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Thread: id love to live in florida

  1. #31
    Gold 5 Star Member
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    Having a green card definitely helps. Being able to get homestead exemption, and the thought you will eventually be able to claim social security and medicare in your old age are big boons as is the ability to put your kids through further education at residents rates. Plus you dont have the expense of all the renewals, for which the whole family have to fly back to Europe. I think with a green card and a good income, you can live the lifestyle, maybe the odd complaint about the cost of healthcare, property tax and insurances, but no real problems. However the original poster was not going to be on a green card, they were going to be on a visa. Fact is the vast majority of Brits here end up either running a business or getting sponsored for employment and a lot people are really struggling with their businesses in this economic situation and others with employment based visas are being laid off left right and centre because of the high unemployment It isnt for the faint hearted. Apart from the hot and humid weather in Summer, there is nothing wrong with living here if you have permanence and a lot of cash or a very good income.
    Julie


  2. #32
    Super Moderator florida4sun's Avatar
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    yep pretty much as I said, super place to live if you have a wedge [msnsmile] . Like I said I would be back there in shot if circumstances were different.
    Mind you, you need a wedge in the UK now. It has to be one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. The main thing is that there is safety net, if it all goes the wrong way (and this happens to the best of people), you still have a roof over you head, food in you tummy and free healthcare. Very different to the USA. Easy to moan about this country but it has lot of things which are good, but the grass is always greener on the other side.

    <blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
    Having a green card definitely helps. Being able to get homestead exemption, and the thought you will eventually be able to claim social security and medicare in your old age are big boons as is the ability to put your kids through further education at residents rates. Plus you dont have the expense of all the renewals, for which the whole family have to fly back to Europe. I think with a green card and a good income, you can live the lifestyle, maybe the odd complaint about the cost of healthcare, property tax and insurances, but no real problems. However the original poster was not going to be on a green card, they were going to be on a visa. Fact is the vast majority of Brits here end up either running a business or getting sponsored for employment and a lot people are really struggling with their businesses in this economic situation and others with employment based visas are being laid off left right and centre because of the high unemployment It isnt for the faint hearted. Apart from the hot and humid weather in Summer, there is nothing wrong with living here if you have permanence and a lot of cash or a very good income.
    [/quote]


  3. #33
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    If I had to go back to the UK poorer I could handle it better the staying here poor..I never moved to the US to just get by...but to get on..in the UK I'm happy going to biker do's and spending time with friends up the pub..here I want a little more because we work harder for it..
    I loved my first 3 years here...I spent all my time helping other get here..but buy outs and lay offs do take the shine out of life..I'm happier now because I feel no matter what downsizing is the way to go..I'm happy to still have what I have when friends are losing everything..my kids are happy here in good jobs or back at school..and they have great friends..all in all this was a good move if things are what you want to own...but maybe not for peace of mind..


  4. #34
    Florida Junior
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    Oct 2006
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    I think that what we are all going through is one day going to be called The Great Recession. Europe is going to fare better in coming out of this than the US. America is having a very, very difficult time. An absolutely huge amount of wealth has vanished in the US and is likely not to ever come back.

    A good friend and mate of mine was going to open a call center and did the usual thing of looking into Mumbai to set up operations over there. After a while I saw him again and asked how it was going and he completely surprised me by saying that he was going to set up in the US.... in northern Kentucky. Amazing but it is actually cheaper now to employ Americans as call center employees and to run it in Kentucky than to employ Indian employees!!!!!!

    The Americans who came in for the position interviews were beaten down and desperate. He said the unemployment rates in some of these towns is thirty percent or more. There are no social services for these people! And these people were angry...really seething anger that their country had abandoned them. You combine that will millions of firearms and its a recipe for trouble.


  5. #35
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    I'm not sure it that bad all over..I live in an area where there are a lot of poor and they always surprise me on how they get by...and in a lot of cases how happy they are with very little..you don't see that on the TV..


  6. #36
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    Oct 2006
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    Chrizzy, I've been watching the "town hall" meetings in America on cnn. I'm not sure poor people in America are "happy with very little". At one televised meeting in Michigan, a man pushed his teenage son who is in a wheel chair from cerebral palsy to the front and angrily confronted a congressman about his son's loss of benefits. Dozens and dozens of what looked like pretty ordinary citizens in the audience were shouting angrily. Can you blame them? What can you do when no one, not a single person in authority is willing to do anything to ensure that children in desperate medical need are attended to?

    And it sure looks like the "poor people" in America used to be middle class.





  7. #37
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    we are talking about living daily life here not major issues like health care which to be honest no-one is happy with no matter where they live....
    People just get on with life..American as always been a country you can get on in..you can pick yourself back up...is it easy no..but no matter how much I moan about this and that..had we stayed in the UK and had the stuff thrown at us there that we have had thrown at us here we would of given up by now..



  8. #38
    Florida Junior
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    The following story was prominently reported in the New York Times this past weekend:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/op...13kristof.html

    A 32 year old middle class woman who basically died for no reason other than lack of health insurance. Amazing. I'm not sure how your family "picks itself back up" after that. 18,000 Americans die EVERY YEAR because they can't afford health insurance. And they're worried about a band of terrorists bottled up in some hills in far off Pakistan?????

    What could possibly be thrown at you in the UK that could compete with that?


  9. #39
    That is just incredible, and so sad.

    What I really don't understand is why Congress is opposing the health insurance for all that Obama is trying to put though. How can anyone argue against it? It just doesn't make sense!

    I think that our politicians need to be more circumspect in their comments about the NHS, because disparaging remarks about our health system are being used in the US to argue against similar healthcare there. I think that we are so lucky here to have the NHS, and while it may not be absolutely perfect, we couldn't do without it. I, for one, have only had a good experience with it, and thoroughly appreciate it.

    Nuala
    http://www.orlandovillarental.com/florida-vacation-rental-3291.aspx


  10. #40
    Florida Expert
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    May 2004
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    We lived out there for almost 3 years, before returning back to Blighty.

    The biggest single issue for us was health care. We didn't make a great deal whilst we were out there and so couldn't afford insurance.
    I had a big health scare and was admitted into hospital for 3 days. Luckily it was early in our move and i had extended insurance from the UK which covered me. The level of care and equipment available was fabulous but the cost would have bankrupt us if we didn't have insurance.
    3 days in hospital with a barage of expensive tests = $27k

    As to Nuala's question as to why they seem to be fighting health reform?
    1. There are a lot of people who get rich and make a lot of money out of private health care.
    2. The well off object to paying for health care which lower income people would benefit from
    3. The Americans have an in built fear of paying taxes, but are happy to pay $500-$600 a month for health insurance they may not use. Go figure?????

    I can't express my relief at landing back in the UK and falling back into having the NHS as an option when needed.
    We all knock the NHS, me included, before we left for Florida, but i'll tell you, its sorely missed when you get into the situation of not having anything while your out there.
    Neil & Kay


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