Soft Landing - Episode 5 - Have you got enough money to live in New Zealand

"Have you got enough money to live in New Zealand?"

In this episode, I dive into what it really costs to live in New Zealand, especially if you're moving with a family of four like we did. I break down all the essential living expenses we faced when we first arrived—including some hidden costs that caught us off guard.

I also talk about the minimum income I believe you need to earn to get by comfortably, based on our own experience. I share what we prioritized in our budget, what we had to leave out at first, and how we planned to add more things once we had two incomes coming in.

If you're thinking about moving to New Zealand or just want a realistic look at the cost of living here, I think this episode will give you some honest insight and help you plan better.

Soft Landing - Hosted by Brett Corlett - YouTube

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
There are over 100,000 people whoimmigrate to New Zealand every year with
the intention to make New Zealand theirhome, leaving behind everything they
know as normal day-to-day life and havingto learn new ways of doing things, new
norms, new cultures, and different values.
There are many people who struggle withthis transition and find it challenging

(00:25):
to adjust and settle so they cancall and make New Zealand their home.
The purpose of this podcast is for meto share my journey and our challenges
with the hope that you can learn from meand my family and have a softer landing.
There will be good days and baddays, but with time, more good days.
I believe we have made theright choice for our family.

(00:46):
I want to try and help you do the same.
But hopefully with a softer landing.
This is soft landing, and Iam your host, Brett Collette.
Welcome to this podcast, designed foranyone thinking about preparing for, or
who has just immigrated to New Zealand.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episodedrawing from his personal experience.

(01:09):
This series will guide you throughthe process of preparing for your
move and helping you navigatethe challenges of immigration.
Hello everybody, and welcome back tothose of you that are joining me again
and listening to my podcast regularly.
And for those of you that arelistening for the first time, welcome
and thank you for, listening to me.

(01:32):
I do ask if you haven'tlistened to my other podcast,
please go back to episode one.
I'm trying to tell a journeyand a story in chronological
order, so it would make sense.
but just thank you for makingthe time to actually listen.
So today I wanna try and answerthe question when you get that job
offer, will I have enough money tosurvive and live in New Zealand?

(01:56):
quite a, heavy topic today.
It's gonna be a little bit of adifferent one for me to go through.
So I will pick up carrying on talkingabout my story and my journey.
But I thought one of the things thatI've gotta try talk through is a lot of
people have been asking me the question,how much money do you need to earn?
How much money do you need to have?
To be able to live, to survive,to support a family of four.
and if I think back to when we werefirst, preparing to, to come through to

(02:21):
New Zealand, that was a big thing for me.
we, had been living on two salariesin South Africa, and we were blessed.
We, didn't have a bad life in SouthAfrica when it came to finances.
So we were lucky.
I'm not saying we were wealthy, butwe were by no means, struggling.
So we were very, blessed and very lucky.
So a big thing for me was when we had.

(02:41):
Decided to pack up and we weregonna come and live in, New Zealand.
And the way we were gonna be doing itwas just on my salary and only me earning
and my wife not earning straight away.
it was on the back of my mind.
And it did worry me because, you'll doa lot of research and you'll, try to do
as much research as possible talking toas many people as you know as possible,

(03:03):
whoever you can to try and get the infoto see, what is the cost of living?
what are the things youhave to have in your budget?
What are the things that you.
You're not thinking aboutwhat is it that I don't know?
'cause you don't know what you don't know.
just to make sure, hey,geez, is this offer enough?
Is are we gonna be able to make it work?

(03:23):
until eventually my wife starts working.
Because a big thing for us was Iwanted her to settle the family first.
This was a big move for usand it's a big change for us.
So we, needed, we wanted one of us tobe able to stay at home, which was my
wife, to be able to settle the kids andmake a home and make us feel more relaxed

(03:46):
and comfortable and just used to our newlife before we both started getting to
the, life of both working a nineto five and being very busy.
So it was important to us.
But then the big question was, I neededto know, would my salary be enough?
Was the offer I had enough?
So my, my intention today is if youlisten to this podcast, I'm gonna go

(04:10):
through a lot of figures, a lot of.
information around what was inmy first initial budget on one
salary, what were some of the hiddenthings that came through, that
I didn't know or didn't expect.
So I can try and share those with youso you'll hopefully be better prepared.
and the intention would be at the endof the podcast, you've got a better idea

(04:31):
of what your living expenses and costswould be, so that you can hopefully
have a, soft landing in what I didand be more prepared than what I was.
I need to remind you, I amnot a financial advisor.
This is not financial advice.
This is my, personal experience.
This is my personal budget.
This is what.

(04:53):
What I put together, what we feel iswhat you need, in place and how we fi we
budgeted and how we made it work for us.
It is from the perspectiveof a family of four.
So my son is 13, my daughter's five,and obviously my wife and I, so
everything that I'm talking throughwill be referring to a family of four.

(05:15):
We are living in Auckland, soit is also from that aspect of
considering living in Auckland.
Auckland is considered a more expensivearea in New Zealand to stay, so there
will always be ways you can tweakthis budget and it can be different.
I will try talk through it as I'm goingline item by line item and explain
to you potentially this is where youcould save, this could be a little

(05:37):
bit different in a different area.
This is other things you could consider.
Again, all from my opinion, allfrom my point of view, but what the
intention is to try and help you.
To get more knowledge and, someexamples of what you need to
make sure is in your budget.
I know the one big thing I wanted wasthat peace of mind when we were still

(06:00):
back home that, okay, I think thisoffer can work, we can make this work.
and I wouldn't be getting my, my, myfamily into a situation where we literally
fly to the other end of the world.
And we get ourselves in financial trouble.
That was the last thing that I wanted.
So I'm hoping I'll be able togive you that peace of mind when

(06:21):
we go through all of this today.
and try to give you some practical tips.
I'll talk through some of the placesthat you, websites you can go to, to get
additional information so hopefully it canget, help you to be and get more prepared
or be more prepared than what I was.
Okay, so let's try to start it off.
What is gonna be a challenge todayis obviously I'm doing this all while

(06:43):
talking, so it's really gonna testme on trying to really talk through
all the budget items and the pointsso you can try and follow with me.
I know a lot of you might be listeningto me while you're going for a walk
or you're driving in the car, somaybe you'll want to save this and go
back a few times, and go through it.
What I will try to eventually isI will try and also do a YouTube

(07:07):
tutorial on this, so there'llbe the visuals behind what I'm
talking through my voice, podcast.
So I think that'll be abit easier, and would help.
But that's something that'll bea little bit into the future.
I'm learning how to get the, YouTubechannels and everything up and running.
So for now it'll just be the podcast.
So let's start at the top.

