How has Brexit actually affected you so far?
- Thread starter bi0boy
- Start date
CrabbedOne
Walking sideways snippily
Well as I don't live in the UK and was daft enough to leave 50K in Sterling I guess I'm about 10K down in less than six months so far.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I found a 20 euro note on my shelf yesterday 
I'm going to keep it a few years then buy a house.
I'm going to keep it a few years then buy a house.
SaskiaJayne
Rural Guerrilla
£ has improved against € post Trump. When Italians vote the 'wrong' way in their referendum & their banks implode soon after watch the masters of the universe all buying into 'safe' £s. 
CrabbedOne
Walking sideways snippily
European banks by themselves are a bigger risk than any idiocy the voters indulge in. If it gets bumpy again the likely safe haven are Dollars and Swiss Francs where my money mostly is. Even Trump can't sink the Dollar, at least that's the theory, inshallah.£ has improved against € post Trump. When Italians vote the 'wrong' way in their referendum & their banks implode soon after watch the masters of the universe all buying into 'safe' £s.
Sterling has been in decline for ages Brexit just steepened fall a bit.
CrabbedOne
Walking sideways snippily
On Mainly Macro Brexit and Sterling
Blames a vast property bubble and The City for Sterling holding up to the extent it has. Of course this isn't that bad if you are living in the UK; skinnier Toblerones excepted. The Euro being undervalued for their export driven economy rather suits the thrifty Germans. It's Swiss business that moans about the high Swiss Franc.
Blames a vast property bubble and The City for Sterling holding up to the extent it has. Of course this isn't that bad if you are living in the UK; skinnier Toblerones excepted. The Euro being undervalued for their export driven economy rather suits the thrifty Germans. It's Swiss business that moans about the high Swiss Franc.
SaskiaJayne
Rural Guerrilla
I think the 70p = 1€ of last yr made Europe a bargain for UK tourists. I went on a day trip 'beer run' to Calais last week & with around 86p = 1€ things a tripper might buy in France are as cheap or cheaper than UK. Beer was around £6.50 for 24x25cl bottles. Wine was still well under UK prices & looking at general food prices in supermarket, again all much the same as UK prices. Dinner cost no more than a UK pub lunch. My mate filled his car with diesel at less than £1/litre. House prices are still much cheaper than southern UK prices as well. So I think all this talk of £ 'collapse' against € is probably just brexit denier speak.
mauvais
on reddit or something
70p wasn't all that much of a bargain in recent historical terms.
None of that stuff is new - much of what you've just described was far more the case ten years ago.
Also Brexit has brought the euro down too, so a better comparison would be the dollar pre-Trump. Sterling has taken a big hit and no amount of anecdotes will undo that. The only mitigation is that it might have been overpriced to begin with.
None of that stuff is new - much of what you've just described was far more the case ten years ago.
Also Brexit has brought the euro down too, so a better comparison would be the dollar pre-Trump. Sterling has taken a big hit and no amount of anecdotes will undo that. The only mitigation is that it might have been overpriced to begin with.
mauvais
on reddit or something
I think there's merit to the two arguments in there but on this I'm a pessimist and I think the reality is worse: it's not going to be a catalyst for a rebalancing away from financial services, other than by virtue of them taking a bigger hit than the rest. The government will try and repair the broken financial sector, not move on from it, and it won't be particularly successful either. Either way it's unlikely that anything else is going to get a look in. Why would it, why now? There's been plenty of opportunities to do so already.
collectordave
Active Member
Actual effects of Brexit so far?
Moved to central Portugal. Bought house and two acres of land. Savings on council tax allows me to take my wife out at least three to four times a month so better relations there. Savings on cost of living allowing me to save money again instead of losing it to the British tax system.
Taken out some private medical insurance at less than half the cost of the same in Britain. Keeping in mind that I will have to review that as Brexit progresses (EHIC and NHS bad management).
Able to afford diesel for my car as prices seem to be about 20% less than UK, the prices also follow the barrel price, so oil price on news drops, price at pump drops within a day or two.
Looking into Portuguese income tax to see if it is better to move investments\pensions, I suspect it will be better to move what I can.
Heating bill for winter less than 10% of same in UK so happy there.
Many more all around the cost of living.
Downsides
A little saddened to see the pound collapsing against the Euro.
The cost of Danish bacon here is a little high as it is supplied through Britain, looking to get Bacon from Denmark direct, but I have also found some of the cured meats here are just about the same.
HP brown sauce is difficult to find, but thanks to Amazon.eu I now buy trays of the stuff and it is delivered to my door strangly cheaper than in the UK same for marmite.
