Time to move home...
 

So after 13 yrs as an expat, i think i've come to the realisation that I need to move home. I'm currently on a visa in NYC (arrived 3.5yrs ago from Dubai) and haven't ever truly felt settled here. I have a love hate relationship with the place. I think I just want to feel a bit more grounded, not have to live with a flatmate (i'm almost 38!) in a rented apartment and the dating scene here is attrocious!

Has anyone else, made the move back recently? I'm thinking i want to make the move in the next 6 months. Are there any things I should consider before making the move?

Re: Time to move home...
 

Only the obvious .... where will I live until such time as a get a job? Do I have enough money to last a few months in case I don't get employment?

All the other things - open a bank account, take out a rental, buy a car/furniture, credit cards etc - come naturally after that.

You'll need a fair amount of ready cash as you won't have a credit history in the UK so possibly will have to put down some hefty deposits.

Plenty of folks have made the return journey - sure they will give some further advice.

Re: Time to move home...
 

I definitely wouldn't move till I have a job, and I fortunately have a place in London (just need to give tenants notice). I still have bank accounts etc. there too plus I have HSBC in the US, so that's something. I would have to transfer (a large sum) money home though, any recommendations on how to do that?

Re: Time to move home...
 

Good luck,your eyes will water at the price of things!!

Re: Time to move home...
 

This caught my eye.
I suppose it depends where you are coming from. If coming from New Zealand the price of things in the UK is a welcome relief. :lol:

Re: Time to move home...
 

I lived overseas for 13 years also. When you come back I realized that home isn't home anymore. A lot changes in 13 years. Property in the UK is still very expensive.

Re: Time to move home...
 

True but can also be cheap in the UK. In some parts you can still buy a decent 3 bed house for less than 100K. brownknees seems to be in Thailand so anywhere will seem expensive but certainly not for someone coming from NYC. And don't forget that those people living in Thailand won't think it's cheap when they have to live off a basic salary there.

Re: Time to move home...
 

I have an HSBC account in both the UK and USA and have transferred large sums to buy a house from my US bank to my UK bank. Are your 2 accounts not linked through "Global View" to make this easy to do online? If not I would call HSBC and tell them what you would like to do.

For smaller sums (up to $15,000) I use Transferwise.

Re: Time to move home...
 

i'm concerned that HSBC would be expensive to send back given that it's a large sum...

Re: Time to move home...
 

Not sure exactly what you mean by "given that it's a large sum".

International foreign exchange transfers have costs that are divided between the "spread", which is effectively a percentage, perhaps a fee, which is a percentage, and perhaps a wire fee, which is more or less fixed - often $35 to send in the US, and another £15 to receive in the UK.

The spread is like when you buy pesos or euros for your holiday - you pay $1.20 for every euro, but for any euros you bring back you only get $1.06. That is a tourist spread - very large, but the larger the sum, the smaller the spread, so if you have $25,000 the spread might be $1.12-$1.16, so the sum is larger but the spread is less making the transaction much cheaper in terms of percentage. On $100,000 you should find the spread is something like $1.145-$1.135, or even less.

For larger amounts I don't think banks usually charge an additional fee on top of the spread, but using a bank there will be the wire fees I mentioned above.

Using an on-line FX broker-remitter will get you a good spread, especially for smaller amounts, and you might not have the wire fee, because (sometimes) you pay them locally in the US and they pay you locally in the UK, so no money is actually wired internationally. On-line FX broker -remitter often charge a percentage fee, so you have to watch for both spread and fee. Beware of brokers that make a big deal about their good spreads or low fees, because they'll get their cut one way or the other! :rolleyes:

Banks are often competitive with on-line brokers for large amounts, over say $100,000, but you will have the fixed amount wire fee, which is more or less negligible for large amounts.

Re: Time to move home...
 

thanks this is helpful. I'll most likely have around $125k to send back so I just want to make sure i'm sending it whichever way will give me the best return. My banks fees seemed ridiculous last time i looked, but granted I was transferring a lot less and ended up using transferwise.

Re: Time to move home...
 

You're welcome. :)With that sort of amount you need to ask your bank for a "dealing desk rate", which will probably only be good for a few minutes, but will likely be competitive with, or maybe even beat the on-line broker remitters. As you noticed, the banks are not even close to competitive with the on-line brokers for smaller amounts.

Re: Time to move home...
 

With HSBC global transfer to transfer money between your accounts you simultaneously set up a transfer with that and with Transferwise (in another window of your browser) and see the difference (they each will show the amount that will be deposited in your UK account), then click submit of the cheaper of the two, and cancel the other. Transferwise in my experience is always cheaper than HSBC global transfer for sums less than $100k.

Re: Time to move home...
 

Going "home" after 13 years ? You will be returning to a different place. This is one of the curses of being an exile. The "home" you knew has changed beyond all recognition.

Re: Time to move home...
 

My mother always said "you can never go back". I think it was only as I grew older that I fully came to realize how wise her words were. My mother still lives in Gloucester, but I was at uni the last time I in any sense "lived" there and it feels very different when I go to visit. There is no "back" for me to return to. :(

A couple of year ago I was in Gloucester at Christmas and walking through the pedestrianized city center my ears were telling me that I had slipped down a wormhole and emerged somewhere near the Carpathian mountains! :lol: