Is Anybody Making Personal Plans For Brexit?

[fakenamefornow]

Very worried about it.

I have some savings, not loads, just a few thousand. I'm thinking maybe I should convert it into foreign currency. What do others think? I have a holiday aboard planned next year, I've converted all the spending money we'll need already and plan to pay for meals etc while we're there in cash.

I've been saving as much money as I can, our mortgage still has another eight years to run. I really need a new car and we had planned to get a new kitchen as ours is falling apart but don't think I can risk spending money on stuff like that now. At the same time I want to take my children abroad as much as we can now as I don't think we'll be able to afford to post 2019.

I wish we could leave the country for the EU but it's just not easy for us, no access to foreign passports, children settled in really good schools, and not easily transferable jobs.

For context, I'll almost certainly be losing my job because of Brexit in 2019, not sure what will happen with my husbands job, don't think he'll lose it but it will be negatively affected.

Is anybody else making plans to try to mitigate Brexit? If so any more suggestions for us?

Just renewed my Irish passport. It’s about the only thing I can do!

Yes- really, really worried about it.
I looked into Irish passport but discovered my Irish grandfather was actually born here.By the dates it looks like his Mother left Ireland when she was pregnant with him.
DH is very worried too.He keeps suggesting Canada as a Plan B. We have no friends family or connections there at all, but he seems to think Canada would take us. It is such an upheaval though with friends, family, schools here.
Also have talked about stocking up on long life food products but that only lasts for a limited amount of time.

What else is there you can do?

Working on a European language with your kids would be a good one. (Including for Canada - French helps.) Because having a good start with a language opens up more options for them later on.

I agree young people learning a language has never been more important

Also have talked about stocking up on long life food products but that only lasts for a limited amount of time.

I did also think about stocking up on food in case prices rocket but that seemed a bit extreme. Plus it doesn't last long enough and I have nowhere to keep it. We have oil delivered for our home heating, this is a worry because oil is sold in dollars.

Just saving every penny we can seems to be the best thing we can do, hopefully we can reduce our mortgage and that might help easy future pain.

Very good questions, OP.

I don't know what to do on a practical level, TBH.

Ultimately we are planning to leave the UK (very moveable skills, no fears about living in other countries or learning languages), but that will most likely not come to fruition until after 2019.

But meanwhile? Practical suggestions? I'm lost.

We have over a decade left on the mortgage, on a house that whilst liveable needs work doing in literally every room, and from the roof to the garden. We considered overpaying the mortgage hugely, but day-to-day living is already tight and living costs are escalating and there's no way we could clear the mortgage before 2019 anyway.

We have some savings, some of which had been intended for works on the house. We've shelved all those plans in favour of hanging on to money in the bank. But should we move our money to foreign currency? If only we'd done that back in 2016 - would buying foreign currency now be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, or does the pound have even further to fall (yes, IMO)?

How much should we stockpile or prep? It's too soon for any but the longest life food, but I'm expecting prices to go up further making stockpiling more costly as we approach the cliff edge (sorry, the launch strip towards the Sunlit Uplands). And further to that, how else can we mitigate the other escalating costs like energy, heating etc?

I wish us all the best, that's all I can do

We did have a serious think about moving to Ireland as I thought it'd be the least likely country to boot us out post 2019. I do have that in the back of my mind as an option although my husband doesn't want to move.

We remortgaged on a five year fixed rate and fir lower payments to give us more wriggle room in our budget. But that’s about it really. Beyond issues with property prices and interest rates there is nothing else I could cautiously predict.

Even Farage has made contingency plans to leave the country.

Oh yes forgot that.We are fixing the mortgage for 5 years too...

It's very hard to plan for uncertainty. We've fixed the mortgage. Dh is primarily paid in dollars but I haven't really looked into the significance of that. Both myself and our dds were already Irish citizens and dh is entitled as well, but the process is longer and more difficult/expensive. He's making noises about getting round to it, though. 2019/20 coincides with our youngest dc leaving school, which by then will probably be the only thing that ties us geographically. So we have the advantage of being mobile, although age would be against us if it came to emigration. Basically, we have a few things that might help us, but they are down to luck/circumstance rather than planning.

Haven't made or even really thought about workable plans, but am increasingly thinking I should.

Live in London with a mortgage that (thankfully) is about to drop substantially; we've just received a two-year deal. I've always kind of thought that having a house in London was a safety net/pot of money, but I worry more and more about house prices plummeting to the point where we can't give it away. And if the environment here is going to be as hostile to other nationalities as Theresa May seems to want, I can't imagine EU citizens moving here and wanting to rent either.

