Cost of Living NZ vs UK

[Bluefox]

All

No doubt this is a topic that is discussed long and hard - but one that is always relevant.

My OH and I live in the UK, I have been made an offer from a company based in Wellington.

The point is that the offer is someway off my current package and would mean upto 35% decrease in base salary.

So, all you folk from the UK who have moved out to NZ - I would love to hear your comments around the costs of everyday product in comparison to the UK. I currently live in the Midlands.

Specifically, I'm interested in costs of Fuel and Energy, Food, Leisure (Cinema, Theater, Eating Out), Clothing (esp. Children's), Car and House prices - anything else thats important to you.

The HR bod looking after my application keeps telling me as an accountant I can not expect to earn close to what I earn in the UK partially because of the Cost of Living, partially strong £ in reference to the $ and differences in the recruitment market.

Thanks in advance.

John

[Dave in NZ]

Hi,
This may help for starters
http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML
There are various threads on here if you type in cost of living in the search then that should give you an idea.

Kind regards

Dave and Caroline

[Familyofmonkeys]

There is alot of rumour that wages are about 2/3 of UK salary as cost of living is also 2/3.....believe this with a pinch of salt. While some things are loads cheaper, other things are way more expensive...depends on how you spend you money. If you have a look at many of the recent threads on this forum about costs of living etc, you will see that many people here are financially worse off due to lower salary, but it is compensated for by better lifestyle compared to UK. If that is what you are looking for then great, but if your move is purely financial, I would think again.

While a lower salary may not be an issue in some areas of NZ, and house prices are very low compared to UK, in Auckland or Wellington etc, prices are not that cheap and interest rates are higher. It also depends on how much money you are bringing over with you, and therefore what size morgage you would need here.

I am also from midlands, and brought over a reasonable sum of money from house sale. We have family of 5, one decent wage coming in and are managing just fine .

Someone else pointed out here on a recent thread about bank charges, that everything here in NZ is negotiable........could you possibly negotiate better salary. Perhaps with some comparative evidence e.g. house prices or morgage as a proportion of salary etc?

[incredible hulse]

Personally think that if you earn twice your UK package (ie 50k uk to 100k nzd), and lived a similar way you would have similar amounts each month. We personally (family of 4) require approx 3-3.5k nzd per month excluding mortgage

[Jameelka]

We thought before we moved here that NZ would be cheaper than the UK, it does depend on alot of factors ofcourse, but for us it is more expensive than what we thought.
Even just my regular food shopping is more, can't say we are extravogant with anything, with the day to day costs in general our wages just get swallowed up!
It's very different living here to coming on holiday, and even renting to buying.
If u don't have a big mortgage then it will make a big difference.
Good luck what ever u decide.

[eternalkiwi]

For experienced accountants I would expect you would earn more in the UK than in NZ, though NZ salaries are rising.

You can check the Hayes & NZICA websites which have some information on salary ranges.

Typical ranges in Wellington are:
Graduate roles are typically NZD$35-40,000
Recent CA qual (3yrs+) NZD$60-80,000
5-10 years experience NZD$70-120,000

The exact salary is dependent on your background and experience.
While experienced accountants are in short supply in NZ, though many employers are still cautious on employing someone currently overseas.

You are welcome post here or PM me with any questions on the Wellington Accounting market.

Shawn

[Nathan]

I've followed this discussion on this and other forums. It's pretty clear that there is no 'one size fits all' answer. The income differential depends on your own situation, and your outgo differential depends on your own needs, priorities, and habits.

There is, however, a plethora of financial information on this forum. "Avalon's money thread" is a good place to start. And then there are all of the followup threads which you can find using the search engine at the top of the page.

Good luck!