(07:28):
as I explained to you, when wewere coming to New Zealand, we
opted to go with the one salary.
so it was just one salary comingin, and it was a family of four.
One of our friends told usabout a website, which is
a. Pa, P ay.net.nz website.
What this is, it's an awesome calculatorwhere you can put in what your job

(07:51):
offer is, be it, getting a weekly orfortnightly or monthly or an annual
amount, whatever the job offer was, youcan put in those figures and it helps
you calculate and work out what your netincome would be, it you getting paid.
Weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

(08:13):
So you would have a good understandingand it takes off whatever the tax
portion would be as well as the QE Saver.
So in New Zealand, one of the bigthings that, they, the government
tries to do is to push people to beable to save for their retirement.
And what they do is they've gotsomething in place called the KiwiSaver.
So what'll happen is a minimum of 3% ofyour monthly income or 3% of your pay,

(08:41):
be it weekly or fortnightly, 3% will beput aside and put into your KiwiSaver.
You can choose the different fundyou want your KiwiSaver to go into.
So maybe when I do the YouTubevideo, I'll go into a little bit
more detail of the different optionsand different funds out there.
But there's different brokerages,or fund advisors that.
Will invest that, QE saver moneyfor you so that it can then pay

(09:05):
out when you, I think it's 65,that 60 or 65 that it'll pay out.
So it's for your retirement,but the minimum amount that
can go into that is 3%.
A lot of companies that the offer youwould get, they will also contribute.
So it would be your 3% contributionas well as whatever company
contribution is as well.

(09:26):
I've been blessed in the situation I'min and know my wife now is working.
So she's got the same situationwhere, my company will put in 3%,
over and above whatever percentageI choose to put into the KiwiSaver.
So that is options you must look at whenyou get the job offer from whichever
company you're coming across from.
What it'll also include is an A CC.

(09:47):
So a c, C is.
The government's, almost calledit like an insurance fund.
So if anything accidental.
Insurance claim type thing.
So if you go and you, for example, myson was at the school in, I think it
was the first year of being here, andhe fell when he was running towards the

(10:07):
car, and fell on the, sidewalk or thepavement, and he split his lip open.
So my wife had to rush him off to the,closest medical trauma near the, school.
And, They actually put in an a c claim.
So it wasn't something we had to pay for.
It wasn't something that ourprivate medical insurance, if you
got it, would have to pay for.
It comes off as a claim tothe government's a, c, this

(10:30):
accidental cover that you get.
So that's why you contribute towards that.
I've had it where I was work.
I was, yeah, going to gym, trying toimprove your health and keep yourself fit.
And yes, I hurt my knee, atthe gym pushing too heavy.
But when I went to the GP andhe had a look at my knee and he
referred me to a, physio, all thephysio was actually covered by the

(10:55):
a CC claim as well as the visits.
And should I have needed surgery oranything like that with specialists, all
of that would've been covered by a CC.
So there is a portion of that.
So this PAYE website is very handy thatit'll give you what your gross pay is.
Then it'll take off the deductions forPAYE, your a CC contribution and your
KiwiSaver Contribution and it'll give youwhat you would net and it'll break it down

(11:20):
to what you would net if you're gettingpaid weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
So it'll show you allthe different options.
So that's a nice way, and it's prettydarn accurate from what I've seen.
So it's a good, calculator to try use.
So what I've worked it out on asa first survey, I believe in my
opinion again that you would needa minimum as it is today in 2025.

(11:44):
$125,000 a year for a family offour, that is by no means gonna
be living it up, you're not gonnahave a hell of a lot of extra money
for, savings or anything like this.
This is what I believe is,close to just just making it.
so it would be good enough and it would.
You could live off it and make it work,but you would definitely have to have that

(12:08):
plan in place where I feel you are workingtowards getting either more money yourself
coming in, be it sideline something,or your, partner starts working.
So you've got two salaries coming in.
So it's not something I believe issustainable for a long period of time.
But I believe if you want to, youget your foot in the door and it's
your first starting income to getinto New Zealand, 124,000 a year.

(12:31):
For a family of four can work.
but with the plan in place that insix to 12 months you, you are gonna
be making some sort of change whereyou're getting extra income coming in.
Because as I talk through this budgetitems now, you'll see there's a whole
lot of items that I've left out thatI've believe are gonna be important
and things that you eventually goingto want to add onto your budget.

(12:54):
but you can do without in the beginning.
So let's start at the top.
So one of the first things thatyou're gonna need in your budget.
And this is what really takesup, I believe, a great chunk.
Almost half of what you'llbe earning is your rental.
It is your, home, whereyou're gonna be staying.
a big thing that I've found whenmoving to New Zealand is accommodation

(13:15):
and housing is, it's astronomical.
It's so expensive.
compared to back home.
I do come from South Africa, so I'veobviously only got a reference point of.
Comparing it to South Africa, I dunnowhat it'd be like in other countries,
but I do know that it was a lotcheaper to stay in South Africa, be
it renting or purchasing a property.

(13:36):
Where here I find rental isvery expensive and purchasing
is just as bad, if not worse.
So it, it's a lot.
So you really gotta considera lot for your budget.
as I said, it's between40 and 50% of your.
Actual salary is gonna go towards rentals.
A big thing with, changehere with rentals.

(13:57):
I found that back in backhome in South Africa.
I'm gonna constantly refer toKU 'cause it is all I know.
As you, it was normal to get amonthly salary, so you get paid on
a monthly basis and most things thatyou were paying were all monthly.
So you, money would come in once a monthand then all your payments would go off
once a month, be it for your rental, yourwater, your food, whatever it may be.

