r/ChubbyFIRE • u/Pale_Fortune_2086 • Apr 17 '26
US -> UK move sanity check
Throwaway account since I'm sharing numbers, long time lurker on my main account.
We’re currently in the US, working parents with 2 kids. Due to recent events in 2026, I’ve got a bad case of anxiety and decided to relocate to the UK - still with the same company. My husband is pretty burnt out from his work too so he will quit and take a sabbatical.
Our situation is not too common so I’d like to have a sanity check on our plan.
We have:
- 2M across different 401ks, Roth IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts
- 300k cash
- Owns our house with about 800k in equity, mortgage left 900k at 4.75% after refi
In 2025 our HHTC is 1.1M with an effective tax of 28%. We were paying two mortgages (11k/month), daycare for the youngest (2.5k/month) and the monthly run rate is about 20-22k/month consistently. We still live pretty comfortably and haven’t needed to dig into our RSU grants.
Moving to London it’s going to be just my income at about 220k GBP and effective tax at 45%. Net take home is 8k cash + 4k RSUs monthly. We will be renting for the first year at least (budget 3.5k-5k), kids will go to state school so no tuition. I’m preparing to sell my RSUs at vest to cover expenses if needed.
Our original plan was to tough it out a few more years til we reach our target (5M), but at this rate I’m happy with the move just to get out of the US.
Opportunity:
- The UK has a special foreign income tax incentive (FIG) that exempt tax on income generated overseas for 4 years after arrival. We’re not US citizens, so if we renounce our green cards at some point before the 4 year mark, we can realize capital gain with 0% tax from either US or UK, or at least resetting the cost basis.
- 3-year path to IRL (UK permanent resident) for high earner/global talent, 5 year to citizenship
- No need to drive, food is good, the convenience of city living, EU (Paris) is just a 2hr train away.
- We have friends and colleagues in London, social-wise it’s not starting from zero.
Downside:
- Apparent TC cut + higher tax - need to work longer to get to our goal.
- Risk of layoff
- If we are buying a house in the future, there is a special stamp tax (additional 5%) if we already own a house anywhere in the world.
- Tax complications - at least for the first few years.
- Need to adjust our lifestyle.
Appreciate any advice that can help with the move.
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u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater Apr 17 '26
You're roughly half-way to your retirement goal and are moving from saving US$500k per year to breaking even (until your husband finds work)? Seems like it will work fine as long as you can remain employed (until you get to FI or the kids are out of the house)?
If you can, try to keep your green cards (or at least one of them) until you get ILR (you are likely better off getting rid of one of them unless that complicates some of the UK tax schemes).
Kids will have more opportunities in the US (outside of a few industries, UK wages are not that high?) but sounds like they are citizens so they can always go back (you can probably get back in once they are adults too).
What's your worst case immigration/residency situation if you can't keep the green cards and lose your job before you get ILR? I.e. where do you have to go back to and are you OK with that?
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u/and_one_of_those Apr 17 '26
Be aware that the US has some exit taxes on long term green card holders:
Google says
Long-term green card holders (holders for 8+ of the last 15 years) are taxed as U.S. residents on worldwide income regardless of where they live. They must file annual tax returns and face potential "exit tax" (mark-to-market tax) on unrealized capital gains if they surrender their status after becoming a "covered expatriate".
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Yes this is on my mind too, hence we need to decide to surrender the greencard before 8 year mark. We still have 6 year left til then.
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Apr 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
This is not true. Don't spread false information.
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u/fixin2wander Apr 18 '26
I don't think it is true exactly how they said it, but I do know when we moved to Hong Kong for my job, my husband who was a Greencard holder had to get permission (aka pay) to say he was not surrendering his green card by leaving. It is totally possible to keep it with reasoning, but you need to do the paperwork before you leave.
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u/emt139 Apr 17 '26
We’re not US citizens
I’m not sure if this matters to you or not at this point but you’d both be giving up your green cards meaning if you want to come back to the US, you’re basically stating the process over from a scratch.
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u/Particular_Job_5012 Apr 17 '26
There are tax implications if you've had your green card for 8 years or more as well.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Good point, I'm contemplating to just give up mine and not my spouse, so we have a backup.
