You guys are great...lots of good input here. I'm having an overwhelming desire for a pint, a cup of tea AND fish and chips...all at the same time!
As more background I am a UK citizen and my wife would meet the financial requirements for a 'family of a settled person’ visa so we are all good on that front, I think.
For clarity, the thumbnail budget I posted was just a placeholder. We could afford that for the first year or 3 to get ourselves sorted but the sustainable, long-term "basic" budget would be closer to 1200-1400 GBP per month. That would just be for the necessities not including travel or housing etc.
@Doubleh Thanks for the info. If those allowances are absolutely cumulative (absolutely - as in no clawbacks based on other income) then that is a truly a good deal.
Can you point me to a good resource/calculator online?
FYI: To date - I have wikipediaed the UK Tax system starting at the Napoleonic Wars, got caught in the loop at gov.uk, and sold tax-planning services at taxback.com.
Something like the calculators at
www.taxtips.ca would be ideal.
@worms We had not looked seriously at Scotland due to several reasons, not least of which are the nationalist ambitions of some. As Canadians we have been through the seemingly never ending cycle of separation referendums. Not making a political point here, just stating preferences. We have travelled through Scotland and loved it. I still have friends in Inverness that I first met in 1986!
The reception people
deserve in new places should be a whole new thread. We never fail to be amazed how great people are just about everywhere we travel. Except for that a$$hole in the Transit van who flipped us the bird in Reading...well, I guess I did cut him off...twice. (Yes, it is possible on a double roundabout!).
We may have to reconsider at some point if it is more doable.
@Playing with Fire UK
Yeah, I wish our long term budget was 23K/yr. With state pensions it would be...alas that's not for another 15 years. That's not to say we wouldn't mind working at things that we enjoyed. Just want to make sure we would stay FI.
@ceratonia Good points re: the paperwork aspect. As for getting our assets into ISA's. We have maxed out our TFSA's in Canada so that wouldn't need to come over. At 40,000 GBP per year (combined) it wouldn't take too many years to move over our non-sheltered investments into ISA's.
Being within striking distance of an airport is definitely a consideration for us. Not a deal-breaker though. And at this point taking the pup* with us on driving trips would trump any flights to France/Holland/Belgium.
*Yes, Mrs. Rightflyer has already done the doggie passport thing. She's been shot, microchipped, tagged, prodded and poked and now has her own passport. The dog that is.