Simply can't afford to live in NZ

[Welshgirl]

?

BTW at no point did I make any reference to anyones intelligence. ?So please Welshgirl stop with the shit stirring!!!!!!!!!!!! ?If people have a strong belief then I dont consider them of low intelligence. ?Have you never heard of debate? ?It is were people have different opinions and discuss them, actually something quite common on forums..................strangley enough!!

Woah, steady on there gossage - it's one thing to lack a bit of tact in your first post, it's another matter when you start getting personal. What you actually said was that everyone on here was blinkered, implying to me that your opinion was everyone thinking of emigrating had not done their homework properly and was going to have a nasty shock when they got over here - I was attempting to defend our members, whom I'm sure have spent endless hours researching moving here, and would have been insulted that you called them blinkered.

And of course I have heard of debate, in actual fact we welcome friendly and good-natured debate on our forum, but, to my mind your comments were neither friendly nor good natured.

You're never going to fit in in NZ if you don't chill out a little gossage ?::)

Well, this isn't going too well, is it? ?:-?

[smiley=Tut_tut.gif]

Getting personal wont help anyone. ?I think there's several valid points being made from all concerned, so lets keep it at debate level shall we ?:)

[Dawn]

It seems to me that perhaps the kind of people that put more care into choosing the brand of their skin care products than they do into being polite and respectful to others may have their priorities a little skewiff, but that's only my opinion of course.

WG is right gossage, just try chilling out a bit, do some yoga, go for a hard run or set up a punch bag and hit and kick it REALLY hard, it'll help you to stay looking extremely attractive and it'll help you to de-stress.

I'm out [smiley=White_flag.gif] The basic good manners line has been crossed, intelligent debate does not include insult throwing and name calling, the perpetrator will only find themselves mistrusted and on the defensive.

[gossage]

Haven't been on here for a while but having just returned from NZ thought I would share my thoughts.

Spent 3 weeks over there to activate my PR. ?Really like parts especially Christchuch and hated others. ?But the major thing I have noticed is the low wages yet high cost of living. ?I had an interview for a scientists jobs while over there and was shocked to hear the wage was $50k this is too low to live on. ?I just don't see how people survive. ?The general feel I got while there was that people in NZ dont have savings, many dont even have pensions, they are in serious debt and couldnt even consider a holiday abroad!

I know people say you move to NZ for the life style but surely you need some money to enjoy that life style. ?It takes money to travel to the beach or the park etc. ?I am not looking to live in a mansion or have millions in the bank but I am also not looking to live on the bread line. ?It is such a shame that it looks like I will not be able to move to NZ due to the poor wages and high living costs.

I will have to take somewhere in the region of a 12-14k wages cut yet housing costs (rents) over there are higher than the UK and food is about the same. ?I have seen a job that will give me $777/wk income but after rent of $400/wk I just dont see how I can make $377 feed, cloth and insure me and two kids. ? The maths simply dont add up or am I missing something?

Can anyone shed any light on this for me....................insurance costs, utilities etc

Where anywhere in this posting did I lack tact? As far a 'blinkered', I meant inspite of 'knowing' NZ's faults people still think it is great. I would never assume someone to be so unintelligent as to not research something that are talking about or somewhere they move to. So no not an insult at all!!!

I have never been personality insulting to anyone. I did say that my opinion to Dawns reply was that it was nonesense. But I really dont consider that insulting. But I do find it insulting that I am wrongly accused of implying people are lacking in intelligence on this site. I actually think that because I have stated that I like to have nice things and in the UK can afford them, some people have attacked me for this.

And Dawn as for being unpolite..................when. By asking someone to stop shit stirring? You have made a few sarcastic comments to me and I have replied back. But I dont like having words put in my mouth!! If I wanted to say that I thought people on here were, I would simply say that, but I didnt because I dont.

