Finances

[river]

I'm trying to work out how much income we'd need to live on, and run 2 cars, nothing too fancy as that's the reason for the move,
I've ran a business for 10 years and want a life with family and some spare time. I'll be loooking at bringing $1.6m NZ (depending on exchange rate) with us when we arrive with wife plus 4 kids 2,3,9,12, so are looking to buy house, no mortgage and have good investment start, (probably living off interest for a while whilst I search for a job). Anyone with 4 kids knows how much they cost.

[Glenda]

Hi River,

Snap!!! :icon_biggrin:

Think we are in a similar position. Hubby own business for 10 years, 4 kids - 5,8,11 and 13. We are going over on the Investor visa and hope to live on the income whilst looking for a more active means of making an income. :icon_biggrin:

Hoping to get $50-60,000 p.a. from the investment, though we have not yet worked out what bank accounts to put it in or what tax will have to be paid. :icon_confused: From what I gather from other emigrants, it should be enough to live on without a mortgage unless you live an expensive lifestyle. Though from our experience having your own business and four kids does tend to make one frugal. :icon_rolleyes:

Of course it depends where you are going to live as to how much you will have to spend out on a house. We are planning to 'rough it out' in a rental and have a house built, probably a five-bed one, so we will probably end up spending $400-$600,000 on a house, car and bits and pieces.

Whereabouts in NZ are you looking at?

Glenda.

[river]

Hi Glenda

can't believe someone else is in a similar position especially the 4 kids!!! On location, we're not decided, initially we've thought about Auckland but the rain may be an issue even though it would be warm rain. Canterbury area, probably for us has the most to offer for accesibility to the scenic areas and the ski fields being close are a bonus. The climate here from what I know is drier but a little cooler which is OK. The research issue is becoming a bit of an obsession (is everyone like this)? How about you on location?
5 beds is a must with 4 kids, but I don't know about the frugal bit, 4 kids tend to eat into everything. Though the expensive lifestyle we've done, fancy cars, big house, etc, we can do without, so we know we're in for a reality check when we eventually get there and probably a huge culture shock. We've not thought about building, but it's a good option. Like you rent 1st then buy.
A good investment info site is: http://www.shareinfo.co.nz/sipages/deposit.php this gives links to all rates depending on how long you want to leave your money for or simply spread it if you need access. Twice as much as the UK, but for how long???
Our main concern is schooling and getting the right area as we'd like a bit of land but the down side is you're not as close to society. Not decided on this either.
Ideally it'd be great not to work for a while, as the last 10 years of hard slog 10-12 hours a day have taken their toll, (my wife thinks I want to be full time athelete, I wish, but she is half right).
More internet searching for some time yet I guess, it's good to get some feed back.

River

[Glenda]

Hi River,

We looked at Christchurch and Nelson before deciding on the Bay of Islands. I think we're getting a bit soft :icon_redface: ... and prefer the warm rain to cold and frosts. :icon_lol:

We have decided it would be better to live within the community rather than out, even if it means having less land, as we feel it is important in a new country for the kids (and us) to mix rather than be isolated. A lot of kiwis live where there is work, schools and services and have a lifestyle block or beach hut (bach) which they 'hang out' in and possibly rent out for additional income - we would agree with the sense in that! ::):

Many thanks for that link to deposit accounts. ::): We are really going to have to think about this and do some searches to find out more about the companies we are handing our money over to. I've done a quick check on two already and find one has only just been set up and the other has problems with one of its group subsideries. It just may be that one of the main banks/building societies will be the ones we go for. We'll see.

Know what you mean about the searching ... it does get obsessional, but is very very necessary. :icon_rolleyes: :icon_lol:

Glenda.

[isv]

Hi River / Glenda,

Just thought I'd let you both know we're in exactly the same position as you. Only three kids though (14, 11, 8)!

Similar ambitions - slow down a bit, become a bit more thrifty and use our capital to kick-start "something different" (I'm in IT currently).

Our main concern is education. I've spent a huge amount of time looking in to this. We will be taking the private route and our decision to locate in Christchurch was largely affected by choice of schools.

Our initial preferences for location were Bay-of-Islands, Nelson and Christchurch! B-O-I didn't work for us due to schooling and (for us) lack of things to do. I soon came to the conclusion that proximity to one of the major cities was going to be a big issue for us and hence Christchurch became 'obvious'. Combination of beaches, skiing, schooling together with four seasons a year did it for me...

Now just waiting for the exchange rate to improve...!

Alan.

[Glenda]

Hi Alan,

Nice to see great minds think alike!!! :icon_wink:

Education was important to us also. Our experience of private schooling in the UK has not been so good - it was more of a case of making sure your child was 'mixing with the right people' rather than providing a good learning atmosphere. Our two eldest went through private before going onto high school, the third now goes to a good state school with the youngest. There are some really impressive looking private schools in Christchurch and we do love the city, but we do feel we have to be thrifty and are aiming for state schools with very good education reports. We have an 'academically-gifted' eldest child and hope to send him to the local private school.

