Moving to London?

NineDeuce

John-K wrote: »

Or he could rent a place like mine for a lot more. It’s beautiful, central, on the water, and a great location for bars and restaurants.

It’s expensive here for a reason, people want to live here, and there are jobs that make it all worthwhile.

A graduate in an investment bank will start on £60,000+, for example.

Yes, people need to think carefully, but like I did, you can turn up here with just a couple of changes of clothes and make your fortune.

Nice to see that you single out a job that is £25k above the London average to try and validate your point. All the plus points that you have stated are available elsewhere by the way for a lot less, and you can be better off doing it...

John-K_3

Detroit wrote: »

And the streets really are paved with gold too!

Yes, they are. It’s a city where you can arrive knowing no-one, without anything to your name, and make your fortune.

This makes it so very strange that Tower Hamlets and other boroughs are so full of people whose families have spent a life out of work.

It’s almost as though you can succeed or fail in the very same city based on the decisions that you make...

John-K_3

NineDeuce wrote: »

Nice to see that you single out a job that is £25k above the London average to try and validate your point. All the plus points that you have stated are available elsewhere by the way for a lot less, and you can be better off doing it...

Well yes, I pointed out that there are brilliant jobs, I!!!8217;d hardly point out that you can work in KFC here, as you can do that anywhere.

May I ask, you seem to see the worst in every situation, has that actually served you well? You come across as a real misery, ai!!!8217;m afraid to say, and that tends to be a bit limiting.

The fact is, it!!!8217;s idiotic to say that you have to have a bad life here. You can have a phenomenal one in the right career.

Ja7188

Does it absolutely have to be London, rather than another big city? Perhaps similar opportunities will exist in Bristol, Birmingham or Manchester etc. where the cost of living will be a lot less...

jobseeker2018

Thank you everyone for your comments.


I work in a specific area of Finance. As for the long-term I can either stay there or can move into a smaller team doing similar work in say Manchester/Bristol/Birmingham (but to get your foot in the door you need to be in London realistically as the teams are smaller elsewhere so you need a lot of experience to go directly into them).


My salary will increase but after taking into account cost of living I am probably in the same financial position as before.


Finally, the good news is that I have been offered a job in Canary Wharf and start soon!

Les79

AFF8879 wrote: »

I’d say do it, I was ultra averse to living anywhere near London when I graduated. I sucked it up and 8 years later I’ve tripled my salary, own my own place, met my partner + amazing friends and am now considering moving back to be near family next year in a far better financial position than I would have otherwise been.

The only caveats I’d make to that is that 1) the work in finance here is generally HARD (and long hours - I’m also based in C Wharf), 2) I spent 6 years in flatshares / bedsits to be able to save up the deposit I used when I bought a flat and 3) whilst it is much better nowadays, and without knowing exactly which area of finance you will be working in, there is still sometimes a bit of an “old boys club” elitist mentality, e.g. I graduated from an ex poly / grew up in low income family and sometimes felt I had to work twice as hard as my peers to prove myself, but generally day to day this is much less pronounced since the crash.

Personally, I like the concept of creating jobs in the North (or at the very least away from the capital).


I'm in a line of work which attracts wickedly smart people and most of them gravitate towards the capital, mainly because that's where the action is. But the employer has been kind enough to create jobs in the likes of Leeds/Middlseborough/Newcastle/Liverpool/Manchester (hence why I got in) and I love it.


It is particularly funny because my background somewhat mirrors yours; ex poly uni and a poor background, but I also did time in McDonalds/call centers after my degree AND I had to fight tooth and nail for my degree classification. But yet I frequently speak to people who have recently graduated from Oxford and Cambridge (based in London)!!


I am 1000% for creating more jobs in any location other than London. That is one of the biggest reasons why I'd be extremely reluctant to move to London, even if it were to cost me a job opportunity. I wouldn't want to feed the machine.


I would much rather either shovel horse muck for a living or work in Sunderland than work in London.

Masomnia

jobseeker2018 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your comments.


I work in a specific area of Finance. As for the long-term I can either stay there or can move into a smaller team doing similar work in say Manchester/Bristol/Birmingham (but to get your foot in the door you need to be in London realistically as the teams are smaller elsewhere so you need a lot of experience to go directly into them).


