Would you move to Texas for USD 5k more a month

[Constance17]

DH has been offered a job in U.S, we have children aged 6 & 8. What concerns you most?

Does the healthcare package for family and children end the day employment is terminated, or the company goes bust? how will you pay if you break your leg on the way to the airport, or are already undergoing treatment?

Under COBRA, the ex-employee can choose to continue their health insurance package after employment is terminated.
www.investopedia.com/articles/insurance/11/intro-cobra-health-insurance.asp
I've done it myself. We stayed on the plan till the end of the year, then switched to a different plan during open enrollment.

It really depends on whether you want to bring the kids up in a money motivated place, a place where there are guns permitted (esp this state) and if you are white. It's so racist in the US (I have lots of family there and visit 3 times a year). Very segregated and frankly really depressing if you aren't white.

I'd personally not go but it's about what's important to you.

It really depends on whether you want to bring the kids up in a money motivated place, a place where there are guns permitted (esp this state) and if you are white. It's so racist in the US (I have lots of family there and visit 3 times a year). Very segregated and frankly really depressing if you aren't white.

I'd personally not go but it's about what's important to you.

You can fit 4 UKs and a Wales into the area of Texas.

I'd only really consider Austin in TX as other places I've been there tend to be rather radically conservative (guns, Bible Belt, racism, homophobia etc.) but obviously that's a massive generalisation and it's not all like that!

Tbf I probably wouldn't even consider Austin but that's more because I wouldn't want to move away from family.

I'd only really consider Austin in TX as other places I've been there tend to be rather radically conservative (guns, Bible Belt, racism, homophobia etc.) but obviously that's a massive generalisation and it's not all like that!

Tbf I probably wouldn't even consider Austin but that's more because I wouldn't want to move away from family.

I wouldn’t (and I’m American originally).

Guns - shootings in shops, festivals, markets, churches, schools and more schools. Your children would grow up in fear if being shot and have to practice active shooter drills in school.

Medical care will cost so a few grand a month for insurance - that’s without paying the deductible. That “savings” you made is easily widdled down if anyone gets sick/injured.

Schooling is not on par. Will you be paying for private school (there goes that extra money)

Flights home to see relatives - does company pay that? If not, there goes more of that extra money.

Look at the exchange rate. Pound isn’t so good due to brexit so right now looks attractive. But when the pound recovers, the $5k will not be (let alone all the extra expenses)

You do gain likely living in a much larger house, air con, big fridge/freezer. Built in swimming pool, two BIG cars, cheap petrol, cheaper food (but much more full of all sorts of nasty, full of corn syrup plus things banned in the EU - just read up on Kraft MAC n Cheese, USA recipe vs EU).

Be forewarned, if you get a green card, you’re required to pay tax on your worldwide income/investments and report to the IRS all your bank accounts anywhere in the world (look up FATCA and FBAR).

Lastly, there’s also the matter of Trump.

I’m not sure 5k is that great as salaries tend to be a lot more in America (check a website). They have shorter holidays from work in US.

You need to check if all yours and your children’s health is covered under your husband’s work health insurance package. Who will pay for relocation (eg packing things)?

A lady I know moved out their with her husband (similarly for work), bought a house, made a life, kids did nearly 10 years of school and for no apparent reason the US gov’t refused to renew their right to stay and they had to come back again. That would worry me (and if you want to know more I can find out and PM).

The heat and healthcare would also bother me.

If it was temporary I would be tempted, but calculate healthcare etc before going out there. Cost of living varies wildly across the states (more than here where the main variable is housing) and as others have said different parts of Texas are worlds apart.

Cost of living is substantially more. My knowledge is a bit out of date but attending the time we returned to the U.K. food was about 1/3 higher, things like kids activities cost 2-3 times the cost in the U.K. though housing is location dependent like in the U.K. Guns scared me too. Check the health package on offer, they will cover the employee but there may be a hefty deduction from salary for the family (ours was $400 a month many years ago) then there's deductibles, copayments. If they are offering a relocation package, housing allowance etc then it's a better deal of course.

It is interesting how everything about living in the UK is criticised such as:-
The ‘homelessness’
The racism
The evil Tories
Brexit
The NHS being ‘broken’ and underfunded
Poverty and destitution
Living in the streets
And so on and so endlessly on

• until someone is offered sixty thousand extra dollars to live in another first world country and suddenly it is tacitly admitted that we live in one of the most free, prosperous, equal, well educated, benefit supported, safe, law abiding counties where opportunity is open to all who will take it. Amazing.

Dh was offered a job in Houston and went out there for three months to see what it was like. I was enthusiastic, he was more unsure.

He came back after three months and said no way. He's worked (short term) in the states before and said if it hadn't been Texas then he would have been more tempted.

I think it was the heat, the geography (not many mountains), the lack of understanding of someone being vegetarian and the general cowboy culture/mentality/politics which put him off. Obviously not everyone would be as bothered.

I particularly would not want to live in a Blue state.

I suspect you meant a red state. Red states are Republican, blue states are Democrat.

I am Canadian, and I know a lot of people who have lived/live in Texas, mostly professionals in the medical field. They all loved it, many moved there permanently.

Houston has hurricanes, so I wouldn't want to live there.

Dh did say if it hadn't been Houston/Texas he would have been more tempted.

Where in Texas though? I'd be concerned with location (city life or country life), racism, conservative state, (lack of) gun control, hurricanes/tornadoes, and the POTUS.

Nothing could induce me to live in America.

The gun situation alone would be enough for me to say no. I wouldn;t want my children thinking it's normal to carry guns. Ever.

Has anyone reported the multiple posts? It's making the site unusable at the moment.

No it’s not worth it. I love America and Americans in general but there are too many cultural issues for me. I wouldn’t bring up kids there to learn their culture.

The guns, the confusing beliefs where people are wildly against ‘socialism’ but then when Barbara gets cancer and can’t afford healthcare if she’s in a nice area, the community does fundraisers to give her a chance to live. Wouldn’t it just be better to pay for some level of socialised healthcare in the first place?

Also most of them just aren’t aware how right wing their culture is. There have been several occasions where I’ve met Americans on holiday and they are the most open, friendly people but then they come out with something really right wing and odd. They don’t have a cohesive society and despite it being beautiful and the Americans in general being nice, there’s an almost fascistic underbelly.

We have lived abroad, although not in Texas. Don't just listen to the knee jerk reaction of No/guns etc. Don't be led by what the media (Daily Mail) report. Several things to consider in my opinion..

1. Texas is a large place, wherebouts would you be?
2. Yes, gun crime. Better than some places though. Some places death by gun/knife is so common it barely gets reported. We know about USA gun crime because it's reported here. BUT...if you lived all your life afraid you'd never go out of the house. You could get run over in the road tomorrow.
3. It's a great chance to live somewhere different...open your mind!
4. Trump..well not all Americans voted for him. UK voted for Brexit, and for Boris Johnson. Doesn't mean everyone in the UK wanted that decision or is pleased about it.
5. Is the move permanent? If not, even more reason to go.
6. Even if it is permanent/long term...it doesn't have to be if you hate it or don't settle...although give it a good chance before you decide.
7. Definitely look at the price of living. That 5k rise might be for a reason..higher cost of living due to health care etc. We found a lot of the what we thought was extra in our purse with a new job abroad was swallowed by extra costs like health care.
8. How would your DH feel if you didn't go? Does he really want to give it a try?

Would you regret it if you didn't grab the chance and at least try it? Living abroad opens your mind, I don't regret doing it for a nano second and made some fantastic friends. It can be hard yes, but it's character building and it shaped my life and made me a different and better person.