Have you factored in these costs of moving abroad?

Large money matters often take precedence, leaving you focussed on buying property, securing visas and sorting out a job or pension.

But there are lots of other costs associated with moving overseas.

They may seem small compared to buying a house, but they can quickly add up.

Have you accounted for these expenses when planning your move abroad?

Tickets and passports

Have you shopped around to find the best plane, boat or rail ticket prices?

You could find that there are group discounts, advance booking discounts, special offers or incentives to travel during off-peak times.

You will also need to check the passport requirements for entering the country and for your visa, as you may need six months or more left before it expires in order to cross the border.

The quicker you sort your passport out, the less expensive it will be; leaving it too late could see you having to use the expensive express service options to get it delivered quicker, or even having to postpone your trip to give you time to sort it out.

Removals

Moving yourselves is quite straightforward, but what about your possessions? You’ll need to decide whether money or time is your key consideration when sending your items abroad.

Airfreight is much quicker than sea freight, but this comes at an increased cost.

If you aren’t taking your entire household with you, many removals companies offer ‘shared’ shipping options, where your possessions share a container with those of other customers heading to the same destination.

This is available for both sea and air transport and allows you to significantly cut your costs, as you aren’t paying extra for empty space you’re not moving.

It is worth remembering that this can slow down the process, however, as the company has to consolidate the possessions from several customers into the shared container, which is more time consuming.

Storage

You will need to decide what happens to the bulk of your possessions once you move. Are you planning on taking the whole house with you, getting rid of a lot of stuff, or leaving it in the UK?

You may therefore need to look into storage solutions, unless you have a friend or family member with a large garage or attic who can tolerate having your household contents clogging up their space.

Most self-storage providers offer a wide range of room sizes, so you won’t end up having to pay for storage space you don’t actually use.

Many also help you estimate the size of the room you will need and provide collection services or van hire to help you get your possessions to the storage facility with ease.

Self-storage may only be a few pounds a month for a small space, although if you are looking to store the contents of a large house you may be getting towards £100 per month.

It might therefore be wise to consider a combination of downsizing your possessions and storing only the most important to minimise on costs.

Currency

Your money needs to come abroad with you too.

Transferring money abroad using a high-street bank can see you losing out – potentially leaving you thousands worse off if you’re transferring the kind of sum that would buy a house.

Shop around for the best rates; leading currency brokers can offer competitive exchange rates that make your money go further, all without transfer fees.

Currency brokers offer safe and secure overseas payments, with advanced transfer options that allow you to protect yourself from the volatility of the currency markets.

If you take into account these factors when planning your move abroad you’ll be able to keep a tighter rein on your finances and get your budget under control.