Possible Move: £47000 a living wage?

I know there are a lot of moving pieces. I've been asked to apply for a position in the UK. In my field, that is a promising sign. I am pretty content in the U.S., but living in Europe has been a dream. As we contemplate applying for the job (in my field you don't apply unless you are serious) we can't help but think of the financial implications.

According to cost of living calculators, the area surrounding Coventry is 10% more expensive than where we live now.

Right now we own a large home, two cars, cable in every room, expensive cell phone plans, eat out all the time. Typical American, middle-upper middle class (we make about 100K in Texas). We also travel about 8-12 weeks a year, primarily in Europe.

I understand we will we downsizing dramatically and that is ok.

I could possibly negotiate my job up to £47000 and hubby will continue to receive about $18000 in disability payments.

I have no idea if this is enough to have a good float of money left over to travel. We can do without eating out, but travel within Europe is a necessity (ideally about 6-8 weeks/yr).

I looked on rightmove and the Coventry area seems to be about £700-800 for a 2 bedroom. We would probably have two TVs with cable/satellite. Both have cell phones (iPhone with data plans).

I have student loans in the USA to continue paying ($520/month).

I'm rambling....sorry!

When I did a straight dollar to pound conversion, at £47000 I'd be taking about a 10-15K/year cut.

Thinking of terminating car leases, selling homes, selling new vehicle, bringing over pets, and green card issues are a whole 'another can of worms!

My gut instinct is on 47k you'd either be fine or maybe you'd feel a little stretched depending on the level of luxury you'd want on your European breaks.

The most expensive cable/satellite TV I could find in a quick search was Sky's complete satellite package for £75/month.  If you're in an area with cable (it's not everywhere) you could get Virgin's biggest package for around £50/month.

The most expensive cell plan I could find was for an iPhone 6 Plus 128GB with unlimited minutes and text, and 25GB of data per month for £75/month.

Obviously you don't have to get the most expensive choices, but hopefully that'll give you an idea of what your maximum cost might be.

At £47k, your monthly take home pay (before private insurance and retirement contributions, etc.), would be £2,800 a month.

As a general rule of thumb, salaries are lower in the UK and the cost of living is higher.  The standard of living is less as well.  One of the huge payoffs of living here is the annual holiday allowance, but if you already have a decent amount of time off a year, that won't be a benefit to you. 

If you are looking for like-to-like move, it's probably not achievable.

If your company would be issuing you with a Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer visa, that is a temporary visa and does not/cannot lead to permanent residence.  So as it's temporary, it could be worth doing, just so you can experience life here and have no regrets?

Thank you camo. Cable seems a lot cheaper there compared to here (although we are running 4 TVs right now).

kF - this would be a permanent move to a new university. It would also mean that I probably wouldn't be able to return to the USA doing the same kind of job (academia is a strange beast). So it would be a forever move if I want to stay in my career.

I tried to do an online calculator but I got confused by it. I believe the uni has a pension thing that I would contribute to. Private insurance is different from nhs, correct? I'm originally from Canada, so I think I would be ok with nhs. My husband has diabetes, so I will need to look more into prescription costs, etc.

Time off isn't a huge concern because in academia we are really free to do what we want.

Pension contributions are automatic.  You MUST contribute to one, so there will be a reduction in your take home pay for that.

Private healthcare is still recommended in the UK, as the NHS is slashing coverage all the time.  It's likely your employer will offer you a low cost option of private care (mine's about £700 a year I think).  Plus it helps "skip the queue" if you have something that needs urgent attention.

We have 2 TV's with Sky boxes (cable) in our house.  We have the movie package, sports package, as well as BT sport and it's £135 a month.

Just depends on your lifestyle.  £47k is more than an enough for a decent life... just might not be to the standard you are currently used to.

I'm not sure why you don't think you could leave the UK after having had an academic post. It's probably one of the most mobile careers in the world, and if you're in the position of being head-hunted, that probably means you'd be welcome anywhere.

