Moving concerns

Hi all,

Looking to move up from London. Can move job office, with loss of London weighting obviously.

Currently earning 50k, which would be 46k with loss of weighting. Fine. However, I'll hit the higher tax rate instead Scotland (hits in at 43k). So I'll have 3k in the higher tax bracket, not that big of a deal.

But then there would be the loss of childcare for 9+months from 2025 (don't have kids yet but nearly ready)

A 5k stamp duty bill on the property I'd look to buy (2 bed flat around 300k, anywhere in Edinburgh) with no stamp duty due in England/Wales.

Altogether it seems like a quite a loss - particularly the childcare.

Council tax also seems to be banded higher - as in - 2 bed flats in London rarely go over band C but every flat I'm seeing in Edinburgh is C-E.

Struggling with all these higher costs and a smaller salary - how did others rationalise it before they moved?