Anxious about moving to London. How can I prepare over the next year?

BitterAndTwisted

stu12345 wrote: »

The only folk that do well in London are those in social housing, live near the city centre and have good jobs.
unless your a hedge fund banker.

Twaddle! I agree that as a single person earning enough to rent to live alone and have a half-decent life in London is a challenge. Being part of a couple and sharing expenses makes everything so much simpler and cheaper.

Quite a lot depends on the OP's partner's degree and what field they are hoping to get work in. Lots and lots of people come here to get their careers off the ground, and some decide that a similar role in the provinces on a slightly lower salary is where they would prefer to be long-term, most especially if buying a home is a priority. But being a property owner in London or surrounds is not solely the preserve of hedge-fund managers or bankers. Millions of middle-level earners manage to buy here. Just not those on the lower rungs of manual work or similar, single and bringing in less than £30k per annum.

mitzi_tov

Errata wrote: »

Has your boyfriend ever had a job that paid at least NMW? In his 'field' or any other?
What posts has he applied for already?

He does a lot of paid sound tech, events booking and stage management already - he's currently off doing a festival which he's been stage managing for three years. He's organising weekly gigs at his university and has set up his own events company but the uni doesn't pay and his events are every month (successful but not a steady income - same for his other jobs). He was working in a pub and as a talent scout before his master's degree.

alberty

If you don't have kids yet I would ditch and go to uni instead. Husband off at gigs all the time, 'talent scouting' bimbos in glad rags and not even bringing home the bacon is not going to be a nice life. You say you don't have a family, these are the men your mother would have warned you about.

bouicca21

Competition for those jobs is going to be more than fierce. Several of my daughter's contemporaries trained to do that kind of work, none have succeeded, one managed to get a job as a runner for a record company, but has made no progress and I think in reality he's not much more than a glorified tea boy.

So it will be tough, it will need a lot of determination and bucket loads of luck. But if he doesn't take a shot at it, he'll regret it. Have a go, but have a fall back plan.

I wish you both every success. You sound as though you have the determination, let's hope you get the luck too.

summerholiday

Does he also keep a watchful eye on his expenditure at these gigs? Beer at these venue costs more than average pub. How does he help economise for you both?

You come over as the mover and shaker in this relationship regarding finances and planning. Are you both of the same view over finances? He does not appear to have a role in your savings -Joint?.... to date....?

BitterAndTwisted

There are plenty of unpaid "intern" places but very, very few roles which pay. If your partner isn't thinking about getting into the industry as a freelancer/running his own business I'd be very wary about putting my fifteen grand at his disposal until he starts earning a decent wedge. You don't want to find yourself in a couple of year's time with all of those savings gone while he's still trying to get his big break and you're supporting him on your wages alone. Seen it. Done it. Bought the T-shirt.

summerholiday

I go out a fair bit and find that I am being served more and more by ambitious young and not so young people from the former Eastern European countries. Many now commanding managerial positions, run with a hawks-eye. With this comes that if a job is going it will often be one of their friends or acquaintance who get job........Its what you know but who you know...

Could you gain other skills such as accountancy - management- to give yourself a stronger edge?

sydenhambased

My OH and I have both lived in London for 8+ years (me 8, her all her life) - she grew up in Harrow. We're both musicians, and we manage absolutely fine.

We currently pay £900 per month (plus CT and bills) for two thirds of a massive 3 bed flat share in Zone 3, and we're in the process of buying a 2 bed flat for the first time.

For your partner, WHO rather than WHAT he knows is going to be key - if he can get some sound tech-ing work, even if it's a short contract or a few days here and there, he'll be fine. My sister's ex is a sound tech who studied outside of London, got some work in London with Orbital Sound and three years later is working on West End shows. The work IS there, as long as he's a) good, b) well presented, c) amiable and d) punctual.

For you, find a caf! job preferably in whatever suburb you live in (to save £100+ per month on commuting) and then work out what it really is that you want to be doing.


We did at one point have a young couple living with us that had very few qualifications: she was a hairdresser out in Surrey and he worked at a guitar shop in central London. They were paying £450 per month for one bedroom, plus probably £100 each for bills and council tax, and I reckon another £250 for monthly commuting - £1000 plus maybe another £250 for food. They managed but they didn't find it easy.

mitzi_tov

summerholiday wrote: »

Could you gain other skills such as accountancy - management- to give yourself a stronger edge?

I've thought a bit about this - I've done a couple of IT certificates, worked on smartphone apps, taught programming, tried my hand at film making. Management sounds a good idea - broader, more transferable and I'd have a better chance of moving up the ladder without having to start in a completely new field.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

There are plenty of unpaid "intern" places but very, very few roles which pay. If your partner isn't thinking about getting into the industry as a freelancer/running his own business I'd be very wary about putting my fifteen grand at his disposal until he starts earning a decent wedge. You don't want to find yourself in a couple of year's time with all of those savings gone while he's still trying to get his big break and you're supporting him on your wages alone. Seen it. Done it. Bought the T-shirt.

This is what I'm worried about. He did an intensive course at London Business School which should give him better opportunities, but even then he can't afford to be fussy about things. He does strongly want to be the breadwinner, won't touch my savings and will consider other sectors to get the money in but it's going to be a big step backwards as he doesn't have the contacts or reputation down there.

summerholiday wrote: »

Does he also keep a watchful eye on his expenditure at these gigs? Beer at these venue costs more than average pub. How does he help economise for you both?

You come over as the mover and shaker in this relationship regarding finances and planning. Are you both of the same view over finances? He does not appear to have a role in your savings -Joint?.... to date....?

We don't share any accounts yet. I don't plan to add him to this one but we've discussed making one to put equal amounts of cash for rent, bills, dates etc in and one for joint savings. We already go dutch on everything we share and pay for our own things. He's starting to save and budget properly (funds all go into a personal savings account with a weekly allowance transferred to his current account).

He's careful about where his money goes, but he'd never put together a financial plan before. I'm definitely more money-minded.

BitterAndTwisted

mitzi_tov wrote: »

We don't share any accounts yet. I don't plan to add him to this one but we've discussed making one to put equal amounts of cash for rent, bills, dates etc in and one for joint savings.

Don't open any joint-accounts with him. Just don't. That makes you financially linked which is really not a good idea when you aren't married. Some married couples don't even share joint bank-accounts. Although that's a discussion for another day.