St.Georges Girl

It's just about everyone and their aunties on FB and the hundreds on YT that are desperate to leave the UK that has frightened me. It is so good to hear someone say their life back home is fab, someone other than my family of course because they want us home. That's why I came back on BE, to hear from people who have actually lived overseas and then returned. People who have never lived anywhere else just can't see that there are problems everywhere around the world, although the lack of border control, not knowing who is entering and, what it will do for the future of our tiny island is worrying. Can I ask which part of the UK you returned to?

Pollyana

now that's a poster with a good memory! It was tough, but I coped; I have my memories, and a copy of his fingerprints!

I never did the Christmas trips back, when my sister's kids were littler we always reckoned if I came in spring or autumn we had more quality time as they weren't hyped up over Christmas, or summer holiday stuff. Sad thing is that I did come home imagining family Christmases, but they still won't happen for various reasons, but I am hoping to have some good festive fun with my best mate for the first time in donkey's years.

Never fall prey to the doubts and thoughts that you aren't meant to come home. I'm the world's most pessimistic person and at times it really took an effort to stay convinced that I WOULD get home one day, but when you know in your heart that you don't want to end your days over there, you just have to stay upbeat. Thats why it helped me to set a date and start a few things in motion like shipping quotes. Every little thing was a move in the right direction.
The biggest push was when I got back to Brisbane last October, and on Hallowe'en I handed my notice to my boss. I only needed to give him 2 weeks notice, but by telling him over 4 months in advance not only did I give them time to fill my job but it also meant I had a date to head for which was soooo important psychologically. (BTW the person filling my job started last week,yep, in August, - so much for advance notice, Qld public service at its slowest!)

Pulaski

Parity = 1:1

AUD/ GBP is currently close to 2:1, and the highest AUD ever was was against GBP was around 1.5:1 and that was during 2011 and 2012.

Does "parity" mean something else to you?

Chchexpat

I am in the same boat trying to decide whether to return after 28 years in NZ. I am 62 and was married to a kiwi until 12 years ago. I have mainly stayed here for financial reasons being a well paying job which at 50 I may not have got back there. I have no family here (extended family in uk though parents are gone) and no kids. Have a mortgage free very small house in uk and £400k savings but would need to find some work if I returned. Not sure how easy that would be. I too have had all the negativity about the Uk but I have been back every couple of years and always loved it.
I guess it’s coming down now to where I want to retire and end my days really. It’s hard when you are on your own to make the decision and go through with it!

St.Georges Girl

No, lol. Brain freeze. I trained myself many years ago to think of $1 as £1 when shopping and not to compare all the time, I should have said the AU$ is sinking. Frightening for returnees so might have to sit this one out. Not sure if we can edit our own posts?

Pollyana

Its ok, I got what you meant. I now think over here as what I spend £1 on is equal to what I would have spent $1 on in Aus, whereas when I went out there I thought more along the lines of spending $1 on something instead of £3 . Life was cheap in AUs back then. Now its as expensive as the UK.
Pulaski being in the US probably sees it differently.

You can edit your post for about 2 hours after you post it, beyond that you need to get a Mod to do it for you

St.Georges Girl

Yes, Queensland does have that reputation. We always went at Xmas as it was a easier to get to see all the family in one place, plus I have always hated Xmas here in Oz. As for the doubts, I don't really have any, they are more fears. I want to come 'home', to where I feel most comfortable, even more so as I've got older, as I don't want to be spending a few days a week doing a 2 hour round trip or more to spend time with my family, but there is never anything for sale in our price range. There was one cottage last year that I would loved to have bought. It went under offer the day it went on the market and the estate agent held a list of people interested should it fall through. There were 19 potential buyers on that list, me being one of them! I've started to look further afield but really don't feel comfortable or happy with it, which makes it so hard. We're probably going to have to wait out the sinking of the AU$ as well as the outcome of yet another court case, but I'll keep praying for a miracle.

durham_lad

We were fortunate to be able to retire at 55, moving back a few years later. I know we would not have moved back if we had to find jobs in our 50’s while we had good jobs in the USA. In his 30s and on his own our son decided to move back to join us, giving up his job in the USA and then searching for one here after he arrived, but he was able to live with us while he did his job hunt. It took him about 6 weeks to find a job he wanted, and while looking he also found a house to buy and in the end only stayed with us for about 3 months.

tdrinker

Check out your standing with the UK state pension, and consider making voluntary NI contributions to fill any gaps as it could make a material difference to your financial situation in retirement (be aware, there is currently an opportunity to fill in more gaps than is normally allowed, but this window will close). Have a look at this thread - start reading from the last post to get the recent, most relevant posts.
Class 2 NI. What about us poor expats paying voluntary contributions?
Agree that giving up a well-paid job aged 50 to move back would have been high risk, but it's right to reassess the situation now.

Shard

What's wrong with NZ ?

tdrinker

Reading the thread, St. Georges Girl' is "English" and England is her home.

There's a text in a John Le Carre book, the Tailor of Panama, that sums it up:

‘And you don’t feel — having skipped around the globe so much - family here, there and everywhere - dual passports -
that you’re as it were too un-English ... Too much a citizen of the world, rather than one of us?

‘England’s where I keep my toothbrush, he replied ... "

It's sensible to pay heed to people saying a location has changed, but not too much. Most western countries appear to have experienced similar changes, both positive and negative in the past few years / decades (and a particular change can be either, depending on your circumstances and outlook). And whether a location suits you is very much personal - relationship with family, preferred climate, lifestyle, personality, financial circumstances, job situation, etc. Lists are often published of the best / worst places to live, but they are very broad brush - a person may enjoy living in a "bad" location and dislike life in a "good" location, depending on their personality and circumstances.

Moses2013

No idea, but there won't be too many 62 years old who have that amount of money. Being mortgage free with 400K in savings is a luxury and that should be more than enough to retire early.
Finding basic work shouldn't be a problem (if flexible) and you constantly hear businesses can't find staff.

Pulaski

Same in the US, living here has become very expensive. Would be/ soon-to-be immigrants seeking advice often don't believe the advice, and even some people who live here (and post on BE) are in denial (I'm not sure how that happens, but I suspect in large part it's because they bought their home many years ago and don't see the massive increase in housing costs - see below v ), but I wouldn't recommend coming to the US without a job that pays very well if you're moving to Boston, New York, DC, California etc.

Even in lower cost areas of the US the cost of buying or renting a home has doubled in the past decade. I thought that massive house price inflation was something I had left behind in the UK, but my home that I bought in 2012, is now worth three times what I paid for it, which is madness!

Pollyana

I've seen some US forum threads lately where people seem to think its worth moving for what sounds like a low salary, doing it for the experience, and almost ignoring those of you who can see how expensive it is to live there now. Just reading about the medical bills scares me to death, the fact that even with insurance you can very easily end up bankrupt.

tdrinker

Whether renting or buying, high property costs are a problem, whether caused by population growth exceeding house building, quantitative easing (money printing) creating asset inflation, or whatever. It's happened in many countries over many years, and under both left and right wing governments, none of which appear to have an effective solution. China has managed to combine inflated property values with an over supply.

It can't be good for society that it's so difficult and expensive to get decent accommodation. As an aside, I recently read an article about life in Rome 2,000+ years ago and it was similar, so it's far from a new problem. You'd have thought we'd have s solution by now, though.

Sorry if I'm getting off the point of the thread.