 I'm here. It's Friday. I'm excited to be here. I am just going to wait a few minutes till people come in and then we can start chatting. I just have a couple announcements. I just had finished a... well, I'll just wait till people are here. They're just announcing it so people know this is not advertised. This is me going, oh, I should go live. I have a few minutes. That's what this is. Hello, hello. Okay, I can see you. Can you hear me? Okay. I'm assuming you can hear me. Okay. It is a beautiful day in Wellington today. Anyway, so I... this is not planned. This is just... I had a few minutes. I had tons and tons of meetings and clients this morning and so I had a break, just had lunch. Now I'm like, okay, I got my big list to get into but then I thought, hmm, I'm just gonna go live for a few minutes because I have a couple things to say and the last one that I did was last week or I think the week before that, maybe, and it went really well. Like I had a lot of people that watched it more of just like me talking and about whatever questions or what's going on. So I'm here. Kia ora from Christ Church. Hello, Logan, Barry. We're excited that you're here. Yeah, so it's... what time is it? 1.20 on Friday. It's Friday here. Sorry if you're from America. Too bad. Anyway, anyway, I just wanted to come on and see how you guys are doing so please feel free to ask questions. This is kind of your time. It's completely unplanned. I will be better at planning things once I'm out of my job. Hello, hello. Your mother loves me. Thank you. I get a lot of that. It's so funny because people are like, oh, I know you. My parents like watching you. And what about you? No, it's fine. It's fine. Sorry, I'm getting all these messages coming in of course as soon as I go live. So yeah, so it's been a busy day. Lots of clients, lots of really good meetings for things coming up. Yeah, 1.20. Isn't that what I said? Yeah. What did I say? I don't know. It's Friday. Anything goes. So basically, I just wanted to come on here. Well, it looks like most of you are from New Zealand so this doesn't matter. But if you're watching this later, I just wanted to... because I've been talking to a lot of clients this morning and they're like, oh, we didn't know that the borders were opening up sooner. Okay, so yeah. So the borders of New Zealand to Australians open up in April and May 1st for most everyone else. Most of the big countries anyway. Yes, thank you. You're from Melbourne. Any luck making the Pavlova? It is officially my favorite dessert. And so I'll make it like a big one or you could do like the individual ones and I like it best with like, you just take like the frozen berries, eat them up, whatever. Corn flour and then that's my favorite. The berries with the Pavlova is like literally the best. So but really, I'll just take the Pavlova any which way you want to give it to me. So yeah. So yeah, so if you don't know, the borders are opening up early so people can come visit. That's very exciting. I was like listening to it. It's like I can hardly believe it. It's like feels like it was coming forever. Oh, you're at the Polytechnic in Christchurch. Nice. I teach at the Open Polytechnic, online school, if you go to that. Oh, mash up a Pavlova and make it to an ambrosia. Interesting. I never thought of that. Oh, I'll think about that one. Maybe send me a picture of that. I'm not sure about that. Anyway, yeah, so yeah, I'll be more organized with my lives, letting you know that they're coming. It's just that I am, oh my gosh, you like lollicate. Sorry, keep getting distracted. So I don't know what I was saying. It's like Friday, like what's happening? Sorry. Yeah, so yeah, borders are opening. That's exciting. I don't know if you heard of my last live that I put my job and so like, but I'm not done till like the end of April. So it's just like I'll be more organized. That's what my point was. Once that happens, and there's a lot going on. If you haven't, yes, I am planning to go back to the States June and July. Well, for a month total. And I'm excited about that. So excited. I hope I can get there. I hope there's no problems. So anyway, yeah, so I've been getting lots of booking. So if you want, if you are moving here or traveling here and want to chat with me with some questions, the link is below on my website and you know, meet with me because it's booking up. But also, yeah, so I quit my job. I'm working on this membership. I know some of you have heard me talk about it. I'm getting organized with that. So basically what it's going to be is it's going to be like a membership training hub on my website where you can come in and learn everything about like moving here or traveling here or just cultural competencies, like how to function here, how to set up a bank account, how to go to the grocery store. I mean, obviously, you know how, but it's like the in-depth view of a lot of details that would really help. So, you know, if any of you had kids and you're just like, you're like, why has nobody ever told me this? Or, you know, you're going through like, there'd be so many ways of doing this better if someone would have just told me. So it's just about sharing information. I don't know everything about everything. But I