anotherlimey

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...?wa=wsignin1.0

If you Google you can find other pages on this too. I thought it may be of help to some new expats because they can't get credit!

My rent is more than $12,000 a year, so I'm f****** to start with.

neil

Interesting article - not quite sure I understand the idea of going to a food bank and then giving money to the church; wouldn't it make more sense to spend that money on food and not go to the food bank as much and leave the food for someone else who needs it more (maybe there's some logic there somewhere in it that I don't know about).

I'd be screwed too with the mortgage being double the amount she's surviving on.

cindyabs

The only thing that I have a problem with is relying on her babysitting jobs to get her laundry done. You can call me a hardass, but if you choose to do certain things then you have to figure on all of the consequences (not counting emergencies that nobody can forsee) and NOT rely on the kindness of strangers to help you out. When they do it's an unexpected pleasure, but not one to count on. Aside from that she's doing very disciplined things which I am sure are not easy. I can empathize with much of what she is going through.

cindyabs

Here's another one-it IS a sobering thought when you are a middle aged suddenly single woman.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...urAmIPoor.aspx

mctraill

I dont know if were lucky or not but we were able to get a mortgage before we even arrived here in Houston and 3 months later we got a credit card with a low rate.
I applied online to Wells Fargo for a mortgage, explained that we were coming over on a H1B visa and they gave us the mortgage.

Wells Fargo have a special deal for people like us who are moving over, I cant fault them they have been very good for us.

AdobePinon

I lived on $12,800 a year...... back in 1993. Even had health insurance - 100% coverage for $800 a year.

elfman

were you teaching?

Pony

Thats very sobering. $12,000 wouldn't pay my rent for a quarter here in L.A.

I don't think getting credit is the answer, as it all needs paying back (with interest) in the end.

Next time I'm at the pump and complaining at the cost of gas I'll remember I'm lucky I have the ability to buy it in the first place.

a very humbling read

BritGuyTN

I don't feel sorry for her at all and am not humbled

my wife put herself through law school in 4 years whilst making 35-40k working full time and going to school at night

unless this woman is in med school I doubt the course she is doing is any harder than law school...

donating to the church whilst going to the food bank is also retarded

shes practicing financial self-flagellation

Yosser

The missus spends more than that on shoes!

Pony

Are you also a lawyer by any chance?

BritGuyTN

nope

i'm in software sales, don't have a college degree and have strong opinions about things that are completely illogical, like donating money to charity when you are a charity case yourself

My wife is public defender working for the metro govt making about 40% of what she could do in a private law firm/private practice but its what she likes to do...

kins

She's paying $389 per quarter for health insurance! I think I might become a student. I am currently paying $1250 a quarter...

dunroving

As part of a systematic review of my finances to evaluate whether I should move back to the US, I used MS Excel and Quicken to calculate what my yearly/monthly spending was on essentials in the US vs what I spend now in the UK.

My US expenses actually added up to $1254 per month, which is not too far off $12,000 a year. That's with a $700 pcm mortgage - there are rental apartements in the same area for $300-$400 pcm and houses for two thirds of my house value, so conceivably it is do-able (depending on where you live, of course). Not easy, but do-able. And of course it just takes one financial or health disaster to send you under.

mctraill

So do you have a better quality of life in the UK than the states. We belive that if we were to move back to the UK we would have a harder time than living in Houston at the moment. As someone who tracks their living expenses, which would you consider to be the best place to be.