affordability???????????????

Well, we'd be happy driving a battered old car, we do here and we aren't the sort that drinks alot, we dont smoke, partners a builder, we can buy a cheap house and renovate, like i say, we aren't materialistic?? :icon_confused: Do you think we can make it??

This subject cropped up on the old forum and was answered by a kiwi now living in London. She said that being on $60,000 was like being on about ?25-30,000 in the UK. So from that, I would guess that being on $45000 would be like being on about ?15-20 in the UK.

Of course, being on ?20,000 in the UK varies wildly on standard of living, depending on where you live. In London, you'd be practically living on the streets with that kind of income, whereas where I live, ?20,000 will get you a mortgage good enough for a sensible house in an ok area, with a car and a night out a week!

So really speaking, you need to research the area you are moving to. If you're off to Auckland, then you want to be earning much more than $45,000, but if you lived in a less populated area where house prices are lower, along with living costs such as rates etc, then you should be fine. If you look at the area guide on this site, you will see the official average income as of 2002 recorded by the national statistics office of New Zealand. Every single area has this information on it, if nothing else. Bearing in mind that these stats include people without incomes, which naturally lowers the average considerably, I would estimate that if you take the average figure and add $25,000 to the total, that will give you a good guide as to how much you'd want to be living on, for that specific area.

Phew, take a breath now!

Thankyou Taffy, that helps alot, just one more query though.... if you live in Auckland , surely the wages would reflect the cost of living? possibly not but can you expect a higher than average wage in Auckland?

Lisa :icon_confused:

The average wage IS higher in Auckland than other centers, however I am not sure if that is owing to higher wages for the same position than other regions, or more highly paid jobs around.

However you certinaly will never starve, nor will you have to "go without". There are many people living on much less, and still happy. Hey if worst comes to worst, its still free to go to the beach and hike in the hills :)

[Lisa]

[quote:aa7622cb36="netchicken"] Hey if worst comes to worst, its still free to go to the beach and hike in the hills :)[/quote:aa7622cb36]
The FREE outdoor life you mention, the spectaclar, breathtaking scenery, it's what keeps me going, i'm sure we'll manage, i plan to grow my own fruit and veg too, going to get some fishing rods, just try to get back to basics. I'm sure we'll manage ::): ::):

[Fern]

Hi Lisa, just caught this thread and thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
I've lived and had to feed two kids here in NZ and your post got me wondering what the average household income was, so I've done a dig through some Govt stats, and the average income is $1200 per week per household, I reckon we could live on that pretty comfortably including a $400 per week mortgage, quite a bit less if we budgeted. Energy (electric, gas and petrol) has been going up a lot lately and is eating up a lot of extra $ in our household. I probably spend about $300 per week on food, but I don't really budget. If you had a garden, or got veges from the market and watched things you could probably feed 4 for about $200 pw.

The highest wages are in Wellington, second Auckland, then Waikato, which is weird because the houses are more expensive in Auckland.
Go figure :icon_confused:

Hope that helps.

cheers.

[Lisa]

Hi Fern

Thankyou for taking the time to dig up those figures, they are very helpful and will give us something to work from, we have to live off one wage for the first year as my little boy will be just four when we arrive, when he starts school, if things are tight, I could always get part time work, I would rather not put him in childcare if i can help it, but it's a last resort if necessary.
Thanks again.

Lisa ::):

Hmmm, be careful about "average" income statistics.

Because there is not a bell curve in distribution, the average is often well over what the majority of people earn. Its skewed by a few very high wages.

For example I remember reading that the average wage in Christchurch was $35000, made by about 70% of the population. (These are not accurate stats but just an indication).

I would be inclined to think that $35 - $45K would be the real average. Yet that is for all catagories, when you may only be thinking of skills and professional positions.

Yes Netchicken I know what you mean about averages, that's why I was pleasantly surprised, we don't earn the average wage in this country, I can't remember what it is off hand but I know we don't come close, also we dont live in an average house in the UK, last check it was 152,000, again we fall below that, so I guess we are used to getting by which made me think we should be able to get by in NZ, I hope i'm not too far off the mark that's all. :icon_neutral:

Lisa

Try this website- www.emigratenz.org
If you look through it there is a questionnaire where you can put in dtails about the lifestyle you are after and it will work out what you would need to earn in nzdollars. I have compared it with other info. and it is a good guideline. Definitely less stealth taxes in NZ so easier to work out what you need.