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?

DS1 has just started his A-levels so we'll stay till he's settled at University.
Then, we're off with the three youngest to an island near the equator! My skills will transfer well but DH wants to do something completely different.
I feel guilty for leaving but I know it's the best thing we can do for the DCs.
DS1 keeps trying to warn them that 'there'll be no Amazon' but they're too young to care.
I'm terrified but excited.

Also most young people with higher education in continental Europe are fluent in at least 2, but more often 3, languages, including often more grammatically correct English than UK natives. British youth is going to be left behind. Languages are so much more than ordering a beer, to do business successfully with another country it is also important to be versed in the cultural aspects of said country, which comes with language learning to a high level.

There's method in the madness. DH is looking to work in Luxembourg and would commute from Northern France. Commute is less than he does now and would be by train instead of driving. I can speak German already

Fair play.

Our mortgage is paid off and I have some savings. I've also stockpiled a lot of non-perishable supplies, mostly toiletries, cleaning supplies and dried food. My job will almost certainly be gone post brexit.

We have no chance of getting other passports and I know it would be very difficult to emigrate long-term if things really went tits up. I have contacts in a few other countries having lived abroad a lot, but visas would be a problem. I have lots of ideas about becoming a digital nomad as I've travelled a lot in the past and know this could be a possibility and I should be able to support myself and move around.

There's nothing wrong with planning for a worst case scenario.

Namechanger your last post reminds me of the great toilet paper shortage of 1974 😆

Yes

• Getting papers together to apply for Irish passport - thankfully both maternal grandparents were Irish. Unfortuantely I can't pass it down to my children as applying after they're born

• Moving some share holdings to European companies in order to spread the risk

Otherwise not a lot really need to think it through

nNina22 - we have enough toilet paper to last 4 years, if rationed. It might have to be 1 square for a wee and 2 squares for a poo towards the end though.

I think the problem with planning is that there is limited action that most people can take to mitigate any negative effects especially in the short term, and very little that anyone can do to protect themselves against "worst case scenario" impacts (e.g. diamond hard brexit leading to an abrupt move to hard customs borders and strict inspection regimes for agricultural/ food/ livestock imports and exports).

At this point I think that talk of rationing and stockpiling are premature, although the risk of a chaotic no deal brexit is growing.

As a directly affected UK citizen whose right to live and work in my country of residence could disappear overnight in 18 months' time, I've secured my right to remain by getting my kids local citizenship. My own naturalisation is unlikely to come through in time, but I don't anticipate being asked to leave - just various administrative headaches which I could do without.

I earn in euros and DH in dollars so we are protected to some extent against a collapse in sterling, but part of our pension entitlements are in the UK and we still have quite a lot of investments there. My job could also be affected. I moved quite a big chunk of money into precious metals before the referendum and bought some more when sterling was at its recent high.

Also most young people with higher education in continental Europe are fluent in at least 2, but more often 3, languages, including often more grammatically correct English than UK natives.

This is probably the most significant difference in UK vs continental European education systems. Where I live, a foreign language is usually taught at uni regardless of your main subject. I have one child in equivalent Y13 who is trilingual (French-Spanish-English), also does Latin, and will continue with Spanish as her principal foreign language in higher ed. My second in Y11 is studying three foreign languages for his baccalaureat (and he wants to be an engineer not a linguist - after the brexit vote he added German to widen his opportunities).

The British really are self-loathing. They despise the fact we voted to leave the EU bit admire the Catalans' pluckiness.

What have I done to prepare myself?
Apply relunctantly to the PR in view of getting the British citizenship. That just to avoid to see my family split and not been able to see my dcs grow up into adults (or DH nit being able to see that happening)
Ensure that i have all the updated passports and ID card
Move most of my saving into euros, out of the country.
Check that my dcs language are as good as it can be so that if we do need to move away from the U.K., we can as easily as possible
Look at all work opportunities 'back home' (whatever home can mean when you have been living in this country for 20 years....) as well pensions, where to live etc etc

In effect, if it wasnt for DH, I would have moved away already. In big part because of the dcs age. The longer we are waiting, the more impact it will have on their studies.
But DH (British national) I slrelunctanut to leave (with good reasons) so we are staying put. So far.

I agree with misti that, unfortunately, there is t a lot you can do though.
My own attitude is more about having gone through all the different possibilities 'just in case'.

For me, it's clear that a no deal situation and the British economy collapsing will be a trigger for me to move away.
Ive looked at my 'own' country but others too within the EU and outside the EU btw.

The British really are self-loathing. They despise the fact we voted to leave the EU bit admire the Catalans' pluckiness.

I don't admire any such thing.

I think a lot of remainers are bemused by nationalist movements tbh. I think the Catalan thing is nuts (though not quite as nuts as Scottish independence or brexit), and that like brexit it's the unfortunate result of a weak leader (of the regional government) whipping up nationalism to prop up his administration (ring any bells?). OTOH like most people I would condemn the way the Catalan independence issue has been handled by Madrid.

"it's unemployment levels are shocking"

its

The British really are self-loathing. They despise the fact we voted to leave the EU bit admire the Catalans' pluckiness.

I absolutely don't.

Lewis where is your ‘own’ country?
Is it not the UK?
I wonder how many remainers consider another country their ‘own’ rather than the UK and whether this colours their attitude to brexit?

Babywilliam, can we talk a bit more about your fantastic post-Brexit dystopia, where people wail about a lack of spray tans, haircuts and false nails?

Having lived through the big crisis in Argentina (which one, you may ask, the 2001 one) where people's money was worth 75% less from one day to the next, the ONE thing that did not stop was grooming , the supermarkets were half empty, there were violent protests, running inflation, but hairdressers and beauty salons were going strong as ever.

So hair dressers and beauty salon owners need not worry about Brexit

Oh that's interesting Therealslimshady1. I suppose it depends on who is hit the worst and if there is any spare cash going around for beauty treatments seeing that due to the cessation of EUCU in the UK beauty products may simply not make it to the shelves.

Theresaslimlady post brexit dystopia just about sums it up

DH is definitely making plans and 'battening down the hatches' for impending disaster. He's replacing all major household appliances over 2 years so that everything should last at least 5 years after brexit. He's talked about food shortages but I don't see how you can do much about it. With a family of 5 we get through mountains of food and even when I think I stocked up on something we get through it really fast.

^I think a lot of remainers are bemused by nationalist movements tbh. I think the Catalan thing is nuts (though not quite as nuts as Scottish independence or brexit), and that like brexit it's the unfortunate result of a weak leader (of the regional government) whipping up nationalism to prop up his administration (ring any bells?). OTOH like most people I would condemn the way the Catalan independence issue has been handled by Madrid."

Summed up most of my thoughts on the Catalan issue very neatly there, Mistigri

Nnina nope I'm french originally.
Or at least that's what my passport is saying. Even though I've only lived 1/3 of my life there.

Is the Uk my country?
Well I felt it was up to about 2 years ago. Then I have been told so many times I didn't belong, was only good enough to be used as a bargaining chip, xenophobia raising (with the accompanied comments) etc... that it doesn't feel like it anymore.

The British really are self-loathing. They despise the fact we voted to leave the EU bit admire the Catalans' pluckiness.

Wow, that's an interesting allegation.

I wonder how many remainers consider another country their ‘own’ rather than the UK and whether this colours their attitude to brexit?

Seems like another way of implying that Remainers are foreign, or tainted by foreignness?

Elementsspng I was not implying anything of the sort