The current USS pension scheme for academics would have you contributing 8% of your salary per month in addition to tax and NI that get taken out. Private insurance isn't really necessary unless you want to cut the NHS queues, but chronic conditions like diabetes would probably not be covered by a private company anyway. In England prescriptions cost £8.20 per item or £104 per year if you buy a pre-payment certificate. In the rest of the UK prescriptions are free. Trips to Europe are significantly cheaper from here than from the US, so your travel costs would drop significantly. Mobile phones are much cheaper here. If you bring a phone over with you and go for a SIM only deal, on my network (giffgaff) you can get unlimited calls, texts and data for £20 a month; if you want a phone with it, it still costs less than £25 a month on a 24 month contract.

Re: holidays, my university gives 36 days paid holiday per year, which works out to just over 7 weeks. Any additional holiday taken would be unpaid and thus deducted from your salary accordingly.

Personally, I think £47k plus your husband's disability payment will give you a pretty nice middle class lifestyle in the UK, but it will be different than the US because it's different here. You might find you don't need or want 2 cars for example. It's worth visiting and getting an idea about the things you'll want to have before making a decision.

KF - thank you! I get the sense that we would be ok. It would be different. We wouldn't have our single family 1800 sq ft. Home, but we really don't need it. We are pretty much homebodies now because all of our disposable income goes to travel.

DrL - I am currently at a research intensive university on the tenure track (I go up for tenure in a year). In my field, experience in other countries is not looked upon fondly. I've been told by numerous colleagues that I wouldn't get a tenure job. Also, I have a green card here, so I'd be losing that (unless I get my citizenship quickly before leaving). But, once in Europe I would probably have opportunities to move around (at least to English speaking posts). 7 weeks is heavenly, plus the work-life balance sounds really good in Europe and the funding situation seems better over there. My colleague stated that I could work from anywhere, so I wouldn't be limited to 7 weeks.

Phones sound cheap! We could bring over our iPhone 6 and get it unlocked from AT&T. Do they do 2 year contracts with reduced phone prices in the UK?

And yes, travel would be so much better. A train ride to Paris as opposed to spending a ton in airfare every summer. I do a lot of miles/points hacking to reduce costs, but we still spend a fortune. The British pound also has better value against the euro.

One of the calculators I found online showed a take home monthly income of ~2700 after contributing 8% to the pension.

I'm trying to think of expenses and can't help but compare to the USA (in terms of what we spend on food, etc). I also typically exclude hubby's disability as we always try to make sure we can survive on my income.

Rent: UK 600-900 for a terraced/semidetached 2-3 bedroom ($1200/month for mortgage in USA)

Cell phone: 2 iPhones; 3-5 gb per month; UK 50 ($150 usd currently)

Cable + TV license for 2 TVs: UK 80 ($100 usd currently)

Council tax - no idea....100 max?

Electric/gas/water: ? ($$180 usd currently)

Renters insurance: (In the U.S. It is about $10/month)

Transportation: no idea! Ideally live close to university but would buy vehicle eventually (currently $800 usd in car payments and $125 usd in insurance)

Pets: currently have 4 pets. Would not bring all of them as family would be willing to care for bulldog and one cat. But I imagine vet/food costs would be comparable??

Household cleaners/beauty: I'm imagining comparable costs or negligible

Groceries/eating out: I currently spend about $700-800/month, but we get takeout about 4 nights a week and lunch out once a week. COL calculator showed prices to be somewhat comparable with some stuff higher and some lower. So probably a wash but less eating out.

Student loans: converts to about 330 pounds/month


Uni provides an 8000£ relocation package which covers agency fees and even fees associated with selling home here, which would be a great help. Also includes air fare and moving our belongings (would take some of the more reasonably sized furniture. Good bye beautiful king size bedroom set we just bought!).

