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Thread: American perspectives on overall cost of living in NZ?

  1. #1
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    Default American perspectives on overall cost of living in NZ?

    I'm pondering what it will mean financially for our family to move to NZ. I've seen a lot of discussion about how people find the cost of living in NZ to be generally more expensive than that in the US. However, I wonder if people feel the positive effect of no longer having to pay large health insurance premiums each month or frantically save for a child's higher education. My impression is that the costs of higher education in NZ are not nearly what they can be here - I was horrified to learn from a co-worker that her daughter's education at Duke University costs $50k/year! I assume if you're not having to scrimp and save for your child's education from the time they're born then you might have more disposable income.

    We would not move to NZ expecting it to be just like the US in terms of shopping, housing etc. I'm just wondering if the higher costs are balanced out by other aspects of life there. What do you think?

  2. #2
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    Feb 2009
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    Not an easier answer to this often asked question. I'll give you a few of my thoughts (we recently moved from Colorado to Wellington).

    In a nutshell; some things are cheaper, some things are more expensive.

    Good wine is much cheaper, sometimes this is too good!

    Cars - More expensive than what we're used to, but this was expected.
    Housing - More expensive, but again, expected. This will also really vary based on where you're coming from. If people come from popular areas within the US there is a chance that housing will be cheaper in NZ, though people will question the quality. We've just purchased a 60's brick house, has insulation, heating, the only thing missing to make it really comfortable (I think) is double glazed windows.
    Food - Hard to say as we really just buy what we need, when we need it. Some will say food is more expensive, but it sounds like once you work out how to shop (in season produce etc) that it should be pretty similar.
    Gas - More expensive, but there's no way around it. I ride the train each day, so the car just gets me to the station. Our new house is walking distance to the train station.
    Daycare - Cheaper than in the US, but again may really vary depending on where people move from.
    Clothes/Shoes - In general they're more expensive but after you learn where you like to shop and which stores have (very frequent) sales its not as bad as you'll initially think.
    Internet - More expensive, not as fast and no unlimited data plans. Again, expected and we have a 100gig plan.
    TV - Would be more expensive but we use Freeview and are used to the reduced number of channels.
    Cell-phones - More expensive, but everyone here texts, after you get used to it (was pretty annoying at first) it can be cheap. I use a $20/month prepay plan that gets me about what I need.

    Regarding your comments on health insurance and education: Its been a while since I was in school but I wouldn't necessarily think tertiary education in NZ is cheaper than the US, especially if you're using in-state education. Of course US private schools etc will be more expensive but thats not really the norm is it. You need to make sure you're making an apples to apples comparison if the cost of education is a major factor in moving.
    We're still investigating health insurance. My daughter has a very reare disease and most of her treatment was covered by insurance in the US, but no all, and we had to pay out of pocket for prescription foods which added up. In NZ all her testing/prescriptions etc are covered by the healthcare service. You will still continute to pay for doctor visits and prescriptions, so understand that the 'free' healthcare is not exactly free.

    You also want to take into account your income. Our expenses have gone up (on raw dollar amounts) but so has our income. While somethings might seem more expense, you may have more money to pay for them.

    Overall it might be a little more expensive to live here, but we didn't move here to save money, we moved so we could be close to the family, and that is priceless!

  3. #3
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    It really does depend on your comparison points. Someone coming from Manhattan in New York or the Bay Area of California, for instance, may find New Zealand to be reasonably priced. It also depends, of course, on the other end of the comparison: housing in Auckland is much, much more expensive, for example, than housing in the wop-wops. With that in mind (and with five years in Christchurch under our belts), I'll offer the following generalizations:

    Almost everything here is more expensive, sometimes shockingly so. For what we paid for our OK home here in Christchurch, we could be the owners of a much higher quality home on a much bigger section back in most parts of the US. I'm not whinging, mind you. It is what it is. We paid much more for our first two-year old car than the same car would have cost new in the US. Groceries are expensive but you quickly learn to eat what's in season and to stock up when items are on sale. In fact, looking for sales - and being willing to bargain - is a part of life here. My favored ASICS Kayano running shoes cost double or more in NZ than they do in the US (so I buy them in the US and have people carry or send them over). I disagree that wine is cheaper. The NZ labels sold at Binnie's in Chicago are priced lower than they are here. With that said, wine is still reasonably priced and with access to the cool climate wines of NZ and the warm climate wines of Australia, one is spoiled for choice. Better quality European and American wines are astonishingly expensive.

