Relocation Package Opinion
 

HI all

I'm trying to gauge my current relocation offer from a new employer from the UK to USA (LA specifically)

500lbs of air freight
Temporary living expenses for 3 months
$25k lump sum to cover any other expenses
VISA applications for myself and family

Any opinions welcome!

Thanks in advance

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Are you included in the air freight or are they providing you and your family with flights or is that in the $25k?

Repatriation costs if you are terminated, until they get you a green card, if that’s is an option, and if it is get the commitment in writing now while you have the most leverage.

Assuming your will rent, you may need to have your employer as guarantor to be able to rent with no credit and may want them to commit to pay the balance of the lease if they terminate you.

Remember that the lump sum is likely taxable income. On living expense if it’s cash make sure it’s grossed up, it may be more efficient if some things are paid directly not via you.

I assume you mean your visa’s or is your employer providing your family with VISA credit cards?

Unless you have very simple affairs, no property and non cash assets in your home county professional tax advice for a few years may help.

Some employees i know on temporary transfers (pre covid) got annual flights home to see family paid for until it became a permanent move or went home.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Thanks for the quick reply.

we’re assuming that flights for the family sit outside of the air freight and $25k

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

I see from your other thread that you have a GCSE age child, is there any option of schooling fees? Our package included fees paid for children at crucial school ages, which ours both were (GCSE and A Level), so the company were paying for them to go to the British School. Is this move intended to be a permanent one or just a few years? If the former, make sure you get it written in your contract that the employer will sponsor green cards (as it's a new employer and you'll be moving on a L1, you've got about 18 months before you can move anyway, then they may even have time to get them before you go). If the latter, then bear in mind your children's education and potentially having to pay international fees for UK universities..

If it helps, here's a link to where I've given details of our relocation package in the past. https://britishexpats.com/forum/us-i.../#post13036553

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Go for it.

I only received $10k (net) relocation compensation…

I hope your base salary and annual bonus is much higher than what you get in the UK. Life is more expensive here.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Green Card if you are looking to stay.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

There's your first mistake right there.

Isn't this a bit precipitous? You're looking at an L1, and checking your other thread don't work for the company yet, right? Why are they offering a package now since you have to work for them for a year before even being eligible for an L1?

Is this move to the US the primary reason for taking this position?

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Hi, you say that but i just received my latest electricity bill per month for a modest detached house in Surrey.........£242 a month, I doubt there's anyone stateside on this forum paying circa $400 a month just on power, even in mid summer with a pool! We're relocating to Orange County early next year, having been in contact with the 5 or 6 families we know out in Southern California, their cost of living is high but no higher than it was costing them in the UK (aside from the cost of Health Insurance of course which one assumes is predominantly picked up by one's employer).

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

£242 is $326.

Here are a couple of posts from people with their monthly elec bills.

https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-.../#post12447029

https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-.../#post12589172

https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-.../#post12888118

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

I pay a third of that for a small 1 bed apartment here in NJ. Pretty much everything here is more expensive than the UK except some consumer goods, and I used to live in Zone 2 in London...

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

If you buy property there are property taxes to consider…ours was almost $2K per month 10 years ago. I always say the US is akin to Disney…nothing is what it seems on the surface.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

My electric bill in OH peaks at $200/month in Jul/Aug and drops to $70 in May/Oct.
3800 sq ft home, with gas for heat and cooking

I still pay less in tax in the US even when I include healthcare as a 'tax'.

YMMV

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Apparently...........'Californians pay relatively low utility bills. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Californians consume an average of 554 kWh per month. They pay an average of 18.31 cents/kWh, resulting in an average monthly electricity bill of $101.49. For reference, the most expensive average monthly bill is Hawaii ($149.33) and the cheapest is New Mexico ($79.16). The average for the U.S. as a whole is $111.67'

One family we know in San Marcos, 2300 sf home, family of 4, 25 year old home told us they paid just over $2000 this year so far and another in Torrance, same size family, similar home, are closer to $2500. Either way, i'd much rather have their yearly bill of $2200-2500 than mine of nearly the equivalent of $4k.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Electricity and gas bills in California are nothing compared to water bills if one is in a single family home with a garden.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Moving expenses are generally no longer tax deductible. Even if things are not paid via the relocatee they will likely end up as taxable income. Getting a relocation package "grossed up" to cater for this is one of the most important things to ask for.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

