Pinoy Newbie - London Info =)

[leomar]

Hi, I'm new here in this forum. I'm currently in Singapore working for a bank. I heard the price of anything there is 3 times more than the price here. I have plans of applying a job in the UK but I need to know some basic info first so i can survive there.

How is the accommodation there? Here we're renting a flat for SGD2.6k (700 for me) approx 20% of my budget.

How much should i allocate for food/rent/utilities/transpo on a monthly basis?

Aside from the 40% tax, what is budget heavy in the UK?

thank you very much for your valuable info!

[jencha8569]

welcome to the forum leomar
people here will be willing to answer ur questions
just keep in touch

[leomar]

thanks jen!
hope to hear from the London guys =)

[lil John]

Welcome to the forum.
I know this doesn't answer your question but here in the states gas and food can take a big bite out of your budget

[KeithD]

In the UK we can no longer afford fuel, and it is likely to reach S$4.50 a litre by the end of the year. Utility bills are up around 16% this year....Food is up around 14%........and the government think we are all mathematically stupid and tell us inflation is at 2.5% ......and they wonder why voting turnout struggles to hit 30%.....They are the dumb

Average pay rise is 2% so money is devaluing fast, and 10,000 of people are now much poorer than this time last year. Welcome to the UK

[leomar]

In the UK we can no longer afford fuel, and it is likely to reach S$4.50 a litre by the end of the year. Utility bills are up around 16% this year....Food is up around 14%........and the government think we are all mathematically stupid and tell us inflation is at 2.5% ......and they wonder why voting turnout struggles to hit 30%.....They are the dumb

Average pay rise is 2% so money is devaluing fast, and 10,000 of people are now much poorer than this time last year. Welcome to the UK

wow! life is really getting worse day by day, i don't think it only happens in the UK but same scenario is happening around the globe. You can hear the same rant from the locals and expats in SG as well.

Thanks for the very detailed information, hope i didn't ruin your morning by those "flashbacks" of reality.

Anyway, if we translate the percentage allocation into pounds (is it quid?) how much should i spend on:

Rent -
Food -
Bills (Electricity, Water, Gas?) -
Credit Cards -
Transpo -
Socials -

on a monthly basis? I know it depends on the lifestyle but i just want to have an idea on the expected expenses. Oh, before i forget, so if someone offers me a job in the UK, how much should i be looking at so i can have a decent life with a reasonable savings (25%-30% of gross salary) after the huge tax?

I really appreciate your help guys!

So gas is really pain in the behind, same with John in the US.

[jencha8569]

yes indeed england is expensive place to live .
rents are high but depends where you live .
renting a room in a shared house can cost anywhere
between £250-£400 approx .
petrol prices are high too .
food and going out etc is expensive too.
but if you earn a good wage then you will be ok.
what will you do here ? what job you planning
on getting ?
good luck with it anyway.

[kimmi]

yes indeed england is expensive place to live .
rents are high but depends where you live .
renting a room in a shared house can cost anywhere
between £250-£400 approx .
petrol prices are high too .
food and going out etc is expensive too.
but if you earn a good wage then you will be ok.
what will you do here ? what job you planning
on getting ?
good luck with it anyway.

[andypaul]

Hi, I'm new here in this forum. I'm currently in Singapore working for a bank. I heard the price of anything there is 3 times more than the price here. I have plans of applying a job in the UK but I need to know some basic info first so i can survive there.

How is the accommodation there? Here we're renting a flat for SGD2.6k (700 for me) approx 20% of my budget.

How much should i allocate for food/rent/utilities/transpo on a monthly basis?

Aside from the 40% tax, what is budget heavy in the UK?

thank you very much for your valuable info!

What you hoping to be paid in London 40 percent tax doesn't affect all wage earners only those over a certain amount.

Where do you planned to be based in london. You could rent a room for 30 quid a week prehaps in some areas while you could buy a house for a 10 million or more.

700 sing dollars ia 261 pounds today

2.6k sing dollars is 969 pounds today

I presume thats a month?

To get an idea look on places like rightmove and find a propety

Transport varies depending on where you are in relation to your work. London is devided into zones to get an idea look on the http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ site but many leave just outside of london as prices are cheaper and commute in each day as most trains head for the centre of town.

If you give me more of an idea of where you plan to stay in london for how long and doing what then I could give you a better idea.

[leomar]

hi andypaul! Thanks for lending a helping hand.

Yes, the prices i qouted for my current rent is on a monhtly basis.

I'm looking at Canary Wharf area because i think the major banks are located there. I have no idea where to stay yet, coz it would be my first time there.
I don't mind travelling 30-45 mins from Canary Wharf if the prices are cheaper.

What wage range will be affected by the 40% tax? IS there a site where i can see range of salary for certain type of jobs?

I really appreciate your help!

[leomar]

yes indeed england is expensive place to live .
rents are high but depends where you live .
renting a room in a shared house can cost anywhere
between £250-£400 approx .
petrol prices are high too .
food and going out etc is expensive too.
but if you earn a good wage then you will be ok.
what will you do here ? what job you planning
on getting ?
good luck with it anyway.

Yep, i actually intend to share a flat with fellow pinoys if i can find a good place. The price you qouted is within my budget here in SG What will be a good wage range so i can live with a decent savings? I will be applying to a global bank but i have no idea yet on the salary

Thank you very much Jen!

[Banana]

In the UK we can no longer afford fuel, and it is likely to reach S$4.50 a litre by the end of the year. Utility bills are up around 16% this year....Food is up around 14%........and the government think we are all mathematically stupid and tell us inflation is at 2.5% ......and they wonder why voting turnout struggles to hit 30%.....They are the dumb

Average pay rise is 2% so money is devaluing fast, and 10,000 of people are now much poorer than this time last year. Welcome to the UK

Personally I would lay off heavily biased political posting like this.

If we can no longer afford fuel - why does the UK have one of the highest (2nd or 3rd I believe) per capita car ownership in the world. Why are there cars on the road going places?

Food inflation is currently running at 5.5% (unless you read the Daily Mail)

Fuel 6.2%

Of course both of the above are due to global issues.

Average Earning Feb 2007 to Feb 2008 rose 3.7%

I am sure that if you look at similar statistics from 1997 to 2007 you will be very happy.

[KeithD]

Personally I would lay off heavily biased political posting like this.

Are you on another planet you prat? Another gullible human

[aromulus]

Are you on another planet you prat? Another gullible human

A "Guardian" reader....????

On Sunday I went to fuel my car with diesel £ 1.15.9 per litre...
Monday afternoon I went to the same place to top up for the rest of the week £1.17.9 per litre.....
The increase was not announced, I don't think....

Inflation is rampant. Money is scarce and I feel the pinch because my sales up to date are way down, compared to the previous year.
I better stop, it is not my rant here.....

[leomar]

hi andypaul! Thanks for lending a helping hand.

Yes, the prices i qouted for my current rent is on a monhtly basis.

I'm looking at Canary Wharf area because i think the major banks are located there. I have no idea where to stay yet, coz it would be my first time there.
I don't mind travelling 30-45 mins from Canary Wharf if the prices are cheaper.

What wage range will be affected by the 40% tax? IS there a site where i can see range of salary for certain type of jobs?

I really appreciate your help!

i don't like to be an but i would like qoute myself for to update this thread.

[Banana]

Are you on another planet you prat? Another gullible human

Charming.

[KeithD]

Your welcome. Especially someone who couldn't see the truth if it was shafted up a back entry.