    What's less expensive in New Zealand? Insurance is steal compared to the US (even after the hefty post-earthquake bumps here in Christchurch). That's about it. Universities are reasonably priced (tuition and other fees are listed on their websites) but, as mentioned by the poster above, probably no more so than an in-state universities in the US. Keep in mind, as well, that the tax bite here is also bigger (again, it depends on your point of comparison); unlike the US, there are no deductions and you pay tax on the first dollar earned.

    So... a grim picture? Hardly. We've got the mountains with tramping and skiing an hour or so to the west and the beach 20 minutes to the east. We know all of our neighbors, all of whom are thoughtful, friendly and kind. Our kids are thriving both in school and at sport. There is very little "keeping up with the Joneses" and people are generally satisfied with their lot in life.

    Good luck with your pondering.

  4. #4
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    I make about half what I made in the US; and my wife has stopped working, so our combined income is about a third of what it was before we moved. Although everything is more expensive, I would feel incredibly wealthy if our NZ income was similar to our US. You will drive an older car than you are used to, and you'll start thinking: "A lightly used mattress is just as good as new"...our biggest change has been avoiding restaurants and drinking cheaper wine.

    PS: Wine is more expensive across all price points. You can buy sub $10 wines in the supermarket, and many are not awful...but they would be sub $5 bottles at Trader Joes. At the higher end, it is just ridiculous.

  5. #5
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    We have traveled there three times for 4, 6, and 2 weeks respectively. We tried diligently hard to find anything cheaper and failed. Not that that is a deal breaker for us but we also don't believe on putting on rose tinted glasses. New Zealand has many plusses but at the end of the day it is a very remote island (good thing) and that makes prices go up. I own several restaurants here in the US and loved the NZ wines but try as I might the kiwis will pay nearly double for the exact same bottle of wine than we will in the US because of their liquor taxes. We are going to NZ (if they accept our business visa app) to do a brewpub and the taxes on alcohol are daunting but it is not a deal breaker. We are going to NZ because the government is less controlled by the mega corporations like Monsanto, it is not the international war machine that the US is, I like the ratio of population to arable land, we like the climate and geography, and lastly we feel we can provide a healthy and sound future for our children and selves there. We would not consider it if we would be on a bare bones budget however and I think from reading the unhappy kiwi migration experiences it nearly all relates to being on a very tight budget. Just my $.02USD....or .$10 in NZD

  6. #6
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    I moved back to NZ last December after living in the U.S. for years. I'm single and in my early 60's so my experience will be completely different from that of a young family moving to NZ. Also, as someone else pointed out, much depends on where you lived in the U.S. and where you plan to live in NZ. But for me, it has been a really good move.

    I sold my house in N. Arizona and bought a very comparable house in the Bay of Islands for a little less than what I sold for in the U.S. I even have a peek of the sea! I couldn't come close to having a sea view in the western U.S. for the price I paid in NZ. New cars are definitely more expensive in NZ but I bought a Japanese import for $10,750 NZ (Toyota Corolla) with 20,000 miles on the odometer...which I thought was a pretty good deal. The new appliances I bought for the house were comparable in price to what I'd have paid in the U.S. (fridge, washer, television). Vacuums are more expensive though I found one I really like for $140.

    In NZ, I pay less for landline/internet package than in the U.S. but that has to do with the area I lived in. ($139 NZ a month for landline, 100 gb internet and unlimited calls to the U.S. and NZ. A deal compared to what I paid in Arizona). NZ Electricity is more expensive but not outrageously so, IMHO. I'm also living in a much warmer winter climate so utility bills are actually less than in the U.S.