Yes ... waiting for that exchange rate ... have seen the historical graphs and the forecast graphs .... it does seem that it will get better June to September time ... but then ...

:icon_biggrin:

Alan

we're not going the private route for schooling but any tips on good state schools for our brood would be welcome in the Christchurch area. Any tips on good areas would also be welcome (from anyone). Is it right that you able to have the choice of where to send (this is my next area of intelligence gathering) your kids even if your not in the ctchment area?

River

[quote:a1e242e5c4="Glenda"]Hi Alan,

Nice to see great minds think alike!!! :icon_wink:

Education was important to us also. Our experience of private schooling in the UK has not been so good - it was more of a case of making sure your child was 'mixing with the right people' rather than providing a good learning atmosphere. Our two eldest went through private before going onto high school, the third now goes to a good state school with the youngest. There are some really impressive looking private schools in Christchurch and we do love the city, but we do feel we have to be thrifty and are aiming for state schools with very good education reports. We have an 'academically-gifted' eldest child and hope to send him to the local private school.

Yes ... waiting for that exchange rate ... have seen the historical graphs and the forecast graphs .... it does seem that it will get better June to September time ... but then ...

:icon_biggrin:[/quote:a1e242e5c4]

Hi Glenda,

I hope my earlier post didn't seem like I was suggesting that B-O-I would only suit people who didn't care about education. It was the relative lack of private schooling there that put me off.

Thing is... I'm not a natural supporter of private education... but when we started our family and took a look at the local primary school we made an instant decision to avoid sending our first child there - going private was the only way of doing that. So... 14 years on we have three kids who have all benefited tremendously from a fantastic local independent school and it has been a ???huge??? investment.

I know this might sound contentious to many but as a result my kids are academically/sporting so far in front of the average UK state educated child that I am loath to throw away that advantage at this stage and hence decided to stay in the private sector. Incidently private schools are a *lot* cheaper in NZ - a result of a generally lower cost of staff etc. together with state subsidies etc.

Were I able to wind the clock back and living in NZ with a young child entering their first school then I doubt the private route would be necessary. In general state schools seem far better than in the UK AND the government publish all the stats you need to make a decision about which area to live in to ensure you are in the right catchment area for the 'best' schools. Still plenty of crap state schools though but I doubt the average UK migrant is going to be living in any of relevant catchment areas.

BTW - another reason why we went for Christchurch over B-O-I/Nelson was proximity of shops etc. Although Kerikeri is a really lovely place I figured that if I couldn't find something we needed locally then it was going to be a long drive south to Whangarei and Auckland every few weeks.

Alan.

Hi Alan,

Trust me - I am not put out or het up or on the offensive or defensive about anything you've said. :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: Hope you're not either! :icon_wink: We know all the angst and emotion about private-v-state education. :icon_rolleyes: It is just that the private school we sent our kids to was OK for two/three years and then went downhill with a new headmaster. In our case, sending our kids from private to good state did not make much difference to the quality of their education, but I am pretty sure their education would have been better at a private school in a different area.

Yes, private education is cheaper in NZ, though if earning NZ$ it could be a little expensive. Kerikeri has one small private school and it will cost us just $1400 a term to send our eldest there. We don't know how long it will be before we will be bringing in the income we are accustomed to. Four kids in private at ?1400 a term is $22,400 - probably half our income from the investment. Of course, if the kids do not like their NZ state school, we will move them to private and dip into some other capital.

I do know what you mean about travelling to Whangarei or Auckland for shopping choices. :icon_frown: My youngest is allergic to dairy and I have yet had to do a search as to how I am to get him non-dairy stuff in the BoI. Isn't life [i:9dd9077ee7]fun?[/i:9dd9077ee7]

:icon_biggrin:

Hi Guys,
If you want to know what the schools are like in NZ, go to the Education Review Office website (http://www.ero.govt.nz), and search for the schools in your area (Under the link for 'Reports' you will see 'Search')

If you just type in the city name you would like to move to, it will bring up the whole list of schools in that area. Take a look at the decile rating for the school, and take a read through the report. Decile ratings are from 1 to 10 (10 being the best, 1 being worst).

You'll find that in a few places, some state schools out-perform private ones. A state school near us has a decile rating of 10 (and 2 others close by have a 7 and 8 respectively), out performing EVERY private school in the area!!

I should point out, decile rating is the measure of how 'wealthy' the school/zone is. It doesnt necassarily mean the school performs well, which is why you should read the rest of the report, but higher decile schools generally have better performance to match.

Somthing to think about.....