Truth is Out, Britons Want to Escape to Work Abroad

New survey reveals to what great extent us Britons feel the urge to get out of the UK and escape for a new life abroad away from a high cost of living and excessive taxes in Britain

We have been harping on about it for ages now, and finally someone has taken us seriously and commissioned research into the numbers of Britons who really would like to move to live and work abroad and find a better quality of life overseas.

A new survey commissioned by Foreign Currency Direct should have this current government quaking in its boots, as it reveals just how keen Britons - and young Britons at that - are to escape overseas for more opportunities, better living standards and cheaper taxation!

So the truth is out, Britons want to escape to work abroad – we’ve known this for a long time, but now we have the statistical evidence to back up our claims.  Are you one of the 58% who would go abroad for a better work life balance than you can achieve in the UK?  Read on to find out what it is that drives us Brits to want to escape…

The Foreign Currency Direct survey has spoken to well over twelve hundred British workers across the UK and it has sought to determine how large a percentage of the British population is dissatisfied with life in the UK…and how many are so dissatisfied that they would contemplate escape this ‘great’ nation of ours for a new life elsewhere.

The findings are shocking for some – but pretty much what we expected to see.  Almost a quarter of the sample of the British workforce questioned by the survey are already actively considering moving abroad within the next two years, to live and work somewhere where they can have a better quality of life potentially, where they can enjoy the expat tax advantages potentially available to them, and where they can perhaps even enjoy cheaper living costs.

If that isn’t enough evidence of the fact that Britain could be on the edge of the greatest brain drain ever, I don’t know what is!  Perhaps the fact that of those surveyed the largest number of those actively planning an escape were in the 18 – 30 age bracket?  These are the ones we hear from time and again who are planning a short sojourn abroad to reap the financial benefits so that they can get ahead in the savings race or get on the property ladder.  However, they are also the demographic we hear from most often who go on to become perpetual travellers if you like.  They are the ones who take contract after contract in different locations around the world, or who settle down abroad and make a whole new life for themselves more permanently.

This should be worrying news for our government – because these are the very souls who they need to keep in the UK to pay the tax that they are so reliant upon to fund them out of the economic quagmire they have found themselves in.  As all the baby boomers are retiring and demanding their share of the state pension, Alisdair Darling is looking in the piggy bank and finding it empty – he is therefore reliant on the likes of you and me to keep paying our taxes in Britain to pay for the mess that he has gotten us in to!

However, it seems that taxation is a sticky and a tricky one – because it is one of the greatest reasons cited by those surveyed as a reason for them thinking about escaping the UK.  Ever since the government has made its feelings clear and decided to hike up tax to 50%, even those who fall short in the earnings stakes of this upper limit for taxation feel that this is a country going one way, and one way only – towards massive and restrictive taxation.  As a direct result, 31% of those surveyed declared that they would go abroad to seek out better taxation advantages.  Naturally we at Shelter Offshore understand the expatriate advantages that exist for legitimate tax saving – therefore we totally understand these people’s reasons for thinking about a move.

Surprisingly perhaps, in the over 60’s age group surveyed, almost a whopping 40% advised that they’d contemplate moving abroad to save tax on their pension payments – well, look at the QROPS options available to you…

Finally, the only thing holding some back from moving abroad was the thought of perhaps missing family and friends and feeling isolated.  These are very real and legitimately valid concerns – however, we can assure you that the move abroad will advance your cultural and social horizons, that you will quickly make many new and excellent friends, and that actually, your family and friends in the UK will visit you often and that feelings of isolation and unfamiliarity are incredibly short lived.  They are also worth the pain and effort for a fantastic new life abroad – in our humble opinion anyway!

If you’re thinking about moving abroad and you want to talk about the potential tax saving element of making such a move, or you want to get your financial affairs in order ahead of or directly following a relocation, and we can put you in touch with independent advisers to assist.