(14:19):
That was the constant once a month in.
Once a month, everything goes out here.
It works a littledifferent with your rental.
All the rentals that you, go intohere, it's a weekly payment that you
would have to pay for your rental.
So even if you're getting paidmonthly, or if you're getting paid
fortnightly, or if you're gettingpaid weekly here in New Zealand with
your, salary, you've gotta make surethat you've, got the money set aside

(14:43):
for the rental to go off once a week.
So when you actually get into yourrental and you speak with the agent.
There will be an agreed date of the week,day of the week, so be it a Friday or
Thursday or whatever you choose wherethe automated, 'cause you are automated,
generally you automated that rentalpayment will come off and pay them.
So you've gotta make sure thatmoney is set aside what we

(15:06):
budgeted for a family of four.
Bearing in mind, stayingnorth of Auckland.
Is $900 a week.
That is for a four bedroom home.
It is one of the more,
expensive places to stay in it.
You can save here.
So if you do look around and dependingon what area you are actually staying

(15:31):
in Auckland or in other parts ofNew Zealand, you can save here.
I do believe the rainfallof 900 a week is.
A little bit more on the high end, butit's by no means the most expensive.
There is places that are way moreexpensive than that, but there
are places that are cheaper.
I think the big point I'mtrying to land here is that.
Just know the rental here isexpensive and know that you got a

(15:53):
budget on a weekly basis for thatrental to come off a good site.
Or actually two sites that we found thatwork well with your rentals is you can go
to, and I'm just looking on my links here.
The first one is real estate.
So this is a good place where you can goto, so it's a realestate one word co nz.
You can go to their websites andyou can start looking at what

(16:15):
rentals are available in whateverparticular area you're gonna end up.
You can look at this stillwhile you're back home.
So it was nice for us to start planning,looking at the different areas and seeing
where we could, get a rental and whatthe sort of cost per week would be.
You'll also read when you go into thewebsite and you go look at potential.
rentals with the pictures andeverything that are available.

(16:38):
It'll also give you a write upand start telling you what the
bond would be or the deposit.
So generally they ask for fourweeks upfront for a deposit to
secure the, rental unit for you,and sometimes over and above that,
also the first two weeks rent.
So it just gives you an idea ofhow much money you would have to
budget upfront to be able to gointo the bond or to the deposit, as

(17:01):
well as what you would need to pay.
Weekly for the rental.
Bearing in mind when you do putdown the deposit, they keep that
deposit until you poten you go.
Get out of that rental contract.
So that is money you need to havein your budget to set aside for
them to keep in the bond and whichyou would use for your next rental.

(17:23):
I have talked on previous episodeswhere you got just no cash flow.
So if you're in one rental and they'vegot your deposit and now you need to get
out of that rental into another rental.
The timeframe in getting thatdeposit back can sometimes be a bit
difficult or challenging when you'regetting into your new rental and
you need to give them a deposit.

(17:43):
So cashflow can be difficult.
I have heard of people where theytalk to the agents and they can work
something out, but what we did is weused credit cards to be able to pay
the new rentals deposit while we waitedfor the old rentals, deposit back.
So that was the way weworked through that.
but good website to, togo to is real estate.

(18:04):
co nz.
Another one is trade me.co nz and you canlook at the property rentals on Trade Me.
The only challenge we had with Trade Mewhen we were still back in South Africa.
Was, I know that they restrictedbecause of the, they could pick up
what physical location, geographicallocation you were in, restricted us

(18:24):
in, actually applying and answeringand doing stuff through real estate.
So my wife actually, when we werestill back in South Africa, she had
to contact, trademe, explain to themour situation, and they, logged the
ticket to actually change and give usthe relevant access that we needed.
So that was a bit of a challenge.
I. But like I've also mentioned onprevious episodes in hindsight, although

(18:49):
we thought we were being very proactive,organizing a rental from back in country
in South Africa before we even got here,if you've listened to other podcasts,
that didn't work out well for us.
So in hindsight, I wouldn't do that.
I would rather move into an Airbnb or staywith a friend or something else until you
can actually physically get in country.
And not only look on these two websitesthat I've told you for rentals, but you

(19:13):
could actually go see it for yourself.
'cause sometimes those photos andeverything on the rental site, it
makes the place look beautiful.
But when you actually go see the place,for yourself, it's not quite as good.
They're, definitely professional,photographers and they really
make things look a lot betterthan what they're actually are.

(19:33):
So I still recommend ratherseeing it for yourself.
It is just our opinion.
W we did try to be proactive.
We did have a friend look at a placefor us, which we are so grateful for,
but it just didn't work out for us.
And in hindsight, we actually endedup moving out of the original area
we thought we wanted to be in.
so if you listen to my otherpodcast, you're, you'll see why.

(19:54):
First line item in your budget?
Definitely your rental,getting a roof over your head.
Other things to remember with the rental,depending on how you're getting paid
if you, so when I got here, my firstposition for my first salary at the first
company, they did also pay us monthly.
So I was getting a monthly, income.

(20:15):
What it did mean is you've gottaremember now, there's certain things
you have to pay weekly or fortnightly.
Just like I explained with the rental,it had to be weekly, so I had to
make sure that money was put aside.
With a lot of the banks here and thebanking apps, one of the things they
do enable you to do is to createsub subaccounts in your banking app.

(20:36):
So what you can do is move asyour salary comes into the main
account, you move whatever.
A budget item into a subaccount.
So example, you can make arental subaccount and you could
move the whole month's worthof rental into that subaccount.
It'll give you an account number witha different reference at the end that

(20:57):
is specifically to that subaccountso that when the debit order or the
automatic run to take the money offcomes off the subaccount, it would be the
subaccount you transfer that money into.
It's just easier forbudgeting and automating that.
It, really made it a lot easier.
A catch and to always rememberif you're getting paid monthly.
There are some months in the yearthat are turn out to be a five

(21:19):
week month, not a four week month.
So that does make it a challengewhen you're doing your budget.
Don't get caught out by the monthsthat end up being a five week month
because then you need to budget alittle bit extra for that extra week.
In that month off of that monthly salary,it probably happens if I've calculated
correctly about four times in a year.

