mortgage and around £250k to buy a house (thought about Christchurch). We will have his pension of £500 monthly.

Does this sound feasible/possible? Have you others used a relocation service? Any tips? Drawbacks? We are just at the stages of deciding why we want to do this and really like the idea of the lifestyle but don't want to be making backwards steps to more work and more stress for a prolonged period of time.

Any help greatly appreciated.Many thanks, Sandie

JCM · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 9:46 pm Post subject:

Hi Sandie,

£250k (NZ$680k or so) will buy a fantastic house in Christchurch. You'll be able to find a really good house for much less.

Even if you don't have a mortgage to pay and even if you're living a fairly frugal lifestyle, £500 per month (about NZ$16,500 per annum) is not enough to get by on. To make things worse, the NZ govt does not give you a tax-free allowance so they will deduct 19.5% from the $16,500. (The upside is, if you're working, there is no national insurance to pay here.)

I would think that working part-time as a nurse (say half normal hours) plus your husband's pension will give you enough money to get by on in terms of a fairly simple, scaled down lifestyle but not for any luxuries.

Buying a house for $300 - $400k and buying one or more properties to rent out with the remainder of your cash would enhance your income considerably, but then all of your money would be tied up in NZ and mostly in the NZ housing market. I'm sure any good financial adviser would advise against putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Just some thoughts.

rodders · Valued Member Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 134

interesting stuff. would jcm or anyone like to venture what's the absolute minimum you can get by on for parents + 2 kids in christchurch? or any other places?

yours frugally