Which is really financially easier - US or UK?

Right. The two cultures are exactly alike. That is why I am paying a fortune and stressing out my old kitty and my body and mind and hoping I get the things I need to survive. Just to have more of the same.

Save your breath and typing fingers Kelly85.

This is ridiculous. That's not what Geeta and that others are saying at all--at least from what I gather. Make generalizations if you wish but they ultimately don't help because everything boils down to individual experiences. They're not saying that culture is the same--they're saying that people are just different and it's not worth painting them all with the same brush just because of nationality. People said the same thing to me before I moved to the UK--less materialistic. I can say that my life in the US was less materialistic than it is now in the UK. Maybe it's because I live in London, but I feel more pressured to buy the latest phone, live in an expensive area, buy Mulberry bags, Christian Louboutin shoes, etc.

Yet I'm not going to say that one country is less materialistic than the other--has very little to do with being in the UK honestly. One of Benedict Anderson's contentions about nationalism in Imagined Communities is the impossibility of creating an image of a nation when everyone cannot know everyone face to face.

99% of the questions on this forum can be answered with "It depends [on where you live, who you are, who are you with, your experiences back home, what you had to drink/eat that day, etc]."

Right. The two cultures are exactly alike. That is why I am paying a fortune and stressing out my old kitty and my body and mind and hoping I get the things I need to survive. Just to have more of the same.

Save your breath and typing fingers Kelly85.

I have no idea why you're putting yourself through whatever it is you're putting yourself through, but if it's to find some nirvana of a quaint British lifestyle, then you might want to think again.

Right. The two cultures are exactly alike.

Have you ever been to the UK before blahblah?  I have lived here for several years and the more time goes on, the more alike the cultures become.

Save your breath and typing fingers Kelly85.

  Just plain rude. 

I have no idea why you're putting yourself through whatever it is you're putting yourself through, but if it's to find some nirvana of a quaint British lifestyle, then you might want to think again.

As a Brit (who happens to be typing on a 17" MBP and wearing a pair of Prada boots), I would heartily agree.

If you believe all of the UK is going to be like a village you see on TV or that everyone will be like in Downton Abbey, then you have totally the wrong idea of what the UK is like. I could show you some McMansions if you like, or beautiful Edwardian homes, which are tacky as hell on the inside. People are people. I could show you the same in a variety of different countries, just on slightly different scales. It's really you as an individual (how much you earn, who you hang around with, what magazines you read) which really dictates the level at which you let consumerism and materialism affect you rather than the country you live in.

More of the UK is cities and identikit high streets and service stations with a Burger King on one side and a Happy Chef on the other, than it is thatched roofs and cheery postman.
That doesn't make it bad though, to be honest, it's one of the things I like, how mixed up it all is

Amen, cheesebiscuit.  That's it in a nutshell.

To answer the original question, I find the UK financially easier, but as I mentioned in my Welcome Wagon post I think it depends on where you're coming from.  I was living in Boston, which has one of the highest cost of living standards in the US.  I've moved to Glasgow, which is (as far as I can tell...don't have stats on this) one of the cheaper places to live in the UK.  So even though my husband and I are both making less money,we are actually able to save money whereas in Boston our paychecks were gone at the end of each month.

This is not because of a lifestyle change.  We cycle to work, eat pretty healthy and tend to socialize at our house or friends houses versus going out on the town.  This is all the same.  Free healthcare is a huge advantage.  The co-pays and deductables at my US job were completely insane.  It was basically like being uninsured.  That's not the case for everyone, but it was for me.  I also find most foodstuffs to be cheaper (love Sainsburys Basics line!), with the exception of meat.  However, I don't mind paying more for meat and petrol since I know that it's the real cost I'm paying.  In the US both are wildly subsidized and don't reflect the true health and environmental costs.

I'm 64 and my husband is 71. Throughout my working life, I made the choice to live within my means. Some 30 years are when my daughter asked why we didn't have a house at the Country Club like her friends, I told her we like where we live, and that's our chosen life style. She thought we we holding her back from being part of an elite circle, but she survived.

I agree with many of the posts. What is *easier* depends on where you came from in the US - you can't really compare the cost of living in NYC or Boston with Gnaw Bone Indiana (yes, there is such a place).

