Expatriate International Cost of Living

A while ago I wrote about moving countries, where to find information and what questions you should be asking yourself. Having experienced a couple of country moves I can give you a few tips. Everything I wrote before on researching the country on websites, joining blogs and finding out whether your salary is going to cover your cost of living, are all relevant. What I want to do is take you through the process of moving. If you are being hired by a company who are going to help you move, life is going to be a lot easier. If however, you are going to be doing this on your own you need to prepare yourself for a little work. Firstly, find out what you need from a documentation point of view to get into the new country. 1. Do you need a visa, which type of visa will you need (working, spousal, minor children, etc) for each member of the family and start preparing the documentation for them. 2. Documents could include Unabridged birth certificates, ID documents, Passports, Passport Photos, Marriage Certificate, each country has its own requirements. Some countries require a police / criminal clearance. Find out either from the government website or the embassy in your country as to what you need, or alternatively find an agency that can do it all for you. An agency will let you know what you need to get and can assist you in obtaining the relevant documents. Secondly, what will you need to do when you get to the new country. 1. You will need to find a place to stay in the interim, open a bank account, organise a post box, transport, etc, so you need to find out what you need to have to do these. Do you need to keep certified copies of your passport or bank statements, etc? 2. Will you need to go through medicals for any reason, do you need to take any medical records with you? 3. How do you set up your medical aid, life insurance, buy or rent a property, get a phone installed??? Once again if you are moving with a company all of this will be a lot easier, as you will always have someone to facilitate you with the processes, but moving to a foreign country where everything is different could take its toll. Sometimes the best advice is just to ask.
Thirdly, prepare yourself for the move. 1. Start planning, make a list of everything you need to do. 2. Our list consisted of the following: a. Plan the day you are going to fly out and book the tickets, this date will determine all the below dates. First ensure that you have all documentation required before booking your tickets. b. List all accounts that need to be paid or cancelled and the dates that this needs to be completed by e.g. Medical Aid, Security company, Car insurance, Telephone account, Internet account, Post box, Clothing accounts, etc. c. Decide what to do with your bank account, and all the cards attached to it. Do you want to keep your account open and keep all the cards, or just keep 1 card? Remember the bank charges that you will need to pay monthly and that you will have 2 sets of bank accounts if you do keep it open. However, it could be worthwhile so that you have money available and cards that you can use. d. What are you going to do with your car/s, house, other assets, furniture, even down to your clothes – if you are going to sell them start planning what to sell, how much for and how you need to go about doing this, with deadline dates. Alternatively you can store your belongings. e. If you require to give someone power of attorney to sell anything or do any other legal work for you, decide on who you would want to do this for you and how to go about doing it. Your bank can normally assist you in this process. f. Decide what you want to do with your Life policies, Retirement annuities, or any other policy or investment you have made, your broker can help you with these decisions. g. When are you going to tell everyone about this decision you have made, do you have to resign from a job before you go and when do you need to let them know, plan your decision carefully as you don’t want to leave with any problems. h. Do you employ anyone, start planning how to tell them you are leaving, what they need to be paid, is there a retrenchment package attached, write referral letters, do you need to write letters to any government departments to inform them of the change in status of your employee and leave with everyone happy. i. If you are taking any personal belongings with you start getting quotes from removal companies and make a decision on who to go with. Get at least 5 quotes to be objective and ensure you are comfortable with the service, and get referrals. j. Are you taking animals with you? If so do the same as above. Find out whether there are any special requirements you need to take into account when taking your animals with you. Do you need to keep them in quarantine and if so for how long, what documentation do you need to get for them and vaccinations? k. Organise someone to take you to the airport. l. Check on how you are all feeling, how are the kids doing and how do they feel about the move. Talk about it and let the kids know what is happening. m. Have a farewell party for all of you, the kids and their friends and you and your friends. There needs to be some form of closure, and it will make you feel just how special all the people in your life are and how special you are to them. n. Remember to keep contact details close at hand of everyone that is important to you. o. See if you can find a personal relocator in the country you are moving too, they can be of great help too. I hope this helps in the process required to relocate. It can be daunting and unsettling, or an adventure, you need to decide how to perceive the move. In my next article, I will write about settling in and the processes you need to go through to do this.

Read on to see what I believe are the positives and negatives on moving around the world.