    For me, the immediate big savings is in health care. I would have been eligible for U.S. medicare in 18 months so this is not the main reason for my return to NZ. Some Americans have health care insurance paid for in part (or all) by their employer, so they may not see a huge savings in NZ, but as I am self-employed, I was paying US$800 a month with a $3K annual deductible (called 'excess' in NZ). My monthly bills in NZ are less than what I paid a month for medical insurance in the U.S.

    Groceries do cost more but I watch the ads and buy on sale and find I don't pay much more. I pay about the same for wine at Safeway (on sale cab or merlot) for about the same price (on sale) in NZ. Clothes and shoes do cost more but Posties and Farmers have pretty good prices and sales. As someone else mentioned, everything in NZ goes on sale - you've just got to keep an eye on the sale brochures.

    I don't have a family to support, I don't buy convenience foods, I don't have a mortgage but I also don't have a huge income.
    I moved back to NZ because I prefer to support the NZ system. I'd rather pay taxes that help support national health care for all. If I pay more in a restaurant, it's with the knowledge that the wait-staff is getting a living wage and is not dependent on tips. And I'll gladly pay more for a broom in the Ware-house knowing that I'm supporting a company that pays a living wage to the employees unlike Wal-mart, that pays minimum wage and hires part-timers so they don't have to provide health coverage.

  7. #7
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    Deleted as I've posted more up to date info below.
    Last edited by Dell; 6th June 2013 at 09:43 AM.

  8. #8
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    University of Auckland is now #83. http://www.usnews.com/education/worl...e-world?page=4

    Tuition fees: http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/cs-tui...es-ug-domestic

    University of California/Davis ranked #100 on the list.
    http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/cost/
    Last edited by Dell; 6th June 2013 at 09:42 AM.

  9. #9
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    I see comparisons like this in the media quite a bit, and they never seem quite fair. For starters UC Davis is the 4th or 5th best UC (I'm guessing at this without looking at the rankings of Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI...) That's 4th or 5th best public university in California alone...you are comparing it with the top university in New Zealand. Don't get me wrong, UC Davis and Univeristy of Auckland are both fine schools...but at the top end of American Universities, they are just not in the same ballpark. (On the other hand, the worst New Zealand Universities are considerably better than the worst American Universities...)

    The television adverts for NZ universities sell up the "respected worldwide" angle. That may be true, but there are many degrees earned in NZ that just aren't good for anything outside of NZ or Australia. You could save a lot of money by sending your children to pharmacy school in New Zealand (especially since it's only 5 years total vs. 6 to 8 in the US), but once they finish it is very difficult for them to work in any other first world coutries.

    RE Price:The Auckland link lists only tuition; it should be compared with just the first line of the UC Davis link...which looks to be about 2 to 3 times the price, depending on major. Certainly cheaper to go to school in New Zealand vs. California, though I suspect the states that handled their finances better have less expensive universities.


    Quote Originally Posted by Dell View Post
    University of Auckland is now #83.

    http://www.usnews.com/education/worl...e-world?page=4

    Tuition fees: http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/cs-tui...es-ug-domestic

    University of California/Davis ranked #100 on the list.
    http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/cost/

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by 72andsunny View Post
    I make about half what I made in the US;
    Any idea why this is? Using a basic exchange rate comparison I make almost exatcly what I was making back in the US. I'd guess that not everyone moving to NZ is going to take a 50% pay cut.

    Quote Originally Posted by 72andsunny View Post
    PS: Wine is more expensive across all price points. You can buy sub $10 wines in the supermarket, and many are not awful...but they would be sub $5 bottles at Trader Joes. At the higher end, it is just ridiculous.
    I guess we drink different wine because I think this couldn't be further from the truth.

    Quote Originally Posted by Heynekamp View Post
    I own several restaurants here in the US and loved the NZ wines but try as I might the kiwis will pay nearly double for the exact same bottle of wine than we will in the US because of their liquor taxes.
    I tend to only drink NZ wine, and maybe your comment is referring to international wines, but from my experience, buying NZ wine here is cheaper than buying NZ wine in the US.

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