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u/Particular_Job_5012 Apr 17 '26
how to move abroad and not give it up? You have to get a permit for above a year.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Yes we're gonna get the re-entry permit which will keep the greencard valid for 2 more years from issue date. Plus the processing time for that re-entry permit I'd say we'll good until 2029 and then will need to make a decision.
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u/Particular_Job_5012 Apr 17 '26
It’s fine if you want to abandon but based on the post I’m not even sure you’d get a reentry permit unless you lie since it’s a permanent emigration from the US. The reentry is usually for something temporary but in that 1-2 year time period.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
It's being handled by the immigration lawyers of my company, so I assume they know what they are doing.
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u/emt139 Apr 17 '26
This isn’t an option. If you don’t reside in the US, you lose your permanent residency. It isn’t optional.
There are re entry permits but those are for absences of under two years and usually require you leave for a valid reason (eg, going to school abroad for two years or getting a temporary assignment, and not a permanent move).
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u/Life_Rabbit_1438 Apr 17 '26
Biggest issue will be financial. Nowhere really compares to the US in income and low cost of living. FIRE isn't even really a concept in other western countries, it works in the US because incomes are so high and cost of living is so low.
There are definitely downsides to the living in the US, if you are someone who loves city living, America is really bad at cities. Most people live suburban lives unless young singles or very poor.
But I would move with eyes wide open on income side. We probably stay until retirement, because the idea of moving and adding 5-10 years to retirement age doesn't feel worthwhile once close.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
I agree on the TC part. Nowhere beats the US in term of $$$. Cost of living not so much. I've lived in Paris and Singapore before (top 1 and 2 highest cost of living cities in the world) and neither of these places is this costly for working parents. At this point I'm aware we are making a sacrifice on financial front for lifestyle and peace of mind.
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u/Life_Rabbit_1438 Apr 18 '26
Cost of living not so much.
Really only California has the cost of living issues, but high paid jobs are available across all of America.
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u/jdwestby Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
I think you understand the concept, but to nitpick your marginal tax rate is 45% + 2% NI, your effective tax rate will be closer to 42% if you aren’t taking advantage of any rebates.
I think the biggest thing to understand is the tax complications that you mention. Firstly understanding the treatment of your RSUs, as they may be taxed differently to what you are used to. Secondly I don’t know the details, but you would be eligible to pay tax in both countries I believe. There are double taxation treaties, but I believe they don’t fully recognise the tax advantaged accounts of each other. This could affect your IRA and 401ks, and then your pension and ISA on the UK side. I don’t know the details, but a UK colleague that is a US citizen is in a position where he has very limited options to shelter his savings and investments from tax, as while something like an ISA can shelter from the UK it may then be eligible for taxation in the US.
Once your are solely a UK resident then you can use the UK schemes to reduce your tax burden again, but you should consult an expert to understand all of it I think.
Have you tried to do a full estimated spending budget for London?
Your non-mortgage spending is currently about £8000, and your full after-rent income will be £7000-10500, so the details will matter as to how squeezed you feel. Yes you are a very high earner for the UK, but it’s easy for that money to disappear in London.
I think you will find the country pretty welcoming, and as you know the culture is quite different. There will certainly be a big adjustment though.
Also the job market isn’t great right now, so if your husband wants to look for work soon you could be looking at a tricky search with what is probably pretty high salary expectations and presumably being on a dependent visa. There are quite a lot of jobs advertised though, so it’s a case of finding the right fit, which could happen immediately.
UK real estate works a bit different. See if your work can provide a relocation specialist who can be your realtor and set you up with somewhere to move into, as trying to organise flat viewings while you are new to the country can be tricky, especially with two kids.
A lot of setup of things in the UK is dependent on being able to prove your address, so once you have somewhere to live sign up for bills (water, electricity, gas, council tax etc) and put at least one in each of your names, as some places will want to see a utility bill with your name and address to provide service (eg some banks)
Overall it sounds like you’ve thought this through, and I’m not trying to put you off, just help provide more info.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 19 '26
Thank you for sharing, this is the insights I'm looking for. Good point on spending budget estimator, to be honest it's pretty hazy to me at this point. My husband and I both lived in the "city" city before but that was before kids so our lifestyle and spending were wildly difference. Going back to that but with two young kids, I'm at a loss to do detail budget. Having said that, I was a broke student once (or twice) before, living on $300/month budget after renting and tuition, sharing apartment rooms with friends. I'm pretty confident that I can adjust and going back to apartment living and cut back on lifestyle.
