What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Jun 10th 2022, 1:51 pm
#31
Deep in the woods of CT
Joined: Feb 2010
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Jun 10th 2022, 2:14 pm
#32
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2021
Location: Dayton, OH
Posts: 20
Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Not sure why you would think this. Many ex-pats will die in the US, even though they would love to be in their country of origin, for the simple reason that the US is where their children and grandchildren live. And many people who have had happy lives as ex-pats will take pleasure in retiring to their home country.
Last edited by baggy1971; Jun 10th 2022 at 2:17 pm.
Jun 10th 2022, 2:24 pm
#33
Turning into a PA gal!
Joined: Feb 2013
Location: State College PA, finally!
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
I didn't realise is was a competition. I am a happy ex-pat who came as a trailing spouse and although one of my children and my grandchildren and my mother are in the UK and I miss seeing them as frequently as I might have done and enjoy my visits there this is currently home. In the future that may change just as people choose to move to different places within the UK due to jobs or retirement - does that make them failed at living in their previous homes?
Jun 10th 2022, 2:27 pm
#34
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Location: Dayton, OH
Posts: 20
Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
I didn't realise is was a competition. I am a happy ex-pat who came as a trailing spouse and although one of my children and my grandchildren and my mother are in the UK and I miss seeing them as frequently as I might have done and enjoy my visits there this is currently home. In the future that may change just as people choose to move to different places within the UK due to jobs or retirement - does that make them failed at living in their previous homes?
You're right. We're debating a definition that really doesn't mean much. Like I've said before, it means different things to different people because of differing circumstances. There's no pass/fail criteria.
Jun 10th 2022, 2:31 pm
#35
Deep in the woods of CT
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 7,002
Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
True. I suppose there are a large number of people that move overseas only to do a fixed term in another country (maybe the length of a work visas validity). By that measure, they successfully achieved what they set out to do. Don't know if you'd consider them successful expats though.....maybe they are....not sure.
Jun 10th 2022, 2:34 pm
#36
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Jun 10th 2022, 3:41 pm
#38
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Location: Los Angeles, California
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
I arrived as a visa holder in 83, became a PR circa 85, but didn't bother becoming a USC until 2008. For me, the big deal was getting the PR. Until then, I was tied to the one company that sponsored me and I felt like I had little financial security. Once I got the PR, I bought a house (ie, got a mortgage), and later changed jobs, and felt like a regular native. Becoming a USC was a minor step in comparison; sure, I could join the army, or work for a defence contractor - whoop-te-do. And of course I could vote (and I'll admit to being symbolically pleased to be able to vote for Obama!), but really, nothing changed. The only real benefit of being a USC is that I clear customs faster when I travel, but I never had any delays as a PR.
I was ecstatic about being here by the end of my first month; my job was fantastic, the pay was great, my co-workers were upbeat, I found a wonderful apartment overlooking the ocean in SF, I was eating the best food I'd ever discovered, and the sky was blue every day. Only as I got much, much older did some of the downsides, like health insurance, become apparent; but on balance, I wouldn't change it for anything.
The biggest factor in being happy here, it seems to me, is whether you really wanted to be here in the first place. The people who are most unhappy here tend to be the 'reluctant spouses' who came with their partners, or those that came here for marriage (but not for the country).
I was ecstatic about being here by the end of my first month; my job was fantastic, the pay was great, my co-workers were upbeat, I found a wonderful apartment overlooking the ocean in SF, I was eating the best food I'd ever discovered, and the sky was blue every day. Only as I got much, much older did some of the downsides, like health insurance, become apparent; but on balance, I wouldn't change it for anything.
The biggest factor in being happy here, it seems to me, is whether you really wanted to be here in the first place. The people who are most unhappy here tend to be the 'reluctant spouses' who came with their partners, or those that came here for marriage (but not for the country).
Jun 10th 2022, 4:40 pm
#39
Deep in the woods of CT
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Jun 10th 2022, 6:11 pm
#40
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Sure, but I mentioned cost! Now living in Hungary we have just found out that the quality, speed & (lack of) cost beat both US & UK! Who'd have thought it!
Jun 10th 2022, 6:30 pm
#41
Deep in the woods of CT
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 7,002
Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
The care I receive in the US is worth every penny of my carefully chosen insurance.
Jun 10th 2022, 6:42 pm
#42
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,448
Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
From my perspective the cost of health insurance through my employer is negative compared to the UK, because when I moved here I found that my taxes went down by more than the cost of health insurance. A few years later we switched to high deductible insurance which allowed us to divert a lot of what we had being paying in insurance and keeping it for ourselves in tax-free Health Savings Accounts.
Obviously not everyone has the same health insurance or makes the same choices, but we are very well insured, have access to excellent healthcare, have zero out-of-pocket cost beyond the modest cost of insurance (about $250/mth for the family IIRC, or maybe a little less) as we can use money from our HSAs, and after more than a decade our aggregate HSA balances are quite substantial.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 10th 2022 at 6:44 pm.
Jun 10th 2022, 6:50 pm
#43
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2017
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider
Yes, people, especially those with no direct experience of the US healthcare system, seem more than happy to believe the "horror stories" over actual experience of those who live and work in the US.
From my perspective the cost of health insurance through my employer is negative compared to the UK, because when I moved here I found that my taxes went down by more than the cost of health insurance. A few years later we switched to high deductible insurance which allowed us to divert a lot of what we had being paying in insurance and keeping it for ourselves in tax-free Health Savings Accounts.
Obviously not everyone has the same health insurance or makes the same choices, but we are very well insured, have access to excellent healthcare, have zero out-of-pocket cost beyond the modest cost of insurance (about $250/mth for the family IIRC, or maybe a little less) as we can use money from our HSAs, and after more than a decade our aggregate HSA balances are quite substantial.
From my perspective the cost of health insurance through my employer is negative compared to the UK, because when I moved here I found that my taxes went down by more than the cost of health insurance. A few years later we switched to high deductible insurance which allowed us to divert a lot of what we had being paying in insurance and keeping it for ourselves in tax-free Health Savings Accounts.
Obviously not everyone has the same health insurance or makes the same choices, but we are very well insured, have access to excellent healthcare, have zero out-of-pocket cost beyond the modest cost of insurance (about $250/mth for the family IIRC, or maybe a little less) as we can use money from our HSAs, and after more than a decade our aggregate HSA balances are quite substantial.
Jun 10th 2022, 8:56 pm
#45
Lost in BE Cyberspace
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Re: What All Considering Becoming Expats Should Consider