Moving back home: planning the money side, step by step

Start with a date, even a rough one

Many plans to move home stay stuck at “one day.” What moves them forward is a target date, even a loose one: “summer 2028.” With a date you can work out how much to save each month, when to give notice on your lease, when to apply for schools and when to start the paperwork.

Write down why you’re going back, in one sentence: to be near family, to start a business, to retire, to raise the children near their grandparents. That sentence sets the size of each block. Retiring home needs a different budget from opening a shop.

If you’re a couple, do this together. Disagreements about the date or the plan are easier to settle on paper than three months before the flight.

Work out your savings target

Take Kofi and Abena, who live in Birmingham with their two children and plan to move back to Accra. The cedi floats against the pound, so they use a cautious budget rate for planning (for this example, £1 = GH₵14) and will review it every few months against the real rate. Our guide on moving abroad explains how a budget rate works.

Their estimate, line by line:

They already have £8,000 saved, so they need £17,600 more. At £900 a month, that takes a little under 20 months (17,600 ÷ 900 ≈ 19.6). A summer 2028 move works if they start now.

Two tips on this estimate. First, base local living costs on real, current prices: ask family what rent, school fees, electricity and fuel cost today. Holiday memories nearly always underestimate everyday life. Second, keep the cushion separate from the business money. If the shop costs more than planned, it mustn’t eat the money that keeps the family going.

The two-currency budget during the move

For a few months you pay on both sides. Your notice period on the flat is still running, a loan or insurance continues, and back home there’s already rent, school fees and transport.

The simplest method:

1. One budget per currency. What you pay in pounds stays in pounds, what you pay in cedis (or naira, pesos, rupees) stays in that currency. Don’t mix them.
2. A list of what keeps running. For each direct debit: keep it, cancel it or move it, with a date. A travel pass stops; a loan runs until it’s paid off.
3. A budgeted overlap. Plan for at least the last rent payments where you live now and the first ones back home. In the example, that overlap is covered by the contingency line and the cushion.

Also note anything that won’t stop at all: if you keep a flat to rent out, or a child stays behind to study, those are pound costs for years.

Moving your savings: in stages, with a record

Moving money home costs a fee and, for floating currencies, an exchange-rate margin. Our guide to sending money home shows how to work out the true cost and compare two offers. A few rules specific to moving back:

• Open an account in your own name back home before you move large sums, rather than routing money through a relative’s account.
• Send in instalments, as you need them: the rent, then the first stock purchase, then the rest.
• Keep every record: date, amount sent, amount received, fees, purpose. If there’s a family disagreement or a question from the bank, that’s your only proof.
• Be wary of projects run from a distance. Sending money to a brother or cousin to buy land or a car before you arrive is a classic source of losses and family rifts. If you do it, ask for receipts and title documents as you go.

Starting a business back home

Many moves home rest on a business plan: a shop, a farm, a service. Three rules cut the risk.

Test before you move. A scouting trip, conversations with suppliers, a first small sale: a few weeks of testing cost less than a £10,000 mistake.

Keep business money and family money apart. A separate account, or at least separate records, from day one. Otherwise you’ll never know whether the business makes money. Our guide to separating personal and business records covers the habit.

Plan for months without income. A new business rarely pays a living wage in its first months. That’s exactly what the cushion is for: it pays for family life while the business gets going.

For registering the business, go to the official registry of the country you’re moving to and, if you can, a local accountant. For ideas that need little capital, our list of small business ideas is a starting point.

Pension, accounts, tax: what to sort before you go

UK State Pension. You can claim your State Pension abroad if you’ve paid enough National Insurance contributions to qualify, and it can be paid into a bank in the country where you live (a 0.39% conversion charge applies). One point matters a lot for planning: your pension only goes up each year if you live in the European Economic Area, Gibraltar, Switzerland or a country with a social security agreement with the UK (but not Canada or New Zealand). Elsewhere, you don’t get the yearly increases; the pension only goes up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK. If you’re unsure which rule applies to your country, ask the International Pension Centre before you decide. You may also be sent a life certificate to sign in front of a witness; if you don’t return it, payments may be suspended.

Before leaving, check your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK and any workplace or personal pensions you hold. Write down each provider and policy number somewhere safe.

Accounts. Ask your bank whether it keeps accounts open for non-residents, and on what terms. An account back in the UK is often useful for a pension, rent or refunds.

Tax. If you’re leaving the UK to live abroad, tell HMRC, usually with form P85 if you don’t file Self Assessment. Whether you’re still UK resident is decided by the Statutory Residence Test; non-residents generally pay UK tax only on UK income, such as rent from a UK property. If you’re moving from another country, check its own rules for leaving residents.

Planning the move with Binome360

In Binome360, you create a “Move home” savings goal in one sentence and log each contribution; a progress bar shows how far you’ve come. Your accounts (UK, home country, cash, mobile money) are kept by hand, with no bank connection, and totals stay separate by currency. Nothing is saved until you confirm.

Binome360 doesn’t give tax or investment advice: for pensions and tax, use GOV.UK, your pension providers or a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I save before moving back home?

There’s no single figure. Add the cost of getting there, settling in (housing, schools, transport), a cushion of several months of local living costs (6 to 12 months is a common guide) and the capital for your plan. For the family in the example, that comes to £25,600.

Can I get my UK State Pension if I move back to my home country?

Yes, if you’ve paid enough National Insurance contributions. But it only increases each year if you live in the EEA, Gibraltar, Switzerland or a country with a social security agreement with the UK (excluding Canada and New Zealand). Elsewhere it’s frozen.

Should I close my UK bank account?

Not necessarily. It’s often useful for a pension, rent or refunds. Check that your bank keeps non-resident customers and what it charges.

Is it better to move my savings all at once or in stages?

In stages, as you need the money, and into an account in your own name. You limit the risk of a large sum being spent before you arrive, and you keep a clear record of every transfer.

In short

Moving back home works best when it’s run like a project: a date, a savings target in three blocks (getting there, cushion, plan), a two-currency budget for the transition and money sent in stages with a record. Pension, account and tax questions get settled before you leave, not after.

First step: write down your target date and the lines from the table above with your own figures, even rough ones.

Sources

• GOV.UK, “State Pension if you retire abroad” (claiming, payments, 0.39% conversion charge, yearly increases, life certificates): gov.uk.
• GOV.UK, “Tax if you leave the UK to live abroad”: gov.uk.
• GOV.UK, “Tax on foreign income: UK residence and tax”: gov.uk.
• GOV.UK, “Check your State Pension forecast”: gov.uk.

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