Would you stay overseas if it cost you much more than Uk??

[Salbertina]

Just wondering,
Here already but sadly misinformed by DH's boss as to true cost of living plus lots of additionals here we wouldn't have in uk, namely school fees, medical fees and need to run 2 cars. All exacerbated by my loss of income brings us to a whopping £35000 down a year!!! An eye-watering amount which we can't really afford despite his healthy income! Huge uk mortgage and high costs here mean there's little left each month to comfortably afford to travel etc where we are which was the whole point of coming here!
Am not complaining, realise tricky times currently esp in Uk, j realise in many ways were lucky, just curious to know how many expats in similar position?

I would have done more research before getting pregnant again. When we were both working overseas, we had a very nice lifestyle.

Now, dh is the sole earner and our school cut my flight ( they don't pay for dc's - so we had three to pay for this year) and my housing allowance ( rightly so as I am not employed) they also don't pay for health care for the dc's so we need a private policy ( for all four of us)
I would say we are down £7000 from last year, plus my lack of salary! It is very different. However, this is a temporary situation and I am happy to stay in fewer 5 star hotels, to be home with our dd.
If we were at home, we could not live on one salary, so overall it is still worth it for us.
I am not sure I answered your question...

Oh that's a shame tho hope all working out for you w dc- must be v different going as a couple, staying as a family!
Yes, flight thing 4 us too- £4k a yr if we go back
I know some people here still on the old expat-type package-2/x flights a yr for whole family, accom/sch/medical/cars all paid, can't help being a little if I'm honest! Surprised so many still get this in such straitened times and not super-senior either, rather v specialised in mining whatever.

Wouldn't be out here if we weren't saving money. If we were losing money, it would be a definite no no.

Well we originally came for 9 month secondment which was in £s and paid some expenses. Now in local (depreciating) currency and no expenses but good for dhs career (not mine tho!)
We made decision to stay beyond original term as
A) my company in uk closing anyway
B) we all loved it at the time (honeymoon period, high summer)
C) felt like an adventure
D) reasonable parity in income then between local currency and £

Since then, felt more and more financially squeezed each month (currency dropped 25% against £ since been here!), in panic over my career and get little chance for adventure heed anyway due to lack of dhs time and money.

Realise it would be much more viable financially to move back to uk and holiday here once a year, always assuming we cd both get decent jobs, of course (a big ask?) !

We also have the depreciating currency problem, Egyptian pounds are not highly sought after these days! And we get paid in $US, so whenever we send money back to Canada or the UK, we lose as we are exchanging money. But it's not a problem right now as we won't be saving much this year!

So are you gaining anything financially by bring there or have other reasons to stay? Must be interesting times in Egypt right now! How is it? Lived there myself in the 90s- loved its history/people/warmth but found day-to-day treatment as young woman rather grueling, also huge social inequity. Hope it's getting better post-Mubarak but wonder

Life costs me about 3 x what it would in the UK (but am not on any kind of ex-pat thing, just found myself here) (Italy)

Will stay here because despite the fact it's financially crippling, it's still a nicer place to bring up a small child I think. But once she leaves home, I am outta here.

Sounds good enough reasons, fair enough! But why not for you also once she's grown up??

It's very small town Stepfordy to be honest. And very little to "do" beyond the "family" walls IYSWIM? Been here 18 years and while I work, and have good friends, it's still not home! and the telly is shite

The days of universally very comfortable expat packages are over. Some people still achieve them, but they are fewer and fewer.

Bonsoir, that's what I thought but must know at least 6 families here on such a deal!
Bucharest, can understand the anti-step ford sentiment. Have recently discovered the joys of bbc iplayer's downloadable tv progs! Heartily recommend, just need a VPN (about £10 a month) what a exist I am!

expat, I meant!

The main reason we are here, is that we have (I had) good jobs. We came to teaching late in life and need some more experience before we can move to one of our favorite countries and get good jobs in a more diverse school. Right now our dd is one of about 3 non Arabic speaking children in the school. Once we move, she will be with children of many different nationalities, which will be easier for her.
Overall life is good, but we will move on once we can. Egypt is interesting and I have enjoyed my time here, but I will be ready to leave at the end of this year. It is still quite conservative and as much as I love the heat, I love it more in shorts and tank tops!

Sounds worth it then. Are you Teaching kids or TEFL?

Hey Salbertina - we are thinking about a move to your country. It looks like DP's salary will be about the same as it would be here, but with more costs! However I think we will do it for a year or two for the experience.

Are you in Joburg btw?

Hi there. My advice? Negotiate a package, pay only in £s and stick to it, no local terms. seriously expensive here now. Good luck with it.

Hmm, where to start! Our income has been slashed by a third since we got here (in real terms) and because of exchange rate fluctuations, our mortgage has gone up by 50%.

There are 5 of us (dcs 12, 10 and 9) living in a 2 bed condo with two Labradors. Can't sell the condo as house prices have plummeted (current guess is it's worth about 130k less than we paid for it), the market is flooded with similar properties, and even if we did, because of the drop in income, we wouldn't get another mortgage anyway.

We paid 5k for a trip back to the UK in April, first time in three years. It's still sitting on my credit card.

I love it though. Just need to find a job that pays actual money, instead of offering part time hours on menial pay.

And if anyone has got any ideas how I can pay my mortgage which was due yesterday, without waiting for the next pay day, do give me a shout.

I think we might have to sell my car. At the mo dh commutes into the city for work (3 hr round trip), so we have a second car so that I can get out of the house (severe winters etc, and three kids). We went for a larger option as I came off the road two winters ago in a cheaper lighter thing, but I am seriously considering that we may have to compromise safety for being able to eat...!

Couldn't afford to move back even if we wanted to!

Gosh, sounds tough times, hope things work out...at least, as you say, you love it.
On balance, I don't and want to go back so combination of everything a big push to return next year some time

Rilla, yes in Jo'berg area.

We can't go back, even if we wanted to. We spent all our money on a house and living until dh's pension kicked in. At times it has been really tough, when £1 bought ?1, but at least it's a bit better now at ?1.20 odd.

Would have been a bit better if we'd moved all our money over when it was ?1.50, but, at the time, we were moving it a month at a time due to interest we were getting.

Remember though that it doesn't always work to get paid in £. People in Dubai getting paid in Sterling got really screwed over in 2008/9 when the AED strengthened against the £ as suddenly their living costs went up by 25%. Because it's very difficult to predict currency fluctuations, the key thing is that you want to match the currency you earn to that of your liabilities, and if you have liabilities in host country and home country, you're always going to be exposed on one of them

Thanks for the advice Sal. If we go it will be on local terms (actually employed by the govt!) & no expat package. But without getting into boring detail about the specifics of the country, I think costs can vary a lot depending on area, lifestyle etc. hope so anyway!

The only people on the traditional expat packages now are uk diplomatic staff employed by the taxpayer!

Free housing, free schools, flights home (or anywhere - hugely generous travel package), utility bills all paid for, basically verry little to put your hand in your pocket for.

i speak from xperience. but it can't and shouldn't go on. If private companies can no longer afford it, certainly the govt can't either. it's out of hand in my view.

None of the people I know on such packages are diplomats, guess depends where u are! All in private companies -mining, gas, oil, enough of them around to inflate rental prices for the rest of us!