Leaving the UK for LA

Wow loads of great info and advice. Thanks everyone.

Just to expand a little on the information I gave at the start. I have already visited Santa Monica - I really liked the place. My wife and I live a relatively sedate life "work, sleep, repeat" down in Surrey where anything more than a corner shop visit requires a drive to Tesco 15mins away.

I commute 1hr30mins to work each way if the trains are all on time. More often it is 1hr45min to 2hrs. My house in the UK is stupid expensive to be near a good school and walking distance to a train station yet is a tiny end of terrace with 3 bedrooms - two of which are tiny rooms and the single bathroom is about 2 metres by 4 metres in size for all 4 of us.

Swapping the above for a 45min-1hr drive, a 4 bed 4 bathroom house, double my take home salary and permanent 20c+ weather seems like a no brainer.

My wife and children will be joining me for a week in Feb during school half term to see the place for the first time.


Rich_L said:
The main downside to be prepared for is that you will miss out on a lot of things like weddings, birthdays and get-togethers of your friends and family because you have to make tough decisions about what you can and cannot do in terms of travel and trips.
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We are just past the age where all family and friends are now married and have young children. Besides, any weddings I can avoid I consider a bonus ;)



areksnumbr1sxylady said:
Few points:

- Kids will take a serious mental hit

- After 3 years or 6 years you will most likely have to move back to UK, another hit for kids mentality.
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Any elaboration on this? Personal experience? I tend to find children more resilient than adults for big changes, particularly young children as anything in their life at this age is a big change. Much bigger house, easy beach access with all year sun....



The_Abyss said:
We decided to sell up and have a clean break. We had good, stable families back in the UK that we felt that we could rely on to stay with when we came back. Being situated in a fairly nasty area, we knew that we'd want to come back pretty regularly, but the hassle of looking after a house back in the UK, either keeping it empty or renting it out, didn't appeal. So we sold it, sold the cars (just rented when we came back) and pretty much sold all the furniture too, other than the items that weren't sentimental. Due to where we were going we knew that anything we took would be at risk of not coming back (and indeed, pretty much none of it did!) but you probably won't suffer the same problem in LA.

We found that lots of other ex-pats in the same situation stored lots of stuff in the UK and then came back to it only to end up replacing it all within a few months. The money we earned and saved was more than enough to cover the basics, such as white goods, furniture etc. It was all part of the opportunity of leaving.
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Interesting info! I was thinking of keeping the house and renting it out (hopefully fully furnished) and putting into long term storage everything else. So this is certainly food for thought!



Chopper said:
1. Taxes are a bitch, You pay state and federal taxes here. Adding to your deductions will be healthcare, dental care, life insurance, 401k (which seems utter **** compared to a pension) etc to name but a few. You have to watch your bottom line, just taking into consideration these things I was worse off with the move.
2. If you are only here for a finite time it might not be worthwhile paying into a 401k, my plan was to pay into it to reduce my taxes, then wait until after I've gone home to the UK and cash it out in a US tax year where I earn nothing to try and minimise taxes. Not sure if it was a good idea or not, but something to devise your own strategy on?
3. Your company will most likely pay less into your 401k than they did into your pension, my company in the UK matched to 9% but in the US only matched to 5%, lost money.
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Part of the package is 75c for every $1 I put into a 401k, I don't know what the cap is. Would I be able to take this money with me when I came back to the UK after 3 years or is it like UK pension where you cannot touch it until retirement age?

Chopper said:
4. Holidays are way less, and not all US companies grant public holidays, mines was really stingy and I lost a lot of holiday allowance and public holidays.
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I am being offered 3 weeks holiday, I don't know yet if that includes or excludes compulsory public holidays.

Chopper said:
9. Watch the exchange rate, I had to send money home to pay my mortgage regularly and it was painful, send more home when exchange rate is good. Best way to send money home is US bank account -> US PayPal account -> UK PayPal account -> UK bank account.
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Completely unrelated reason I have sent some money internationally and discovered a new startup that is way WAY cheaper https://transferwise.com/ I believe it is by the same people who started Skype and investment from Richard Branson.



Again thanks everyone!
 
Seems like a no brainer to me too. There are many downsides but you have the ultimate safety net in that you'll be coming back in 3 years. What a fantastoc opportunity.
 
Cosimo said:
What a great opportunity. Grab it with both hands and don't look back!
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Moses said:
I'd do it, assuming they'd be paying me enough to live somewhere nice/afford decent healthcare/there'd be access to good public (American :p) schooling or I'd have enough money to pay for private/etc.
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This. Go for it! One thing to bear in mind though, if it is at all possible, try and have someone local acting on your behalf if you decide to let through an agent. Estate agents are crooks and will take you to the wringer if you're abroad.
 
