Husband wants to leave the uk post budget….

[Maryaliceyoungx]

husband wants to leave and don’t get me wrong - I do see why. We are being hammered in the budget, we drive shitty cars, the rain is shit… life in the UK can be pretty shitty right now. he works for a US based company and I am a US citizen as I was born there and spent my life until my early teens there (parents are British and were working out there) so I see why he wants to go -it would be good for his career and would be potential to make money without the huge tax burden of the UK (company based in low state tax state)

but I don’t want to go… I love my life here. I love our village and my kids lovely village school. My family is here and I worry my parents don’t have so much time left.

however i do have to recognise the money aspect- my husbands job could be impacted by AI so i think he is right in thinking we should max out our earning potential while we can and we just won’t be able to do that here as it will just be taxed away.

aibu for sacrificing potentially huge earnings just because I love village life? Would it even be cheaper? I would insist upon private school in the US(went to state school in the us and have a lot of trauma from that!) and we wouldnt sell our house here so would need to rent. Most recent trip to thr us - over a year ago and cost of living was sky high.

I’ll be honest - couldn’t care about the politics. Politics are shit whereever you go!!

Does he want to go to the USA?

I personally would go if I had the opportunity to have a good job and nice life in the US.

I'd take a second look at the news if you think US politics are comparable with anywhere else at the moment 😳

Where does he want to go?

I mean I absolutely don't blame him for wanting to ditch the UK but if the US is where he's looking to go I'd say that's a mistake.

To me that village life you describe is priceless..

you can’t put a price on happiness

this govt will be out before the changes come in and it will all start on a different trajectory

you can’t buy being near people you love

D has lived in America for 3 years and she often says how expensive everything is and it's so much dearer than the U.K.

I don’t think I would want to swap village life in the UK for a life in America to be fair.

Thinking about the cost of living in the US, wouldn’t any extra money he made be wiped out by the extra costs and school fees? Other than the experience, I’m not sure what you’d gain.

Some American state schools are excellent. You just have to live somewhere with high property taxes! We rejected a move c.12 years ago. It was just after Sandy Hook and I found the security measure on the elementary schools terrifying. However, if we had gone then my husband would earn three times what he does here because of salary divergence. He also wouldn’t have had to leave his employer, set up his own company and create his own client base from scratch. He now pays U.K. tax on income generated entirely overseas, which is galling at times. He’s done well, and I’m glad my kids have been brought up in their own country, but it’s been an expensive decision. If you do move, it is better to move when your children are primary school aged. You can always come back.

My brother just did this... Left a couple of weeks ago - combination of higher salary, lower tax and career opportunities.

The grocery prices he sent us were inSANE. Do not underestimate how cheap food is in this country.

Healthcare... Cost of insurance, cost of excesses etc also mental!

He had to get rid of pretty much every electrical appliance he owned because of the voltage over there... That's a massive setup cost. Not to mention cost of shipping a container, animals, etc etc.

New cars.

You've mentioned education.

So I'd do your calculations very very carefully and work out just how much extra money you'd be getting to give up the life you love!

Broadly speaking most professional jobs psy double or triple a U.K. salary and pay half as much tax. Housing costs a lot less in most places. Even with private health insurance, the disposable income is much higher there than here.

I think when deciding there is a tendency to see the negatives in where you are and the positives in where you are moving too

and at the moment your husband is doing that.

and he needs to take off his rose coloured glasses and probably look at the pros and cons together including how you feel and take it from there

abd politics has to be a thing here has to be. You can’t move to the US from here without taking that into account

Have you seen how much health care is going to cost in the US from Jan 2026?

It’s all immaterial until he/you both get job offers in America, but once you do I’d have a really detailed look about the total cost of living out there, including education, healthcare and average trolley of food cost, as it certainly isn’t cheap at the moment.

It’s a small thing, but I found US dairy produce inedible. I couldn’t imagine living somewhere where it’s so hard to find unpasteurised cheese, fresh full fat milk and yoghurt and the range of cream available in every British supermarket and very affordable prices. I don’t think you can even buy Stilton.

I’d say be careful what you wish for

you are happy - that’s gold dust

I would not willilingly move to a country that is taking away womens rights (another state just banned abortion completely), where international students are being rounded up by masked immigration officers, where people carry guns etc etc. There is no money in the world that would persuade me.

Isn't the cost of food in the US absolutely crazy at the moment?

I would prefer to stay in the EU with their much much better food, climate, healthcare and safety regulations - and no guns.

If you have a lovely family and good life here, nothing will match that as a mum with children. More money and sunshine isn’t worth anything if you’re already comfortable. Spoken from experience….

I can’t imagine wanting to live there.

Lived in the US and loved it. Would depend where you’d go in terms of weather and demographics but I’d say the UK is cooked and if you have a chance to leave - by all means go for it.

US might just be heading for huge civil unrest, if Trump carries on as he is, so I'd hang on for a bit 👍

No way I'd want to live in the States right now.

Im with you here. There are states literally considering the death penalty for abortion (and who have jailed women for miscarriages).

Ha, we were in the States recently and the cost of eating out and food shopping was more than double the cost here. Add in healthcare costs and it would be obvious where your money would go. And are neither of you bothered by the awful state of US politics?
I wouldn’t swap a happy life in a UK village for that