If you were wondering whether you should move to live abroad, bearing in mind aspects such as affordability, potentially missing home and even walking away from employment and changing your children’s school, perhaps the single most useful piece of information you will ever receive to help you make the decision is that a new survey has revealed that British expats living abroad don’t now want to come back to Britain.
As recently as last year the media was reporting that Britons affected by a weak pound were planning a return to British shores, but now that ‘austerity UK’ has become a biting reality, Britons abroad will do all they can to stay abroad!
It seems as though the government’s BS (big society) plans, piled on top of multi million pound cuts in every community across Britain, coupled with a rapidly increasing cost of living and rising taxes for everyone has pushed Britain’s appeal into last place for expats who will do anything to stay living overseas…
According to a report in the Telegraph, Brits abroad know that despite facing potential economic hardship because of inflation and weakened economies globally, things are much better overseas.
One expat living in Moscow commented that if fellow expats living locally had not been able to extend contracts in Russia, they were looking anywhere else but home. “If they haven’t been able to extend their contracts, they’ve tried to be moved towards Asia rather than back to Western Europe. The recent economic crisis has affected all countries but it’s very much perceived that the troubles back home are far worse than they are here, with lower job-security, salary freezes and increased taxes being the main things putting people off.”
So, if you were wondering whether the time was right for you to head overseas, it seems as though nowhere is as bad as Britain: and this may be enough of an incentive to push the increasing numbers of enquirers we’re witnessing daily to commit to their plans of relocation.
Affordability has been the number one restriction placed on Brits who have wanted to make the move – but it seems as though if Britons don’t commit to moving sooner rather than later, and taking the economic hit they may face at the point of expatriation, they will be confined to British shores through poverty if this government’s plans have got anything to do with it.
The austerity measures in the UK are also the leading factor behind why British expats want to remain well and truly outside the UK according to the above referenced survey by Lloyds TSB International. It found that, of the almost 900 expats surveyed, 67% stated categorically that they have no plans to return to the UK – an increase of 11% in just 6 months!
The next very interesting factor for any would-be expat to note is that 65% of those surveyed stated that they were confident their financial outlook was better in their new nation abroad. So if financial fears are holding you back and preventing you from making the move, you’re possibly completely underestimating how positive a relocation could be for your finances.
Expats can be better off in multiple ways when they relocate – they may be able to benefit from better employment prospects and salary expectations, they may pay less tax on income and/or savings and investments, they may have a reduced cost of living, and ultimately they may enjoy the fact they’re not living in a nation restricted in its progress for the next decade by extreme austerity measures.