[joebloggs]

statistics

put your head in an oven and your legs in the fridge and a statistician will tell you your ok

gov figs show inflation at a few %

was this from the same people who said only a few 1000s eastern europeans would come to the uk .. oh out by a figure of at least 1000%

why do people have so many cars, well second hand ones are pretty cheap, why do people drive, you have you tried pubic transport


average earnings rose by 3.7% , might have done for those who got a rise or those who were not made redundant

[joebloggs]

Hi, I'm new here in this forum. I'm currently in Singapore working for a bank. I heard the price of anything there is 3 times more than the price here. I have plans of applying a job in the UK but I need to know some basic info first so i can survive there.

How is the accommodation there? Here we're renting a flat for SGD2.6k (700 for me) approx 20% of my budget.

How much should i allocate for food/rent/utilities/transpo on a monthly basis?

Aside from the 40% tax, what is budget heavy in the UK?

thank you very much for your valuable info!

oh i forgot to ask, what passport/visa do you have to enter and work in the uk ?

[leomar]

@joebloggs

i'm holding philippines passport, i have employment pass in singapore but i don't have visa to UK yet...

im going to apply but first i want to know my expected expenses, may i know any idea from you sir?

[joebloggs]

@joebloggs

i'm holding philippines passport, i have employment pass in singapore but i don't have visa to UK yet...

im going to apply but first i want to know my expected expenses, may i know any idea from you sir?

your going to need to either find an employer who can apply for a workpermit for you, and depending on how skilled you are that could be a problem,

or if you are skilled have at least a degree, young and you have a good paid job already, you could try the HSMP route. which allows you to come to the uk without a workpermit or job offer

cost of living is high in london..

[sam_althea]

hi leomar!
better yet search for yourself, sometimes they have different point of views esp on financial matters as other people live on extravagant and others on meager income...
better stay here in Belfast (Northern Ireland) one of the cheapest accommodation in the UK

[leomar]

@sam

thanks! what do you mean by cheap? how much range?

guys can you give me in terms of pounds in these category?

Rent -
Food -
Bills (Electricity, Water, Gas?) -
Credit Cards -
Transpo -
Socials -

Lets assume that I'm employed already, stays 45-60mins away from canary wharfe. How much is my expected expenses broken down into these needs?

Thanks very much!

[Eljohno]

Things can be cheaper here in N.Ireland especially rentals but then again our wage over here is much less than London!!

[andypaul]

Personally I would lay off heavily biased political posting like this.

If we can no longer afford fuel - why does the UK have one of the highest (2nd or 3rd I believe) per capita car ownership in the world. Why are there cars on the road going places?

Food inflation is currently running at 5.5% (unless you read the Daily Mail)

Fuel 6.2%

Of course both of the above are due to global issues.

Average Earning Feb 2007 to Feb 2008 rose 3.7%

I am sure that if you look at similar statistics from 1997 to 2007 you will be very happy.

So you belive house prices are down 1 percent since last year in London?
Forget massive multi million pound houses im talking about the surburbs where normal people live houses are simply not moving. The ones i do see advertised and sold are normally being sold at a far lower price than expected as the seller as to sell as the rental vaule has dropped below the mortage payments.

I think the 30 percent drop in the year being mentioned by a member of the monetary policy committee is more likely. But could be bigger i think as people simply will not buy houses and certainly will not be reckless when buying them as in the last few years. Any one for the 90 percent drop which happened in japan in the 90's?

Why has our food shopping bill increase by i would say 30 percent or so? This includes goods such as rice and products from asia as well as tescos.
We have not changed our tastes if anything cut back and the money we have to spend is up 30 percent.

We don't all eat the goverments standard food basket which will be the most obscure items if any thing like the retail inflation items.

Most people this year will be glad to keep their jobs and i doubt many will actually get 3.7 percent increase.

The increases are not just down to global issues, the mismanagment of the british ecomony both by British banks the goverment and the people with stupid credit and risk takings have affected sterling and liquidty.
The live for today forget tomorrow idea has umm got to the nasty part.