Rent: UK 600-900 for a terraced/semidetached 2-3 bedroom ($1200/month for mortgage in USA)

Cell phone: 2 iPhones; 3-5 gb per month; UK 50 ($150 usd currently)

Cable + TV license for 2 TVs: UK 80 ($100 usd currently)

Council tax - no idea....100 max?

Electric/gas/water: ? ($$180 usd currently)

Renters insurance: (In the U.S. It is about $10/month)

Transportation: no idea! Ideally live close to university but would buy vehicle eventually (currently $800 usd in car payments and $125 usd in insurance)

Pets: currently have 4 pets. Would not bring all of them as family would be willing to care for bulldog and one cat. But I imagine vet/food costs would be comparable??

Household cleaners/beauty: I'm imagining comparable costs or negligible

I live in Lincoln, and my costs are around:

Rent: UK £550 for a large, one-bed, newly-renovated flat (I was paying £450-650/month for a 2-bed terraced house with driveway and garden)

Cell phone: iPhone 4 with 1,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB data = £15.99/month SIM-only contract (I already had the phone)

Cable + TV license for 1 TV: £10 (basic cable package, half price for 1 year) + £12 (TV licence) = £22

Broadband internet + phoneline = £0 + £16/month (free broadband for a year, £16 line rental)

Council tax - £75/month (I get 25% discount because I live alone)

Electric/gas/water: about £35/month

Renters insurance: about £10/month

Transportation: about £50-100/month for petrol (depending on how much I travel - if I visit my parents, that's £30-50 round trip)

Food = about £200/month (I only eat out once or twice per month and everything else is home-cooked)

So, in total, I spend about £1,000/month on everything above, which leaves about £800-1,000 left to spend on entertainment, clothes, toiletries, travel or to put into savings (my salary varies a little based on how many weekend hours I work each month).

I just wanted to say, re: Diabetes prescription costs -
Diabetes is one of the conditions where people can get a medical exemption certificate, therefore, the prescriptions would be free in England. 

DrL - I am currently at a research intensive university on the tenure track (I go up for tenure in a year). In my field, experience in other countries is not looked upon fondly. I've been told by numerous colleagues that I wouldn't get a tenure job.

That must be strange field! I'm in life sciences, and experience in other countries is practically required to get a tenure job!

Phones sound cheap! We could bring over our iPhone 6 and get it unlocked from AT&T. Do they do 2 year contracts with reduced phone prices in the UK?

Yes, different companies have different offers, but it's likely you wouldn't be able to get such a contract right away due to having no credit history. Best bet would be bring your iPhones, get them unlocked and use a SIM only deal until you've built up credit. It's definitely way cheaper here than in the US.

I live in Edinburgh (Scotland overall is cheaper than most of England, but Edinburgh is expensive), and here are my costs:

Rent: £750 for a two-bed new flat

Cell phone: iPhone 5 with 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB data = £10/month SIM-only contract (I already had the phone), same for my husband, so in total £20/month

Cable + TV license for 1 TV: We decided to just use catch-up TV via things like Netflix, Amazon Prime and NowTV, so we pay in total about £15-25/month depending on which subscriptions we have active at any time. As we don't watch live TV, we don't have a TV licence.

Broadband internet + phoneline = £15 unlimited fibre broadband + £17 line rental and call plan

Council tax - £162/month (includes water and sewage in Scotland)

Electric/gas: We currently pay about £55/month direct debit, but I suspect this will be going down to more like £35-40 as our flat is very efficient

Renters insurance: about £9/month

Transportation: £50/month for unlimited travel bus pass + £30 every 2 weeks or so depending on how much I drive (I have a small efficient car). Comprehensive insurance costs me about £250/year, but it will cost much more for you as you'll be new residents. Some companies let you transfer your insurance record from another country, so it's worth shopping around.

