>You need to move to NZ.
Our Professional development allowance is currently $8000 (so about 3500
pounds) and likely to go up with our current contract negoiations + 6 weeks
Annual leave and 2 weeks study leave.
--> NZ$8000 is around 2670 Sterling... You are using a conversion rate which
is somewhat out of date. The NZ currency has done badly against the Sterling
recently and, the higher UK interest rates go, the worse it will do...
Could you give us an estimate of the big picture? i.e. for a consultant
with, say, 10 years experience, what is the gross annual remuneration
package? If the corresponding pay in the UK was not 2670 Sterling above that
or more, THEN it will be financially better in NZ...
I am also thinking about how much time and money it would take to make it
over to any major conference (mostly Europe and North America) all the way
from NZ... You will be needing a decent budget for travel...
Some time back I had a discussion about this with a friend who works in the
financial world. He took into account what he thought the main financila
advantage in NZ was (lower living costs and housing costs) and many other
numbers; he factored in new & old UK contract pay, pension, travel,
salaries, awards, etc, etc. (his wife is a doc and they were thinking about
the move). He worked out that, as things stand, the NZ salary would buy a
better standard of living in NZ than the UK one would buy in his part of
England. However, the longer he stayed down under, the further behind he'd
be should he ever decide to return... They are still in the UK...
Hopefully when the negotiations are over, you can fill us in on the new
details and we'll recalculate. It may eventually become tempting...
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