IMHO, the big plus at any age here is access to the NHS, and anyone who has faced a major medical problem in the US knows how fast the bills rack up. That was a constant concern for my husband, and our medical insurance premiums alone were nearly $12K per year.

Other things being equal, on either side of the pond, day-to-day life is mostly as easy as you make it. There will be pros and cons, and for each of us the answer may be different.

I love it here.  I love walking to the shops, and take pride in NOT using our very economical car. Sure meat is a bit more expensive, but leeks are a gift...and I can ALWAYS find them. And in a given week, we may eat more leeks than meat, by choice. 

In the end, most of us are as happy as we make up our minds to be, and the finances are as easy as we decide they will be, barring a catastrophe beyond our control.

It does all depend on where you live. 

It was a lot easier for me to walk to the shops where I lived in the US because I rented in places where I could easily walk to the shops.  I wanted to be able to, so I made sure it was one of the things I looked for in RI, PA and MO.

But when I moved here my husband was already renting in a village and living in the town is way too expensive, so here we are.  There is a Tesco though, so I am grateful for that.  It isn't as nice as some of the small towns where I lived in the US though. 

This isn't entirely true. University is generally free in Scotland for Scottish residents.

Oops, yes you're right.

Have you ever been to the UK before blahblah?  I have lived here for several years and the more time goes on, the more alike the cultures become.
  Just plain rude. 

Hahaha, we should take this act on the road! Insulting and rude!

Sorry, God forbid I would introduce rudeness on here! (:

I meant to PM her but got in a hurry. Learned my lesson.

Thanks.

Have you been to the UK before, Blahblah?

I'm the Brit in our relationship, my car insurance is up for renewal and quoted £600, looking on comparison websites I can get it down to just over £400 which is great, I still consider that alot....then DW tells me it's why her daughter left NJ to live in NH because she couldn't afford car insurance, DW said her car insurance was $700 for 6 months!

I don't live in the UK yet; but I have lived in NYC and Los Angeles, so I am familiar with big city rents and the like. Having visited the UK enough, petrol is $$$ (although I don't plan on having a car there); but everything pretty much evens out. We pay federal, state and ssi in the States. Medical insurance, co pays, rx are on the ride. My medical insurance increased $40/month this year. That's not the biggest deal; but still.
I've spoken to friends and family who live all over England. Living in London is either a big city dream or a staunch reality. I don't imagine I'd be able to get a mortgage there by myself (for a few years anyhow); but I am also comfortable starting out with a studio because I'd rather have more money to save than throw away on rent. I do like the idea of more vacation time. I have to beg for my two weeks off and it is in writing that I get it. When I was in Ireland, I actually received emails from work needing help on something. I was livid bc it was my vacation time and wth was I going to do from rural Ireland?

It certainly feels like every time you turn around prices in the US are going up. I just paid $190 for the privilege of hauling my rubbish to the dump (excuse me, "transfer station") for the next year. When I first started (12 years ago) it was only $75.
As someone on the cusp of retirement, I have to say it's pretty scary living in the US on a fixed income.  I could not possibly live in my current home on the pension and social security I will get -- the real estate taxes are very high in our up-market town.  And it looks like public transportation is about to become a thing of the past -- so that means continuing to run a car (if only to take the trash to the dump!) with gas prices about to go through the roof again.  And Medicare is not "free" -- there are the premiums, deductibles and co-pays to take into account not to mention a Medi-gap plan to help cover the omissions.  So, I would vote for the UK. The US is fine if you've got a well-paying job with lots of benefits but not everyone fits into that category.

Overall I think things are good in the US from my prospective. My pension went up at the first of the year and a lot of my overhead has gone down. How sweet!
I shopped around and got my insurance down. I'm reading that gasoline is sliding down which I don't understand because the price of crude oil is way up. Lets say I feel like things for me are much better. Having said that I would still like to come home to England and among other things get free transportation. Even if I had to pay it would be worth it because the culture there allows people to live without a car if they choose.

Even if I had to pay it would be worth it because the culture there allows people to live without a car if they choose.

Yes, that's a good point.