Where do we move if X happens ?
I keep seeing a lot more people now posting things like: "If Corbyn gets in, I am moving to another country" and for balance - remainers have been saying this a lot about Brexit as well: "If it happens, I am moving".Leaving politics aside for a minute, if that thing X does happen, where would you move to and why?
Have you looked already?
What are job opportunities like there?
Rent? Taxes? Schools? - what are the things that are making you choose that particular place.
It's fine where it is data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Amsterdam. Plenty of jobs, my daughter has already picked her school. But regardless of what happens We are going anyway. No desire to move other than if work/life requires it. As the old saying goes, the other Shaltanac's joopleberry shrub is always a more mauvy shade of pinky russet. All the catastrophising won't amount to much. Ultimately the vast majority will just muddle on and deal with whatever stuff crops up along the way. When I moved somewhere I always found myself having pink glasses on. But I do tend to see the positives in the end. I am tired of London and Brexit, I want other problems data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Have you lived anywhere else? Genuine question as I want to know opinions from people who did and what they liked/didn’t like.
I lived and worked in Germany and the US before but for a limited time of a few months and I did not have any kids - so maybe they do no count.
But that’s exactly what I wanted to know, will people actually move as they say? I think you are right, they’ll just “get on with it”.
I am like BG, moving either way now - and Brexit is becoming higher and higher on the list of reasons to do so. Too much uncertainty that will continue for years in my opinion, just from observing the past few years.
So far I’ve looked at Amsterdam and Zurich. The high tax (52% ) after the first 5 years of 30% tax doesn’t really appeal to me in NL, although I could leave after 5 years data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 it’s a bit harder with a child in school, I guess she’ll find it harder to leave at 11y than now at 6y.
Munich gets a lot of investment in my area of IT so plenty of opportunities there too.
Fun fact: my neighbours’ parents who voted to leave said they’ll just move to their house in Alicante if things get really bad around here.
So yes, spain is always a nice option, but probably more towards retirement. I've worked for weeks on end overseas - Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Basel, San Diego, San Leandro CA, Morristown NJ, Bethesda MD - loved the places, though hated the public transport strikes in Paris. Still prefer home sweet home, for the life and culture, not so much the increasingly divisive politics, but probably wouldn't hesitate to move country for a major life/work opportunity/situation.
The worst place I worked at weeks on end was the Haverhill (Suffolk) site of my multinational employer. sh*thole town, close to my far superior hometown - I'd never move there! Yes the high tax is what helped me decide to leave in the first place. At the time I was i think nearing 60%. But, saying that it is all direct and transparent and provides a true safety net. I feel like with the indirect taxes, duties and services the cost of living is actually higher in the U.K.
So comparing one element direct isn’t necessarily telling the full story.
Real estate market in the U.K. has helped me, us, though by luck. Without that we probably wouldn’t be able to afford to live where we want. I look at this from another or reverse perspective:
Having lived and worked in Africa and India for something like 26 years I find England a lovely place to come back to on leave or in between contracts. England is home.
Returning back 'home' after a 3-year stint overseas is quite a cultural shock. Having to get used to the weather, supermarkets and shops filled with goodies, the strict driving discipline, everybody speaking the same language (sort of), the incredible amount of news and information suddenly available and easily tapped into, the moans and groans, the personal safety, everything works, no power cuts...I could go on, but that will do.
Visiting another country for a few days working or for a 2 week holiday is not the same as living and working in a foreign country for many years. However it is quite amazing that many people fall in love with a country after a holiday or two and then proceed to buy a house and retire there, selling their house in the UK and doing a complete move away. Starry eyed. Still, some do stay in the foreign land and are quite happy after some major re-adjustments regarding the reality of a massive change of lifestyle. But many become disenchanted, then disillusion and regret sets in and they desperately want to get back 'home'. Oops.
So, as far as I'm concerned, with my experience, UK is a good place to be even if 'x' happens. Us Canucks are glad nearly none of the hordes of anti-Trumpers who were blathering on about moving here if Trump won... simply didn't.Bad enough we nearly ended up with a US citizen for PM (Scheer, and further back, Ignatief).
I see Brexit as a sneaky form of regime-change, as the cruder methods used in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Bolivia etc. wouldn't work.But the result is the same, the destruction of what little democracy and civil society is left.