My salary will increase but after taking into account cost of living I am probably in the same financial position as before.


Finally, the good news is that I have been offered a job in Canary Wharf and start soon!

Congratulations. I've lived in London for a few years and enjoy it. I'm moving (supposedly) shortly as I can afford a one bed in Herts now, but I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing!

If you don't like it go back

I find in London that rents are higher and that pubs are more (probably as a result of the rents), but other than that I think it kind of works out. You have world class museums and art galleries all free nearby, beautiful parks, famous sites, before you start on the stuff that costs money. I go to watch classical music in London and it costs me less than it did in Manchester where I grew up, so it really does just depend on what you like doing.

As others have said you might need to flat share, but personally I would anyway. I've made loads of friends and met girlfriends through flat shares so if you make the most of it it's a positive.

Good luck.

Ja7188

Thank you everyone for your comments.


I work in a specific area of Finance. As for the long-term I can either stay there or can move into a smaller team doing similar work in say Manchester/Bristol/Birmingham (but to get your foot in the door you need to be in London realistically as the teams are smaller elsewhere so you need a lot of experience to go directly into them).


My salary will increase but after taking into account cost of living I am probably in the same financial position as before.


Finally, the good news is that I have been offered a job in Canary Wharf and start soon!

Good news - congratulations!

One further bit of advice, assuming you're going to have to live in some form of shared accommodation - if it's affordable, try to share with just one other as you're going to be working hard and the last thing you'll probably want is to come home to a full kitchen and have to wait for others to finish before you can cook your own dinner and/ or use the washing machine - also, only having one housemate removes the possibility of clashes between others in the house. I lived in London for a few months years ago and my two housemates absolutely hated each other and it got pretty tiresome being woken by them arguing in the middle of the night...

I guess the counter-argument would be that you can make friends in house-shares, but in my experience you're better off doing that by means of local MeetUps and dating sites/ apps etc...

Good luck!

Gavin83

Les79 wrote: »

Personally, I like the concept of creating jobs in the North (or at the very least away from the capital).


I'm in a line of work which attracts wickedly smart people and most of them gravitate towards the capital, mainly because that's where the action is. But the employer has been kind enough to create jobs in the likes of Leeds/Middlseborough/Newcastle/Liverpool/Manchester (hence why I got in) and I love it.


It is particularly funny because my background somewhat mirrors yours; ex poly uni and a poor background, but I also did time in McDonalds/call centers after my degree AND I had to fight tooth and nail for my degree classification. But yet I frequently speak to people who have recently graduated from Oxford and Cambridge (based in London)!!


I am 1000% for creating more jobs in any location other than London. That is one of the biggest reasons why I'd be extremely reluctant to move to London, even if it were to cost me a job opportunity. I wouldn't want to feed the machine.


I would much rather either shovel horse muck for a living or work in Sunderland than work in London.

I've never really understood this concept. As you move jobs from London to the North then logically the North will become more like London and London will become more like the North, ultimately with both ending up identical somewhere between the two. As you move jobs to the North everything people hate about London will follow, the 'rat race' nature, the way everywhere is busy, the cost, the perceived unfriendliness (insert thing you hate about London here).

If you dislike London and love the North then surely you'd rather keep them as totally separate entities?

What you really want is to keep everything you love about the North but with the job opportunities and salaries of London. However this really isn't possible.

System

I'm the opposite. I was born and lived in London most of my life but a few years ago I moved out to South Bucks. Eventually I had to stop working in London as the commute was too long.

I too work in finance. I trained as an ACA in a practice that specialised in real estate and then went on to be a fund accountant. When I left London I couldn't be a fund accountant as it is mostly London based. Being the opposite of your situation, I genuinely sometimes regret my decision. It was for family reasons and I have a great life here and my kids have great schools and surroundings. However, I miss the buzz of London. Also, in London my experience was that people I work with were clued up and motivated. Around here people just work where it is easy to commute to and stay there forever, becoming stale. London's job market was transient and fluid. People move upwards or onwards.

I think you will really enjoy it. Ignore all the stereotypes that get thrown around about London. It is a friendly city where you will make friends in no time at all. Canary Wharf is also a great location as there is good commutable areas at a reasonable price. Congratulations and good luck!