know a lot more than you if this is the first time that you've come here. So it's helpful. You know, it's not going to be expensive place for you that you can go and get all the material. It'll be mainly training videos because, frankly, I prefer video. There's a lot of obviously, we live in the world of Google.com. You can get everything out. And that's fine. This is all one place. And also my perspective. If you're a member, then you also get access to like exclusive contents of lives. I'm thinking I could talk my family, maybe into getting on some videos around that. So if you're interested in that, actually, and I really would like my community to give me feedback on what you want the videos to be about. So if you head to my website, they, there's like a little pop up that you can say, Hey, I'm interested in this when this comes out, at least let you know, I mean, you don't have, there's no like, there's no obligation. And you can always, you know, cancel anyway. But there is a spot for to actually write some ideas for trainings that you want. So, so yeah, so I'm there for that. So like, tell me what you want. I'm creating a lot. I've like, literally just, I've just been like, mind dumping all these things that I think would be helpful for you. And I think I'm up to like 50 videos. I'm not sure I need other more ideas, but now I'm probably not going to launch it with 50 videos, because that's going to take me forever, but I'll get a lot up and running and we'll start going. Yeah, I'm going to be packing a lot of chocolate and a lot of New Zealand coffee. You are right. When I go to the US, you guys know me. I must be saying this in my videos. You're going to send some litters peanut butter or boys and berry chocolate to Miami, Florida, Florida, where I export to. Oh, that's so nice of you. Yes, the peanut butter. Okay. Oh, the peanut butter and boys and berry, where they market it as like peanut butter and jelly. That one. I love that one. I really love that they actually didn't mix the peanut butter and the boys and berry. It's a little bit off putting at first because you're like, wait a minute. This is not really peanut butter and jelly, but it is so like you can get peanut butter and chocolate and then peanut butter and berry like a separate they're getting like a two for one. That's what we're doing. So yeah, do you guys always put like Whitaker's in your brownies? I just made brownies last night and I have the best brownie recipe if you want it. It's actually gluten free because it uses corn flour. I'm not intentionally to be gluten free, but it just happens to be and it's literally the best brownie I've ever made. But you chop up like a whole. Well, I used a half a bar because it was too much. Half a bar of chocolate Whitaker's just plain or whatever you want. Surprise and throw that in there. Like literally my family is like this is literally the best. I beg a lot. Like I'm a baker. It isn't like I don't bake a lot. And they're like, this is literally the best brownies ever. So they're like, don't make this. We're gonna eat all this three times a year. Oh, that's so nice. You guys are so much nicer than me. There's somebody just said that they send three chocolate three times a year to their friends in Connecticut. Like that's so nice. I don't even do that at Christmas. I'm even over the Christmas presents. We I'm like, send each other money or we don't because it all depends out. I am to spend, you know, 10 grand just to come as you. So that's what you get. I know it's just gotten to that point. But it's also like the mentality of being in New Zealand is so different. And it's you just don't, you know, I don't know, you just don't buy things like I used to or like that's just around. Whitaker's melted over blueberry muffin. Okay, I'm gonna have to do that. So yeah, so so good. So happy to answer any of your questions if you have questions. Also, I had posted if you're an expat that's looking for some tax help for American taxes, the link is below. I've been working with them. Okay, I haven't gone through the whole process with them. So I can't fully recommend them. But they are, I mean, literally, I'm a difficult candidate. Let me be honest, I have a company in the US, I have a couple here, I got real estate, I got I'm complicated. And, you know, so I always get nervous going is like, is he even gonna want to work with me? So I explained the whole thing. And the whole time was like, yeah, no problem. We can hit I'm like, what? No problem? Like, I'm not gonna get the IRS after me? Like, oh my gosh, it's been such a thing. So anyway, this is why I'm sharing it with you because it is tax season. And if you are an expat, you need this. I think I have the link below, I'll put it below if I don't yet. So definitely check out that that's just helpful. And there's like a $50 coupon. I just asked for one for my community, because I was like, guys, you know, they're pretty cool. So I'm real impressed so far, I gotta say real impressed, like they seem to know everything. In fact, I think I've done some things wrong in the past. And I've been using a CPA. So you seem to know the rules in both countries, which is really helpful. How do I feel about New Zealanders in general? And everything