Posted on 12/11/2007 11:55:28 AM PST by Santa Fe_Conservative
LONDON - Karla Keating and her husband had retirement on their minds in May when they got what they considered an offer too good to refuse: a three-year stint in London.
Coming from North Carolina, they knew it was going to be a bit of a financial leap. But the major US bank where her husband is an executive lured him with a 33 percent increase in pay. Within weeks, they had crossed the ocean and found a nice flat near Marylebone for 1,820 pounds - about $3,750.
"The estate agent told me the price, and I said OK, I guess that's kind of comparable to prices around Europe. And he said, 'That's the price per week,' " Keating recalls. Since then, it's been all downhill.
The iPod Nanos for the children cost 99 pounds apiece (about $204), compared with $149 in the United States. Keating's six-Diet Coke-a-day habit got shaved quickly to one, at $2 a can. They sit at the end of the day on their small balcony overlooking Great Portland Street, and her husband smiles (sort of) and says, "Here's your $12 glass of wine."
"When I got here I was like a deer in headlights. I was just, 'Oh my God' about everything," Keating said. "We figured out that with the increasingly weakening dollar, in reality he is making less than he was making 20 years ago."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Move.
What you said.
This guy works for a “major US bank” and he thought a thirty three percent pay increase would cover moving to London? I wish they would have published the name of the bank. I would make a point of staying away from there.
Even before the recent drop in the dollar, going from North Carolina to London would have been a lot more than a 33% increase in expenses. I hope the international experience is a good enough boost on his resume to make up for the London hit.
Probably one of those banks that thought loaning $400K on a 3% ARM to someone making $50K/Year was a smart move.
Maybe the US government should subsidize this guy's $12 Glass of wine?
33% isn’t enough to cover the difference between NC and the DC metro, let alone London, even prior to the current currency situation. This man is not bright. As far as which “major financial institution” employs him, it would have to be Bank Of America, or Wachovia. Possibly BB&T, but I doubt it.
It’s Wachovia.
When do those large foreign corporations start to hire that cheap American labor?
To their credit, they thought they would still come out smelling like a rose when the person making 50K/Year defaulted in a few years.
Then reality smacked them in the face and they found that the $400,000 home can only get $315,000 instead of $450,000.
He donated $1,000.00 to the Kerry campaign in 2004. That explains a lot.
...and doesn't throughly investigate the cost of living in a foreign country before moving there...
If he is being paid in dollars, he should demand a raise to cover the change in his expenses. He was a fool to accept a salary in a currency other than the one he has to pay his bills in anyway, but it also sounds like he was simply unprepared for the higher cost of living, or just likes to complain about it.
The only major American Bank in North Carolina that I know of is Bank of America. They don’t exactly have the cream of the crop running some of their divisions, let alone guys lower ranked than that.
The price to move from BoA Charlotte to BoA New York is at least 75% higher, and this should have been easily found using google.com
Moving from NYC to London is again another 26% higher(as of June ‘07, so probably nearer to 33% now) at a minimum.
100% Charlotte salary, requires 175% in NYC, and requires 220% to 275% in London.
And this info was found in 2 minutes using google.
$ 15,000 a month for an apartment ? The guy is insane .
Income earned overseas isn’t taxed by IRS, but still...
I don’t think a 33% raise would have covered the cost of moving from North Carolina to Washington DC, or even Atlanta. Talk about naive. The Brits must be laughing their backsides off at these babes in the woods. I cannot imagine what good a man like this could be doing his company.
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