cheers

Hey Don thanks for letting us know about that US job offer and if I remember you told us not to bug you about it so we didn't. I'm glad you are staying in Scotland and I hope your situation changes for you.

I have done career changes and I've done alright. Once, I went into business for myself and did something I enjoyed.

Derrygal

I agree with you when it comes to personal responsibility. My youngest daughter and her husband (then fiance) bought a house here in 2006. Then the housing market collapsed. They are "under water" (negative equity), but they continue to pay their mortgage every month. They both lost their jobs too within their first year of marriage. Son-in-law found a new job within a few months, daughter still can't get a job (she is a lawyer). She works part time in an office and is back in college for a job in the health care field (she hopes this will be a recession proof job - I hope she is right). What I am trying to say is, they are both responsible. They drive old cars, don't spend a lot of money eating out, etc and watch every penny. I understand that the temptation can be great to "walk away" from a house with negative equity, but it ruins your credit and - this is the thing that bothers me the most - all the rest of us end up paying for it because the higher the number of foreclosed homes in a neighborhood keeps property prices lower. I totally agree you when it comes to personal responsibility. Unfortunately not everyone feels that way.

cheers

How un American

Derrygal

Did you consider accepting the job in the US and renting your UK home? I know from your previous posts you aren't very happy in your current job. Just wondering.

dunroving

Yes, I looked at all the angles, but there were several other factors too (including the fact that the town was way out in the Boonies, in smalltown rural southeast USA).

The house situation wouldn't prevent me moving if everything else (or almost everything else) looked right. Quality of life would be worth a £40k sacrifice, I tell you.

Unfortunately my current house isn't especially rentable because it is not on a decent public transport route, and I wouldn't want to risk having to deal with paying a mortgage on an empty house. If I do move, I won't be buying a house for a while, I don't think, renting will be the way to go.

I can sympathise greatly with everyone on here who is trying to move back to the UK but can't because of selling their house. And I'm as mad as everyone else that the situation has a lot to do with greedy banks. I think it hurts the economy in many ways, not least because when people are unable to move (regardless of whether it's between or within countries) it makes it very difficult for employers to hire highly skilled people.

Becci22

Hello

I hope someone out there can help with some advice please. This is my first post and relates to my parents.

They both moved to Majorca 3 years ago and are 65 and 66 respectively. They have no funds to speak of, no property as they rented and have now to return back to the UK. They can not live with family members due to lack of space in both my place and my sisters so in my mind they would be classed as homeless and skint.

I have read a number of posts about the HRT and wonder how this may affect their return and their chances of getting a house through the council either where I live or where their friends and my sister live. They do have a UK bank account which I think might help but I am not sure about GP registration. They have been getting the winter fuel allowance whilst they have been abroad but I am not sure how this helps.

I have spoken to my local housing association who have referred my to the council because they deal with the homeless but until my parents are back I can not do anything.

They are due back this week so any guidance or advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Cookie

I had my transfusion back in 1991 which was well before mad cow. I was a blood donor prior to my own tranfusion but after that I was banned. Very strange, and a little unnerving.

windsong

lol! Thanks, Cheers, although I didn't mean that you had to redo it now

Mummy in the foothills

Have you looked at sheltered housing near you. If they get the winter fuel allowance then I assume they are also getting a UK pension.

sallysimmons

I just had a bit of an epiphany. I've been thinking that before we could move, we would need to sell our house. But actually we pay so damn much for health benefits that we could simply take that money and use it to afford a rental in the UK. Because we'll just keep running our business from the UK, our income shouldn't change, so we wouldn't actually be any worse off. (If you need any bigger indication of how ludicrous our health system is for small business owners, I could actually afford to rent a house with the money I'll save!)

Then we could empty the house here, have it all redecorated and cleaned, and put it on the market when we're gone. That leaves the cats as the only complicating factor. If I can get over the idea that moving them is cruel (and get my husband over the same thing) we might be able to go sooner than I thought.

Fish n' Chips, have you thought of doing this? I know you don't have to pay as much as me for health care, but I think I remember that you pay quite a lot.

Mallory

But don't forget the NHS is not free.

http://www.careerathome.co.uk/HowToD...ributions.html

sallysimmons

Effectively it is. It costs no more than the contributions I currently make to social security and Medicare as a self-employed person.

In fact, US tax law is so screwed up that my husband and I are taxed more for SS and Medicare than we would be in the UK (couples who work together get dinged very hard in this country).

I've already had all our taxes analyzed by a UK accountant and comparatively speaking they are about the same, while cost of living in the UK is considerably lower. If we ever get super-rich, the tax burden in the UK would be higher, but sadly I don't anticipate having to worry about that!

Mallory

I can see there are pluses and minuses. What is important to me though is that the US social security pension is much greater than the British pension. The British pension is the lowest in Europe, which makes a big difference at the end of the day. If you can afford a good private pension, then you should come out okay.

Pistolpete2

You mean super high taxed income. The rich (if they have any sense) don't pay taxes unless they consume.

Apart from healthcare, which you might ultimately prefer to have as private in the Uk also which would cost you, what is it that causes a higher cost of living in the US in particular? .....Comparing apples with apples.

jasper123

Well Sally yes that is a great Idea of yours and could well be the solution to a lot of expats problems,
When I was still working in the US at my last Job, I remember a few months ago talking to one of my colleges who I remember was a married man in his 50,s and we were talking about Obamas health care reform, and he the guy at work being a big lifetime republican was dead against it, so I asked him do you have health insurance? he said yes I have it with my wifes company where she works and we have a great deal too, we can see any Doctor we like and the prescription plan covers most drugs but not all, and everytime we go to the Docs office we only pay $30 co-pay and just $50 for a specialist and guess what he said I have to go and have a MRI shortly and my co-pay is only $400, and my eye glasses only cost me $189 with my insurance,
This man was so pleased that he and wife had such a remarkable deal on there employers health care plan So of course I knew whatever I said at this point would do nothing to bursting his bubble, so I just asked him how much he pays for his and wifes health care? and he said thats the best part, $750 per month thats all that is deducted from her pay check, --- can you imagine? his entire wages for the month were about that much take home, but the insurance was on his wifes company and she made a lot more then him at her Job,
All I could think of was OMG $750 per month was what I was paying for my one bedroom apartment in Vegas,