I presume from the 1997 to 2007 figures i presume your talking about grodon browns short term sort out the british ecomony.
what did that include selling 3g rights and selling gold reserves off when they were at one of the lowest prices in recent history. then the luck of the huge amounts of cheap labour which swept ino the country which is all now moving on and taking its money with it. leaving us with a huge underclass of british potential workers who can't or will not work for the low rates and poor condtions offered by many employers.
Im glad the estimates of growth both gord and mr campbells are so postive shame we are unlikely to meet them and have to increase borrowing.
Which as the present and the future will shown is as buggered as it was with the tories.

The labour party is asking for loans its taken to be defer is it by 10 years as they are asically broke. Good to see they manage them selves so well.

Statsics mean bugger all we can twist them all any way we like we all know that.

[aromulus]

Your welcome. Especially someone who couldn't see the truth if it was shafted up a back entry.

Told you once before....

A guardian reader and probably with a non job like a five -a-day outreach personal my-tax-money-public-spender-for-the-sake-of-it....

Cuckoo land salary anyway....

[andypaul]

@sam

thanks! what do you mean by cheap? how much range?

guys can you give me in terms of pounds in these category?

Rent -
Food -
Bills (Electricity, Water, Gas?) -
Credit Cards -
Transpo -
Socials -

Lets assume that I'm employed already, stays 45-60mins away from canary wharfe. How much is my expected expenses broken down into these needs?

Thanks very much!

as i said its very hard to say exactly

But if i was moving into a house share in greater london ie the surburbs

Rent if i was sharing a house might be at least 200 to 300 pounds some maybe more as it depends on the room if its furnished and what bills are included.say 300 to 400 if budgeting. You will also need normally one months rent in advance as a deposit. Some firms will have firms they use to help find accomdation some better than others from what i hear.

food very hard to say and also if you don't want to eat basic supermarket food and crave say certain phill and asian foods which may not be avaiable in the supermarket i would budget at least 30 to 40 pounds a week. I've included a slight rise what its likely to be in say 3 months or so.

Bills (gas,water and elec) this can vary instead of AC, heating is the big consumer of engery in the home. So worth checking the insulation in the house or flat is it centrally heated, does it have double glazing which all help make more efficent heating of houses and flats.

engery bills on avg, an indepent website (martin lewis moneysaving website) say likely to rise by 35 percent late summer

credit cards well thats up to you and what you spend i guess.

Transport depends on the zones a monthly travelcard for zone 1 to 3 is 105 pounds a zone 1-6 is about 170 pounds a month. Season tickets on overground trains if you are based out of london can be quite a bit more but your likely to save on rent and general costs compared to nearer the centre of london.

social agian up to you but if you want to dine out once a week (a meal for one can be from 5 pounds or under for a mac dees or a kfc say to 100 pounds or more a head in a swanky resturant. In a avg chain resturant you might get a meal from 10 to 20 quid per head.
To go out on the town say two nights q week. you might need at least 50 quid a week. Again its very hard to say.

So to conclude from my ramblings me i think i would need at least

1000 pounds a week

300 to 400 rent

200 for travel

160 for food shopping

bills 80 pounds

any left over on social

All very rough but be warned the banking market in london is being pounded at the moment where it concerns jobs more are being shed than taken on.

[sam_althea]

here's my honest estimate on a weekly basis....(living in Belfast)

food--- 40 (shopping in Tesco or Asda)
house---150 (shared, weekly) 450 house (per month)
transport--60 (city centre only, prepaid card good for 1 month)
electric--40(but if u live alone it could be cheaper)
gas---100(for central heating)
social---(it depends on how you live with it)

[andypaul]

here's my honest estimate on a weekly basis....(living in Belfast)

food--- 40 (shopping in Tesco or Asda)
house---150 (shared, weekly) 450 house (per month)
transport--60 (city centre only, prepaid card good for 1 month)
electric--40(but if u live alone it could be cheaper)
gas---100(for central heating)
social---(it depends on how you live with it)

plus a few flights over to city of london airport to get to work in the city of london

[sam_althea]

correct!