(21:40):
There's about four months in a year thatend up being a five week month, so just
don't be caught out by that so that you'reshort in those months on your rental.
I think those are the majorpoints that I can think about
with a rental at the moment.
Let's move on to the next line item.
Next line item you wouldwant to have is water.
You will have to pay the water.
Water is usually, Your rainfall agentwill send you the invoice for the

(22:03):
water once a month for the water usage.
You won't be paying for therates and everything like that.
The landlord will be accountablefor the rates, but you will be
accountable for the water usageand the amount of water you use.
so the, I'd say for a family of four,you probably need roughly about $90 a
month for water is a good, safe amount.

(22:24):
Some months we've spent a bit more,some months we've spent a bit less.
Again, it does depend onwhat you do, in, your family.
you might have some teenagers thatend up showering a lot longer,
that uses up a lot more water.
You might be one of those that'sinto gardening, be it a rental
and you spend more time watering.
and don't get me wrong, I know there'sa lot of rain in, New Zealand, but

(22:47):
I can tell you when you're doinggardening and summer and stuff
like that, you do need extra water.
You could be one of those people that.
Likes to spray down.
the driveways, and keepingthem that uses extra water.
You might be washing your car regularly.
I don't know.
It all depends on how frugalor not you are with your water.
90 is a good average, I believe.
Just touching on the rental again, soI did say 900 a week, so what I've put

(23:11):
into the budget is 3,900 per month.
What I've done there is I've inflatedit slightly because I've catered
for the four months of the year.
Where it is a five week month,so you can put a, you're paying a
little bit extra, but you're keepingit as extra in that sub-account.
So when those five week, monthscome through, you've got a little

(23:31):
bit of extra, just time it rightand work it out with a calendar.
'cause it does depend also when you land,when you're getting your first paycheck.
So just.
Really think about that one.
Don't be caught with not enoughmoney because of a five week month.
So getting back torental, 3,900 water, $90.
Then you'll wanna look at insurance.
the insurance that you'll want to in thebeginning is probably just your short

(23:53):
term insurance, so that's for your car.
and we'll talk about a car shortly,as well, meaning car insurance.
so if anything happens, theft or accidentor anything like that, you're covered.
But also household contents insurance.
So should anything happen to the house,I know from where we are, we would think
about robberies and stuff like that.
Here it's more.

(24:15):
I don't think it happens as often,but more often than what we used to is
we've noticed a lot of private housescatching fire and actually burning down.
Like maybe it's because theyhave these wooden homes.
I don't know.
but we have noticed just in the twoyears we've been here, I think there's
been about three or four homes thatI've read up in the air, not immediate
area, but in the area where the firebrigade has been called out and actual

(24:38):
people have lost their homes in privatehomes and stuff because of fire.
So it's a bit of a. Somethingdifferent for me when we're
not used to that back home.
Ours has been more about break-insand theft, but that's why you an
example, why you would want some.
Private household insurance.
and then the other isobviously car insurance.
Although in my experience, the waythey drive here, 'cause they're

(25:01):
so much slower, everything works.
Traffic, lights work,we don't have potholes.
people obey the actual, laws of the road.
I believe it's much safer here, but that'sjust in my, experience and my opinion.
So I don't know if I'd be able todrive going back to South Africa.
I was just thinking, geez, I got soused to driving slow and everybody
being so polite and following thelaws of the road and no taxis driving

(25:24):
in opposite direction onto oncomingtraffic and on the pavements and voiding
potholes and traffic lights not working.
It's like it would blow mymind probably going back.
But, Things do happen.
People do have accidents.
So you would want your insurance,insurance companies you would
probably want to look at.
So when we were back in South Africa, weactually, insured a car that we bought

(25:45):
when we were still back in South Africabefore we got here through AA insurance.
But there are other insurance companies.
You could look at Tower Insurance, youcould look at AA insurance, you could
look at, I think another one is Aon.
So there are quite a few options, butwe took ours out with, AA insurance
and everything was done online.
We could.
Prepay it, with my credit card andwe were still back in South Africa.

(26:07):
And then once I got here, put itonto a debit order again, just put
it money into that sub account.
with insurance, I was able to, choosethat it'll come off on a monthly
basis, so it was in line with mysalary that was coming off monthly.
But if you are getting paid weeklyor fortnightly, you can talk to
the insurance company and say, Hey.
I would like it to come offweekly or fortnightly or monthly.

(26:28):
so you can decide howyou want that to work.
So I was getting paid monthly, soI asked for it to come off monthly.
So that's rental, that'swater, that's insurances for
car insurance and household.
I budgeted $150, for insurance that mycar insurance and my household insurance.

(26:49):
And as I said, that was for a familyof four, so it would be like all
the TVs you've got in the home andyour, furniture and, bicycles and
computers and all that kind of stuff.
in the home, I think we gave a value ofabout, oh, I think it was about a hundred
thousand dollars, for, household content.
And what we did, our car was insuredfor, I think it was 26 or $27,000.

(27:14):
But I'll talk further whenI get to the car line item.
But that's what ourinsurance is, was about $150.
Again, shopping around you,you'll be able to probably get
maybe a little bit cheaper, maybea little bit more expensive,
depending on what you're insuring.
But as a starter, I've put in a budgetas an example of $150 for insurance.
Next thing you would need isyou would need some electricity.

(27:34):
so a big thing for us is there's.
There are, there's so much competitionand so many options for electricity here.
we come from South Africa wherethere was only one option.
you didn't, there was one, providerof electricity and that was
it, and you're at their mercy.
not to mention they could hardly evenkeep the lights on anyway, 'cause
of all the problems they got backhome, but you were at their mercy.

(27:56):
So whatever they charged, that was it.
Whereas if you come here, you, have gotoptions when it comes to electricity.
We chose a company called Mercury thatdoes our electricity, so it's mercury.co
nz, but there are so many others.
There is Genesis Energy, thereis contact Energy, power Shop.

(28:16):
Meridian Nova.
So that's just a few that I'velisted and they come up with so
many different deals and options.
when, you're signing up with them.
Some of them will say that electricityafter nine o'clock at night on certain
times of the week, is half price awful.
Free.
others when you sign up, theysay you can get a free TV or

(28:37):
free, all kinds of things.
They have so many different deals withthe electricity, so that was a big thing
for all us, but you will need electricity.
pretty easy.
Signing up with them and just telling themwhere your rental is, giving a physical
address and getting that all set up.
I budgeted $300 a month forelectricity again for a family of four.

