kittycat1

A few questions for those who have left the middle east and gone home;

Had you hit your saving targets when you decided to leave?
Any regrets having left?

OleJanx

A) No
B) Yes

al dente

Two friends who left, both sacked, are desperate to get back even despite loathing their employers. One is now in Doha, the other in Singapore. They were here for around two years and it wasn't long enough.

shiva

Of all the folk I know who have gone home I think only about two have no regrets, not good odds

UKCityGent

Do people have saving targets when they land in a role ?

Why have regrets about leaving people or places - its just a course of life - usually its not something you can control (but you can manage).

Sounds as if you are managing to jump ?

kittycat1

city gent, yes i came here with a saving goal. I've hit my initial saving goal but had set myself another one.

UKCityGent

Lend me a yard- this year is difficult for bankers !!

NorthernLad

Everyone I know who has gone back home wants to move back here.

The grass isn't always greener. For us it's make hay while the sun shines (or rather bank money whilst not paying tax). The longer we do that here the ealrier I retire.

The Dean

But why would you 'go back home'? You're just going back to the place you left in the first place because it wasn't satisfying. True, it's different if you're retiring, but I will never go back to the UK for work reasons.

nonthaburi

Agree with that . Left in the 90s . I'll never go there for work again . No point . Won't retire there either . Had a 2 month holiday there this year but that was only to take family there for 1st time , see the grandparents ect .

weasel decentral

I would return if you have made your goals, why not?

To generalise a little I feel here that a lot of people have no proper ties to their home, old friends etc.
I cannot imagine ever staying permanently in the ME, but I am back in Ireland at least every 2 months and make an effort to meet my friends, family, cousins and any of the sporting clubs I was in before. Plus I have kept my house unrented so just fit back in with to the neighbourhood as if I am always there.

I always feel happier when back, and that's coming from someone who has been abroad a lot prior even to this ME jaunt.

NorthernLad

Most people I know who have moved back has been for family reasons. A few felt they had better job prospects back in UK (and are now regretting it).

Nellie1584

Ive been wondering exactly the same thing. Ive only been here 8 months, ive met my original savings goal, work is pretty naff and i feel like im missing out on lots of stuff back home.

However i am very worried about the grass not being so green. Job situ for me in the UK likely to be crap, so im at the point where i wonder how long i stick it out or when to call it quits

scrubbedexpat141

When you're not going to get taxed on the savings you've made.

Personally, I've not hit my goals yet, I'm unlikely to for some time but I'm in a much better financial position than I was 2.5 years ago when I moved here.

Also, this seems to surprise people, but I like living here, the quality of life in general is better than I can have in the UK, the holidays are better, weather is better, job is good etc etc. Why leave?

OriginalSunshine

I've been abroad for over 20 years now - pretty much straight from Uni. UK doesn't feel like "home" anymore - East Anglia & London have so much immigration that I truly don't recognise the place/shops/people. And of course society has changed in 20 years. We don't own property in the UK, and where our line of work is, I wouldn't count as places I'd want to settle. So what to do? We go back for a couple of weeks every two years to see family, more often if someone is dying (sad but true).
We've never had a savings goal, except to ensure that we never spend more than we earn, and we never take a debt/loan/mortgage. We've done pretty well at that (except the mortgage bit, which we took on to buy a flat elsewhere in Europe, but have paid that off).