From a person that moves globally I believe the following are positive reasons to keep in mind:

1. You are able to live in a country with a different culture and if you embrace the culture and enjoy every aspect of it, you will enjoy your stay;

2. It is very interesting to see how different countries work, from government departments through to shops and even the traffic rules;

3. You get to explore a completely new environment and travel without it costing you a fortune;

4. You make new friends from all over the world, as an expat you will become part of an expat community and this community will tell you where to go, travel and visit;

5. Then there is the local community and if you are working with locals, they will do the same thing, tell you where to go to experience the local community;

6. Usually you get to earn a better salary than in your country of origin, so save save save;

7. It is also not unusual, when accepting a job through an overseas company that many of the normal day to day expenses are paid for, such as accommodation, transport, medical and schooling; and many others that are taken care of;

8. If you have children they will have the opportunity of getting an international schooling and become global citizens of the world;

9. Many people are never given the opportunity to move around the world, this is such a wonderful opportunity to teach your children how to cope in different situations, travel and cope in airports, embrace other cultures and generally survive a different lifestyle;

10. You learn to take baby steps, accept how things work or don’t, not to sweat the small stuff and become accepting of situations, people and places iow to chill. All of the above can teach you a lot about yourself.

What about the negatives….it is so normal for us humans to always potentially look at the negative side before we look at the positives and we tend to always find so many more negatives. So here is my list…but with positives to go with them:

1. Packing your entire life to move or store, probably the worst part of moving, you need to decide what to keep or sell or give away or throw away; positively it’s a great opportunity to get rid of junk!

2. Unpacking, ditto to the above….

3. Leaving your family and friends behind which under any situation is difficult; positively the world is such a small place now that between email, blogs and skype they are always only a pc away. Plus with air travel it is easy to get home very very quickly;

4. The language differences can result in misunderstandings and things not getting done in the way you would have done them in your own country, positively this teaches us patience and English is a fairly universal language;

5. You will have to go through all the processes of getting Visa’s, Residence Permits, sometimes even going through medicals, driving tests, finger printing, etc (depending on the country you are going to) which can be incredibly frustrating, but this is the way that the country you are moving to can keep tabs on who is coming and going from their country. Positively, it should make you feel safer knowing that they are checking on who is entering, that these people are responsible citizens of the world and have no criminal records, etc.

6. It will be hard for the family to settle, everything is different and unusual if you have gone to a culture very different from your own, even if it is similar it is still different; talk to the family, let everyone express how they are feeling, be understanding of each others’ moods and positively it gets the family talking;

7. New routines, a new school, a new office, new friends; and all of these take time; but all the above have the word new in so that is positive….

8. Moving countries is one of the top 3 most stressful situations a person can be in, but how you handle it will result in how well your health copes with the move; remember to always think about (perhaps even list) the reasons you made the decision to move (make sure it is a decision that has been made by the family) and hang on to all those positives, you are going to hit rough patches and you are going to need all your positive lists to get through certain stages and times of the move.

So not too bad, I love being a citizen of the world, I love knowing that I have gone through this process, that I can do it, that I can be positive, that I can meet some fantastic people that are different to me, that life is bigger than just my small little world….

If you are thinking about moving, think of the positives and negatives that it will create in your life and if you can cope especially with the negatives, go for it! Have an adventure!

Go to www.xpatulator.com if you want to calculate the salary you could earn in the new country you are looking at moving to. Good Luck!

Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a specified standard of living, similar to a typical household budget. A Cost of living index is a numerical way of comparing cost of living, either over time, or by comparing different geographical locations.

When you relocate to another geographic location, the cost of everything you spend your salary on will either cost more or less. Some of the costs may be higher in the new location and some of the costs may be lower. The difference in cost of living is typically reported as a “cost of living index. By selecting the appropriate costs that you will have to pay from your salary, you can use a tool such as http://www.xpatulator.com/ to calculate the cost of living difference between 2 locations. Xpatulator uses 13 basket groups, the result of extensive research of actual spending habits, to reflect a reality-based international expenditure pattern. The basket groups are weighted according to Expatriate expenditure norms.

When comparing the cost of living between 2 locations the difference in the aggregate cost of all the selected basket groups are examined in each location using the average reported price in each location for the same quantity of each item. Cost of living is the relative differential in the local cost of the basket groups and the ruling exchange rate between the 2 selected locations.

When comparing the cost of living between different locations the objective is to calculate the difference in the cost of living expressed as an index (e.g. dividing the cost of living in Location A by the cost of living in Location B may result in an index of 140). The cost of living index indicates the difference in the cost of living between the 2 locations. In the above example the index of 140 means that Location A is 40% more expensive than Location B.

This means that a person who moves from Location B to Location A would need to earn 40% more, to have the same standard of living in Location A as they have currently.