(28:58):
All depends on how frugal and youyour family is with electricity.
If you're good at turning lightsoff and not wasting and, running
the tumble dryer, not as much.
Bearing in mind it does rain a lot here.
So we do use the tumble dryer a lot.
We budget $300.
but that's a good averageto choose some people.
Lot less.
Some could be a littlebit more, but take $300.

(29:21):
Next thing you would want, isprobably internet, to the home.
We opted for fiber to our house.
we took a hundred meg uncapped fiber tothe home budgeted $110, a month for that.
The reason we want the internet isboth, Back then, it was just me working
from home two or three times a week.
but today both my wifeand I work from home.

(29:44):
Also, my son, is online doing gaming.
but not only that, we, stream all our TVsand, entertainment through, the internet.
So for us, a hundred meg uncappedfor a family of four works well.
So that's 110.
There are.
Again, multiple companiesyou can get internet from.

(30:06):
The company that we signed upwith for internet was, I think
it is called, what was it?
It's now, that we signed up for.
So now is the companythat does our internet.
But there are othercompanies you can look at.
there's skinny, S-K-I-N-N-Y,Sierra NZ that does, internet.

(30:27):
There's Spark, there's two degrees.
There's one New Zealand.
There are, there's plenty.
There are so many.
If you just had to do asearch for internet providers.
Also with the internet providers, again,a lot of competitions, a lot of different
deals, a lot of different options.
so you really can shop around and see.

(30:47):
But, on the whole, I would sayif you, budget about a hundred,
110 for a hundred meg, uncapped,fiber to the home, that works well.
very easy to get it set up.
Again, just talking to them over thephone, telling 'em your physical address.
They will deliver whatever routers andeverything else you need or routers.
all pre-configured.

(31:08):
Even if you have issues, you just phonethem, they help talk you through it.
Very easy to get it up and running.
So no, no major issues there, withgetting your internet to the home.
Next thing was, your, waste.
So this one was a littlebit different for us.
So we used to back homein South Africa where.
All, your rubbish and everything,probably terrible, but we
weren't very, good at recycling.

(31:29):
So everything just went in one bin and youput it on your wheel bin and they would
collect it, once a week, and take it away.
Whereas here, you gotta get alittle bit more into recycling and
understanding the different colorbins that we've had available to us.
So there is a yellow bin that isour recycling bin that is from the.
municipality or, the, government andthey will take any recycling away.

(31:54):
The, it's covered in yourrates and everything, so you
don't pay a monthly for that.
But you've got to make sure you know whatis recyclable and what can go in there.
So it takes a little bit of researchand understanding what cardboard items,
what paper items, what tins, what glass,what can go into the recyclable bin, and
how to wash off things and clean themoff before you put them into recycling.

(32:17):
a lot of the Kiwis are a lotbetter at it than what we are,
so we're starting to get there.
But, that is a way, if you can get intothe recycling, you won't have to pay
as much for a different bin, which isa red bin, which is your general waste.
So that is all the stuffthat's not recyclable or where
you are lazy and have not.
Di divided up what is recyclableand to put into the yellow

(32:39):
bin into the recycling bin.
But then on a red general waste bin,you would have to pay for that up north.
Where we are, we have to pay a companycalled Econo Waste, for a red bin.
So they, you first pay them.
I think it costs us about $45 amonth for a general waste bin.

(33:00):
We've gone for the biggestwaste bin, available.
I think it's a hundred litersor something like that.
So it is a big bin, but youcan get different sizes.
So for different costs and do it cheaper.
But for us, for a family of four,and for us, I'm being honest, we're
terrible with our recycling, so westill use a lot in general waste.
we took the big bin, which they collect.
Every, week for us.

(33:22):
and that costs us $45.
So I've put that in the budget.
But the, recycling that is given to you bygovernment, which is the yellow bin, that
they collect every second week, from you.
And as long as you or get into thehabit of divvying up your waste
into actual recyclable items, youcan actually get away with a lot.
Smaller general waste bin.

(33:44):
Another thing you've gotta keep in mindis if you do move into a rental where
you need to do the garden a little bitmore, you probably gonna need to look
at what we did is a green waste bin thatis a bin for all your gardening refuge.
So when you.
have to mow your lawn or cut back anyshrubbery or anything like that, you
would put it into the green waste bin.

(34:04):
And econ Waste was the company up norththat provides the green waste bin for us.
It is a hundred dollars once offa year for them to give you a
hundred liter, green waste bin.
And they collect that once a month.
so you'd put that out once a month.
also bearing in mind if you aregetting into a rental where you have

(34:25):
a garden and everything like that,a lot of the time you actually have
to look after the gardens yourself.
So that would mean you wouldneed to get a lawnmower.
We need to basic garden gardeningequipment so you can keep all of
that, kept neat and tidy and obviouslygetting rid of whatever, off cuts,
et cetera from, doing the garden.

(34:46):
would be your responsibility.
There are some rentalsthat include it, though.
I have seen a few where they'llsay, once a week or every fortnight,
they will send a gardener to, tomow the lawns and keep the gardens
tidy so you can look out for that.
The one we are in at the moment,we have to do it ourselves.
that's also a funny thingspecifically for South Africans,
that they'll understand me here.

(35:08):
I never had to do my gardens back home.
We, were very blessed and luckyto have somebody do that for us.
So it's been a really new experiencefor me having to do my gardens here,
learning how to mow the lawn, cutthe edges, keep everything trim and
neat and tidy and firing out what's.
What works and what doesn't.
So I, I like to believe I'mstarting to look like a real QE

(35:28):
now 'cause it's a norm here foreverybody to do their own gardens.
I got my gum boots, that, Iput on with all my gardening,
leather, what do you call it?
Gloves and everything.
So with my glasses, myprotective glasses, everything.
So I think I'm looking the part andgetting more gardens done quite regularly.
So that is just something you'd haveto look at, budgeting as your waste.
So you're getting back to it.

