Whether you decide to move across town or across the country, at some point your family is going to be faced with a move. As you grow within a corporation, it's likely at some point they will ask you to move from one city to another. This means the financial decisions you make could have a substantial impact on your bottom line. Here are five money considerations you should think about before you make the move.
- Rent or Sell - Since you don't always know how long you'll be in a city, buying a home is a big family financial decision. If you relocate to another city, an even bigger decision could be whether or not you should sell your existing house or rent it out. Make sure you review items such as seller costs, moving costs, whether or not you want to be a landlord and what you could get for market rate rental income before you make this big decision. It's best to do a side by side of both financial and emotional considerations on this one.
- Taxes - Depending on the city and state you move to, you may have a positive uptick or a negative downtick in the amount of taxes you pay. Make sure you get your withholdings adjusted and realize you may need to file tax returns in two separate states in that particular tax year. Many people never make the right adjustments and it kills them around tax time.
- School Systems - Part of choosing the location on where you live will be dependent on whether your children go to public or private school. If you are thinking about public school, then the location you move to could be even more important to your family. If you have to move to a major city, you might also need to consider the cost of private school and how that will affect your budget.
- Professionals - When you move to a new location, you won't be able to keep the doctors, dentists, and potentially other professionals you have used for years. You may want to research which professional in your circles will still be able to do business with you and begin researching for new professionals that need to replace your existing ones. Your medical professionals will move to the top of that list.
- Make Certain You Know What Your Employer Will Cover - This is an important item to research because most families overestimate what their employers will do for them with a new move. You should expect that there will be ancillary costs for you to pick up in a move, but moving costs and travel to find new housing are two important ones to ask your benefits or human resource expert.
Ted Jenkin is a frequent guest columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Headline News Weekend Express. He is the co-CEO of oXYGen Financial. You can follow him on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/theceoadvisor or on Twitter @tedjenkin.
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. oXYGen Financial is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. Kestra IS and Kestra AS do not provide tax or legal advice.
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