Over the past couple of years, most of our friend group decided to make the move to Australia, mostly for economic reasons. For them, it is a place of higher wages, better career opportunities and in some cases, a lower cost of living (but that last point is becoming increasingly debatable). Moving to another country comes with a lot! Packing up your life and moving across the Tasman is no easy feat. One part (often overlooked) of the move is money and how to move savings efficiently.
The convenient option isn’t always the best value
From my observations, I have seen people do of two things:
- Leave the money sitting in their NZ bank account
- Transfer their money using the bank in which the money was sitting
It’s fair enough that people would want to use their bank to transfer money to Oz. They are familiar with their bank, and it provides a simple enough route.
With any decisions involving your hard-earned money, it always pays to do a bit of research and prevent money leaks.
When it comes to international transfers (foreign exchange or FX), there are some factors that come into play. These include, but aren’t limited to:
- Exchange rate margins (where banks make a lot of their money)
- Transfer fees
- Settlement times
On the face of it, a transfer may look convenient but ends up costing you more.
My New Zealand to Australia money transfer experience
In April 2024, I needed to transfer just north of NZD $45,000 to an Australian bank account. The money was sitting in my NZ bank account, and my first thought was, “I’ll just use Bank X to transfer the money” because it was easy enough. At the time, I already had a Wise account, and I decided to compare the two.
NZ Bank X vs. Wise
Below is a quick breakdown of what the transfer looked like in 2024 and how much would have landed in the Australian bank account via both methods. Total amount sent (including fees): NZD $47,513.45.
Bank transfer:
- Receive: AUD $42,811.52
- Exchange rate: 1 NZD = 0.90104 AUD
Wise:
- Receive: AUD $43,444.30
- Exchange rate: 1 NZD = 0.9177 AUD
Difference:
- AUD $632.78 more with Wise
The AUD $632 is a decent amount of money that, if in this instance was a relocation transfer, could have gone towards moving costs or setting up in Australia.
You can run your own numbers in a couple of minutes using Wise and see exactly how much would land in your account ➡️ Run your transfer comparison.
If a transfer of that amount were to be initiated today, using the same bank (which now advertises a $0 transfer fee) and compared it to Wise, the saving is still significant at NZD$600+, depending on the bank. This goes to show that the real cost lies in the exchange rate margin.
The process of transferring with Wise (so simple)
The whole process was simple and was as follows:
- Transfer NZD from your bank to Wise (local NZ transfer, which took a couple of hours)
- Add a new recipient or choose an existing one
- Enter the amount to send
- SEND (in the instance above, the transfer settled instantly)
There were a few things that stood out with Wise, and some of them include:
- Seeing exactly how much will land in the recipient account
- Fee transparency
- Exchange rates that are close to the mid-market rate (real rate)
When compared with Bank X, you get an indicative amount which really isn’t ideal. Would you not want to know exactly how much money will end up on the other end?
Final Thoughts
If you’re a Kiwi planning on moving to Australia, how to move your money is a decision you will have to make. It’s easy enough to choose to use your bank, but it’s worth taking a few minutes to compare options before hitting “transfer”. Taking a few minutes saved me over $600.
Save Money on Your Transfer (Takes 2 Minutes)
If you’re planning to move money to Australia, it’s worth taking a look at Wise and comparing it with your bank.
You can check the exact rate and fees in a couple of minutes and see how much would land on the other side.
➡️ Take a look at Wise here
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