No opportunities for overseas passports for either of us. I'm fairly moveable in terms of work; DP less so, although it's not impossible. We both have the usual 'strings' – ageing parents, friends, etc –although no kids.

Have thought about Canada, but a) they wouldn't want me and would only want DP if he went back to a previous career that he left to do something he loved and b) it's a long way.

Also Ireland –thought about moving there and staying long enough to apply for citizenship and retain EU membership.

Can't decide, fundamentally, on whether London will continue to be a safe haven in Brexit Britain, or if it will all go to hell in a handcart and we'll need, financially, to fuck off somewhere else.

No plans at all. Looking forward to it.

I am a committed remainer, but even I think the doom and gloom, I will have to emigrate scenarios are far fetched.

The UK is the fifth largest economy in the world. That is unlikely to change in the short to medium term.
The Uk - particularly London - will remain an attractive destination for investors - good infrastructure, educated work force, rule of law etc. House prices may drift downwards which will be a good thing, but there will be no cliff edge.
You can mitigate risks around sterling by investing in non UK stocks and shares.
Another EU passport is great if you want to work in the EU but those with sought after skills will have no difficulty relocating. EU countries are full of non EU nationals with work permits.
A non EU passport will help avoid queues at immigration but that is only a big issue for those who travel regularly and there is no reason to suppose they could not sign up to a trusted traveller scheme.
And for all those thinking of emigrating to another EU country, the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. Job prospects are not that great outside Germany. The French economy is in a mess. Southern Europe is not thriving. The Euro remains precarious. And the rise of extreme right wing nationalist parties in response to many of the pressures that fuelled the Brexit vote -( job insecurity, housing shortages, large scale migration from inside and outside the EU) is also a cause for concern.

Quite so fionnbarr

The UK is the fifth largest economy in the world.

I thought we were on a downward trajectory from fifth place following the referendum and consequent fall in the £.

What fionbarr said. Planning to emigrate seems absolutely nuts.

I wish I agreed with you fionnbarr, but my experience is in direct contradiction to your views. In my industry companies already have a freeze on both expansions plans and hiring to cover naturally lost headcount. I freelance right now so have mopped up a bit of extra work in the short term, but unless within months there are palpable plans for a calm and smooth transition then they will be expanding their mainland eu, or Ireland, offices, and downgrading London.
A great many people on this thread have had a heads up from employers about this kind of situation, unfortunately. The lucky ones are already being offered jobs in a Frankfurt or wherever, and are in a position to take them. I'm not because of my children's A levels, but I'm putting in place what I can, for me and for them.

I dint think anywhere in the EU will be any better except perhaps Germany because thats who it seems that it's run for.

We are leaving, once our house sells.

Just because the UK is the fifth largest economy now doesn't mean it will always remain so.

Brexit and the absolute dickheads driving it will be so disastrous to the UK.

We were overtaken by France as the fifth largest economy very shortly after the referendum when the pound plummeted. The Indians claim their economy has pushed us into seventh place but I don't think this has been proven.

If we approach March 2019 with a no-deal scenario, I will be stocking up on food supplies as there will almost certainly be short-term supply issues with food imports. I also may not book our usual European holiday in Summer 2019 if there are not concrete travel arrangements agreed (also seems probable that if we leave with no deal the pound will sink without trace). Longer-term, as a public-sector worker I will probably not be looking forward to a pay rise any time in the next decade so will have to budget around that.

It's my children I really worry about though. With even the most ardent Brexit fans now admitting there will be some economic pain, I'm just hoping it won't last as long as a decade as that will be when they are reaching working age. I suppose I will encourage them to gain skills that will give them the opportunity to work abroad if necessary.

However, I live in hope that common sense will prevail and we won't leave with no deal, but will at the very least remain within the EEA.

Why is emigrating "nuts"?

I dint think anywhere in the EU will be any better...

Based on what, exactly?

This year's HSBC Expat Explorer Research just out puts UK at 34 out of 46 (down meteorically from last year), just behind Russia, South Africa and Turkey.

expatexplorer.hsbc.com/survey/countries

In contrast, the performance of other EU nations is rather less shabby.

Oh btw, that rating means out of 46 nations, UK scored 34th place from the top position so not a terribly good score.

"The UK is the fifth largest economy in the world. That is unlikely to change in the short to medium term."

We're already down to 6th, maybe 7th, and only going one way.

And we haven't even left yet...