I have a job offer in Edinburgh and a feeling I'm about to get an offer from a company in the South East (not central London, but inside M25)

For sake of argument say the Edinburgh salary is 20k and that both jobs are exactly the same. At what price point would the other become a wise choice?

Bear in mind that Edinburgh is often considered the 2nd most expensive city in the UK to live. But also note that this is a mountain biking forum and it is surrounded by hills aplenty with unlimited access 😉

Depends on how much you feel your life away from work is worth. If in London and you have to spend money on running a car etc to go riding rather than pedal out of your door, it is 'costing' you.

I'm Cockney – love London, despite the crap bits. However, having lived in other place around the world and now living in a city comparable to Edinburgh (Adelaide – so less cold and rain! but pretty easy to ride straight into the hills here too) I would need a considerable chunk of money to pick London over Edinburgh; if the salary is 20k in Edinburgh, I'd want at least 26k to consider London.

However, if the prospect of moving up and earning more/working less is greater, etc etc, that also needs to be taken in to acct. But if it was me personally, 25%+, everything else being equal – which it very rarely is.

A good friend of mine was asked to transfer from Newcastle to St Albans by his employers. To maintain the same quality of life (same size house etc) they would have had to triple his salary. Depends what you value I guess.

Surely where you are based now, where your family are based etc all comes into account as well, so it's hard to put a figure on something like that without more info. Also are the chances of progression the same at both jobs as you'd want to hope you'll not be on that salary forever!

London here you should be looking for around at least £ 6,000.00p more
but you have take into account the cost of travelling etc.
And is the wage equal to what you do.

For me – nothing – as nothing would make me move to London from Edinburgh.

The only real difference in costs is on housing – and even then its not huge. Other costs are much the same. So If you live in a £250 000 house in Edinburgh how much would a similar house cost in London? What extra would that be on mortgage and how much per month would it cost?

A nice 2 bed flat in a reasonable area is £250 000. What would that cost in London?

They couldn't pay me enough.

ScotChegg x 10,000,000

You need to look at how much the job you're doing pays in London rather than look at 'what I'm on now+X' type formulas. If you're expecting to achieve parity then there has to be a compelling reason (other than cash) for makign the move, imo).

Cost of living is higher and most people would expect to earn more if they had to commute (season tickets can cost £5k).

Actual financial hit aside, I'd be asking for quite a lot, probably an extra 10k. Plus whatever the difference in living costs are. At least in South East London you're closer to the better riding the South has to offer but it's never going to be Scotland.

I'd probably just say no to be honest.

Really depends where in London. 'Inside the M25' is a damned big area, with quite varied living costs. If the job is in one of the outer villages or towns, you can live there, but there's a big difference between, say, Barking and Richmond.

If the salary's around 20k in Edinburgh, and the London job offers no other career advantage I'd be wanting a premium of 8-10k.

what you will want and what you will get will vary wildly, as shown above.

My employers currently…
SE England gets approx £2K, Central london gets a 6% pay lead

so from your £20k in the burg, you could be looking at £23.2K

The cost of commuting and the distance to any 'real' mountainbiking is not covered by that difference IMO.

Not for all the tea in China…

>Bear in mind that Edinburgh is often considered the 2nd most expensive city in the UK to live.<

So what – we have trains that go there from other places

When I lived in Edinburgh – think I was earning £17k (this was about 10 years ago) – I was asked to relocate to London to do the same job with the same company. It was working in the City and they were offering me £35k.

I said no.

I just can't abide the place, and lets face it – life isn't about money.

Depends what you want from life really. My brother is very money motivated (hence he is now a contractor) so is drawn to such places… me – I now live in the Lake District installing sewage pumps.

another "not for all the tea in china" vote here

Not a chance.

The London Allowance for 6th form teachers is:

Inner London – £3,508
Outer London – £2,338
Fringe – £926

Having friends and relatives who live within the M25 (outer London), the inconvenience-of-life in the Big Smoke is, to my mind, not worth any extra money at all. What will having twice the cash allow you to do? Of course, being well-off would allow you to fly to the Alps on a regular basis, but squeezing it into a weekend wouldn't be too pleasant and how many holidays would you get?

Unless your life revolves only around your vocational occupation, then Edinburgh must be many times more appealing.

Where is the M25 role based?

A room to rent is usually 400PM a flat 750PM a cheap house or flat 250k

Travel is dear too.

Other costs are similar (food, bills etc etc)

London is a great place but it's not for everyone and ultimately it's just a collection of much smaller places joined up!

Two of my best mates left here to live in Creiff and wouldn't come back for love nor money I on the other hand wouldn't leave.

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I'd be looking for a 50% increase. However I'd never class moving to London a "wise choice". I live 70 miles away and that's as close as I ever want to get. IMHO choosing Edinburgh is a no brainer especially if you enjoy the outdoors.

18k?

Cheers for the advice so far guys.

Firstly, I don't have any significant salary at the moment, this is the 1st rung on the ladder if you like.

And I don't have any dependent family to consider either.

The South East job is in Cobham, so just inside the M25 on the South West.

The offer came in, with a basic of 25k. Plus a better bonus scheme and the opportunities and speed of future promotion have been outlined.