I think that to try and answer the question as to whether it's more expensive to reside in the UK or USA, there are simply just too many variables and we're not comparing apples with apples.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Relocation package sounds pretty reasonable to me. One caveat, that lump sum and possibly the the housing is counted is taxable and I think at 40%. I believe that a single flight is not taxed and certain other things, the rest is taxed. Things may have changed but something to check.
Cost of living is high in LA, comparable to London.
I would say a household salary of say $100k is a minimum. Health insurance is a critically important thing. By way of example, many people might pay between $200-$800/MONTH for a family plan through their employer. A great health plan such as one I had with my union was $700/YEAR for a family. My current employer offers a health insurance for $0/year. With all of these, the costs are just the beginning, you have co pays and co insurances. A trip to ER/A&E with good insurance might be between $100-300, urgent care maybe $50-70. My wife had the misfortune of having to go to an out of network Hospital in an emergency and that was $3000 (insurance paid 50%).
Utility bills - my area of LA has private electric company (socal Edison) and with an electric car we can easily hit $400/month but we barely run our AC. Without the electric car but running AC in the summer again we would hit $300-400/month. Out water/sewage bill is around $125/month and we use very little water - we stopped watering the garden. You will also need to buy a car and run that. Insurance is much more expensive than UK I found. AAA (Like the AA) was able to take into account my UK driving record.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

More reasonable would be comparisons of City/location - someone moving from London is going to have a very different view to someone moving from Berwick. Equally, the information they need is going to be very different if they are moving to Brooklyn vs. Ocala, FL.

As an example, I'd say my standard of living rose - I moved from Swindon to Newnan, GA. Anywhere within 60 miles of me in the UK was more expensive to live, Newnan is considerably less, but equals back once you count in Property Tax, Car Insurance and Electric bills (over $300a month in summer). As I got my salary increased to account for the exchange rate at the time plus a bit more, it worked out well. That would be a different story if I had moved to Buckhead/Sandy Springs, both within the same Atlanta orbit but very different cost of living.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

London to Los Angeles is somewhat comparable. Rent is not disimilar. You might get a bit more space in LA than London for the money though the quality of interiors/design is usually pretty sad. A 3 bedroom house where I live in LA which is a very suburban, home counties kind of area is about $3000-4000/month. I have no idea how anyone affords that actually. When I first moved from London to LA my salary was quadrupled. I thought I would live like a king in Beverly Hills. I was shocked to find that I could barely afford a one bed apartment even 20 years ago and the apartments I did find were 70s and 80s tastic and not in a good way. Even though my salary is much higher here I find that I am constantly struggling to pay the bills and keep afloat and I do not live an extravagant lifestyle by any means. I still don't understand why really. I can only imagine it's due to the cost of running cars, health care etc. I find food expensive even compared to UK now though there are cheaper supermarkets that sell often pretty low quality food but very cheap. A packet of crappy sausages is now hitting $7 for 6!

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Regarding electrical costs: It depends entirely which company district you are in. We are in SMUD and pay half of what PG&E charge just half a mile up the hill. The same with all utilities. Our adjacent town is certainly more attractive and the cost of property less but the cost utilities is crippling. To make matters worse PG&E now turn off the power when the wind blows (or is even just forcast to blow) so as not to cause fires. It then takes a day or too to get the grid back up and working. Make sure you do your due diligence before choosing an area to live in.

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

It can be surprising coming from the UK which pretty successfully managed to privatise utilities (at least compared to California). Utilities are a monopoly, at times they are a public utility company run by a city, in other less urban areas utilities are provided by private companies who are often far more expensive and often provide crappier service. I remember moving to my current place and watching the bin men drive straight on by my house as they picked up every other person's rubbish. It took 3 weeks for me to find out that the trash service was private and I had to register. Weirdly the houses across the road from me are in the city limits and have completely different utilities provided by the city (much cheaper) than on my side of the road. I have the priviledge of paying for the decommissioning of the san onofre nuclear power station which will be billions $ because when they built it, they built one of the pipes wrong and the whole power station had to be shut down early.. There is no choice in who provides your utilities unlike the UK

Re: Relocation Package Opinion
 

Located in the East Bay Area (so temps can get as high as 113F in the summer). Typical suburban tract home approx 3200 sq ft. Gas for stove top, hot water and furnace. Electric for oven, A/C and everything else. Both gas and electric by PG&E. If my combined bill is $300 or less per month, I consider that a win. We keep the temperature at 70F in winter and 74F in summer. No solar system installed. No electric vehicle to charge. My bill can get to $700+ if we have a cold month in winter or a hot month in summer. I would say my average is around $450 per month. It is not cheap.