Moved to central Portugal. Bought house and two acres of land. Savings on council tax allows me to take my wife out at least three to four times a month so better relations there. Savings on cost of living allowing me to save money again instead of losing it to the British tax system.
Taken out some private medical insurance at less than half the cost of the same in Britain. Keeping in mind that I will have to review that as Brexit progresses (EHIC and NHS bad management).
Able to afford diesel for my car as prices seem to be about 20% less than UK, the prices also follow the barrel price, so oil price on news drops, price at pump drops within a day or two.
Looking into Portuguese income tax to see if it is better to move investments\pensions, I suspect it will be better to move what I can.
Heating bill for winter less than 10% of same in UK so happy there.
Many more all around the cost of living.
Downsides
A little saddened to see the pound collapsing against the Euro.
The cost of Danish bacon here is a little high as it is supplied through Britain, looking to get Bacon from Denmark direct, but I have also found some of the cured meats here are just about the same.
HP brown sauce is difficult to find, but thanks to Amazon.eu I now buy trays of the stuff and it is delivered to my door strangly cheaper than in the UK same for marmite.
collectordave
Active Member
collectordave
Active Member
Checked my little story and cannot find where it does not make sense. Laid out my thoughts below:-
Moved to central Portugal. Bought house and two acres of land. Savings on council tax allows me to take my wife out at least three to four times a month so better relations there. Savings on cost of living allowing me to save money again instead of losing it to the British tax system.
1. Savings on council tax? In Uk I was paying nearly £200 a month for a three bedroomed flat. In Portugal I am paying 70 euros a year! Now that makes sense to me.
2. Taking the wife out when possible. Makes wife happier and the old saying "Happy wife happy life" is quite true. So that also makes sense.
3. Cost of living? Electric is about the same cost as UK. Weekly shop down to about 70 Euros in Uk £90. So that makes sense to me.
Taken out some private medical insurance at less than half the cost of the same in Britain. Keeping in mind that I will have to review that as Brexit progresses (EHIC and NHS bad management).
1. private medical insurance in UK £200 a month. In Portugal 48 euros a month. Saving again makes sense to me.
2. Reviewing the situation as Brexit progresses also makes sense to me nothing stays the same forever.
Able to afford diesel for my car as prices seem to be about 20% less than UK, the prices also follow the barrel price, so oil price on news drops, price at pump drops within a day or two.
1. I enjoy dring my car, with the lower prices here I can drive it more. Portugals policy on renewable energy helps enormously here. They went four days in 2016 on nothing but renewables, they have also driven down their reliance on fossil fuels by over 40% in the last few years slowly divorcing themselves from hikes in oil prices. Now that also makes sense to me.
Looking into Portuguese income tax to see if it is better to move investments\pensions, I suspect it will be better to move what I can.
1. My investments etc are in £sterling at the moment they do not all have to be. Some can be moved to what is now, to me, a more stable Euro that will stabilise part of my income.
2. Returns on investments in UK are taxed in the UK. If Portuguese tax is cheaper makes sense to move them to EU and pay less tax. Makes sense.
Heating bill for winter less than 10% of same in UK so happy there.
1. Need to keep warm when it is cold. Reducing my heating bill is a big saving. Also makes sense.
All in all the pound has to collapse a long way before there are any serious consequences to my standard of living. Another point of course is that with the land I can now harvest my own olive oil, apples, oranges, pears, sweet chestnuts and just about any vegetable I care to grow so driving down my cost of living even more and in the case of olive oil and chestnuts raising my standard of living.
Hope I have covered all the points if not please elaborate on what does not make sense.
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
collectordave
Active Member
Hmm! 
Reno
The In Kraut
My Brexit exit:
After 33 years in London, last month I sold my flat and moved to Berlin. Brexit isn't the only reason but it was the last straw. After having spent all my adult life in the U.K. as a European/German who thought he'd contributed to the country, I felt genuinely traumatised and betrayed by Brexit.
In the end it looks like it's been a blessing in disguise though.
Turns out that thanks to the insanity of the London property market, my once undesirable flat had become fashionable and had more than doubled in value since I bought it a decade ago. From the sale I'm currently in the process of cash-buying a flat which is both larger and far cheaper in Berlin. This means that unlike in London, I will now live rent and mortgage free for the rest of my life. The only fucker is that had the value of the pound not dropped so low, I would even have more money left over to help me get on my feet with a job etc. I'll still have enough money to survive for a year without work if necessary.
