Considering moving to London - totally clueless

[spingiscomming]

I'm currently in Paris. Okay where I am - but looking for a change.

I'm 29 and single.

I haven't lived in the UK since childhood - and that was outside London.

I've been offered a job in London offices near Edgware road.

Salary of 70k brut - 49,136 net per year - 4,094 net per month.

I have quite a decent standard of living in Paris on a similar take home but my transport card is paid and I have a subsided canteen and a gym membership and a mutuelle (private health).
New job would pay my moving costs.

I've given a basic breakdown of what/how I spend per month.

Could I afford a similar standard of living in London - I'm open to living up to 35 minutes away from Edgware road by public transport - and know that I'll have to factor in higher transport costs.

I don't need a massive apartment - I'm currently in 50m2 - and could deal with 40m2 - I do not want to flat/houseshare.

• Pretty central but quite small 1 bed flat with tiny bathroom + bills + Netflix + phone etc per month -> 1900 pm
• Taxe habitation (council tax) 980 per year -> 82pm
• 6ish European weekends away per year -> 200 p/m
• A couple of weeks in the summer in rural France 600 ish euros with

transport -> 50 p/m

• Eat out a couple of times a week -> 200pm

-Theatre about once a month -> 30pm -Drinks out -> 200pm

• Food/Cleaning stuff/Toiletries shop -> 240pm
• Taxis/Uber -> 90pm
• Shoes/clothes/makeup -> 100pm
• Random (Canteen/Coffees/magazines/books) -> 200pm

-Cleaning lady once a week - 150pm I manage to save about 650 per month

Mumsnetters - What could my life look like in London ?

Thankyou for your insight!

You've done your numbers so that's what it would be like. Good salary, own flat, lots of going out, using taxis and travelling and still money left at the end of the month.

Have you included costs for paying into a pension?

@JoJoSm2

Those are my numbers for Paris - I was wondering if costs are équivalant in London?

And I do réalise I have a nice life now and that I’m lucky that way - I am aware of my privilege - but my present doesn’t reflect my past. I’m no more deserving of being free and happy than anyone else - everyone deserves that - but after years of utter shit - I’m seizing every chance of carefree less I can. It’s rather new to me and I don’t want to let go and adult fully quite yet.

@Kpo58
Thankyou - hadn’t thought of that - I have private and state pension included here before my take home. Will look into how pensions work in UK.

I thought the numbers were for here :) I did read through the list and it looked just like London.

State pension comes out of your National Insurance and isn't very much. Private pension comes out of gross pay and usually you'll pay a little and your employer will top it up. As you'll be paying he higher rate of tax, if you pay eg 3k a year into pension, it will only be £150 less cash per month.

And I don't begdrudge anyone their lifestyle. Just being in my 20's in London, I spent a lot less and saved a lot more.

London would be fairly similar. You might get a cheaper rent depending where you live

@JoJosm

Thankyou - rather sensitive at the moment - saw ex last weekend and she commented that I had a new dress and on how easy life was for me and hard for her now- I supported us both for 6 years working and studying while she explored through numerous expensive non qualifying courses who she was ... still very raw and complicated for me. Feeling quite vindicative - but not aimed at you.

Happy to hear that costs should be similar in London and that I can continue being an aware yet irresponsible millennial!

I live alone in London one slightly less than you will be earning- I have a similar lifestyle to you’ve described but fewer breaks/holidays.

I think living costs are higher than you have now
Your council tax is likely to be higher than £82pm (based on value of property)
The cheapest theatre tickets at the very back are £20-35
I’ve just eaten out in prezzo (chain Italian) -main, side + 1 normal cocktail and tip was £30
You’ll need to factor in the exchange rate when considering holidays, plus need to fly pretty much anywhere non-Uk.
UK based holidays are just as expensive as going abroad in my limited experience.

Your lifestyle is totally doable on 70k, but you’ll need to spend most of it.

London is a great place to live, and you’re young- definitely do it!

Totally doable. Council tax is likely to be a bit more. Transport is a killer if you are living out of london. Not so bad north of London, south/south west/kent/ Essex is a lot. But I think you could get a nice flat for your budget fairly centrally and cycle/ walk to work.

Everything else looks very comparable. Food/ toiletries may be more in London.

Gyms are expensive here but there are a lot of council run ones if you are happy with that.

Pension contributions can be high if you are not public sector.

Private health might be about £80?? A month If no previous. Guessing wildly there.

I think you would have less disposable income in London, especially taking into account pension etc.

Where would you like to live and work long term?

@loopytiles
I have no idea where I want to live - I’m lucky that I’m pretty fluent in French English and German but at the moment I’m open to anything. I think that once brexit implications become concrete I’ll know if I want to be on mainland Europe or in the UK. I have dual French/English nationality so should be able to come back without issues. After my masters I wanted to stay in Berlin but made the mistake of coming back because my French partner of the time didn’t enjoy Berlin. And now for work reasons I’d probably be in Frankfort or Hamburg. I have a very dear sister in Zurich and would also consider it if a suitable offer with a decent salary for there came through. For the moment even if I feel quite culturally French sometimes I do feel British - and so I’m open to London for a few years - don’t knock it till you’ve tried it is my current thought pattern!