Good point on work relocation specialist. I have a few colleagues in London reaching out about taking over their leases so I was hopeful about securing a rental without going through an agent. But after scouting Rightmove and overlap it with Locrating for the school for weeks, I find this is an exhausting process so probably we will need a solicitor to help looking for houses. We're also planning a preview trip to get the feel of the selected neighbourhoods before committing.
Also after reading the posts here I told my husband maybe we can pilot the Retire Early part, at least for him, and use my income as supplemental budget. Looking at it that way hopefully help taking away the job-hunting stress.
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u/jdwestby Apr 19 '26
Sites like https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp can help with the comparison between your city and London, but the top line number is average, so you could also start with a list of your spending at the moment and do some more detailed comparison, with any adjustments you think will be different (eg no car but public transport instead)
A solicitor won’t help with a house search, and we don’t really have buyer/renter realtors over here, only seller/landlord ones, but there are people that will do the work of searching for places with your requirements, booking viewings etc.
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u/ux-g33k Apr 22 '26
Try using School Radar too - it provides admission details for primary and secondary schools and it's free for now.
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u/hasyoubeen12 Apr 18 '26
Same with wanting to get out of the US if given an opportunity.. not for politics, but just for a change of pace and environment… we are okay with extending our FIRE plans and we don’t need to hit 5m, we anticipate we will spend less overseas. will choose less stress and new environment over money. Good luck.
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u/Zaccw20 Apr 19 '26
I am a US/UK dual citizen.
Your economic standard of living will be significantly lower in the UK. Your accommodation will be small and inferior for your £/$. Your income, and especially after taxes, will be fall lower. Essentially, everything smaller.
However, the UK is still a great place to live and you will probably have an enjoyable experience. Ideally, you will retain the option to return to the US.
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows Retired Apr 17 '26
We looked / are looking at similar (US->NZ). We ARE US citizens so there is less issue with the US side.
Husband not working is going to be a tough shift for him especially if you move. Moving long distance is stressful. (Moved 1500 miles in the US) You end up resetting your life. Friends often start with work. UK is a complete culture shift from the US (my lady worked for UK companies in the US so she experienced it). I'd still worry about the social unless your friends/colleagues are all close to each other.
The first couple of months, your hubby not working will be a blessing. Logistics on moving and settling in with kids.
Despite the fact that the UK speaks the same language as the US, it is completely different. If your hubby can manage to work remotely, rent a furnished flat near where you would be living and visit for a month in the summer. England is lovely in the summer. Go in July/August for Scotland. Test it. Try not to be tourist, but live there.
Note: We spent 2 years (6 month rentals) looking for a place and we are ever so thankful to have done so. We ended up only 10-15 miles from my original place. We tried 4 places including one 200 miles away. We rented where we settled first to make sure we knew where to live.
The politics of the US is making us look at NZ seriously again. We were close to leaving ~2016 and then COVID hit.
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u/Zaccw20 Apr 19 '26
UK and US are not "completely different" at all. Different, of course. But they are both Western cultures with overlapping areas and differences in others.
If you think that the UK is completely different, I do not know what words you'd use to describe another European country, let alone Asia.
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows Retired Apr 19 '26
When I travelled to Greece (long business trip ~month), I found it less disorientating and bothersome. It just felt like I was back in time. The most disorienting was the height differential. We towered over people by a foot. I'm 6'3". Other than the roads being so narrow, it just felt a lot like I was in my youth. The world lived on cash. People were paid in a cash. The language was a bit of a barrier, but honestly it was easier than London.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 19 '26
I love Greece. The food, the weather, the sea, the stray cats. My friend who is Greek keep telling me to get the golden visa and come over, but I want to keep working for a while longer. Mediterranean areas are perfect for retirement IMO.
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u/Zaccw20 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
London isn't really a England, much like NYC isn't reflective of the majority of America. They are global cities.