(35:50):
the Dustin's $45 a month.
With a car.
What we did with a car is we bought acar outright, so we took savings and
money that we had and we bought a car.
You can look online.
There is the, auto trader in NewZealand that you, I recommend that
you go to when you wanna look for car.

(36:11):
It's called to trader.co nzand you can look at all the
different cars that are available.
If you listen to my earlierpodcast, you'll know that we did.
Purchase a car while we werestill in South Africa that
was delivered to our hotel.
So we had a car from day one.
Only thing I really reiterate againis if you do buy a car before you've
seen it yourself, either get a friend,which we did to see it and test drive

(36:33):
it and everything that you trust.
So we did that as well as Ibought a car from a dealership,
so I made sure that it was a car.
F with from a dealership.
So there would be a warranty.
So if there's anythingwrong, I could send it back.
But this also, again, it all dependson your budget and what you can
afford and what will work for you.
So if you do end up coming here and youonly buy the car when you get here, so you
wanna see it yourself, that's fine too.

(36:55):
Just make sure, then you think aboutyour planning, who's gonna help get you
around, how are you gonna get around untilyou actually get your own car so that
you can be independent and get around.
Bearing in mind a again, Ialso told you or mentioned.
That there are a lot of Japaneseimports, so just compare Japanese
imports, which are cheaper, but theydo have pros and cons to both versus
buying a New Zealand, imported, vehicle.

(37:17):
So just think of that as well budget wise.
When we bought our car outright,we bought, a Mazda six.
it was a fairly new Mazda, I think it wasonly four years old, so it wasn't too old.
Still had warranties and everything.
we bought that for 26,000, two years back.
So what that meant is that wehad no monthly or weekly or, no

(37:38):
installment to pay a car off.
I do know other people have comehere and they have applied for a loan
or HP I purchase to purchase a car.
So you can do that as well.
just bearing in mind, if you do gobuy a car straight off the bat when
you've landed in country, it canbe a little bit more expensive with
the interest rate because you don't.
Have as much creditreferences and everything.

(37:59):
but it, definitely is doable and you cando that as well, but then you just gotta
remember to work that into your budget.
So the budget I'm working out here iswith the idea that you've bought a car.
So I've put a zero against amonthly installment for a car.
You also need to run that car though.
So petrol wise, you're gonna haveto, budget, for fuel for the car.
What I've put in the budget is youcould probably work on about $75 a week.

(38:24):
That was with me having to,
probably just drivearound town, go shopping.
Left the car at home with my wife.
She could take the kids to school andback and, traveling around here, and
then us traveling a little bit on theweekends, getting to know the area.
I didn't use the car todrive all the way into town.
I used public transport, soI used buses to go into town.

(38:45):
So you, my next line item was forbuses and, budgeting for buses.
So I'll talk to that now.
But fuel wise, if you're not gonnabe using it to drive into work every
single day, it's more just the familycar on the weekends, driving the kids
around, to school and back driving toshops and back over the, during the
week, but you're using public transport.
$75 a week worked for us forfuel, and that was for diesel.

(39:10):
So the master six I bought wasa diesel pros and cons, which,
I only learned when we got here.
back in South Africa, I always went fordiesels 'cause that's what I preferred.
'cause I felt you, you gotmore bang for your buck.
It also gave you more mileage.
But this, you can debate this, there's somany different options, but in New Zealand

(39:31):
with a diesel, there's something called.
Ruck or RUC, it's a road use, exuse, tax that you have to pay.
I didn't know, didn't do enough research.
Realizing if you've got a D diesel vehicleor some now electric vehicles or semi
electric vehicles, whatever, hybrids.
You actually have to pay a R fee,which is a road user tax that you

(39:54):
have to pay over and above yournormal licensing of your vehicle.
So just bear that in mind.
If you are gonna buy a diesel oryou buy different hybrids, so you're
thinking you might save on yourfuel, just know there's also that
ruck that you also need to consider.
Over and above your rack.
What you need to consider for yourvehicle is also something called

(40:14):
a wf, which is your, your fitnessor your warranty or fitness.
So it's, like checking the fitnessof the car and making sure that
it's okay to be on the road andthey give you like a license for the
car, which has to be done annually.
ruck, you don't do that.
And you do that for theamount of kilometers.
So you buy x amount of R kilometers,so for a thousand kilometers worth

(40:37):
of ruck, tax or 2000 or whatever.
And it's, it, lines upwith your odometer reading.
So just bear in mind, electriccars, hybrids, diesels.
Consider ruck.
Okay?
All cars have to consider wf.
And also bearing in mind if you'vegot a car that doesn't, isn't

(40:58):
brand new and it doesn't come withservice plans, think about your
service fees once a year or howeveroften the car needs to be serviced.
So keeping this all in mind,what I budgeted for fuel,
like I told you, was $75.
Per week for fuel, but that was diesel.
bearing in mind, again, keep in mindyour five week months, so don't get

(41:21):
caught out by those months that are fiveweeks so that you're short on money For
fuel, I budgeted $325 a month for fuel.
I've calculated a bitextra because of those.
Five week months that happenprice minus four times a year.
What I've also budgeted is forbuses, 'cause I went into CBD, we're

(41:43):
about an hour north of CBD, so I'dgo in two to three times per week.
So that worked out to about $150 a month.
So fuel was 3 25, dollars amonth, and traveled by bus for
me two to three times a week.
going in per month was $150.
The other ad hoc for the car servicefor Mazda six was costing me between

(42:07):
two and $300 a year for a basic service.
Your WAF per year was costingyou between a hundred, $120
for your WAF and your rack.
Just be careful with this one becauseas I said, it all depends on how much.
You traveling?
you did.
So I worked out about $400 ayear for that because we weren't
traveling very much with the car.

(42:29):
But it does depend on how much mileageyou do, how much you're gonna pay on ruck.
Before I move on to the next line, Ihave just some useful websites that
you're probably want to go to for that.
I mentioned autotrader.co nz, which wouldhelp, but there is also a government
website that'll give you the breakdownin costings and regulations around r

(42:49):
around your tolls, around registeringyour cars, your wf, your, warranty of
fitness, which is your NZ ta govt nz.
So NZ ta do govt nz and if you navigatethrough there, that government website.