Food = about £200/month groceries for 2 people + about £200/month eating out (we eat out/get take away once or twice a week on average, and go to restaurants that range from £20 for two people to £100 for two people including drinks)

We usually take 2 holidays on the continent each year, spending 1-3 weeks each time. You can get direct flights from Birmingham, your nearest airport to Coventry, to most countries in Europe, Turkey, Morocco, Dubai, the Canary Islands, New York, and the Caribbean. Many of these will be on budget airlines and could cost less than £100 round trip for two of you if you book early enough. The savings in that alone could possibly make up for your reduced income!

We usually take 2 holidays on the continent each year, spending 1-3 weeks each time. You can get direct flights from Birmingham, your nearest airport to Coventry, to most countries in Europe, Turkey, Morocco, Dubai, the Canary Islands, New York, and the Caribbean. Many of these will be on budget airlines and could cost less than £100 round trip for two of you if you book early enough. The savings in that alone could possibly make up for your reduced income!

I should add to my expenses that I also take several holidays, both in Europe and elsewhere. I currently get 25 days of paid vacation plus 2.5 privilege days and 8 public holidays (so 7 weeks in total) but next month I will reach 5 years in my current job so my paid vacation will go up to 30 days.

In the last 3 years I have taken the following vacation time:

Nov 2012 - 2 weeks in the US
Mar 2013 - 3 weeks in China
May 2013 - 1 week in Italy
May 2013 - 1 week in France
Nov 2013 - 3 weeks just staying at home (between overseas tours)
Mar 2014 - 3 weeks just staying at home, with a weekend in Paris (after overseas tours)
May 2014 - 1 week in Italy
Sept 2014 - 2 weeks in the US
Oct 2014 - 1 week in Scotland
Jan 2015 - 1 week just staying at home (before overseas tour)
May 2015 - 1.5 weeks at home after overseas tour, 1 week in Italy
Sept 2015 - 2 weeks in the US
Oct 2015 - 1 week in Switzerland


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Wow all those holidays! The idea of being able to spend time touring the UK is also very appealing.

I appreciate you sharing your expenses DrL and KSand, that does help me get a handle on things. And good to know re the diabetes meds.

It's interesting....I would be taking more than a 10% pay cut, yet my take home pay would only be 10% less and that is after pension and NI. I don't contribute to a pension here (my employer does)...but my med expenses are outrageous due to hubby. We pay over $500/month in insurance plus prescription costs and copays that are another 2K+ per year. So that is a savings!

DrL: I am in psych. Foreign work is not required or encouraged at all. You can postdoc abroad and be OK for a tenure track job, but it needs to be a really, really good postdoc.

Yeah, I make roughly the same here in UKP as I did in the US, and the bf makes a little more than he did, but we are able to save 4x as much, and we live in London!

Moral of the story - its difficult to do a like for like comparison between the two places.  I pay more for less housing, but bills are cheaper.  We pay for transport, but its cheaper than paying for two cars.  Some people wouldn't like to be crammed into a city, but we are enjoying it (for the time being at least - and most of the time).  Service(s) aren't great here - just don't have expectations and you will be fine.

I get 27 days holiday, 8 public holidays, and some ludicrous amount of sick leave that is so ridiculous that I can't remember what it is (I think its in the 20s somewhere) and pension, private health, etc.  You ought to be just fine on that offer in Coventry, with plenty left over to save or do other things like travel.

We are finally just settling in after 18 months, but in that time we have done four trips to Sweden (bfs home)of varying lengths, Berlin for a weekend music fest, the US twice (just got back Sunday from a week home), and we are back to Sweden in two weeks for a week, and Ive got something planned in remote Western Iceland for end of April along with other trips to Scandinavia over the winter.  We'd like to go to Japan too next year hopefully!  The only issue with travelling is that getting through the big London airports can be a major headache getting to.

Wow Bertine...so much time off!

I am really excited to apply for the position and hope that I'll get a chance to really explore this opportunity more. If I can negotiate my way up in the 50K area then I think it would be a no brainer decision. The slight decrease in pay makes it harder!