I've never had that much money and I wouldn't have been able to survive for much longer in London. This is now enabling me to start a new life in a place where I think I will be a lot more happy. Berlin is a hell of a lot more fun than London these days and it's far cheaper.
I will miss my friends but not much else. I used to love it here but don't like the city London has become anymore. And I'm not going to hang around till this fucking government chucks me out or graciously allows me to stay, after I've paid my tax and insurance for over three decades there and then didn't give me a say in what happens to foreigners like myself. I used to feel very ambivalent about being German, now I've never been so glad that I am German.
After 33 years in London, last month I sold my flat and moved to Berlin. Brexit isn't the only reason but it was the last straw. After having spent all my adult life in the U.K. as a European/German who thought he'd contributed to the country, I felt genuinely traumatised and betrayed by Brexit.
In the end it looks like it's been a blessing in disguise though.
Turns out that thanks to the insanity of the London property market, my once undesirable flat had become fashionable and had more than doubled in value since I bought it a decade ago. From the sale I'm currently in the process of cash-buying a flat which is both larger and far cheaper in Berlin. This means that unlike in London, I will now live rent and mortgage free for the rest of my life. The only fucker is that had the value of the pound not dropped so low, I would even have more money left over to help me get on my feet with a job etc. I'll still have enough money to survive for a year without work if necessary.
I've never had that much money and I wouldn't have been able to survive for much longer in London. This is now enabling me to start a new life in a place where I think I will be a lot more happy. Berlin is a hell of a lot more fun than London these days and it's far cheaper.
I will miss my friends but not much else. I used to love it here but don't like the city London has become anymore. And I'm not going to hang around till this fucking government chucks me out or graciously allows me to stay, after I've paid my tax and insurance for over three decades there and then didn't give me a say in what happens to foreigners like myself. I used to feel very ambivalent about being German, now I've never been so glad that I am German.
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TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
nm
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pocketscience
Well-Known Member
Good luck! Your story has a touch of George Webber about it.
Just out of curiosity, what was it about London that you used to love and what don't you like about it now?
May needs to step up say old scrotes.
Hundreds of thousands of retired Britons in EU 'may be forced to return'
Hundreds of thousands of retired Britons in EU 'may be forced to return'
Reno
The In Kraut
I came to London in the early 80s, just in the post punk period and culturally it was the centre of the world as far as I was concerned. One thing I used to love about London was its diverse queer scene, which is now almost dead. In the last two years, two thirds of the queer places worth going to have closed. The scene has mostly been killed be real estate greed. London used to be affordable and various alternative scenes thrived, now it's insanely overpriced and I see nothing but chain businesses in the streets. Berlin is fucking amazing in comparison and it still is as as exciting and fun as London was back then. I may be in my 50s but I'm not ready to stop dancing yet.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I came to London in the early 90s. I am finding myself increasingly nostalgic for then. Partly me getting old no doubt, but the squatting scene from then is now entirely gone. It was also diverse and dynamic. Fuck, Hackney's just been fucking killed off. Spaces have closed. The place has been stolen from us. And it's quite scary how quickly it's happened.
pocketscience
Well-Known Member
It could be a very shrewd financial move on your part. If, as many are predicting, we get a catastrophic Brexit, the sharks that have driven the real estate greed will be out of London in a flash and probably head off to Berlin... You'll see the price of your new flat double again in no time.
As I say, I hope it works out.
ska invita
back on the other side
Britain is that bit shitter without you Reno, as is London - sorry to see you go.
Best of luck with the new start - I'm sure it'll be wonderful.
Reno
The In Kraut
I really hope Berlin doesn't get ruined by the type of rampant greed which has made London loose its sparkle. There is gentrification here as well, but as it's not a major business hub and because of massive unemployment, it's not as advanced as London. Unlike London Berlin also has anti-gentrification laws in place. I've never been after money and I bought my London flat because it worked out cheaper than renting. Financially I just got a lucky break the one time I really needed it. I'd rather Berlin stays interesting, than my flat going massively up in value.
Reno
The In Kraut
Thank you, that is very kind. I'm still staying in temporary accommodation and I'm currently job- and friendless here, so it's not going to be all walking on clouds, but I'll get there. Despite the financial windfall it is daunting to start over at 53. But I'm glad I'm here and the latest Brexit news from the U.K. are not encouraging.
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It is beginning to affect me in ways I don't really want to think about too much yet. It will all blow over!
SovietArmy
Well-Known Member
I little scare I am living 15 years in UK and I am from east europe I think we have to pay for private health care.
ItWillNeverWork
Messy Crimbobs, fellow humans.
What are you basing that thought on?
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