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For a fairly but not horribly austere lifestyle, you're looking at ~£20k GBP to get by. By this I mean you have a place to live somewhere in a fairly unfashionable/average zone 2 or 3 area, a place which is not that big or plush, but not a rat-infested crack den either. You share it with at least one, perhaps a few other people. You can afford all the basics of food, heating etc, plus a small amount of "luxuries" (go out for a few drinks here and there, keep yourself in clothes that arent falling apart, a few books/cds/dvds, that sort of thing) but you'll be taking the bus rather than a taxi, you'll be drinking £5 wines rather than £50 wines, you'll entertain yourself with a free museum visit rather than a pricy theatre ticket, etc. You won't starve but you will find yourself turning down social invitations due to lack of cash. If you want to live in zone 1 and/or an upmarket part of town and/or on your own, eat out / go drinking / go to the cinema / whatever regularly (eg more than once weekly), go on foreign holidays, buy shiny new tech gadgets, dress in designer label clothing, etc, then obviously more, and more, and more income is required... With no limit! It seems that 2600USD pcm (I assume you mean USD) is not so far away from what I earn. I find myself living a lifestyle I would consider comfortable; however I naturally lean more towards the former paragraph than the latter. My current lifestyle is certainly more free-spending than the first paragraph (for example, I can afford taxis and going out often without ever seeming skint) - but it is still nowhere near the second paragraph - however I have little to no interest in world travel, designer fashion, plasma tvs and the like and therefore I do not miss them. So it depends on your lifestyle desires. I do not know anything about costs of companies. As for health insurance -- I cannot vouch for this point 100% but I'm fairly sure this should be a non-issue: as an EU citizen I believe once you have paid the normal income tax and National Insurance the same as I do, you would be entitled to NHS healthcare. I hope this helps. Feel free to follow up with any further questions about London life you may have. |