My brother in law and his family faced a similar dilemma about 12 years ago. He was offered a excellent job in New York on a 5 year contract. His pregnant wife and 3 year old son were also in the mix.

They thought long and hard about it but in the end decided it was too big an opportunity to not take. So they went for it. Took a bit of time to adjust, 2nd son was born 10 weeks after they moved out there (he has dual passports).

However 12 years down the line - they are now fully green carded american citizens and love the lifestyle they have. He is now senior vice president and senior credit officer for a huge american bank so done well for himself.

I would say go for it - 3 years is not a long time, give yourself the opportunity, and if things don't work out - come back home. It's not the end of the world to say, it just didn't work.
 
With the 401K you can take it out at any time but you get taxed 10% on top of any other taxes. But since you put the money in tax free the. Basically you loose 10%.

Overall I think it is worth it since you should be able to double your money with the employer match, plus many companies will give so ething like 5% straight up.
Let's say you out in 10k and your employer matches 10k, then you have a 20K pension pot that is hopefully appreciating. At a modest 5% annual growth over 5 years you get 25525. Loose your 10% and you are at about 23k for your 10K investment.

The other taxes you pay will depend if you are in the US or auK when you withdraw. it is optimal to wait for a year when you don't earn any money.
 
The_Abyss said:
At the time we left we were doing ok, but nothing hugely special except that I worked for a global shipping company that meant an overseas move could be an option. We were pretty mortgaged up at the time, 90% or so, living in Essex (Kelvedon) and commuting to Canary Wharf every day.

.
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I'd say west Africa would be an upgrade from Kelvedon ;)

I'd go for it if I were you! I don't have kids which makes it a lot easier, but being young I think it'd less of a massive change for them, than if they were 10-15 and had already developed friends and routines etc.

It's only 3 years, and if you have dependable family in the UK you can always come back if things go completely pear shaped!

Very jealous, have fun! :D
 
I've been to LA a couple times for a visit and loved it. If you've got a good job and decent income you should be fine obviously there are neighbourhoods you don't want to venture near, period. Climate is obviously gorgeous, went there in november and walking about in t-shirt and shorts.

The thing I would be concerned about is your kids. Its a big wrench to be taken away to a foreign country where they are going to be the outsiders, and then in 3 years they'll have to go through the same thing all over again, but in reverse as they'll probably picked up the accent by then. My father was forever changing jobs around the country when I was a kid and I hated it, the last one I think messed me up somewhat I really didn't like where we moved too and hated the the school and didn't like the kids much. The younger they are the easier it'll be, if they're close to teenage years its possibly the worst time to move, some people thrive on change and some don't, obviously you're in the best position to judge that.
 
If it's only 3 years i would take it, that kind of opportunity doesn't come around that often and u are being sent to a very nice part of LA.

If it doesn't work out as u expected it to it wont be permanent for and u can move back in 3 years.

I may be young but what an opportunity that is that even i know those chances are far and few between in life.
 
gothic_hobbit said:
The internet seems to be more expensive in America due to lack of competition.
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It is not so mcuh lack of competition but the fact that population density is much lower and the distances much greater. Costs a lot more to over the US in high speed internet and cell towers than the UK
 
D.P. said:
It is not so mcuh lack of competition but the fact that population density is much lower and the distances much greater. Costs a lot more to over the US in high speed internet and cell towers than the UK
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In one of the areas I am looking at I can get 500Mbps fibre to my door... for $240 a month.... plus tax... and equipment rent.
 
Having been here a year now... you CANNOT and I mean CANNOT compare a UK salaray to a USA salary.

Typically renting is SOOOO much more expensive here, pretty much like everything else. Car insurance is astrominical compared to UK prices.

If you want to keep food cheap, then you have to alter the way you ate in England.. the cheap foods over there aren't the same as here.

When you say the salary is more than adequate.... you really need to understand what that means. I earn close to double what I earnt in the UK, but live with the in-laws and sometimes it feels like we struggle to make ends meet (Although I admit we send out daughter to a private school which is $611 a month for 3 half days a week... but still).

It has a lot to offer here, but for the same money you get a totally different lifestyle in the UK compared to over here.
 
take the opportunity, the worst that can happen is you hate it and you go back to the UK.

Scougar said:
Typically renting is SOOOO much more expensive here, pretty much like everything else. Car insurance is astrominical compared to UK prices.
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we pay $89 a month that covers 2 cars, me and the missus and its full coverage.

Mind you i live in New Hampshire and crime is very low.
 
If my job offered the move to Santa B or Santa M and was similar money to my UK job, and nothing else was in the way, even with a new born on the way, I'd move, immediately, and I know my wife would too.

We'd rent out our house in the UK though.
 
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