petitefrancaise

But you can get almost any information online and most people are quite happy to be interviewed via skype. She misses the lunches.

Pulaski

It's a budget figure for someone trying to immigrate on the cheap, and overall I would say a very fair one for someone who thinks they can buy a Civic or Corolla with 150,000 miles on it and run it on a shoestring .

We have three vehicles with an aggregated of 505k miles on them, including an Accord that I think will have clocked up 330k on it by this evening. While I think we are fairly gentle on our vehicles, and they have had few repairs, between regular servicing, tyres and brake pads when they wear out, and an occasional repair I think $100/mth is a fair average - lots of "free months" followed by a repair bill.

The Mustang had a seized break caliper once, and I think that is the only failed part it has ever had. It had a new serpentine belt, and high performance tyres at 10yrs/41,000 miles, and a new battery.

The truck had some worn steering parts at 80k miles, which I think cost about $1,000, but aside from routine stuff like tyres (@70k) battery, plugs (at 110k), the maintenance costs have been pretty low.

The Accord may need brakes soon, they're getting squeaky, but then it's 250,000 miles since the last time it had new brake pads. I would love to know why the original lads only lasted 80,000 miles! The current set of tyres are on track to exceed 100k miles, like the previous set - the original set did 80k, and the next set only 60k. Unfortunately it is on its fourth cat, which included $1,000 for the first replacement after 200 miles, because I mistakenly thought a Honda part would last another 200 - the matrix collapsed after 16 months/ 30k miles - 20k miles after the end of the warranty! We lost cat #3 when the engine failed, filling the cat with oil. At least I have found quality replacement cats for $170. It had new steering gaiters last year, and the prop-shafts are worn and we are about to get them replaced - I expect a bill for about $500 installed.

sherbert

"Journalist: a person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast." Many 'respected' news outlets source content from freelance writers who, surprise surprise, write from their 'back bedroom'.

Huffington Post for example gets more hits than the Washington Post and literally *anyone* can write for it. Regardless of the fact Huff Post is an aggregator and blog, it's one of the most popular and busy 'news sites' in the US. The face of journalism has changed massively over the last 10 years. Get with the times.

Nutmegger

To each their own. I like to get my sports news from a reporter interacting face to face with the players on the team I am following, not one who obtains the news warmed over from the people who are actually on the inside.

petitefrancaise

I don't think this shift has done anything for journalism. The guardian in particular is nothing like as good as it used to be and frequently I look at what is written there in my field (dentistry) and it's shoddy work full of sound bites and inaccuracies. Same for some immigration stuff lately.

As for some of the posts I see shared on FB, well. Hideous. A particularly terrible one today about how "Switzerland has stopped mammograms" with links to the Swiss Medical Board (the german part) makes it all look terribly official and accurate. Trouble is I am fluent in French so I went to the french part of the SMB and searched for the information and they have done no such thing. Merely advised that women should be advised of the risks of having a mammogram done.

moneypenny20

The people who 'write' for the DM are considered journalists so, you know, one man's journalist is another man's grade 9 work experience kid.

Guindalf

It may surprise y'all to know that some of the best trained journalists with the strictest codes of conduct work for The Sun!

petitefrancaise

doesn't say much for the rest.

Twinkle0927

Like many other job titles, "journalist" is one whose definition seems to get broader and broader all the time. "Manager" is another. I've worked in offices where almost everyone had "manager" in their job title. In one case, all the person actually "managed" was an email inbox.

Pulaski

In my opinion and experience many, if not all, articles are like that. I fear that the only articles that appear to be complete, accurate, and well written are ones where you don't know the actual real, inside story.

I have written previously on BE that I discovered during a previous job I had in London that even the world's "best", most respected newspapers were publishing articles that were a bizarre mish-mash of opinions from self-appointed experts, irrelevant information from other countries, stale information that was no longer relevant, various misguided deductions and assumptions, and somewhere in the article there was a kernel of truth, but often the truth was completely lost in a rest of the utter twaddle that had been cobbled together from "sources".

I believe that much of the problem is that media reports are written by "professionals journalists", not (in most cases) engineers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists, soldiers, teachers who decided to use their special skills and training to write well-informed articles.

ian-mstm

Well, so long as he did a good job of it, kudos!

Ian

scrubbedexpat099

I posted on Facebook yesterday, and I have commented on the Graun web site.

Sign me up.

gtd2000

I'm not going to be in the USA any time soon but I have a number of people ask me about living in the USA based on my time spent there.

I think a lot of people base their desire, on a trip to Orlando, on holiday and think purely about all of the fun that they had (not something I'd identify with personally) and assume living in the USA will be very similar.

I initially moved to Florida (after spending 6 years living and working in Hong Kong) back in 2001.
I'd been to Florida previously, in the early 1990's and the West Coast of the USA in the late 1980's.

I actually thought the place had gone downhill, compared to the previous visit but perhaps my memories were overly positive.

What I noticed, upon moving the USA, was that what appeared to be very simple and straightforwards, as a tourist, was not that simple as a "resident alien for tax purposes". As a tourist you simply spend money and have fun. To live in the USA you need to become part of the system.

Life in the USA is not that simple, if you are not part of the system.

At least it wasn't for me. Until my SS # came through that is! Uncle Sam (A Scotsman they say - just like me!) likes you to be in the system

The rate of earnings quoted by the OP are shockingly low levels, if there's an expectation of having any sort of quality of life, beyond that of a student in the UK.

From my personal expectations, I wouldn't consider a move to the USA on less than $100,000 per year salary. Might sound out of reach for many but that's my outlook.

Everything costs money and every price you see is usually subject to sales tax on top. That's not likely to be an option for a young lad writing a few articles I suspect.

When my GF (from Sarasota) has been over to the UK in recent years, she's amazed at how cheap it is!
It never used to be like that - it used to be half the price in the USA and very good value for money.
I keep telling her it's not that it's cheap in the UK, the real reason is that the USA has become continually more expensive, since around 2008, in my opinion.

Right now I'm typing from Dubai and this is an expensive place to be and according to online articles it's 68% cheaper to live in Johannesburg compared to the UK. A journalist presumably wrote that article but I can tell you that everything I buy in a supermarket in Johannesburg costs 50 to 100% more than the UK.

The plus side of living in Johannesburg is the wonderful quality of food. South African food quality is excellent! The negative would be the perceived levels of crime. But the people are friendly and I've no complaints.

Should the OP actually move the USA, I wish you well but it's likely to be a very different experience to what you might imagine it to be, particularly on such a low level of income.

Pulaski

I agree. I have mentioned the same number myself from time to time as a base level if you're relocating to the US and not living in a high-cost location. .... And been rubbished for saying it.

Can you survive on less? Sure, but I wouldn't move across the Pond to do it.

civilservant

I don't believe $100k is a requirement, location dependent. $70k is quite fine in my location. Of course you live to your means though, so not being as a extravagant on $70k as someone would on $100k doesn't mean my quality of life is 'poor'

That I said, I do not have a family. Factor that in and it rises rapidly.