I started this to give my OPINION and have been attacked for it by a 'few' people. With regard WG to my comments not being friendly or good natured...............what are you talking about? You mean they are not pro New Zealand! When I first came on this site I started a thread about tax credits and was again attacked (although later apologised to) as some kind of free loader. Basically my experience on this site has not been very good.

[Welshgirl]

Oh, so many things to reply to in your post gossage, but I will keep it short as I believe this thread needs to come to an end.

I believe that you questioned whether I knew what 'debate' was - I throw the same question back to you. People, such as yourself, give their opinion/s and opinion/s are returned - sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing. After your original post, I think you will find that some people did agree with some of what you said and voiced their opinions, and some people disagreed with some of what you said and voiced their opinions - a debate. Nobody is 'attacking' you.

Moving on, if people know NZ's faults but still think it is great (as is your opinion), surely this just means that they are prepared to see NZ, warts 'n' all, as it really is, and yet are still prepared to live there. That's not blinkered and it doesn't necessarily mean they do not know any of the bad points - ask any of our members and I'm sure they will be able to tell you several downsides of NZ.

Finally, the fact that your comments were not pro-NZ had nothing whatsoever to do with what I said to you. We're not trying to sell NZ here, there's nothing in it for us! This site is about impartial, balanced advice from people who want to come here, people who are already here, people who have been here on holiday and people who want to come back - in fact, anybody with something to say.

Let's agree to disagree gossage and start afresh ?[smiley=White_flag.gif]

[Pulsarblu]

I totally agreed we start afresh.

Please make up....and share the impartial views.

[moggy]

Free 2 week full time business course for new migrants

[/quote]

Hey moggy, where you get that? I have been searching for ages. What is the program name?

Pulsarblu
[/quote]
The one I have been doing is run by Christchurch Small Business Enterprise Centre, they get government funding to run the course. I saw it advertised in Job Week a free job newspaper.
I don't know who will run them in your area, but I am sure if you contacted the Christchurch place they will be able to put in touch with other places.

[ExPat]

My wife and I visited most of the major New Zealand areas last year: Auckland, Rotorua, Wellingon, Christchurch, Queenstown. We fell in love with Christchurch but we quickly realized that living in NZ would simply be too expensive. I wrote a few posts about it but couldn't find them on the forum.

Housing was expensive, Dining out/Food was expensive, Taxation is ridiculous (40%) of income above 60k if I recall correctly.

It seems more people are finding this out and coming to the same conclusion but no one seems to be asking WHY everything is so expensive.

A recent article noted that 70% of income goes toward mortgage payments in NZ and everyone complains that the government should do more. Really? it's governments job to control housing costs?

From what we could see, the entire country is in a malaise and everyone expects government to solve the problem and perhaps that's part of the reason for NZ's troubles.

We may someday move to NZ but in the meantime, we'll make some real $$$ in the US so when that day comes, we can live comfortably in NZ and not struggle on NZ salaries.

I've never figured out the whole 'blame the government for high housing prices' thing. It's estate agents that push the prices up for higher commissions! All the govt can do is increase the interest rate to price people out of buying houses, but no doubt they'd be wrong for doing that too.

Some things in NZ are expensive, some things are not. Most high costs can be part way explained by the small economy. 300 million US residents buying power is far superior to 4 million kiwis!

We've been here over 2 years now, and we've pretty much found that affording to live in NZ is a matter of finding a different balance to what you're used to, not simply going without. We were never well off in the UK, and are more or less in the same situation here.

The well kept secret of NZ is entrepreneurship (if thats even a word!). You check out the stats on how many kiwis run their own business, compared to other OECD countries. What you also dont see unless you're 'on the ground' is how many kiwis have a side line, which doesnt show up in govt statistics. As Paul said earlier, if you want to live in NZ, you've got to make your own opportunities, because thats the difference between an average life here, or a great one.

[ExPat]

We keep an eye on this board and the NZ Herald for the hope of reading the following headline: NEW ZEALAND HOUSING PRICES DROP 50%

Once that happens, we'll start on ITA!