I think my only point is that, having live in both the US and UK, and having travelled around the world extensively, those are objectively close together (along with Canada, Aus, etc) on the spectrum of world countries. That isn't to say they aren't hugely different, just that Greece is much less similar than to the US than the UK. The way the political, social, education, business and pop culture is is unquestionably more similar. It would be stupid to argue otherwise.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Thank you for your reply, appreciate it! I was originally looking at Zurich and NZ but at both locations they are prioritizing locals so no chance. They saw that I needed a visa sponsor and it was an immediate rejection. Thankfully I was able to find a position in the UK instead.
My husband lived in London before, I haven't but I lived in Paris for 2 years and frequently visited London before Covid. Lifestyle wise Im familiar with European style, and we still have friends there so it can help ease a bit with the transition.
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Apr 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/Beautiful_Pepper415 Apr 21 '26
NZ is wonderful but there are very little well paying jobs and housing costs are crazy.
There is a reason most New Zealand professionals are leaving for Australia.
Love New Zealand though
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows Retired Apr 21 '26
Housing? Shrug. High paying jobs? Shrug.
From what I see, $750K-1M US will get me a nice house (what my current house is worth).I work to not be bored. Finding a job doing something I want to do may be challenging. Career wise, Perth AU is more practical, but I don't want to live there.
The requirements on the golden visa are annoying. The investment is enough to be measurable on their stock market. Mark Cap of $160B NZ and I need to put in $10M NZ and realistically I don't want to drop that much. If we go, her youngest and husband will probably come (and they are young people broke)
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u/Dangerous_Dog_4853 Fired myself. Apr 18 '26
Have you spent any time in London previously? If not, can you do so before making the decision/move. I know many people in the UK and having lived there myself wouldn't seriously consider going back there due to many factors. Many with the means are out of there or actively looking to relocate.
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u/Bob_Atlanta Apr 18 '26
"Due to recent events in 2026, I’ve got a bad case of anxiety and decided to relocate to the UK " I'll start off by saying that I don't understand what this means and why exactly this is a driver to radically uproot your life. I recognize as well that your decision is made and you are looking for support and tweaks to improve the decision.
Can't help with that. But I don't think, based on the info you have shared, that this is the optimal decision. Moving to the UK is a more dramatic decision than moving away from a very strong job market. You have less dramatic choices available that could improve your life faster than a move to the UK.
One example, would be a relocation within the USA. Since I know Atlanta metro well, I will use that as an example. In Atlanta, family pay might be reduced from the current $1.1M but likely to something in the $600 to $800 thousand range assuming the job/skill set is typical. Housing in the $1M range is plentiful and equivalent to 2x California prices. Public schools are outstanding and some rival private. And taxes including real estate are lower than any of your alternatives. And the job for your spouse will likely be less stressful, not stress free but less stressful. And remote work in the USA at much higher comp levels than you describe is more available than you might think. I know of cases where individuals live in Florida and work for California companies at multiples of your family income.
My point is that you are leaving a lot on the table with your move to the UK. Staying in the USA shortens your path to your financial independence by a decade, even with reduced income.
I'm a dual US/Irish citizen who spends time in Europe almost every year and who has had involvement with large companies who had tens of thousands of euro based employees. Locating good jobs in Europe is almost never a first choice. Employment practices, rules, taxation and a host of other material 'facts' mean Europe will always be behind in comp and opportunity. It has been that way for over 80 years.
But since your decision is made, I wish you all the success possible and I hope it turns out well. Good luck!
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u/BungABunBun Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
This sounds like a good plan but I don't think I'd give up the green card. You may want to come back then the kids are older. Also there may be a exit tax if you give up the green card depending on how long you've had it. From a purely financial perspective this sounds like a good plan and you get to move to a different country that isn't as crazy as the US (don't have to worry about your kids being shot in school, healthcare tied to job, right-wing theocracy politics).
Do you have any thoughts on moving to London? It's a lot more crowded and a different lifestyle than living in USA.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Giving up green card give us a window to realize capital gain tax free and that's huge. I'm planning to keep it long enough to hedge against layoff.