@Youwantshoesinashoeshop - I think I definitely want to be in London - but I don’t know the city enough to know what transport is really like and I’ve not quite grasped how the “zones” work yet - I’m up to commuting a bit to work but don’t want to be stuck with much over 30 minutes on a day to day basis as I know that when issues arrive on public transport 30 minutes can easily become an hour or more...

@RelapsedChocoholic

Good to hear - I think I’d curb a bit of the travel anyway - I tend to try and only fly for work and train for the rest as I’m conscious of my carbon footprint - I’d still want to make it over to Zurich 3 or 4 times a year though.

You haven't included utility bills (water/electricity/gas) - not a huge amount for a small flat but I would budget around £100 pcm for that, and also contents insurance for your flat (will depend on the address how much it is).

And would you want to get private health insurance? Use private dentists?

Bloody hell. 70k at 29? Honestly when I hear this I feel like I've truly fucked up. I'm 40 and only recently started earning just above 70k

Anyway, congratulations on your new job and for navigating your career so well.

The costs seem the same as they would in London. I'm assuming your employer is a big multi national, if so they usually match your contributions so you put in say 5% and they will match it. Though I'd recommend you put in more than 5%

you'd need to add tube travel too I think wouldn't you?

I don't travel by tube so don't know what a monthly pass costs these days, but it's a fair amount

Check on rightmove to see whether that's a fair assessment for rent too. I don't know.

Perhaps flights to europe are slightly more from here too.

@viccat
I grouped my utilities with my rent - rent here is 1580 - utilities and insurance come to an extra 320 pm

I don’t know about private insurance in the Uk - if you don’t have private in France you have a co-pay for most things - totally doable for just GP’s but in Paris the copay for a gyne is often 50 or more - ophthalmologist even more - and if you have the bad luck to break a leg or whatever hospital can get very expensive very quickly without a mutuelle. I see a shrink once a month - a gyne once a year - an ophthalmologist once a year and probably a GP twice a year as I have atrocious tonsils. I don’t know if I could just depend on the NHS in the Uk or if I’d need private.

@spingiscomming
I wish you all the best of luck, make the most of it!

Your commute/ travel cost depends on which London zone/ train you would depart from. It can be a lot higher than that. I haven't bought a weekly or monthly ticket recently but I think it can be a lot more costly than that.

Check tfl website for cost

Your employer should offer private insurance but if they don't then you'll have to struggle with the nhs psychologists to get appointments or even referred. You'll need to suicidal before you get get seen. You could pay privately. They charge around £60 per hour.

Transport won't cost more than £2,300 per year if you stay in zones 1-5 and much less if you work from home a few days a week.

There is no co-pay with the nhs for operations or any issue for that matter. You will pay for prescriptions which I think are around £8.

My experience with NHS in England ( so not private healthcare) has been unfailingly excellent aside from access to talking therapies. Anything red-flag I have been seen within 2 weeks. Ophthalmology ditto very good when you have an acute infection. The NHS is very good at acute care. Anything slightly less urgent may be an issue but... essentially, they keep you alive. You get regular, evidence- based screenings and there is no cost aside from prescriptions and (if you wear glasses) fancy thin lenses or contacts.

London has a lot going for it.

And you really do not need to commute on that salary. You can live centrally.

I am presuming you do not have children, nor plan them?

This is a big issue if so. Day nursery (from 4-5 months untill some state support kicks in at around 3) costs around £70 per day in central london.

Basically, if you break a leg in UK you will be plastered, kept in for the minimum unless you need traction and then sent home. As you should be...

You dont need to pay for healthcare in the UK. At the moment. Disclaimer: Brexit.

@Iboogy
That I need to think about - I’m stable but have been on the same anti-depressants and mood stabilizers for 6 years now - and although they are not perfect they allow me to function in everyday life well enough for only my very closest friends to know I have “issues” - I see my psychiatrist ( not psychologist) once a month to assess and have blood checks every six months to check certain things that be affected by the drugs I take. I will look into psy provisions in the UK and give my shrink a call on Monday to ask his opinion - as I cannot afford in anyway to not have adequate mental healthcare. I could and would make other “sacrifices” to ensure I have reliable psy support to allow me to maintain at least the level of stability I now have. But 60 per month sounds doable. I’ll check the employer conditions on health insurance - but it hasn’t been “sold” to me so far as a benefit.

As for transport - I really need to have an in-depth look at areas in London I could live in. I only really know the hyper centre as that is where I predominantly go for work.
I have visited friends of friends in the queens park area before and though it was a lovely area - I’ll have a look on right move to see if a one bed there would be compatible with my budget.

Thankyou all.