EDITORIAL: 

I saw this story on TV about a week ago, last week, a Kiwi bloke called Simon McCartney.

He's 65 years old, he moved to London to be closer to his grandkids, struggled to find work.

65, moved to London, struggled to find work.

Oh, I wonder how, why?

And eventually he thought, right, I'm going to try something completely different.

Now he drives a big red double-decker bus.

What a job.

He drives across London Bridge, looks across to the Tower Bridge, sees St. Paul's Cathedral, and on diversions he goes past Picadilly Circus, Parliament, the London Eye and Leicester Square.

How about that for an office at 65 years old?

Then, yesterday I had coffee with a business acquaintance. He's from Auckland, but he's in Wellingtonian.

Went to TawaCollege, not with me, a lot younger than me.

Mid 50s, has a successful business doing well.

He sits there telling me, I'm moving, selling up and moving.

I said, selling the business?

"No, I'm keeping the business, but selling my home.”

“I live in Auckland on the North Shore and I'm going to the Gold Coast.”

He said he'll keep his business going here.

He can fly back four or five times a year, can do everything by Zoom or everything by phone.

That's the modern world.

But he's had enough of New Zealand.

He reckons the Gold Coast will give him a better lifestyle.

And that got me thinking about Wellington because I hear it consistently now.

Rates, water bills, insurance, cost of doing business, cost of our council, cost of owning a home, the cost of absolutely everything.

Wellington is becoming a very expensive city to live in.

And then you look around and ask, is Wellington actually heading in the right direction?

I love Wellington.

I've invested my whole life in the city.

My family's here, my business is here, my work is here.

But actually, when I got into bed, because when you get into bed, and I was reading about someone the other day that was saying that thought when you hop into bed is kind of like the end of your day, it should be really your happy place and your happy thoughts.

And I thought to myself last night, could I get to an age where, right, enough is enough, I'm off.

Melbourne, absolutely.

I'd love to live in the outskirts of Melbourne.

Not in the expensive part, but in the outskirts where I could afford.

Gold Coast, you know, the weather is so damn good there.

It feels so exciting there.

London, maybe, you know, a bit more expensive.

You'd have to have a little bit more money, but a place in London?

France, a little village way out in the ultimate of nowhere.

Good wine, good food.

Now we're getting somewhere.

And I know people that have done it.

And it scares me because 20 years ago, you never heard of people doing that in their 50s, 60s or 70s.

That's it, I'm going, taking off.

And maybe the new OE isn't at 21, but maybe it’s at 61.

If money wasn't the issue, where would you go?

Would you leave Wellington or would you stay right here?

And despite everything that Wellington throws at us, would you, could you ever simply pack up, sell up and move out?

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