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[Closed] Leaving the UK for money - would you?

P-Jay · 2017-05-29T13:50:18Z

It's just a pipe dream at this point, well an opportunity anyway. Fair warning this is a long anxiety riddled post. My Dad runs the training department of the National Oil Company of Bahrain, he's been telling me for years the money that's on offer, the lack of tax and 'lifestyle'. My folks have lived there for 15 years or so. "They're always recruiting" he says, being that he's the boss and nepotism is not just accepted in Bahrain, it's celebrated I wouldn't have too much of a problem getting a job. My wife is a Nurse and would hate to be a housewife but it seems Nursing is one of the jobs women routinely do there she shouldn't struggle to find a job in the local hospital. For the first time in my life I'm considering it. I'm 40 in a few weeks and I'm sure that playing a part in my thinking - we'd go for 2-3 years, save some cash and come back - that's what my folks plan was 15 years go mind you. We both work really hard, we both earn decent if not great money, nursing pay isn't great but I earn a wedge more so we get by - but that's just it all we ever do is get by, there's a couple of reasons for that, I can't go into detail without sounding like an over-grown spoiled brat - I know that there's a lot of people a lot more worse off than us, this isn't about lifting out of poverty as much as making up for lost time. We've really over-stretched ourselves this summer, really stupidly over-stretched ourselves, I'm totally ashamed of myself over it. We rent our home and that's the thing that really hurts, by luck and good friends we rent a lovely house in a lovely area, it's not cheap at £900 a month, but it's actual rental value is £1500ish (friends didn't want strangers in their house) and if we tried to buy it, well we couldn't - it's £400k easy and that would mean a £20k deposit (we'd be lucky to get half that) and £1800 a month which isn't going to happen even if some crazy bank would lend that to us, that's more then my Wife's take home pay. In truth in 18 months when we leave this place if everything goes to plan, almost perfectly in fact we're looking at a buying 3 bed semi miles from where we are now, a long commute and 25 years of stressing about bills and getting by and if all goes well it's paid for, just as I'm retiring - and a modest retirement income. "If all goes to plan" is a bit of a worry as well, my Wife works for the NHS, post June 8th if the Tories are returned to power, which they're still on plan to do then we can forget any pay rises or the like and job security comes into question, I work for a small 6-person company and we're struggling, we always have done, cash-flow is always so tight we're often robbing Peter to pay Paul, there's a couple of big opportunities on the cusp of coming off which would put me in a position to ask for a rise, my first in 3 years or so, and help secure the company but equally if they don't come off I worry about the long term health of the company - I know we're currently paying either Q2 or Q3 2016 VAT bills and I'm not sure if we're catching up or falling behind on them, we had a record year last year... Either way it's a dead-end job, I report to the boss, he's 3 year older than me it's not a case of stepping into his shoes when he retires, in 5 years I've learned a good few skills, but nothing formal - I don't really have anything really quantifiable I could put on my CV now that I couldn't 5 years ago, I've no where to go here and little to help me go anywhere else. if things don't go to plan it's likely that our mortgage deposit will go, and it's taken an inheritance to get it, at 40 there's only so long you can get a mortgage, renting for the next couple of decades would mean an uncertain and poor retirement. That's without considering the whole B-word uncertaincy. As for Bahrain, truth is I've never been, talking to my folks over the years I've got a more than a clue about it, the hypocrisy, the repression, and the excess - the expats like to say "oh it's better and Saudi and Dubai" and it is, but only in the why Fred West was better than Harrold Shipman - there would always a morality worry for me, but on the plus side, excellent private school for the kids, my sister (18 years younger than me) was educated there, she's waiting for her degree results at the moment from Oxford, business law degree, on track for a first, I flunked out of A-levels and didn't go to Uni. More income and a whole lot less expenses - in 2-3 years we could be debt free and doubled our savings whilst I could gain useful, quantifiable, marketable skills working under the old man. We'd be living in a compound, surrounded by a high wall and armed guards "just in case". During the unrest a few years ago they surrounded it with Tanks, nice. We wouldn't worry about bills, wouldn't be cold (we both hate winter) and probably be a bit bored. Neither of us are drinkers, but that doesn't seem to be an issue anyway. There's no MTBing as far as I can tell, but who wants to ride through...

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Last Post by glasgowdan 8 years ago

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robbie

Posts: 0

Free Member

Is it just me that reads this and thinks that the op is needing to sort his life out here? It screams one thing to me
MONEY DOSNT MAKE YOU HAPPY!
Sort your self out make the most of what you have. Down size the rental house etc. Live within your means. I don't have much. but I have a small mortgage on a small house. an old car. a couple of bikes but I'm happy I have no other dept apart from my mortgage
If I can't afford to buy it cash I dont simples. Running away for a few years isn't going to make u happy

Posted : 08/07/2017 8:44 pm

jambalaya

Posts: 0

Free Member

P-Jay good luck, you've thought this through and you and your family will make the right choice I am sure.

If you don't melt in late August that will be a positive, I do wonder whether they did that on purpose

Posted : 08/07/2017 10:17 pm

Andyhilton

Posts: 5

Free Member

Money might not make you happy. It makes life a **** load less stressful though. I'd rather be unhappy with money, than unhappy without it!

Posted : 08/07/2017 10:27 pm

frankconway

Posts: 7751

Free Member

If you believe you have some understanding of political/cultural/religious/racial considerations and are comfortable with them - or can tolerate - go for it.
Based on what you have posted - if it were me, I would go.
I wouldn't post on a forum where random posters can comment as they see fit without helping you.
Take your decision then just get on with your life.

Posted : 08/07/2017 10:42 pm

glasgowdan

Posts: 1

Free Member

No advice on the middle East, but on a tale home of 3500, if that's what it is at least, and £900 rent I can't see why you couldn't save 1500 a month if you're careful. Two years of that would see a deposit of 36000, and a 200k house would be affordable without any stretching.

I'd not do the middle East thing personally, though leaving the UK wouldn't be the issue.

Posted : 09/07/2017 7:24 am

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[Closed] Leaving the UK for money - would you?

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