On a more serious note, I think there's a pretty good chance that I'll eventually end up working out in the 'burbs again. At that point I'll have to decide whether I'm really willing to put up with the commute.

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It's still up in the air as the requirements are great, the dollar sucks, and the job prospects are not solid.

Where: UK, possibly Cardiff or Oxfordshire area
When: 3-5 years out

Why: Health care and Educational expenses. Currently I have great health care because I have a good job. I could lose that job at any point and then have no health care. That doesn't seem quite right.

It will take at least 3-5 years because I will need to obtain a Master's Degree (and hope the dollar upticks a little against the pound) to meet the Highly Skilled Immigrant program and of course pay the $800 processing fee.

I love Philly, I love where I live, but I have to think about what will be the best decision for my self and my wife when we are older and may need some of that great health care that we don't have any more because I'm not still working. And also I want my daughter to have a great education and we are saving for it, but the cost seem to be spiraling up and up .... a nice back up plan would be to live in a country where she could receive free collage if she has the grades to justify it (but doesn't have to be in the top 99.998 percentile.)

Still up in the air do to the requirements but definately being thought about.

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Phillyaggie is not nuts for planning to move to Philadelphia at a time when some Philadelphians are moving out. Philadelphia is a city with many advantages and opportunities, and it depends on each person and family what is the right locational decision. There is no one size fits all answer for everybody.

Capn Marko has given the most interesting and provocative answer to this thread, saying he would like to move to Great Britain for free health insurance and college education. Obviously, it is not totally free, as taxes are higher there. But I believe the increase in taxes he and his family will pay there is less than the cost high annual costs of health care and college education for many.

As Pennsylvania is looking at both the costs of college education and the costs of health care--but is highly unlikely to make either "free" in the sense of being totally subsidized by tax dollars--I would welcome detailed analysis from Capn Marko and anyone else interested and informed about the respective merits about British and American health care and higher education.

There would probably greater participation in the subject if there was a separate thread on it.

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I can tell you this much about British healthcare: Because it's "free", the waiting times to see a physician are apparently astronomical.

I was visiting a good friend in London in March. She's an American who went to grad school there and never left. She now lives with her British boyfriend.

She told me that the average time to get a doctor's appointment was about a month. At the time we were visiting, the boyfriend had just broken his foot or something along those lines - something that required a cast. At the time he had the cast put on, he tried to make an appointment to then take it off a month down the line. They couldn't see him for about a month BEYOND when he should have had it removed. He ended up cutting it off himself.

It's one person's point of view, of course, but my friend had nothing nice to say about the health system there.

And to make this relevant to the thread:

We're not planning a move from Roxborough any time soon, but when we talk about "what ifs", we talk about Chestnut Hill or Mt. Airy or some place with a larger yard than what we have now.