_jon_

First post so.....Hello.

Wife and I have been considering move to US since she began working for a company with a large US base's in both Raleigh and St Louis.

We have two kids, 9 and 1. We have dogs as well that would go with us.

At present our UK salaries are £50K for her and £33K for me. If we were to move I wouldn't work initially to help the family settle in, I could then seek work as a Computer Forensics specialist (Old Bill at the mo').


So to the question.....what would be a good salary for my wife to aim for so we had a similar standard of living with me not working.

We'd need two cars, nothing flash (say Suzuki or Hyundai), I'd need a Harley, we eat out 3 or 4 times a month. We'd need a 4 or 5 bed house, something with land, I reckon we'd have about £80K cash if we sold the house.

We've been to the US regularly over the last 8 years but the cost of living on a holiday can be very different to actually living somewhere....

Thanks

Tracym

Hi and welcome

Not an easy one to answer simply I'm afraid.

For housing prices, take a look at www.realtor.com and see what a house you'd like would cost. Then, you could find a bunch of on-line mortgage calculaters, and figure out the mortgage per month. Don't forget to figure in insurance and property taxes.

I'm in the Chicago area, but suburban - so perhaps dining prices might be similar. If hubby and I eat out, we'd often spend $30-45, for pizza, mexican, etc - not a fancy place. Probably even for a steak at outback.

As far as cars, again I'd look up the price of what you want, and then find a loan calculater, if you're not going to pay cash.

Sorry that isn't a more finite response - it's sorta one of those how long is a piece of string questions I think.

Also, to make comparisons I think it might help to know where you are from in the UK.

_jon_

Let me clarify it a bit, she is aware that some jobs she could do that came up recently were up at $80K.

She turned her nose up at that figure, seeing it as a paycut. In her mind she'd like to move for a $100K salary.

To be honest I'd go out and spend less than $5K on a car each, just to get started. We've seen houses we'd go for for about $280K -$300K as a purchase price but would rent initially anyway.

Bluegrass Lass

You may also want to check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics website to get an idea of the median income for certain fields. I have no idea if you can get the same level of salary you are accustomed to for the same type of position in those cities. I could be offered $100k for an engineering job in New York City, but I will only make 60k in Ohio. After getting an idea from the BLS website, you could do further research to see if what those positions are paying, on average, in Raleigh or St. Louis.

You could also look at the cost of living comparison to see which city will have the better COL. To find housing prices, defo look at www.realtor.com like Tracy suggested. Cost of meals depends on what type of restaurants you are used to. Cost of cars can also depend, somewhat, on where you live.

Keep in mind that it will be very difficult for you to get loans as you have no previous credit history here. Take a look around BE to see how long it takes new Expats to get offered loans. You may find it very, very difficult to even get a credit card, more or less a mortgage. Consider paying cash for some things, even a car, because you may not get the credit.

Bill_S

You don't say what your citizenships are. Is either of you American? If neither is American, what visas were you planning on using? Has your wife's company actually offered her a transfer? Pardon me for being blunt, unless there's a clear path to a visa, the rest of your questions are moot.

_jon_

The company has a history of 'exporting' talent to the US, with relavant Visa's.

We are both UK citizens.

Bill_S

That's a good sign. There are a number of BE members who are in the US because of company transfers. But don't pick out the curtains for your American house until you have visas in your passports. Check out the posts by "skydivingisfun", as he's in a similar situation. There were some false starts before his company actually agreed to sponsor him for an L visa.

Michael

You can probably get a fairly good idea of the cost of living in those areas by using the following cost of living calculators. If you use New York (Manhattan) as a base which should be similar to cost in central London or New York (Queens) which should be similar to the cost in the burbs of London, you may be able to get a fairly good idea of the cost of living in St Louis or Raleigh.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc....2665524703973
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costo...tofliving.html

another bloody yank

$80K would allow you to live well in STL, $100K would allow you to live very well.

angiedee78

Well, I think 100K in STL you'd be more than fine!!!!! but it is such a personal question and we each have our own set of expectations.

We are moving to the Indy area (not too disimiliar cost of living) and we will survive on one wage initially of about half of what you are talking about with about half of what you mention again as a start up fund. ie 50K salary and 40K start up fund (very rounded figures and there is still MUCH to be confirmed!!!)

I'd be interested to hear if anyone thinks that is totally not doable (we will drive very modest cars and live in a very modest house!)

It will be lean and mean and we are awear of that but that's the way we live here.

I will start working as soon as I can but being realistic....it will be 12 months before that happens esp with a 5 and 2 year old and starting from scratch.

_jon_

Modesty would be our initial approach, I see nothing to be gained from blowing our moving 'pot' on a flashy car.

As the exchange rate alters it gets easier for the wife to see a $80K salary for what it is and not compare it against her UK wage.

kins

Well here are some of our approx annual costs of living - we have three children and live in a 5-bed house with an acre of land and run two cars.

$14k mortgage repayments ($180k mortgage) inc house insurance
$12k federal/state tax/ss/medicare etc
$12k health and dental insurance
$12k supermarket
$6.4k property tax
$4k pension
$3-4k petrol (2 cars)
$3k heating oil (in Maine)
$1.7k car insurance
$1.8k electricity

Plus of course holidays, water rates, car running costs, clothes, eating out, days out, co-pays on healthcare (we hit $800 on that this week alone).

It depends where you live, but I wouldn't start thinking the US is any cheaper than the UK to live in...

another bloody yank

I can tell you that STL would be one hell of a lot cheaper than that! $250/week for groceries? Christ....

kins

Five people, all meals (no lunches out or school dinners), I don't think it's that bad actually.

Tracym

Actually, sounds cheap to me - $50 per person is what I heard to budget years ago.

Of course, I'm in the Chicago area (but pretty far from the city). Might manage on that (but I doubt it) in the small town in Michigan I've spent a lot of time in.

For example, gallon of milk here is about $3.00 or so - if I'm lucky.