(43:10):
You can look up rock and tollsregistration charges and wf, for
your car so you can get a betterunderstanding of what all those costs are.
But for this, example budget, I've putin petrol for or fuel for 103 hundred
25 a a month, and buses 150 a month.
Next thing you would wanna haveon here is your cell phones.
So I took out a contractfor two cell phones.

(43:33):
So one was for my wife to useand one was for me to use.
that worked out to $95 a month, so it was.
Just roughly about $45per, phone contract.
that gave us, oh, I don'tknow, it was like five gigs
of data on the phone to use.
it was unlimited data.
It's just when they cap it at five gigsof extreme fast data, and then once

(43:56):
you got over five gigs, it would justdrop to be a little bit slower, but
you always able to connect to data.
oh, I can't remember the amount ofminutes, but it was plenty minutes.
They even gave you minutes tophone back to certain countries.
Texts you couldn't use up.
So to me, that was more than enough.
It was just a contract forthe, services, I did not take a

(44:18):
contract that included a phone.
I did buy a phone outright.
So the, I bought my phone, a refurbishedphone from, online from Dick Smith,
which is a, online company that.
They, import stuff fromAustralia, but there's so many
other different options here.
You can go to Noel Lemming.
You can go to a lot of different places.
You could look at secondhand,buy from people in marketplace.

(44:39):
Just be careful.
Don't get scammed.
But you could buy a set, youcould even bring your cell phone
that you had back in South Africaand then just put the, card in.
But budget around about 40, $45a month per cell phone contract.
This one is 95 'cause it was twocontracts that I was paying for.
Then your second most,biggest expense is your food.

(45:00):
Food is very expensive here.
Don't underestimate the cost of food here.
Takeout is extremely expensive,in my opinion, compared
to what it was back home.
So takeout is very expensive.
I know when we landed here, wewere still within our first week.
I know when we were travelingaround with the kids and
everything and still trying to.
Figure things out.
We stopped at A KFC to buy basic lunchfor the kids 'cause the kids were hungry.

(45:24):
I think if you converted,we spent something like $80
for really basic KFC meal.
We converted that, that was almosteight, 900 grand just for that lunch.
And it like blew our minds.
It was like, oh no, wecan't live like this.
Takeouts is a definite noIt's gonna cost far too much.
It is relative to what you earnwhen you're earning dollars.
It does help, but takeout in general hereis expensive, so you will want to buy food

(45:48):
and be self-sufficient in self-catering.
That said.
Still not cheap.
and it is also very seasonal with whatfood you can get, at decent prices.
Food wise.
For a family of four, what webudgeted was $475 per week.
Okay.
This is, I, this wasmore than enough for us.

(46:08):
It even enabled my wife to take,a little bit and put it aside for
other things that we needed to buy,other ad hoc expenses that came up.
but 4 75 is.
I believe enough for you to be able to getdecent food and supplies and everything
like that for the home, per week.
Again, bear in mind your five weekmonths don't be caught short, for

(46:32):
those four or so months, of theyear that are five week month.
So what I budgeted per month was 2050 $8.
'cause I'm inflating it slightly tocater for those five week months.
So in total, for.
My monthly budget that I've worked outhere, it comes to a total of $7,223.

(46:54):
That is what you would need to netand have available per month for
a family of four, which is doableon a salary of $124,000 per annum.
Where you are contributing 3% to yourKiwiSaver, obviously tax coming off
your a CC being paid, you'd come outwith roughly about $7,284, per month.

(47:17):
So it is doable.
You can make it work with the lineitems that I've just gone through, just.
Repeating it from the top, so a rentalof $900 per week, so 3,900 per month.
Inflating it slightly forthose five week months.
Water of $90 insurance for yourcar and household content of $150.

(47:39):
Electricity, $300 a month,internet or data for a hundred meg
uncapped fiber to the home of $110.
Your waste or your dust bin, oryour garbage bin, $45 a month.
Car payment or installment ofzero because we, I'm budgeting
or working this out on you.
Purchasing a car outrightfuel, $75 per week.

(48:03):
Watch those five week, months.
So $325 a month.
So inflating, it's likely tocater for those five week months.
Bus buses, or bus travel, $150 a month.
Cell phones, two cell phones, $95 amonth, and then food for $475 a week.
So that's 2050 $8 a month.

(48:26):
So totaling 7,223.
So that's, what I believe and what I'veworked out as an example is livable
and you can definitely make it work.
But that's, that, that's my breakdown.
How we also made it work is because wewere on one salary and the, the money
was coming into my account besidescreating subaccounts so that I could

(48:46):
automate money transferring across intothose subaccounts when the money came
in once a month, so it would be keptaside and then creating debit orders.
That would automatically pay rental, forexample, or different monthly fees like
paying your insurance or your electricity.
It could all be automated andcoming off those accounts just
made it so much easier for me.

(49:06):
So that's the way I did it withmy bank, is I set it up with my
mobile banking all by myself.
You can set it up with those subaccounts, automate everything to move
across so it's nice and easy everysingle month and everything gets paid.
What I also did is.
My wife opened up a bank accountand I transferred the money
into her account for food.
So what she could do is she couldtake the responsibility of keeping

(49:27):
the home, making sure the food andeverything was, in the home while I
was at work, but it also gave her a bitof independence as well to be able to
budget and put some extra money aside.
so it, it really helped as a team workingtogether, but you gotta see what works for
you and your family and your relationship.
But that worked well for usuntil eventually my wife.

(49:47):
Got to a stage of.
also getting an income.
So really that's theexample that I've got.
just reiterating 124,000 a yearwent through what all the PAYE,
the QE saver, the A CC would be.
So you would come up with 7,284 per month.
And then what the budget items Iwent through comes to 7,223, and

(50:10):
how I would transfer to my wife.
I told you about some hidden costs.
The once off, so the carservicing, the waf, the rock.
Be careful about that.
also what also comes up is likebirthdays, Christmases, other things
that you need to pay for your family.
So bear in mind those thingsthat you would wanna put
some extra money aside for.
if you land here with certain visasand you still need to get residency,

(50:31):
keep money aside for eventuallyapplying for the residency, or
potentially you have to do Englishtests and stuff for the residency.
Keep that money aside.
paying for that green waste, bin yearly.
So keeping that a hundred dollars aside.
So there are some hidden coststhat you gotta think about.
This is just off one salary.
and as per our plan, westarted with just first.

