Thanks to social media, it is now as easy as ever to make everything about your life look glamourous. A smartphone with a good camera, a stunning background and some filters are all you need to do wonders. But beyond those stunning Instagram photos that can make everyday look like an island holiday, there’s a lot more hustle than meets the eye.
Many Nigerians abroad can relate to receiving astonishing requests that often come through from family and friends. There is still a bizarre assumption that moving abroad immediately translates to unlimited wealth. It’s not unusual to hear requests like ‘If you’re coming back this year, please get me the latest iPhone’. I got one of such requests while I was a student. It left me both amused and stunned. I had called my brother in Nigeria who happened to be in the middle of a conversation with someone I knew. After speaking with my brother for a while, I took the opportunity to speak to this friend. We had a good catchup and in what I thought was said as a joke, he said I should just help him with $10,000. That definitely prompted some laughter. It crossed my mind to clarify that the currency in use in the UK is the Pound Sterling, but I delayed it long enough to realise that giving that piece of information actually wasn’t to my benefit under the circumstances. What I didn’t expect was to get a text message from him after the call sending me his bank account details. Now, that left me stunned. He has never followed up on it, and we haven’t discussed the topic again since.
While some of those exotic social media posts help fuel this perception that moving abroad immediately translates to unlimited wealth, they do not tell the full story. More often than not, moving from Nigeria to places like the UK, USA, Canada, Germany etc come with benefits. A lot of people make that move and build successful lives abroad over time. But it is not always the case…and even for those that have been successful, it didn’t happen overnight. The process is often slow, tasking and more challenging than the social media posts would imply.
This article from The Money Charity gives a bit of context. In 2018, The Money Charity found that almost 10million households in the UK have no cash savings whatsoever. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 27.6million households in the UK in 2018. If such a large percentage of UK households struggle to keep away any savings, what are the odds that foreign nationals coming in to the UK will immediately find opportunities that transform them into millionaires within a short space of time?
Since a large percentage of foreign nationals come into the UK as students and then make the transition to working professionals, let’s take a brief look at a possible scenario for a foreign national in the UK who has just graduated from university. According to this Luminate article from 2018, the average gross starting salary in London is £27,256. This gives you about £1,850 in your pocket every month (after taxes). Not bad at all. Now for some of the costs that will dip into the same pocket.
This article from Simply Business found that the lowest average monthly rent for a one bedroom property in London will take you to Bexley, and cost you £854 per month. From the list of council tax rates for Bexley, the lowest tax band is £1,231.15 per annum (or £102.59 per month).
Since costs of other utilities will vary depending on the provider, I’ve gone with figures in this article from Money Advice Service as examples.
- £33 per month for gas
- £34 per month for electricity
- £34.58 per month for water
- £30.30 per month for broadband
That already puts your monthly costs at £1,088.47 per month, before you’ve had a single meal or used any form of transportation.
If we assume a combined cost of £500 per month for feeding and transportation, your total comes to £1,588.47. So, after what started out to be a good month with £1,850, your pocket is now left with £261.53, after covering just essential costs.
For some additional context, Numbeo – a crowd-sourced global database of reported consumer prices and other statistics – estimates the monthly living costs for a single person living in London at £838.83, without rent.
Being able to save £260 a month is pretty good. Of course, while some will be able save a lot more than that, some others can only dream of being able to put aside such an amount at the end of the month. But the point is that it will take a while to get financially comfortable at this rate; comfortable enough to get the latest iPhone for every cousin that asks for one.
In conclusion, the social media posts by the beach with everyone wearing shorts, t-shirts and slippers, looking like there is not a care in the world, do not tell the complete story. If you have plans of moving abroad, press on with those plans. Just keep in mind that it is not as easy as it looks from the outside.
We carried out a survey of over 100 Nigerians about their experiences of living abroad. This post discusses one of the popular answers to the question ‘What is one thing you wish you knew before moving abroad?’