Looks like a lot of different questions to me.. lets look at them one at a time
1. I'm in my 20's, have been studying at uni for 5 years (clocked up a student loan higher than the national median annually income), and am ready to enter the workforce.
So what. Lets say we are both 17 and leave school. You secure your future by doing a degree in dentistry. I secure mine by buying a Scania B train and hauling logs to Tauranga. We both borrow $300K. Big deal, except you can go overseas and your parents wont get to pay the loan on your behalf.
2. Over the last 5 years I have had 16 close friends and immediate family members move overseas (just 3 have since come back). They all proudly boast that their lives are so much better after leaving NZ.
Undebateable. They choose their measures of life value.
3. So far, my search for jobs in NZ and abroad is showing that I could be 10-30K per year financially better off overseas (adjusted for varying cost of livings). And that's just in my first year of work....
Undebateable. New Zealand is a socialist country, so those who achieve will always earn less than they could.
4. I study business and I know factually that NZ slips economically further behind most OECD member states each year, and that basically there is no promising signs this will improve given that we are still selling cheese when other countries have moved on to electronics and services.
Yes NZ slips behind other OECD countries.. thats due to Government policy, not the fact we are very very very good at cheese. Being good at stuffing capacitors into PC boards will not make you wealthy.. actually "hi-tech" is crap - only a very few engineers making real money are required - high tech is mostly a bunch of poor people stuffing PCBs with components to make someonme else wealthy.
5. According to a recent news article, in NZ it now requires 80% of the median income to pay a mortgage for the median priced house. Housing affordability has reached all time lows.
Absolutely true, but completely avoidable. Lots of companies eg Golden homes, Homestead, A1 etc still advertise homes at less than $1k/m2. So the home you grew up in would cost about $130K plus the cost of the section. Yet you have to pay $400K. The reason is a shortage of land, so terrible sections cost a small fortune. But NZ has no shortage of land. In fact we could all have a 1/8 acre section within 2 miles of the beach without a problem. Why can't you buy them ? because Government planners restrict growth, keeping prices high.
They say "Shit, you can't use that flat paddock for houses - its valuable farm land producing broccoli ! If its used for housing it will never be returned to farming !"
So instead of doubling your broccoli account from 0.75 a week to $1.50, they increase your section price from $50k to $300k.. but trust me, planning is for your own good.
Bottom line.. you are right, but its not an unsolvable problem.. in fact, its a government created problem !
Rave Over !
David must play fair with the other kids, even the idiots.
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For the record Qkkid was in my bed, not the other way round
Originally Posted by Yow Ling
) and I've lived and worked in the US and Spain as well as visiting many many other countries in my travels. I'm in NZ as my Kiwi misses did a 10 year stint in London with me so it's her turn, basically. I love NZ and the people are a great bunch. NZ is the only other country other than England where I could see myself settling.
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