that's a loaded question? Of course, I love New Zealanders are so nice. So it's so funny. So I work with so I have a consulting business for anybody that's moving here. And they just want to chat with me or helpful with their CV cover letters type thing. And I met with someone today. And they were like, why is everybody so nice? Like, she was applying for job. And they were like, they're so nice. It's like, I guess you don't really understand. Like, when I talked to Kewes, they're like, Oh, my good old America and everybody's really nice. Yeah. I'm telling you, they're not as nice as you. You guys are like really nice here. And that's not, you know, I've been here long enough to know that it's not all 100% sincere. Let's be honest. But you guys are just really nice. I shared a video. I actually just I just started doing some storytelling on my TikTok. If you want to check that out. And I did one about my first experience coming to New Zealand and on Air New Zealand. And it's completely gone viral. I wasn't trying. They're not paying me. We don't have any sort of agreement. I was just literally sharing my story. And Air New Zealand has gotten on there like, Oh, my gosh. So yeah, so I'm like, Hey, I'm flying to the US. You know, an upgrade maybe if there's any seats available. Oh my gosh, could you imagine? I've always dreamed about being on those beds that they have in first class like, I'll never pay for it. It'll never happen. But it could be a goal in life. Maybe they would give it to me. They should be giving it to me because like, you know, they're trying to promote this country. And I am helping them by helping people come here. So there we go. Sorry, there's lots of questions on me. Oh, okay, good question. So people in the US, they retire around 65 to 70. What's the average retirement in New Zealand? Good question. New New Zealanders, why don't you like comment on that? I haven't thought about that. My perspective even being an American is I don't plan on retiring. I don't plan on doing things that I don't want to do. And so why would I end up stop doing it? If I felt like stop doing it, then I would stop doing it. But like, unless I need the money. Yeah, how is everybody coping with 65 years? So it sounds like it's about the same. How are people coping with the gas here? You know, I've been like, locked out in my house. So I've been driving. So I don't even know what the gas prices I haven't even looked at it. Did I see the IT contractor rates? Oh, really? No, send it to me very. I'd be interested in that. Yes, I would say the San Francisco Bay area is similar to Wellington for sure. When I went to San Francisco, when I went to Seattle, both of them made me think of Wellington. And a little bit of Portland too, like the city, the vibe, made me feel like that. Interesting. You can pension at 65 here, but you can still, okay, so that's interesting, you can get your pension, even if you're still working. I think you can get that in the US, you have to retire and then you get your social security. Oh, you get your work. What? And how much is a pension? I have no idea. Like this is the whole area that I haven't worked looked into. Kim, asking if I hang out my laundry. I don't I'm time for I'm going to be honest with you. And now I have electric Kiwi that I'm working with like I have them as my electrical and they're like I get my free hour of power. And that's when I throw it in the fire. There's no disadvantage. It's so much easier. Okay, $1,200 a month for the pension. Interesting. Okay, pay double tax. Okay, that makes sense. Basic 400 400 a week, I'm assuming. Okay. So it's regardless of income, everybody gets the same. That's interesting. And then when do people generally start using their Kiwi Saber if they have that? Do I plan on doing my own taxes for my new business? How easy is it to understand business tax? I do. I've been doing my taxes forever until recently to the IRS needed it. Decided they would plot me with a $20,000 bill. So I got stressed and hired an accountant to look at it. And she said, Oh, you just checked one box wrong. And it took me a whole year to get that result with IRS because they kept sending me letters that said, we're a little bit busy, we'll get back two and three months. We're a little busy, we'll get back two, three months. Like really, like I have this $20,000 bill hangover. I know I didn't know it. But you just want it resolved, right? So yes, the business, all taxes in New Zealand is so easy. I mean, I guess I haven't done business taxes, I will be doing it in April. Because, you know, I have an official company, otherwise, some of my other smaller companies that have just started, I just have as a sole trader. And so it's simple. Everything's simple here. If you're American, it doesn't even compare. So to give you guys a reference point, for me to do my taxes, I had a couple small businesses, my husband worked regular job and we have some real estate, and really no other investment a little bit. It would take me 40 hours to do my taxes in the US. And here it's like basically done for you. And then you just add in a couple things. It's so easy. Okay, so we're getting some. Okay, okay. Are your family thrilled that you're on YouTube and other