.
So many conflicting stories and articles at the moment about how people are/aren't coping financially in NZ. I wonder what the magic ingredient is. 
Working poor struggling to make ends meet
By AMANDA MORRALL - The Press | Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Kate and Dean Fleming need no reminder that putting money aside for the future is difficult – their savings account has been empty for a while.
Week to week, the young couple struggle to get by, sticking tightly to a well-crafted budget.
Yesterday's report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) lamenting New Zealand's pitiful savings rate and slipping standard of living came as no surprise to the Flemings.
"I don't know how some families manage. We're living on an average income and we're just getting by," Fleming, mother to a five-month-old son, said.
According to the OECD report, the Flemings are far from alone.
New Zealand's national savings rate is among the lowest of OECD countries. Income is a contributing factor.
Out of 30 countries, New Zealand's national income per capita ranks 22nd, ahead only of Korea, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Mexico and Turkey.
More
here .