I have some logistics questions for students who are independent of their parents' funding and assistance.
1. Did you sell most of your belongings before moving? Where do you keep stuff in the states?
2. Do you keep a home address in the states?
3. How do you pay taxes every year? Or do you even have to?
4. How do you deal with anything that might arise in the states - do you have a POA? Appoint a family member?
5. Did you transfer all your money from your US bank account to your Scottish one?
Thanks for your help! And if you have any other comments or suggestions about this type of stuff, please freely associate!
I'll tackle some of these. Realize that i am MUCH older and have owned my own home for years and am single.
1. I sold a lot of stuff, but have acquired a lot as well (furniture, personal effects, household goods, etc). The major sales were my vehicle and house. My brother just built a new house and is recently divorced, so he needed quite a bit of stuff. Most of my boxes are in his attic, furniture in his basement. He is using some of my stuff in his home.
2. Yes and you will most likely want to do the same. I had to have one for some of my accounts - financial. It makes sense to keep one.
3. I had income from the US last year, so can't answer this one. You will have to file a US tax return every year, but if you did not receive income, pretty sure you will not owe anything.
4. I have family members in the States. A POA is not a bad idea at all! Not much has arisen, as I took care of everything before i left.
5. NO! Not knowing what either economy is going to do, i'm not sure this would ever be a good idea and I would certainly talk to a financial advisor prior to doing it. Plus, you are still going to want to maintain credit in the US for when you get back. I still paid all of my credit card bills in USD (you may have difficulty getting a UK credit card for a bit) and any income that has trickled in, goes into my US accounts. I would wait until the rate was fairly good to transfer $$ from my US acct to my UK acct. Most all of your bills in Scotland will be direct debit (rent, utilities, car insurance), so you will want enough in your UK account for this.
Some other things to consider:
1. Car insurance. If you have insurance here, it may be WELL worth it to put it on suspension for like 100 bucks a year rather than let it lapse. I was paying 900 a yr for my vehicle before i left. I sold that vehicle and let my policy lapse. I just bought a new vehicle in the US. Allstate, who i had been with 15 years and have nothing on my record for the last 20 years, wanted 3600 a YEAR since i had been lapsed 7 months!!!! I went with USAA and they treated me right, but something to check on.
2. Health insurance - Still trying to figure this one out, but it MAY make sense to keep a catastrophic policy in the US, or have travel insurance for when/if you travel back for the summer, etc.
3. Get a bank account at Lloyd's TSB when you first get there...it is very fast and easy, whereas HSBC and RBS can take weeks to get set up.
4. Mobile - If you have a smartphone you want to take over, but it's 'locked'...no worries. They can unlock it (software program for about 20 pounds) and you can use your phone for a lot cheaper than what you are used to over here. You may have to buy a cheap pay-as-you-go phone first until you establish a few months of credit over there to go on a plan for your smartphone. I lived without a mobile for 7 months and then got a plan.
O2 has a great international plan to call back to US. Also, use Mr. Simcard.com when you come back to US for summer. You can just order a simcard and pay monthly (like in the UK) and have service here without a contract. For instance, i have an iPhone and pay 60 bucks a month for unlimited talk, data, international text with a Simple Sim (T-Mobile). My AT&T plan cost me over 100 bucks a month in US before I left, was not unlimited and always dropped calls.
5. Get a Capital One credit card. Check on it, but they are the only US card I found that does not charge a 2-3.5% transaction fee for doing international purchases. They were a lifesaver and it's a free card.
That's all i can think of for now, but I'll add more if I think of anything. It's overwhelming at first, but everything will fall into place and you'll end up getting the hang of it pretty quickly.
Good Luck!
