Salary required for a comfortable living in Auckland

[pereira]

Dear members,

Hope I can get some advice from you all,
I'm working on my visa application, and aim to land in NZ later this year to Hunt for a job, then once settled get my wife and daughter there too a few months later.

Since Auckland seems to be the place where most of the good Jobs are I would like to know what kind of a salary would be fit for a comfortable living in Auckland with my family...

Things to consider:

- Renting at least a 2 BHK (non leaky) home not necessarily in central Auckland but even a 30-40 min commute away would be ok
- Required appliances that go with the house (heat pumps, air cons etc)
- Water & Electricity for the above
- TV, internet, phone
- Life insurance, medical insurance etc.
- A fairly decent conditioned used car (with fairly decent mileage considering commute)
- Weekly/Monthly stocking of groceries
- Eating out once a week with family
- Weekend trip probably once a month with family

What kind of an annual salary package would be needed to match these requirements and then put away some for savings as well.

Please advise if I may have overlooked any of the expenses involved.

Thanks!

[Sun777]

It depends on your field of work, experience and skill sets. You might want to use below link for some indication:
http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.html


Here are some answers for rough estimates:

- Renting at least a 2 BHK (non leaky) home not necessarily in central Auckland but even a 30-40 min commute away would be ok

$300-$450 per week

- Required appliances that go with the house (heat pumps, air cons etc)

Depends on the make and model (try looking for Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, Briscoes, The Warehouse

- Water & Electricity for the above

Depends on climate
Water $40-$80 per month
Electricity $130-$300 per month

- TV, internet, phone

$85 for Sky
$110 for Internet, Phone & Mobile (standard usage within allowed bundle)

- Life insurance, medical insurance etc.

No idea

- A fairly decent conditioned used car (with fairly decent mileage considering commute)

$8000-$15000

- Weekly/Monthly stocking of groceries

$300-$500

- Eating out once a week with family

$300-$400

- Weekend trip probably once a month with family

Depends if you travel by road/Air and destination. Air tickets are expensive during public holidays unless you are quick to buy tickets on discounted prices

[pereira]

Thanks Sun777,

for taking time to provide the information and advice...

$110 for Internet, phone & mobile sounds really nice!

Although the eating out at $300-400 surely seems to be on the higher side. Will have to go easy on that.

Also, I have looked around some information that talks about school donations in govt funded schools, any idea on what kind of amount of donations will I be expected to pay.

[dharder]

Also, I have looked around some information that talks about school donations in govt funded schools, any idea on what kind of amount of donations will I be expected to pay.

Between nothing and a few hundred dollars a year, each school sets its own amount.

Daniela

[batgirl1001]

Generally speaking, the higher the decile, the more you are expected to 'donate'. It's one thing to ask for a salary that 2+1 family can survive on 'comfortably' but it is quite another to actually get it. Someone once asked about a $1000 p/w after tax and whether it is sufficient for living (in Christchurch I believe) and it has been noted that you would be okay but it wouldn't be a flash life.

I have to agree that is the case because we wouldn't be able to survive on that in Auckland (though we are by no means leading extravagant lifestyles) but we do have the perrenial trips during holidays and outings on weekends.

[AntonescuM]

Thank you Sun, that is a great link/tool (http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.html).

As a remark, for me, it is strange/new that everything(rent/costs) are calculated / week. Here (east EU) everything is mostly calculated / month, even the income/salary ).

[girlwithanewf]

As a remark, for me, it is strange/new that everything(rent/costs) are calculated / week. Here (east EU) everything is mostly calculated / month, even the income/salary ).

Here salaries are often paid every two weeks.

[pereira]

Thank you Daniela & batgirl

[pereira]

It's one thing to ask for a salary that 2+1 family can survive on 'comfortably' but it is quite another to actually get it.

Agree batgirl but getting some figures out, helps to put things into perspective... As for the 'actually getting it', that's completely in the hands of the person in concern

[naplios]

Hi Pereira, you can refer to this linkage to learn about the school donation in NZ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Fees_in_New_Zealand

Generally speaking, the donation vary from schools to schools, the range is from $20-$800/yr. And the donation requested by secondary schools is usually more than that of primary schools.