Home brewing in the UK?

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HarvInSTL

HarvInSTL

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I have accepted a position with my current company that would send me to London 1-2 weeks a month with the intention of moving there for good after 6 months.

Does anyone know of any websites/forums that is dedicated to UK/EU home brewers?

Don't worry I'll still frequent this place, but it might be a bit easier to ask questions about home brew shops, brew clubs, etc on a board dedicated to that area.

Thanks!
 
Congrats Harv! I'm sure Orfy can help you. I don't know about that living for "good" after 6 months.

Make sure you get the move home in writing regardless. It's pricey to be an expat.
 
Be sure to consult a tax advisor so you don't get screwed.

Personally I would not work abroad again unless it was major bucks, a house provided and a car with expenses. All of that costs major bucks over there and if you are paid in dollars, they don't go far.

I'll go and work 3 weeks on expense account and come home for 1, thus keeping my house and family here, but moving me would be very expensive for the company.

PM me if you have questions. I've sent 2 SE's over seas to work for a 1 or 2 year stint.
 
For the first six months they are paying for the following:

1 round trip ticket per month
All hotel and transportation expenses
$750/month stipend

I also get $500 for a tax advisor and they handle all of my imigration paperwork.

After 6 months I can either head back to the states and get my old job back. (All of this is in writing in the contract I signed)

Or I can move from the US to the UK. And they pay my moving expenses, paperwork and we renegoatiate my salary/contract.

Also during the first six months I will be paid by our US branch in US dollars.

If I make the choice to stay I will be paid by our UK branch in GBP.

At this time I can live anywhere within 2hours of London and about 75% of my work will be done from home.

(Compared to the 100% done from home now and it has been mentioned that depending on the business units needs I might be able to live anywhere in Europe as long as I am within 2hours of a major airport.)

While I am away from home on business they still pay for my transportation costs, daily per diem,etc.

This is honestly the best company I've worked for. They gave me a 10% raise in Febuary, they gave me a 9% raise for this position and if I stay in the UK I'm looking at another 12-15%. Not bad considering I've only been with them 15months.
 
HarvInSTL said:
For the first six months they are paying for the following:

1 round trip ticket per month
All hotel and transportation expenses
$750/month stipend

I also get $500 for a tax advisor and they handle all of my imigration paperwork.

After 6 months I can either head back to the states and get my old job back. (All of this is in writing in the contract I signed)

Or I can move from the US to the UK. And they pay my moving expenses, paperwork and we renegoatiate my salary/contract.

Also during the first six months I will be paid by our US branch in US dollars.

If I make the choice to stay I will be paid by our UK branch in GBP.

At this time I can live anywhere within 2hours of London and about 75% of my work will be done from home.

(Compared to the 100% done from home now and it has been mentioned that depending on the business units needs I might be able to live anywhere in Europe as long as I am within 2hours of a major airport.)

While I am away from home on business they still pay for my transportation costs, daily per diem,etc.

This is honestly the best company I've worked for. They gave me a 10% raise in Febuary, they gave me a 9% raise for this position and if I stay in the UK I'm looking at another 12-15%. Not bad considering I've only been with them 15months.
Click to expand...

Hey harv - does it seem odd to you that they want to move you over there to work 75% from home? I would think it would make sense to keep the resource over here in the states rather than move you over to a higher cost GEO and not have a reason (F2F meetings with clients, or something).
 
blacklab said:
Hey harv - does it seem odd to you that they want to move you over there to work 75% from home? I would think it would make sense to keep the resource over here in the states rather than move you over to a higher cost GEO and not have a reason (F2F meetings with clients, or something).
Click to expand...

Not at all. This department (in the UK) doesn't have many F2F w/ clients and part of my job is to change that. Part of my job is to make myself available to our clients and to provide an expertise that hasn't been available there for a while.

Ideally I would be working from home 25% of the time and onsite with customers 75% of the time. And looking at the profit sharing and performance based incentives it would great if I were onsite more than I was at home.
 
Are they going to adjust your salary due to the week dollar? Bank on less than 50% take home due to paying for everyone's wonderful free healthcare.
 
HarvInSTL said:
Does anyone know of any websites/forums that is dedicated to UK/EU home brewers?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure this is all that helpful, but I had a look at some UK-based HB forums, and honestly I didn't find any that were anywhere near as good as this place. I may just have missed the good ones, but homebrewing is generally much less popular in the UK than in the US, so fewer people do it, and the online communities for brewing are much more sparse as a result. Orfy may know different so I'd defer to him on that. Though in the meantime if you have any specific questions I'm sure the UK contingent on here would be happy to help out.
 
Danek said:
I'm not sure this is all that helpful, but I had a look at some UK-based HB forums, and honestly I didn't find any that were anywhere near as good as this place. .
Click to expand...

Yep. Call me biased, but www.homebrewtalk.com is the best homebrew community in the world!!! Even broadcasting live from the National Homebrewers Conference 2008 in Zinzinnati!

Great info, great members, and some great recipes!

It blows all other boards away leaving them covered in Ethernet dust. :D
 
EdWort said:
Are they going to adjust your salary due to the week dollar? Bank on less than 50% take home due to paying for everyone's wonderful free healthcare.
Click to expand...

I found the take-home pay in the UK to be fairly similar to the US as far as taxes go, if not better. I don't remember the percentages without digging up old pay stubs, but I was surprised at how good it was. The big catch is that, technically, you are required to pay income tax to the US federal government on money you earn while living in another country. I don't know if there are ways around this or to minimize it, but a tax advisor should be able to help.
 
To the OP: See a dentist before you go. Seriously. You don't want to get caught in the UK with a dental problem. Mike Myer's teeth in Austin Powers weren't a joke.;)
 
menschmaschine said:
I found the take-home pay in the UK to be fairly similar to the US as far as taxes go, if not better. I don't remember the percentages without digging up old pay stubs, but I was surprised at how good it was. The big catch is that, technically, you are required to pay income tax to the US federal government on money you earn while living in another country. I don't know if there are ways around this or to minimize it, but a tax advisor should be able to help.
Click to expand...

You actually are exempt on the first $70K, but you have to keep paying into the Social Security Ponzi scheme. No way around that.
 
One idea is to pack a 50# sack of grain in your suitcase each time to go over to build your stock of supplies.
 

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