(50:52):
ours ended up being 12 months, wasjust living off the one salary.
We made this work once my wife startedworking and you got two incomes,
that makes life very different.
what I will do is I'll eventually do aYouTube tutorial on my YouTube channel.
So if you wanna stop following me on myYouTube channel, it's at Soft landing nz.

(51:12):
I will start creating these videos andit'll be easier, so it's not just me
talking through budget items, but I'lldo a visual showing these templates.
I'll share these templates with you aswell, but I'll go one step further and
not only show you on a monthly, I'll showyou an example on a fortnightly, income.
I'll show you examples on twoincomes coming in, so I'll show
you an example there as well.
I'll also talk you through how I wasable to apply for a personal loan.

(51:35):
I'll talk you through how I was able toapply for, HP or a loan to buy a vehicle.
I'll talk through how Iapplied for my credit card.
I can talk through a couple ofother things as well on that video.
So I'll try and get that tutorialout in the next couple of weeks so
that you've got the vigils and thetemplates and everything there too.
But for now, just through thepodcast, I thought it would be good
to share with you my opinion on howmuch you would need to earn for a

(51:59):
family of four to make it work here.
And what I put into the budget thingsthat I left out of the budget that I
know you would wanna work on eventually.
you don't have to worryabout bank charges.
I know in South Africa I had to.
Constantly putting in a certain amountof money per month for bank charges here,
you do get charged, but for stuff that youactually do, not just a set fee per month.
what, that's what I've seen on my account.

(52:19):
So I've put in a bank charges of zero.
You will need to put moneyaside for school fees.
when I say school fees, it's not payinglike a monthly school fee, but there are
donations that you potentially gotta pay.
There's different curricular, itemsthat your child might need to go
to that they need extra funds.
Paid for.
So if they do cooking in classand whatever else, they'll say,

(52:39):
there's a set fee for this termof $90 for whatever cooking class.
So you've gotta put money aside for that.
You've gotta put money asidefor their, what do you call
it, their, school uniforms.
So you've gotta make sure thatyou've got money put aside for that
and clothing, clothing for kidsand everything as they're growing.
So you need extra money for that.
I haven't spoken anything about anylife insurances, income protection,

(53:02):
medical aids, saving for a, a mortgageor a bond one day buying a home.
I haven't included anythingfor any entertainment, with the
family, be it going out places orjust entertainment like Netflix
or, prime or anything like that.
So there's fees that youwould wanna include in that.
I haven't included if you wantto go to gym or any curricular

(53:24):
extra, I. Activities that you do.
I haven't put in money for that,pocket money for your kids.
So there's a whole lot of other thingsthat you would want to potentially add
into this budget, but I've given youwhat I believe is the bare minimum to
make this work in my mind and my opinion.
But it's just to give you a guide.
I will do a YouTube video,like I told you where I'll go
more in depth and break it up.

(53:46):
Also trying to explain to you evenon a fortnightly salary cycle, how
to try check that, track that budgetand paying those sort of things.
There's pros and cons to that as well.
So I've tried to squeeze in as much asI can into this video, this podcast.
Sorry, I know it's been quite a longone, so I've chatted for a long time
and I know talking numbers can't be fun.
so I really hope you'vestayed with me till the end.

(54:07):
there's so much more.
I really wanted to go in with you,but I know I don't want to totally
lose you 'cause I know you can'tvisually see what I'm seeing, but.
Really, my hope is, I know oneof the biggest challenges or
concerns for me as a father andas, the man of the, home was, sure.
But I hope that mysalary's gonna be enough.
I hope I can provide for myfamily and I can, got enough

(54:28):
money so I can afford this.
So I'm not gonna get my family in trouble.
And we are gonna be, I. Struggling onthat end without a support structure.
So that's really what the purposeof this is, to hopefully share these
numbers with you so it can give you alittle bit more reassurance and peace
of mind that you can make it work.
But don't fool yourself.
It is expensive here.
There are hidden costs.
So really do your homework, doyour research, and make sure that

(54:49):
offer that you've got is enough.
And if it's not, don't be shy to pushback and ask for a little bit more.
I've done that with some of the joboffers I've had here, and it works.
as long as you can justify and you doit in a respectful and professional
way, they are open to that negotiationand you can make it work, especially
if you've got valid budget.
And, break down so that don'tget yourself in a situation.

(55:11):
Be desperate and come acrossand then struggle this aside.
Make sure you can affordit, but it can be done.
Guys.
there's nothing more heartbreakingthat I've seen so many families
come across the side and they just.
They're not making enough.
It's hard enough moving here, butthen to add financial troubles
on top of it, guys, it's tough.
It's really tough.
And what breaks my heart even moreis when you see these people and

(55:32):
families that are coming across hereand they've gone through so much to
get here, and then they pack it in.
They're like, I can't make it work out.
It's just too difficult.
Don't be.
Those people don't be that family.
Make it work.
Do your homework, butyou can make it work.
Okay?
So I think, let me leave it there.
off my, soapbox.
I hope this has helped.

(55:54):
I, hope there were a couple ofnuggets that you can really take
that help you be better prepared soyou in a better situation than me.
Please, if this has helped, please shareit, send it to people that you think it.
It will help go to my YouTubesite, sub, subscribe to my YouTube
site there at Soft Landing nz.
there's gonna be a lot more content thatI'm gonna start sharing there, which

(56:15):
will be videos and tutorials as well.
I'm busy doing a training course toteach myself how to do this properly,
so hopefully I'll be able to givesome good content for you guys soon
in the next couple of weeks, over andabove my podcast and helps them all.
I think I'll leave it there and just saythanks very much for, your time guys.
Thank you for taking the time to listen,especially those that have made it

(56:35):
through this very long podcast today.
you must all keep safe and I'll speakto you again on my next podcast.
Keep well, cheers.