globalflight

There is an opportunity at my firm to move from New York City to London. Leaving aside whether it is a good career move or not (I believe it is a push). I was hoping to get help from the wide knowledge base that is Flyertalk on how I should live my life should I decide to move to London.

A little more background, I am a 26 year old, single, male, who grew-up in New York and has traveled extensively. My compensation would be £74,000 plus a bonus (however that is variable and I do not want to spend my bonus through the year). I like to go out and have lived in the LES of New York the past few years. I am hoping to spend £450/wk or less on rent.

I know that transportation is a major issue in London. My office is in Canary Wharf, but I know that is a terrible place to live. I am willing to cycle to work. Company offered me a car or money and I thought the money was a better deal (£4,000/yr). I figure I will be taking a cab home every night so it is really just getting to work that I am concerned about transportation.

Also Company is picking up cellphone, health insurance, wireless card and blackberry.

Please help me design the life I would have in London and how I should spend my money?

Thanks.

chris18london

Wow - pretty nice actually. Some people get by on 25,000 easily enough, but granted they know the short cuts etc.

There was a thread about this not too long ago with almost the exact same question - I'll see if I can dig it up.

Re: Where to live - the Isle of Dogs and the Docklands actually does have some nice areas to live in, with some fantastic river views.

chris18london

This should help. There's a few more if you search the last 3 months descending by number of posts.

Markie

Some decisions for you:

- Do you want to rent or buy?
- Do you want to leave cheap and then travel at weekends?
- Is location or size more important for home?

That's a lot of money for London - you'll have a great time.

krug

Quite right - to be honest there are some great apartments right in Canary Wharf. Check out www.foxtons.co.uk for a good idea of the available housing stock (though foxtons are rip-off merchants, the website is good and they get the best properties).

Sounds like you will spend a lot of time in the office, so why not live there and walk into work every day? Canary Wharf has great shops, gyms and cinema, plus a good range of pubs and restauarnts, handy for LCY (London City Airport) for weekend jaunts and though its reputation is not great, the public transport system is superb even if we all moan about it, so it would be easy to get around wherever you choose to live.

Far better to rent a car at weekends/use cabs to go out at night and live near Canary Wharf in a modern apartment than having the stress of commuting, especially if you are new to the city and have no particular neighbourhood allegiances.

I am not sure to whom you have been speaking to who says that "Canary Wharf is a terrible place to live"; while that may have been true ten/fifteen years ago is far from the case now, and you should ensure his/her advice is up to date and reliable.

You should be able to manage your monthly expenditure very nicely on the sum you quoted, and pocket most of the bonus at the end of your year. It will be a great personal experience to live in another country, meet new people and experience a new culture (if you are the sort who is open to such things) and this in itself makes the transfer worthwhile.

Professionally, London is at the forefront of global financial services (and I assume you will be working for a global bank), with a generous bonus structure and multiple opportunities both to learn and broaden your career prospects.

Like any town, there are ways of keeping costs down known only to locals, and in the UK this is even more the case, so once you get here do ask around esp. here and on the BA Board who have multiple ways of getting bargains etc.

Kate_Canuck

You can have a lot of fun, even when working hard in London. Compared to New York (where I once worked), the concept of a weekend is recognised. You might be working very long weekday hours but can hope for a life on the weekend.

I lived in London, and worked at Canary Wharf, in 2001-02, on a sabbatical. My new employer in the UK matched my Toronto salary (i.e. around 70,000 pounds but no bonus), which meant that I had more than a lot of people around me but: (a) I experienced what I'd estimate was at least 25% cut in overall spending power; and (b) I had limited capacity to save for the future while maintaining something close to my former standard of living (not your problem since you can put some bonus money toward that). I was able to find a nice, small flat in central London (Marylebone, near the Baker St tube) for about 350 pounds a week, travel a lot and eat out when I wanted to. But I cut back a lot on my spending in certain areas - I went to restaurants less frequently because the value-for-money just didn't seem worth it, I spent a lot less on clothes (I fit better into N. Am stuff so waited until I went home) and spent less money on books (in Canada, it wasn't unusual to spend as much as $200 a month on books and magazines). And I saved almost nothing from the time I was in London. But I had a great time for the year or so I was there and didn't feel deprived. However, I needed to catch up when I moved back to Canada on retirement savings, etc. Not that your situation will be the same, but you likely will find that you'll make decisions about where it's worth the money to spend more than what you used to pay in New York, and where it's not.

Consider the possibility when you first get to London of finding a flat share for the first 2-6 months. They are easy to find, if you find a British flatmate with similar interests it can be a good way to ease into a social network, and, most importantly, you can try out a few different neighbourhoods with minimal commitment. This will also give you time to get bank accounts set up, have regular paycheques and other trappings of financial stability that make landlords more inclined to rent to you. I actually lived in 3 different neighbourhoods in London (long story), and at least one of them was a major mistake on my part (one of the others was a major, shall we say romantic, mistake on my part). Londoners in the forum will be able to tell you the best place to look for a flatshare.

