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BusinessWeek: January 11, 1993 |
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Personal Business: Relocating
FOR GLOBETROTTING EXECS EN FAMILLE In the global environment, opportunity can knock suddenly. Called in by the boss, you learn the company plans to open a foreign subsidiary and wants you to move abroad to get it rolling. It means money, a big title, and experience that will heighten your value on your return. Any career-minded exec may see the offer as unrefusable. But be aware that relocating is a major undertaking. It may involve packing up a family, selling a beloved home, and arranging a zillion other personal and financial details. So consider some advice--and warnings--from globetrotting vets. Take Mark Terry, who agreed to move with his pregnant wife and young daughter from Vermont to London a few years ago to boost exports for New England Digital. The company's attitude, he says, was: "Get on a plane, find a place to live, we'll send the stuff over, and you'll be O.K." Now an executive at JBL, a stereo equipment maker in California, Terry says he couldn't anticipate some of the problems he would face. Among them: The family's 14-year-old dog had to be put to sleep when a vet said it wouldn't withstand six months in quarantine, as required by British law. COMPLICATIONS. Housing, both abroad and at home, can be the most vexing worry. Since they plan to stay in the foreign country a few years at most, most execs choose to rent overseas. Finding the right place may require both spouses to make at least one trip abroad, usually at company expense. But if that hurried search doesn't turn up a home--or the proper school, if children are coming, too--you might have to foot the bill for a second trip. And renting a place overseas can be much more complicated than it is in the U.S. Some property owners may demand illegal fees or payment in U.S. dollars. Agreeing to the deal could get you expelled or jailed. The problems cut both ways. Dale Morley, a Londoner who recently transferred to New York as vice-president for sales and marketing at Avis International, found that trying to rent out his home in England was so complex he opted to sell the place. Americans prepared to move abroad face a similar decision. ibm and other companies, in plusher times, aided execs on the move--even to the extent of buying an empty home left behind--but few do so now. So, with a deadline looming, you and your spouse must deal with rental agents, brokers, prospective buyers or tenants, and other details of real estate transactions. A danger is that sellers under pressure to act may accept a poor deal. If you err in screening renters, you might wind up trying to collect from deadbeats thousands of miles away. Ken Ross, an architect who moved to Malawi when his wife took a U.N. post there, ran into another snag when he sublet his Manhattan apartment: "The mail was slower than we had been told, so a few of our mortgage checks got to the bank late. We were hit with penalty fees and questions when we tried to refinance." To avoid such hassles, notify banks and other lenders about your move at least six weeks in advance. Most can arrange direct-deposit for the checks you expect to receive regularly--from renters, a pension fund, or Social Security, for example. Don't forget those that arrive infrequently, such as semiannual bond-interest payments. And leave a few signed blank checks behind with a secretary or a family member to cover forgotten bills that show up after you head overseas. If yours is a two-paycheck family, you will want to check on employment possibilities for your spouse in the new country. Many countries with their own sizable unemployed ranks forbid spouses to take jobs. Avis' Morley suggests you double-check other visa regulations, too. For example, if you hope to explore the new country, you might discover that your visa restricts nonbusiness travel. Modern communications can make it easy for most expatriates to stay in touch with family and friends back home. "Just be prepared for big telephone bills," warns Terry. To trim them, Morley mails audiocassettes to his children's grandparents in England. And in more than 100 countries, you can dial directly to an at&t operator and call back to the U.S. at fixed per-minute rates, avoiding any local phone company surcharges. (Details: 800 874-4000.) Another way to connect thriftily with close relatives is to give a high-speed fax machine as a gift. And if you plan to use a computer in the new location, sign up with a membership organization such as CompuServe (800 848-8990) or the Institute for Global Communications (415 442-0220). For a monthly fee of about $10 and the cost of a local phone call, you can send lengthy letters or brief notes daily via electronic mail. SOME PAL. Swapping camcorder tapes also helps you stay close to family and friends. But television systems differ. So tapes made on the U.S. system, called ntsc, can't be played on videocassette recorders in Europe and Africa, which use the pal system. However, Sony, Aiwa, and other manufacturers sell multisystem vcrs and tv sets that solve this problem. Such devices almost always cost less in the U.S. than anywhere else, so it's smart to buy one to ship abroad with your household goods. Unless you're moving to Latin America, odds are that TVs, VCRs, and all other electric appliances in your new location will run on something other than the U.S. 110-volt standard. Again--because they cost less here than abroad--you might want to ship a whole array of 220-volt equipment. It can include many more items than might first come to mind: a toaster, microwave oven, food processor, stereo, vacuum cleaner, electric heater, even a refrigerator, washing machine, and dishwasher. If you plan to take along your home computer and printer, you'll need some good-sized transformers--"not the little $10 kind you can use for an electric razor," says Ken Ross. They cost $100 and up at ABC Trading in New York, which specializes in 220-volt equipment by GE, Maytag, Hitachi, and other worldwide manufacturers. Also worthwhile in countries where power failures are common: a small device called an uninterrupted power supply (about $150). It keeps your PC running for about 10 minutes longer, so you can save on-screen data. An all-at-once outlay for a houseful of appliances can eat up a big chunk of the higher salary you've been promised. And expect additional costs. Although you can exclude from U.S. taxes the first $70,000 earned from a foreign source, you will want to ask an international accounting firm about how the foreign country taxes resident aliens. Some have higher rates than the ones at home. And in developing nations with low cost-of-living levels, you may find that a new car, along with such necessities as property and life insurance, are far more expensive. "Then there are all the little things," says Terry. "Like having to buy new Christmas lights when you know you've got perfectly good ones in storage." A tip: When you agree on salary, insist that the figure be reviewed after six months in the new post. Still, the promise of higher income, the chance to run your own show, and adventure in an exotic locale can be irresistible. And living the dream for a short time can be heady--enough to make some execs feel deflated upon returning home. But with so much else to worry about, that's probably the last thing on your mind. | |
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