petepete99

Hi all,

Moving to Fort Myers in January, subject to L-1B approval etc. I will be moving on my own, with no kids, and have been offered a salary of $75k, plus a 10% annual bonus.

Is $75k going to give a relatively comfortable lifestyle to a single childless person in their early thirties, in Fort Myers? I've read that the median household income is something like $45k but I don't want that number to put me in a false sense of security.

In terms of living arrangements, I'll likely be going for a 2-3bed condo, so that hopefully means I'll be able to keep the costs down.

Thanks for the upcoming tips

MidAtlantic

Depends a lot on your lifestyle, but $75k should be good. The more important question is, are you being paying the correct rate for the job you are going to be doing?

carcajou

$75k will be fine.

petepete99

Thanks, good to hear. In answer to your question, yes, I am paying paid in-line with expectations and what others in similar positions are being paid. Why do you ask that?

Pulaski

In similar positions in the US? .... He is asking because there is often a significant discrepancy between typical pay for a given role in the UK and the same role in the US.

I believe I fell into that trap myself, taking my UK salary and converting it at the prevailing echange rate. Looking back I believe I was underpaid in my first job in the US by 30%-50%, or maybe more.

MidAtlantic

For the reason Pulaski just gave

petepete99

OK gotcha, I thought that might be why you're asking. To be honest, when I was given the offer it was completely in line with what I was expecting, having done my own research beforehand. The average wage was available through Glassdoor for me to view.

In fact, our Fort Myers office actually pays people £ for £ (or $ for $) more there than in our European HQ in Surrey. I guess they have to pay a premium to get people to go live in retirementville?

tom169

Cost of living is different.

GeneralPowerpoint

As a general rule I heard you should take your salary in Sterling, multiply the number by 1.6, then stick a $ sign infront of it.

That should be a salary that gives you roughly the same purchasing power as you had in the UK.

I guess it varies if you're moving to a different kind of area. I moved from London to NYC and found it to be true in my case.

petepete99

Great. Then I am already well ahead! I did that calculation and I'm already up by $8k

excpomea

Same here, I arrived in 2000. Looking back I figure the research lab I work for took advantage of my immigrant status and seriously underpaid me. Maybe about 25%.

I left within 6 months and took up a new position with a better salary.
Even so it took me about 2 years before I was back on par with what I was making in the UK.

yellowroom

In my industry, it is common to take the UK salary, remove the "£", double the figure then stick "$" in front of it.

That's what happened to me, and yet I was still on about 15% less than my US colleagues in similar roles.

Hiro11

Ft Meyers has a relatively reasonable cost of living. $75K for a single adult ought to be fine.

However, remember to thoroughly investigate your benefits offerings in the US. As anyone who lives in the US can attest, looking at comp alone and not taking into account medical, dental etc benefits is taking an incomplete view of a job offer. Make sure you fully understand your benefits offerings and the context under which you will need them in the US.

mrken30

It's surprising how much the employee cost of medical insurance varies.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...lments-905922/

petepete99

Thanks, yes I received my benefits package and whilst it looks quite comprehensive, it's also extremely confusing with all the different jargon, co-pays, deductibles etc.

I will get assistance when I start the role in understanding it more.