Salary enough?

[pippa]

Hi
Hubby received an offer for $50k in hamilton. Will we survive? He said the salary will go up after a few months but we dont know with how much. We have two small boys and the plan was for me not to work

Thanks

[SteveCAD]

Hi
Hubby received an offer for $50k in hamilton. Will we survive? He said the salary will go up after a few months but we dont know with how much. We have two small boys and the plan was for me not to work

Thanks

Sadly, not without a lot of sacrifice. Been working on my own budget and a salary of 75000 has me worried for a family of 5 (3 small boys). 50000 leaves less then 800 per week in your pocket after taxes and figure 300 of that is food. Leaves less then 500 for everything else. Even if you could find some rental for 300 PW your down to under 200 for your remaining bills, savings and entertainment. In my opinion not a feasible amount to support a family on.

[Auburn]

I live in Hamilton, and I will say it's going to be extremely difficult. Check out Trade Me for rental prices around town. There's some areas that are cheaper, but there's usually a reason. You could possibly look into the out of town areas, but then you have to factor in petrol costs.

[A.C. Slater]

You will really struggle. $50k is $790 per week. For a family of four, $200/week for food will be possible, but very difficult. Add $50/week for utilities (also very conservative), and you're left with $540/week for rent. A $500 rental is realistic, but as you can see, you'll be walking on the edge of a razor blade.

Unless you live a very meager life in South Africa, your standard of living in NZ will be considerably lower. A decent life in the Hamilton area starts at around $70K, I would say.

[skyline_gtr]

Hi
Hubby received an offer for $50k in hamilton. Will we survive? He said the salary will go up after a few months but we dont know with how much. We have two small boys and the plan was for me not to work

Thanks

do you have a job ? if not , it could be a little tough

[G-Mo]

A single person could survive on $50k no worries, however, for a family it would be a struggle. Many families in NZ are dual income.

[nani]

We are from South Africa and currently live on less than that in Auckland. We only have kid though. Your lifestyle will probably be a lot different than what you were used to in South Africa but is that not why you want to move? We only have one car, use public transport when needed, use free entertainment- picnic on the beach/park, library, playground, luxuries that we couldn't do in SA. Our biggest expense is rent and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment to make ends meet but we can do that here and still have a life. It is not like in South Africa where you go from your car to your house and never go outside. There are so many safe public spaces available that we dont need a big backyard.

Depending on the age of your boys it might actually be cheaper for you not to work as daycare is really expensive ($320+ per week in Auckland fof under 2s) and if you have pr you could get working for family tax credits as well as some other help from the government.