Company in the South East is Swiftcover/Axa insurance. Edinburgh is RBS. So a bit more uncertainty in Edinburgh, but I'm not really worried about long term security.

Head says head South, heart says stay in Scotland…

It sort out just depends what you want out of life? Do you want to carry on enjoying everything that is wholesome and life-affirming, or become a money-chasing drone in the heart of the rat race? 😉

Given that you're just beginning your career I'd mostly base the decision on the career benefit whilst ensuring I could survive on the pay – shoudn't be a problem realistically. I lived in Cobham as a kid and have returned to nearby where I intend to stay – love the Surrey Hills. Houses are pricey to buy in the nice places around here but I don't suppose you will be looking to buy anytime soon? It is pretty middle class around here which is fine for me though I wouldn't want to live in the my snooty areas – Cobham falls in that category and has prices to go with that.

Come to the SE I say.

The South East job is in Cobham, so just inside the M25 on the South West. The offer came in, with a basic of 25k. Plus a better bonus scheme and the opportunities and speed of future promotion have been outlined.

Cobham it is then. Cobham itself is pricey property wise, but it's only 15 minutes from the North downs/Surrey hills.

You could live in Guildford or Kingston quite cheaply and have stuff to do nearby.

Flats going to be around 600pcm.

I'd do it for an extra $1M

would love to be in a job where contractors got more than staff………

They couldn't pay me enough (I've lived and worked in London so that's based on experience).

Is that where you became a racist? 😛

Just a quick question are all he nah sayers middle aged? i know some are.

I agree with Joolz and Crazy Legs – lots of Anti-London people in here; it's not as bad as they make out and as many don't live there is a bit rich anyway. However, if not your thing that's fine; but that doesn't mean anyone who does like being there is wrong or have any less valid of an opinion.

However, in terms of the riding aspect of the discussion TJ is correct; for the equivalent effort of travelling to riding spots, Edinburgh pi$$es all over London.

My choice would be Bath/Bristol or Edinburgh/Borders, personally; but I'll stay in Australia for now thanks.

However, for the OP; I'd maybe be tempted by the SE move from what you've said; this is likely to be a "work experience" type project as a "first" job – you even said it's not long term – so I'd be tempted to try something different; if in 6-12months it's not you, you can move on hopefully with some money in the bank and some new experiences in life and work skills.

Damn you all, I see the tables have turned now towards moving SE!

I think the fact that disappoints me shows that the heart is in Edinburgh. I don't really know much of the progression and future prospects within rbs so will enquire some more. That's the more important issue I think, I'm not too bothered about the money difference as long as both can provide comfortable living.

I should maybe add that I already verbally accepted rbs a week ago, before the other offer even came to the table.

it sounds as though you want to stay in Edinburgh from your posts ally; so really, why are you asking? A move down to cobham won't be "fun" unless you want to go, which you apparently don't.

Is it also a matter of the devil you know ?
I'm sure there's generally better riding up there (come to think of it, I've ridden up there m'self), one thing London has in it's favour is you can get over to Wales/west country etc (assuming you want to). The Chilterns/N downs are nearby – it's not like living in Essex 😉

I've lived down here since '88 and can't see us moving – we live about 10 mins or so drive from Cobham (Walton-On-Thames), before that we were in Surbiton (a better choice than Kingston IMO – later last train, faster train service, slightly cheaper housing – and less traffic of a weekend..and still in the travelcard zones and on the night bus route).
Given the choice I'd probably live in the surrey hills ie between Guildford/Dorking (we almost bought a place in Godalming a few years back), but unless you're in a town you may to drive to get anywhere bigger (bit of a statement of the obvious..), if you want to get into London it adds a fair bit to travel costs

T'other thing that swings it for me is I see quite a few bands over the year – other than mebbe the midlands, no-where else quite competes.

Ignore the 'it's a sh*thole' comments – it is what it is – and what you make of it. There's areas I would't touch with a bargepole but London's so big you can forget 'em.

>middle aged?

Hey, I resemble that remark :p

I've just been offered 110k more to move to Brisbane. Am seriously considering.

What do you do for a living , im unemployed at the moment follwing my masters course and no one is offering me a job

dangriff – Member

I've just been offered 110k more to move to Brisbane. Am seriously considering

GO NOW!!

you know you want to
op go for the experience if nothing else.

"A nice 2 bed flat in a reasonable area is £250 000. What would that cost in London?"

Around £250k actually.

I live in the outskirts of London (Kingston) and have easy access to the countryside and motorways to get out of London as well as a short hop into the centre if I need to. Kingston is also a lovely place to live as the river is practically on our doorstep and Richmond Pk is just up the road.Its a great place to bring up our son and we are very happy. The riding is good – Surrey Hills 45 minutes away, swinley is the same, Aston Hill is an hour away, woburn/chicksands is an hour and a half and south wales is doable in a day.

Would I move down here from Edinburgh if I was there? No. If you have doubts about it do not do it.

Cobham is hardly a shithole, a bit stockbroker perhaps. It's only just within the M25, and only about 20 minutes cycle from Kingston if you want to live in a centre. I would imagine that traffic during the week will be awful so living somewhere that you don't need to drive in from the A3 would be sensible.