I'm moving to London from the US, how much money should I save?

Question

How much money should I save so I can pay rent, utilities, food, transportation, ect. for 1 year? Just in case it's hard for me to get a job right off.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Well, if you don't have a job, the first thing you are going to have to deal with is finding a visa to stay a full year. Americans are generally only given 90 days (in which they CANNOT work). If you have a visa, or family or a student, then you can stay longer, but your question doesn't make that clear. You'll have a tough time getting a lease, renting a mobile phone, opening a bank account if you don't have the immigration paperwork in order. You should investigate this before making any moves.

Second, London is a very expensive city to live in. As a general (if imperfect) rule, I would say your budget to live in London (in £s) should be the same as your budget to live in New York City (in $). If it costs you $3,000 a month to live in NY, then budget £3000 a month to live in London.

This is a very general rule, and not always correct, but for many day to day items, you'll find the £ price in the UK similar to the $ price in the US. £4 London McDonalds = $4 US McDonalds, £1 newspaper = $1 newspaper, £40 sneakers ('trainers' = $40 sneakers.

It's not always perfect, like a $150 ipod is £100 in the UK (but after the conversion rate, it still sucks).

Rent runs the gamut from a flatshare (roommates) to palatial places that cost unreal amounts (in Central London). You should note that the prices you'll see for rent in sites like http://loot.com are generally quoted in 'per week' and not 'per month' as is the standard in the US.

You have a lot of research to do. Good luck and I hope you make it over.

Answer 2

It's very hard to estimate what you need to save, but you need a lot for a year. Do you have a proper visa to allow you to stay a year and seek work? That's the first step. If you don't have the visa you won't be able to work and you can't stay a full year unless you leave the country and re-enter to get a new tourist visa.
As far as costs go, it depends a lot on how you plan to live. You might find a bed in a shared flat (sharing a bedroom with someone else) for 50 pounds/week. If you want your own room in a shared apartment it's going to cost at least 75-100 pounds/week. Your own apartment (small studio or bedsit) will cost 120 pounds/week and on up. To convert that into dollars multiply by 2 (ie: $100/week for a shared room...$240/week for a studio apartment). Note that the price is per week, not per month. Also you will most likely have some utility bills not included in the rent and you may have to pay council tax. Be sure you find out what is included in the rent price. Food is about 2 to 3 times more expensive than in the US (depending on where in US you live). Transportation in London is expensive too. A monthly pass for the tube/busses will cost 90 pounds up to about 200 pounds, depending on what zone of London you live in (if you are further out transportation is more but housing is less). Going out in London is very expensive too. Clothing costs 2 to 3 times more than in the US, though you can avoid that cost for awhile by bringing what you need. To top it all off, wages in London aren't much higher than what you can make in the US, so don't think that you're going to find a job earning tons of money. Good luck! I lived in London for a few years and even though it was expensive it was worth every penny.

Answer 3

Since London uses the British pound that would mean that for every US dollar( 1.00) is worth about .50 cents over there. Things over there are not cheap either, so you might want to go visit a couple of times before you actually move over there.
1.)For starters you will come off cheaper if you purchase a monthly bus pass(card) than just paying bus fare every time you want to go some where.
2.) You might want to take about $100,00.00 because that only equals out to $50,000 when you get there and then they are going to charge you a fee to actually exchange the money.
3.) Find some one that lived there, at least studied, or visits the country often they can tell you better than I can.
Good luck

Answer 4

save as much as you can - this is no understatement. the dollar is extremely weak against the pound and london is expensive - save up every last cent/penny

Answer 5

you will in no way pass!!!! lol in simple terms kiding kyla noort is a loser and could pass no the place in existence lmao in simple terms enjoying i like ya kyla you have gotten funds saved in like 6 years im making a huge gamble!!! p.s. Cant wait till college we gonna have a blast!!!