websites? That's a good question, Oliver. I don't know. I haven't been home. I haven't seen them. Well, like, you mean like my immediate family? No, I have three teenagers. So they're not thrilled by any of that. So that's fine. They don't have to be and they don't have to be on here. There's no rules. This is all like free information, like they, you know, it's hard enough to be a teenager, like I'm not trying to be difficult. But they're definitely are slowly enjoying it. They're starting to benefit because I've been getting a lot of brand deals these days. And they've been sending us all this stuff. And so my kids are like, wow, you know, lots of free, really cool stuff. So, so that's fun. But yeah, there is a reason why I call my website Huey Americans plural. They'll come around. Everybody will come around. So yeah, it should be good. Okay, so 675 Fort Niley for a pension. Do New Zealanders pay taxes on everything like we do in the States? The tax system is a little bit different. Do we pay tech? I mean, like, you have GSD on some things and not on other things. Like, yeah, it's, it's, I would say it's very similar. When I lived in New Zealand the first time, I made the exact same money as I made in the States when I went back the second time, or like the two years later, and we we had more take home pay. So like, I think it's a little bit less tax. Nothing significant, though. But when you adjust for healthcare, it's significant. Okay, your mother gets 431 a week, soul person, and she lives in a mortgage free house night. When you do the currency exchanges that more expensive to live in Wellington and San Francisco. Okay, San Francisco houses are 1.5 million. So I live in lower health. It's a suburb of Wellington. And I went to the bank recently to get a mortgage or just to start the conversation of how much could I afford? And they're like, Well, there's no houses in all of lower health selling for less than a million in there. Not great. But all the prices are dropping. I've just seen houses in my neighborhood and 800s now. So I would say based on that, it is cheaper in Wellington, but maybe not in the city. I'm not sure on the prices in the city, but the outskirts, you can find something like you don't even have to go that far and the public transport is decent. So that's cool. So you can make a urgent withdrawal on your QVSaver under certain circumstances. That's okay. So people start taking their QVSaver at 65. That's cool. Yeah, I'm not paying a mortgage makes a huge difference. That's interesting. So even if you have lots of assets, you own a million dollar house, you're still getting your pension. Do you get tax on your pension like in the States? Yes. Shorty answer yes, but they don't nickel and dime you apparently Wow, you guys are helpful. I didn't know any of this. Thank you. Interesting. That's interesting. So if your husband and wife and one of one of them is 65, any other ones only say 39. They can she can get her pension because her husband's over 65. That's interesting. Look at these loopholes that we're finding. Is your medical costs included in your pension? Why? These are good questions. Yes. So it is taxed your pension is taxed. And so if you continue working, you most likely are hitting higher tax bracket. So how did me and Chantel from growing up without borders meet? Great question. You guys are so much fun. How did we meet? Did I reach out to her? Did she reach out to me? I think I reached out to her on Instagram. I had seen them and saw that they were in the area maybe that I was in. I've reached out to most people. It's not a country. And yeah, oh, yeah, that's been an end up being like near Z and I was like, actually, you're in Rotorua. I'm in Rotorua. I was like, they're where I'm like, why don't you go over, you know, just for like an hour, like, I don't know these people. And so they over me and I guess the rest is history. We had a good time. Do your kids want to go back to the state to live or stay here? My oldest goes to uni here and she's planning on staying here. I was just asking my 17 year old best the other day. And I think you go either way, I think it'll be good for us to go back and see because I think things have really changed in the US since 2019. And so I think that'll be interesting. So I'll let you know. Going like the US is going to make a lot of good content, because I could just show you everything I'm talking about. I have been in New Zealand for six years. And how do I like living here? Love it, love it, love it, love it, did not expect to love it as much as I did. You can watch all my YouTube videos on that as I cover a lot of that. What would be the first thing that you or your family went back to the US? Make you stay. So yeah, the first thing that would make me stay in the US is if my parents needed me. Like something happened and do you know what I mean? Like there's certain things that override what you want to do or where you want to be, right? And so that's what I would do. Sometimes that's just the right thing to do. It's a coverage of Russian Ukraine heavy there as it is in New Zealand. Oh, you guys have no idea how heavy news coverage is in the US. Hi, Wanda. Good to see you. Or I guess you write words. Yeah, really compare. But