Andreea Daly has worked remotely for about 15 years, long before Covid made it the norm, but she realised she had never fully taken advantage of what she calls “laptop life”.
Ms Daly was born in Romania but has lived in the UK since she was a child. After living in Spain during her twenties she moved back to London, even though she can work from anywhere.
So this year, in May, she upped sticks and moved to Doha, Qatar. She has fallen in love with the Qatari capital, and says it affords her a much better quality of life than she has in the UK, for better value for money.
“It’s a wonderful place, I’m glad I went and I’m never coming back,” says the 41-year-old, who is the founder of Money Squirrel, which helps businesses manage tax.
What initially appealed to Ms Daly was the weather, as she says she was “missing just basic sunshine” back home.
After nearly six months in Qatar, she now hopes to get residency and possibly move her business there too.
She says Qatar comes with lots of advantages, financially and with quality of life.
She says: “In the UK for a long time I was working to exist and pay the bills. Even though I had a very comfortable income, I’m still not sure where all my money was going at the end of every month.
“I had a mortgage, a dog, and a Cineworld subscription, but I don’t drink and I don’t smoke, [and] I didn’t have any expensive habits like eating out regularly.
“I didn’t really have any expensive hobbies, other than being lucky enough to go on holiday scuba-diving a few times a year.”
But she says her social life changed “overnight” since moving to Doha.
“It’s a very heavily male-dominated population here, which means there are a lot of incentives for women to go to things – we get free access to beach clubs on certain days for example,” she explains.
“The culture is obviously a lot less alcohol focused which does make it more budget friendly,” she adds.
She also says comparative costs on eating out are far different in London and Doha.
“I had a work breakfast meeting with someone in London earlier this year and we had a glass of orange juice, a coffee and an egg dish each, and it was £65 for two people, which was insane,” she says.
“You can go to expensive places here but if you use delivery apps you can have a huge amount of food for the equivalent of a fiver.”
Ms Daly is currently living in a short-term rental, which she says is a serviced apartment costing £1,300 a month with all bills included.
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But she has friends and family currently paying the same in London commuter belt towns, who then have to pay transport costs too.
“Here that gets you a flat on the marina with beautiful views,” she says.
And she says travel costs in Qatar are far cheaper too.
“Anywhere I need to get to is either very easy as a walk or an incredibly cheap Uber ride. If you drive petrol is of course very cheap,” she says.
Qatar also has far lower taxes than the UK, though Ms Daly says this is not why she moved there.
Generally, Qatar-sourced income earned by individuals or resident corporate entities is subject to a 10 per cent income tax rate.
Income tax in the UK ranges from 20 to 45 per cent, while corporation tax is 25 per cent for profits above £250,000.
“It’s a weird and wonderful place. I’m glad I went and I’m never coming back,” Ms Daly says.
