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!!

Neither. The weird terror about living America is all a lot of nutty bollocks they've been spoon fed.

out of the frying pan, into the fire! 🤣

We lived in the U.S. for a couple of years and had an amazing time. We were warmly accepted and my children loved it. I am glad for the experience and I sometimes wished we had stayed….

Not a chance I wound even visit the US currently let alone live there.

Apart from anything else I would not be moving away from elderly parents if you are happy and settled.

I know it would be hard but could husband go for a year and you visit in the holidays? Or does he need your citizenship in order to apply? I would personally want to explore if there’s a middle ground where you can keep your current life but also future proof your husband’s career.

This is something i have wondered… I just think he would hate to be away from our kids for that long.

So you want to go to the US as tax is lower, but you would potentially lose “huge earnings here” in the UK. And pay out a ton in healthcare.

@Maryaliceyoungx you can’t keep politics out because he is moving for a political decision and seems to have money at the centre of it all

and that is the issue he wants to go for money and hasn’t thought through anything else

I’d remind him that the reason tax is lower in the US is because all the things he takes for granted here, he will had to pay for privately there.
no way I would live in the US

I've got family in America. There cost of living has risen more than ours. I was shocked going shopping. It's so expensive but if they work more they earn more and pay less tax.
How old are you and your husband? Would moving over there for 3 years to see how it goes work for yous?

we drive shitty cars
Most US lifestyles are car-dependent. You'll want a better car since you'll be using it so much more. The higher mileage eats up the offset from cheaper gasoline. Note that you'll be buying and running cars for each of your kids from about age 16.

the rain is shit…
Haddam CT has annual rainfall total 44 inches. Annual total in London = 27 inches. 45 inches/total is supposedly a UK avg. I wouldn't move to avoid the rain.

I am a US citizen as I was born there and spent my life until my early teens there
If early teens = > 14th birthday then probably your kids are USA citizens. Whether they want to be or not. US citizens must enter/exit USA on USA passport. Have you done the CRBA for all?

Would it even be cheaper? I would insist upon private school in the US
Cheaper if you have a religion.
eg., Brigeport CT Hope School has tuition fees $5500/yr (says Internet), so 3 kids, that's $16500/yr. For under 14s. Higher cost for > age 13. Would probably want to start saving for University now, too.

Does your health care package include dental and orthodontics?

I hope you update in a year or 2.

I agree with a lot of what you say.

But, without necessarily asking specifically where you lived, where do you get 2 acres in CT within reasonable commuting distance to NYC for less than $10M?

Asking because I have had a look at realtor sites in Greenwich, Darien, Nee Canaan, etc.

Of course, perhaps this is not an issue for OP….

Edit: New Canaan

I had a brief look at the budget and there was less change than the headlines suggested.

The reaction to the budget has been ridiculous. You'd think that they sky was falling in. You'll have to pay NICs on salary sacrifice pension contributions. That's the only change of note.

Reasonable commuting distance is subjective I guess! My husband only needed to be in NYC once a week and Greenwich once a week. All the towns like Weston, Wilton etc have minimum 2 acre lots and you can get houses under a million. Wilton/cannondale has direct trains into nyc and free parking.

I lived in the US in the 1990's and grocery prices were high then in comparison to UK ( although I lived in an expensive city to be fair). I absolutely would not consider living there now.
Im on a group, and daily we have at least 3 posts from US citizens trying to claim Irish citizenship so they can get out the US and move to EU.

Labour created that madness god knows why. And that strategy seems to be coming back to bite again.

Overall though people are aware what it means for incentives to work, save or fund others.

I never said that. But if that's what you were sure you wanted as well as your DH you would just go, you wouldnt be posting about it on MN

Until he’s done the sums his response is just emotional.

Tell him to do the sums and to get back to you.

With all due respect op, you left the US years ago and the US is very different now and the concept of safety to a child looks very different to that of a parent. I also question if lock down drills are as inevitable as you have eluded to. In addition, the US economy is not all roses and god knows where it will be in three years time if Trump stays in power. You say you are not interested in politics, which given that the US would be your likely destination, sounds at best naive and at worst, just plain silly.

My cousin has returned to the UK after living in the US for twenty years and she just became weary to so many shitty things becoming normalised.

Go if you want to but for such a big decision there really should be some kind of thorough cost benefit analyse.

I would be so scared to send my kids to school in the US. School shootings are a very real possibility and I couldn't face having to risk that every time I dropped them off at school.

The gun situation alone would be enough for me to say no. No amount of money would give me peace of mind.

On point 1, spousal visa doesn't only mean you have to make enough money, you can have another sponsor on the visa, mother or father maybe, who can also go on the application. Also, the money required for a family of 3 is like 30k, its nothing. Not sure how big your family is but the income threshold is very low.

Also, on point 3, the math does not add up. The highest income bracket in the US is 33%, in the UK (due to withdrawal of personal allowance) it's 60%. Then the highest sales tax is 10% (this differs state to state, some are 0 like oregon), in the UK VAT is 20%. There are other taxes in both countries, but those are similar. There is no way you would be worse off or the same on a higher salary. Also, keep in mind you would never even get that salary in the uk, wages here havent changed in 50 years. My parents make about that much each and have been able to put a lot of money away, in the UK the govt would have taken most of it.

how did you get to losing 67% to tax on pension contributions?

Argh wrote a long reply as we were in similar circumstances and I lost the post and not going to rewrite it now.
Mainly: I went to state school outside Boston and it was excellent. I would move to New England; I would not move to Florida (so where is a huge factor).
Does the financial gain outweigh the extra cost of living, including flights home?
Financial gain and career ambition IS a very good reason to consider the move, your village life is great now but what about when your kids are teens? How are the secondaries? Activities for your kids? How connected will you remain once your kids are more independent?
What if you go and your kids decide to return after they hit 18? Or you decide to return and they stay?
Also uni is vastly more expensive in the US, there are scholarships but they may not cover living expenses. Also research if they will lose home status for a UK uni - those international fees bite! They may also lose access to SFE.
Huge decision but I would consider it, we certainly did and before my DH unexpectedly passed away he was in line to move to Chicago though I would have stayed here, as his job involved so much travel we wouldn’t have seen him much more. But it would have set us up for life and be the pinnacle of my DH’s career. We decided the sacrifice was worth it, but it was a defined four year term. Good luck in your decision!

Social Security deduction is 6.2% on the first $176,000 of income (and employer matches). Many of the most pleasant states to live in have state income tax rates near 10% for high earners. Property taxes are typically 1-2.5% the value of the property each year. States and cities with low state income tax tend to have high property tax. (We had both, but a great quality of life)

If OP’s family wishes to live in a major metropolitan area, price of a nice house is likely north of $1.5M and I am not talking about anything really special. At 1.5%, the property tax is $22,750 annually. How does the ‘mansion tax’ feel now?

The financial considerations must be considered as part of a full package including weaker employment protections, RFK, health insurance madness, etc.