Thank you so much for the time you took to write out all of that information. That was extremely helpful and informative. Can I ask why you chose to move/retire to Scotland? Even though the cost of housing is more expensive do you find it evens out with all the other items being less? Is the quality of life better/worth the sacrifice of the money being less?
Hi. No problem at all - someone did the same for me when I was thinking of the move.
I have just about the same disposable income now that I did when I was working, since I no longer am paying social security tax, medicare tax, commuting expenses, having to keep up a car (and pay for all that gas!), contributing towards my pensions, state tax, parking fees at work, health-insurance premiums, etc. I do think the quality of life here is
well above what we had in SoCalif. No smog, for starters! Quieter, a bit slower, much more "genuine" and friendly. The people here in Glasgow have been exceptionally welcoming. My daughter was pretty much adopted by several locals while she was over here, and I have to agree that this place feels more like "home" than anywhere else we've lived. (And we moved around the USA a lot.) An added plus, I don't run into/have to listen to people talking about their Brazilian Butt Lifts or their latest botox (like ohmygawd), while standing in the line at Starbucks here.
SoCal was terribly expensive and there was/is a tremendous housing shortage there. I couldn't have afforded to have retired there, so I was looking for somewhere else. I had thought I'd be off to New England, actually, but my daughter did part of her undergrad here, and wanted to come back for an advanced degree (or two). So it made sense to kill two birds with one stone, as it were. I have dual Irish citizenship, so I'm legal to be here regardless of Brexit, and was able to bring her in as a direct family dependent of an EEA citizen so that she won't have to leave immediately after graduation. (Which she would have, had she come over on a student visa.) Brexit has left us a little wobbly, as her position here is not certain. We ~think~ she'll be allowed to stay. (They have been promising that EU dependents now here can remain. But if they toss her out, I'll be going as well - but we are doing everything we can to make sure it's not back to the USA. Dear God, I leave for one year and the place goes to hell.
My father fought in a war over ... let's just not go there. It makes me feel ill. Let's just leave it as I cannot be a part of that, not on a daily basis. And I'm not equipped to ignore it when it'd be that close-to-hand.)
Cost-of-living. I don't find it more expensive, certainly not more than California! In actual dollars, I'm spending on housing about what I spent on housing in SoCal, where I was living in housing subsidized by my employer. I couldn't have made it there on the open market on what I was earning, but our home is much larger and of much better quality here. I have a washer/dryer, and a dishwasher (that I've used all of once in a year, because it takes hours to run!). There's only the two of us here, so I hang things to dry, usually, or run the harder-to-dry things - jeans, bath towels, etc. - a bit in the dryer before letting them dry on a rack the rest of the way. Damp blue jeans and towels like sandpaper are not on the list of my most favorite things.
I could definitely have gotten a smaller place - a two bedroom, a little farther away from the Uni, for much less. Or a house (of one variety or the other) for about 1/3 less if we wanted to be on the bus for about 20 minutes. As it is, I am very near a bus route that will take me into city center (which is a big pedestrianized shopping area now), it's only 1/2 mile to the nearest high street if I want to walk to get groceries, need a drug store, or browse bookstores. It's near enough the University that the Daughter can easily walk it (regardless of the time of day or night) and use a cab in winter if the weather is really foul. And it's a lovely, quiet, green leafy neighborhood. Almost no crime here (in this part of town) other than the occasional theft. (There are parts of town with higher crime and more density where I would not want to live - although I could have gotten a place for half what I pay now, there. There are also other parts of town with sectarian marches - Prods v. Catholics - but we are well clear of all that.)
Plus, we were brand new in the country (we were here three days before we viewed this place) and the landlord still rented to us, and allowed me to put the deposit and first month on a credit card because I didn't have a local bank account yet.
On the NHS - NHS Scotland is independent of the English NHS. Dental care appears to be cheaper here, for starters. I pay nothing for two exams a year, about 11 pounds if I need a cleaning, and Xrays are five pounds each. (Seriously, five pounds - about $6.75.) The rules as to using NHS are different here, as well. In Scotland, anyone who is "ordinarily resident" - that is, they make their home here, is entitled to use the NHS. I've been to the doctor once, to get a prescription for Naproxin (which you can't get OTC here) and it cost me nothing. I took the prescription to my nearby pharmacist, and it cost me nothing - they would not take my money.
My budget is roughly £2,100 a month (before income taxes). We are not scrimping - we eat well, but live simply. We get a pizza sent in once a week, see an occasional movie (using the points I get from ordering from Tesco for groceries gives me free movie vouchers), and are quite comfortable. I am anticipating that my income taxes will be about £250 a month (more when my social security kicks in).
Taxes - Social security will be taxable only in the UK, at UK rates, whereas only part of it would have been taxable in the USA. My pension is technically a government pension, which should not be taxable in the UK per the Tax Treaty, but only in the USA at USA rates. If the UK tax people don't allow that classification, I'll pay the UK tax on it and my SS, and it should wipe out any tax I might owe in the USA as foreign credits. Since I'm not working, the foreign income exclusion, that you'll read about here on this board often, does not apply to my taxes. The income tax structure is slightly different in Scotland, as it has devolved powers to tax. There's still the first £11,850 personal exemption, then a small band at 19%, a larger band at 20%, then 21%, then 41% and 46%.
[EDIT] Let me clarify that. I don't find it more expensive than SoCal, but my priorities are such that I don't spend a lot on clothes, etc., because I no longer have to do so.
