Travel

A Financial Guide to Moving Abroad

Money Travel

Moving overseas is perhaps the most exciting, challenging, and life-changing decision you will ever make, but before you go, there are important things for you to consider. You’ll have an awful lot of planning to get out of the way before you fly, and you’ll need to ensure that your finances are fully in order before you jet off to your new home.

On that note, here are a few top tips to help you…

Currency Fluctuations, Bank Accounts, and Transaction Fees

Before you move abroad, it’s important to put your finances in order, and you need to start by finding out how exchange rates and inflation will affect your income, pension, and cost of living.

It’s also a good idea to open an international bank account as these are specifically formulated to assist you with the movement of money. A local bank account should also be utilised to take care of your day to day financial needs. Following this you should also bear in mind there are now a plethora of services available to you for sending money abroad and most of which are considerably cheaper than banks.

With regards to your UK bank account, it’s entirely down to you whether or not you wish to close it. Although they can be handy for taking care of ongoing transactions such as direct debits, sometimes they’re just unnecessary.

Some banks will also offer expat accounts. Specifically formulated to hold money in multiple currencies, these are some of the best options for those with expat status.

Pensions

You’ll also need to consider how living abroad will affect your pension, especially if you’re migrating as part of your retirement plans.

In the case of state pensions, all Britons are entitled to receive these, irrespective of where they reside. However, in certain overseas countries they may be frozen, meaning that payments are fixed at the level of your first pension.

For those who have pensions other than this, a Pension Health Check should be requested before you travel if you may not or will not return to the UK before you become eligible to receive it.

To best ascertain your standing, we advise speaking to a specialist who can talk you through your options.

Taxes

In addition, you will have to notify HMRC before leaving the UK. To do this, request your P85 form from Revenue and Customs, and fill it in and return it as detailed. This will alert the relevant taxation bodies of your intention to leave, thus ensuring that you’re taxed appropriately. If you fail to do this, you could find that you are liable for payments which, as an expat, you should be exempt from.

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Paul Tomaszewski is a science & tech writer as well as a programmer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CosmoBC. He has a degree in computer science from John Abbott College, a bachelor's degree in technology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and completed some business and economics classes at Concordia University in Montreal. While in college he was the vice-president of the Astronomy Club. In his spare time he is an amateur astronomer and enjoys reading or watching science-fiction. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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