I don't know. I don't I don't have a TV. So there we go. I don't know how bad it is. I just read about it. Oh, you're welcome. I'm happy to answer all of your questions. Yeah. So yeah, so I just came on here to let you guys know that the borders are opening up early. I'm excited about that. So I have a video this week, coming out about traveling with the NZ Pocket Guide. And they're great. They're amazing, actually what they do. And there's a whole thing. But yeah, so check that out. I would love feedback on this training hub or some some training videos that would be helpful to you. So just go to my website, it'll pop up and put that in there. Yeah, if you need tax help, there's tax help if you need like immigration help, there's immigration help or, you know, book a meeting with me, I'm getting quite booked up. So if you want to talk to me like before May, you may want to book something. But otherwise, if there's no openings, maybe just email me and I'll see, you know, I don't have like a ton of times opening up and it will open up a lot more once I'm not working full time. So I'll have more time for that. But yeah, so things are going good. Things are amazing. How are you guys with COVID? I still have one kid that has it here, but she has no symptoms. So I've always wanted to move to any recommend any places. Oh, yeah, there's a lot to say about that. The US is a big place. Where I'd recommend all depends on you, right? It all depends on what you're interested in, what's important to you, what you value, what kind of job, you know, so many things. Because there's like kind of four main regions. And so, yeah, if you want to book appointment with me, just book the New Zealand one and I'm happy to talk with the US vice versa, and talk you through and I do that too. I mean, with a lot of people that want to go to the US too. So it's really helpful to just kind of have somebody to bounce some ideas off kind of before you jump into it. It's a big decision. It's a mess here should get better. Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. I mean, I have clients every day that I'm talking to and they're like, can you have the states? How do I get there? Like, wow, I can't help you with immigration. But I can't answer all of your other questions. So hello from China. Thank you for watching the videos. What is the overall appeal of living in New Zealand versus the US? Where do I start? Where do I start? I feel like you're very new to my channel. You're asking that. Oh, thank you, Oliver. You have a great weekend. So yeah, highlights, work life balance, no stress, safety. Those are the three highlights, the imperative ones, the health care. I mean, you know, you don't have as many specialists, but you also don't have insurance companies that support that. Okay. So there's lots of lots. It's most beautiful. It's so it will ruin you. If you live in New Zealand, because you go anywhere and you say, Oh, it's nice. I've seen a better sunset. Oh, I can't like, we go home and we're like, it's okay. Because New Zealand is so wow. It's so wow. So yeah, I mean, that's why you're coming here. You're coming here for partly their culture, for their value system. They're just very great work life balance. Like, I mean, like, what do you get automatically four weeks of holiday? No matter what you're doing, part time full time. I mean, like, that's all first of all, unbelievable. I was just talking to my, my niece today, because I was just sending some nerve wracking email or like posts on Facebook about like, so she has a newborn newborn, maybe more like toddler, I think they're actually to actually boy, time flies when you haven't been there. And she's going to lose her job because she has to stay home with her sick kid. I'm like, what do you mean? I give the choose between your job and your kid like, I don't remember this. And she's like, yeah, like you can only you get demerit points for when you're gone and like her daughter's been really sick. And then she had your infection and then COVID and blah, blah, blah. But you can only it's only valid if you have COVID or the flu. And I'm like, like, literally, you're gonna. Okay, it's a different world. That's not how it is here. Yes, I'm so excited that you can travel to New Zealand. Oh, oh, that's so cool. You're coming for your anniversary. Yeah, our 25th is this year, too. Gosh, how old am I? planning in November. That's great. The member is a great time to come. That's fine. Yeah, sorry, Josh, you're new. Welcome. That's why you do the lives. So people know. Yeah, medical insurance is kind of a waste. But also, one of the biggest complaints with the health system here in New Zealand is that, you know, you can't get in very quickly and you're waiting forever and then look with health insurance that could eliminate some of that. I've experienced that. I have health insurance. It's subsidized by my husband's company. It's not expensive compared to what I'm used to paying in the US. And it's just, I don't know, I'm American, I'm used to paying insurance. It's scary not to. So that's where we're at. Oh, yes, it'll be your 27th anniversary. Now that it's been two years of COVID, so sorry about that. Oh my gosh. So anyway, it's been lovely talking to you guys. Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions, book an appointment. I'm always here for you. And please let me know your thoughts on other topics you'd want to talk about. I'll get better at organizing when I'm going live, but everything's a little bit crazy at the moment. If you haven't, if you didn't hear my last lab, I think I let you know that I quit my job and I started a digital marketing company. And we're offering these really amazing courses like I'm so excited that I have to like do it all right. And it's coming out in May. You know, and then I have my whole training hub that I'm working on for you guys as well. So if you want to check out my new company, it's grow remarkable.com. Yes, it was created in Queenstown. So the remarkables me and my business partner were driving by and we were like, I really like that word remarkable. Can we work that into our name? Hello from Dunedin. You're welcome. So yeah, grow remarkable. We're so excited. We have like lots of cool things coming up. In fact, we are working with a company right now in the US. And so digital marketing is difficult, because people tell you how to do something, but then when you sit down in front of the computer and you try to do it is very difficult. And especially when you had no experience, or like your social media manager in a company hires you to do their Facebook ads. But like you've never really done and there's so many like little decisions to make. Yeah, so I am running a course that does a simulation. And it's actually a real company with real data that's updated every three months. And you can actually go through and do it. And it's like, what? And I talked to and so I've made a deal with them. I mean, obviously, I'm purchasing it. And then I'm, you know, offering it to students. But I found out today, you guys that I am the first private company that is offering this in the world. Because I've offered so they've only been marketing through universities and high schools up to this point for their products for their simulations. And I have worked with them at the university I'm at and I have convinced them to give it to me and let me create it for the marketplace. And so yeah, it's going to be very cool. So if you're interested in any of that or know anybody that does, you're not going to want to miss us. We're going to have limited spots. But just because we want to kind of fine tune our process is the first couple of times we're running through it, and then we'll be good. So yeah, so it's very, very cool. And it's just really going to serve a need that nobody else is filling. And it's just so fresh. And because I've created digital marketing courses, I've been teaching it forever. And it's just showing you how to do it. And when you like actually do it, so there's this huge gap from like, you learn how to do it, then you hire to do it and then but you don't have any practice. You don't actually know. And so like, every like little decision, you don't know, it literally just takes practice. It's like, it's like you hiring a plumber who's never touched a pipe before, right? Not a good idea, right? You have to actually practice and do it like or construction or whatever if you want to do more of a trade, it's like the same thing. So this is where you can practice, you can make mistakes, you can look at the analytics, you can get feedback and it looks exactly like how you're going to make a Facebook ad exactly how you're going to do a Google ad or an organic post and thinking about what your strategy should be. I don't know, I'm so excited I'll stop talking about it. But if you're interested, check it out growremarkable.com. It'll be coming out in May. And again, I have limited spots, but should be good. Oh, you brought my cookbook and you tried the pumpkin pie. I'm so glad that you liked it. I'm so glad. Yeah, so I do have an American cookbook. I always forget about this product. I have an American cookbook that has been adjusted for New Zealand and Australian type ingredients and measurements and temperatures. And so yeah, it's all kind of my favorite kind of famous American recipes that people are always asking me about. It's like $8 off my website if you want that. So hello from the Bay of Plenty. So beautiful. Is it so hot there? Gosh, I feel like I have bags. I haven't been sleeping very well, to be honest, because I'm building my empire. I am. It's so much fun. I just, you know, when you're doing something that you love, it's not work. And so you just feel like doing it. Yeah, hi from Venezuela. Oh my gosh. Hi, John. That's cool. A lot of New Zealand's global news come from corporate. Yeah, I definitely New Zealand has become a little more US centric since I've even moved here over the last six years. It'll be a long way to go. Oh, really nice recipes and not hard to make. Get your recipe book. $8. So yeah, that's fun. So yeah, so check it all out. I'll put all the links below. I better get going. I actually have work to do. I have a huge list to get through and I was like, I feel like talking to my community. So I'll go on live. And yep, so the video for this week is hitting a noon on Sunday. And let me know any questions that you have. Good to see you guys. Oh, I gotta end this. Here we go.