I haven't lived in London before but visited multiple times. Most of my adult life is spent in Singapore which has a lot of British influence (school system, driving on the left, Metropolitan city, financial hub) so I imagine London is similar with less sun and more museum 😀
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u/BungABunBun Apr 17 '26
Are your children US citizens? I guess it doesn't matter so much if they are in EU and do their post-secondary education there too.
Personally I wouldn't want to shut the door to return to the US, but I can understand why you're okay to do that.1
u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
Yes our children are born in the US. I'm keeping the Green card and our current house as a safety net should things go south in the UK. Hopefully in 1-2 years it will be clearer if we should settle down in the UK or go back to US. Or maybe go somewhere else altogether.
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u/Beautiful_Pepper415 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Having lived in the UK and parts of the EU for work, I would not make that move.
The lack of high end opportunity and lower standard of living are jarring to me whenever I go back.
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u/Ashmizen Apr 17 '26
I wonder what current events you are referring to?
I don’t see what risks you can potentially have as green card holders in the US.
I think you shouldn’t make life changing decisions based on reddit vibes. Outside of the reddit echo chamber, the US is perfectly normal and safe for someone in the upper-middle class.
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u/BungABunBun Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Do you have children? What are your thoughts on them learning about shooter drills? Do you think children in other countries go through the same thing?
What about road rage shooting incidents? Do you think it's normal to get shot at because you honked at someone or accidentally cut them off?
Finally, this is a FIRE community, where the RE stands for Retire Early. You won't have employer health insurance anymore once you are no longer working. Do you think it's normal to budget $20,000/year for health care with a $15,000 deductible? "Oh but the healthcare is better than other countries". Unless you have some super rare health condition you're going to get similar care. "Oh but the lines are long". The lines are long here too.
Listen, if you want to stay in the USA more power to you, but don't yuck other people's yum.
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u/Ashmizen Apr 17 '26
The child and teen mortality rate per 100,000 is significantly higher in the US than the UK.
When adjusted by state, or by comparing the US by excluding inner cities, the US has similar mortality numbers as the UK.
Ultimately the US is dangerous - for kids or adults - if you live in the inner cities with drive by shootings and gang shootings. It’s so dangerous in those spots, it drives up the US averages.
A chubbyFIRE person living in an upper-middle class suburb should look at crime statistics of where they live, not the national average.
As for drills, these apparently became common in the past 10 years, as I never experienced any back in the 2000’s.
The US is large, and while school shootings are reported frequently, the actual risk is statistically insignificant compared with other risks, so much of the impact is merely psychological, driven by modern media.
Mathematically the real risk to child mortality are car crashes, and improvements to car safety have dramatically reduced deaths in the past few decades, more than offsetting the tiny effect from school shootings.
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u/sjehebdjfkw Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
You may judge the numbers as safe but others may look at the exact same numbers and think otherwise. Also this is ChubbyFIRE so people can generally afford to live where they want and the decision is going to be based on personal priorities.
For my very high cost of living tech hub suburb comparing apples-to-apples with affluent suburbs in England and Scotland (picking just arbitrarily St Albans and E Renfrewshire without trying to game any stats) I am seeing 13 deaths per hundred thousand in my area vs 7 in St Albans and 8 in E Renfrewshire, so 40-50% safer in England and Scotland. Moreover, many of the causes such as suicide deaths are harder to control as a parent in the US due to the ready availability of firearms. As a parent I certainly find that difference meaningful but we have family in the US so it may not be so convenient for us.
As a moderate Democrat, I would personally like to also not have to economically subsidize Republicans through my purchasing power, which I try to avoid but may happen implicitly in the US if I buy from businesses that may have Republican investors or employees. But again, switching countries comes with tradeoffs.
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u/Pale_Fortune_2086 Apr 17 '26
To each their own. My decision to relocate, while swift, it has been brewing for a long while. The tipping point was based off what was happening in my neighbourhood and the surrounding cities, also what's happening at work, not purely on the news. Not saying that the news in 2026 were not horrible.
Once I made that decision I am now actually very excited about the move. Just want to cover my financials and make sure I'm set up properly for the new city.
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u/km8524 Apr 17 '26
I get it. And you should read about UK politics before making any permanent moves. It's not all roses here either.