You might be working in Canary Wharf, but that doesn't mean you should live there. If the firm will pay to get you home at night, then live where you want to socialise, so that you can walk home from restaurants, bars and nightlife. I found it quite convenient to live near the Baker St tube, since it was a simple commute to Canary Wharf (no transfers, and I could usually get a seat on the crowded tube by Bond St or Green Park). That area might not be your first choice, but there are probably some similar options. Lots of Americans live in Chelsea and Kensington, which is not a bad option for commuting to the City but I'm not sure it's such a good choice if you're commuting to Canary Wharf.

Raffles

£74k is more than fine. You can live well on that.

Don't write off the area east of Tower Bridge. £450 / week would get you a 1,000 square foot / 100 sq m riverside warehouse conversion with all mod cons in Wapping or Limehouse, which would be a 15 - 35 minute walk to work depending on where you were.

£74k after tax and National Insurance would leave you with £48,800 per year. £450 / wk rent plus £3,000 for coucil tax and bills will leave you with £22,400 to play with (£430 per week). Knock off another £100 per week for public transport and sandwiches at work and you've got £330 left to spend.

This is not bad going, but this is still a city when dinner for 2 in an average restaurant with a bottle of wine is £80. You won't be taking taxis home, I promise you (unless your employer pays!).

aceman

£74k won't be enough, you'll spend a fortune buying all those bicycles.

dgwright99

I notice that most of the people answering this are from the UK - their perspective may be different from yours - UK standard of living is very much lower than US (I say this as as a Brit immigrant to the US).

Living in London on GBP74k will be similar to living in NYC on $74k.

Before I immigrated to the US I would have agreed with Raffles that you could live well in London on GBP74k; I wouldn't now (with my acquired US expectations) - but I wouldn't consider $74k as enabling me to live well in NYC either.

That said, as a young single guy, it sounds like a great opportunity - and the money sounds like enough to live comfortably if not well.

globalflight

As always Flyertalk has a wealth of knowledge. Thanks to all.

Raffles – Thanks for the breaking out what my take home pay will be it is useful for planning. I know a couple of people who live in the Tower Bridge area and it does sound appealing from a space and commuting perspective. The other appeal of Tower Bridge is that you feel like you are living in London. My objection to living around Canary Wharf is that it is so disconnected from my Americanized view of London that I feel I could be anywhere in the world, I feel that if I am in London I should be in London. My New York analogy would be someone who comes to New York and then decides to live in Jersey City, which is very nice but not New York.

My employer does pay for taxis home and I get £15 for dinner during the week (plus the same for lunch and dinner on weekends) so I can subsidize my food budget with that.

I more than appreciate how expensive meals can be in London. That is one of the reasons that prompted this post as every time I go to London whether on an expense account and before as a student I find it to be blisteringly expensive.

Kate – Thanks for the insight. I had a feeling that my ability to purchase goods is going to decrease in London.

I like the idea of a flat share; I am actually sharing my current apartment with two buddies from college. That being said I am starting to feel like living alone would be a nice change, having always had roommates.

The Baker Street tube station area is a great suggestions and looks like there are some decent places listed on Foxtons in that neighborhood.

Krug – Thanks for the insight into Canary Wharf. I think the comments about Canary Wharf that colleagues have made relate to the fact that there are limited options for going out.

Markie – I think renting is the only sane option given my unsure duration in London. I think travel on weekends is going to be pretty hard just because of my schedule. As of now I also feel like I want to spend a good chunk of my weekends in London so I get to know London.

Chris18london – Thanks for the links. I have spent the last few hours going through all the posts in this forum and reading up on London.

globalflight

One of my collegues mentioned that it was not a problem to put a cycle in the back of a taxi.

Globaliser

I agree with this.

If you're near the Tower Bridge end of Wapping, you'll also have the option of taking the fast ferry from St Katherine to Wharf Canary Riverside. It's a really nice way of getting there, particularly in the summer months (or a sunny winter's morning) when you can sit in the open air on the back deck of one of the bigger boats.The options really aren't as limited as one might think. Although my partner and I live in Wapping and Bermondsey respectively, we are often choosing to go to Canary Wharf for "going out" things, simply because the facilities there are so good.

But we do also love living near Tower Bridge and being able to get into the true city centre very quickly.

ramraideruk

And we also get 5-6 weeks paid holidays in the UK. As opposed top only two in the US.
London can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Whilst house prices may be expensive in Canary Wharf, they will be alot cheaper just slightly outside the area. You can easily commute in on the DLR or Jubilee line.
Welcome to London!

Swiss Tony

It would be possible but whether a cabbie would allow it or not I can't really say. I have seen it on a couple of occasions but from my experience cabbies & cyclists aren't exactly the best of mates...

globalflight

I think the world over cabbies and cyclists hate each other. That is certainly the case in New York. That being said the few times that I have gotten into trouble on my bike (second flat of the ride, gotten hurt, etc.) cabbies in New York have allowed me to put my bike in the back seat and I always tip well for the help. I think, as with everything, if you are respectful people will usually help you out.