JWL

Rough guestimates fine here.

How much savings/cash in bank would a single retiree need in France (Let's say Brittany, small village or town or hamlet). Very modest living style.

House paid for, UK pension for what that might be worth with ex rates and no index-linking, how much would you feel 'safe' with in the bank (earning at least a bit of interest to add to the pension).

I know, many variables, but just shoot a few figures.

loy loy

depends on how long you plan to live ;-)

Touraine

InVinoVeritas

Also depends on quality of life, kids to support, inheritance to leave and of course, your age.

But I'll shoot first - €2M - but for God's sake don't put it in a French bank!

JWL

I didn't think anyone would be desperate enough to throw in the 'depends how long you live'...

JWL

65
moderate lifestyle. I'll stay in all day... -
no kids to support/dependents
no strict requirement/need to think about inheritence (although of course..)

Tweedpipe

I can't answer your query directly, as imo there are too many variables.

However, a few interesting published figures which may help you guesstimate your banking needs:-
As a guide, in 2011 there were 2 million people living in France with a maximum 651 euros per month for a single person - that must be tough.
There are currently an estimated 3.6 million with no fixed abode (SDF), and between 5 and 8.6 million living beneath the poverty line.
In 2014 Minimum working wage (Smic) = 1 445,38 gross/month; 1 128,70 net/month.
It should be noted that a large majority of French are content with a coffee & baguette or roll every morning.
Most expats enjoy a breakfast they are used to, however breakfast serials, marmalade and other familiar 'homely' products are more expensive here. Retaining these breakfast habits (as most of us do) would significantly increase the annual 'breakfast bill' for a start.
Perhaps others may be able to give you reasonable guesstimate figures.

JWL

No, I can live on baguette/croissants/cheese and other simple fair very happily (I've vegetarian). In fact, I dream about sitting down to a good French breakfast in a quaint little cafe in some quaint little town. Lovely..

Chatter Static

I wouldn't want to limbo under the poverty line here if they make it any lower the Government will have to employ someone to dig a hole and a man to stand and watch whilst smoking.

InVinoVeritas

Well there's €2,500pa for starters.

So with €2M in a the bank at 0.8% you have €13,500pa left plus your pension less your tax.

But the cost of your breakfast is about to go up:-

Pourquoi le prix de votre petit-déjeuner risque d'augmenter

EuroTrash

Well it depends a lot on what your property taxes are, what the running costs are on your house for heating etc, and also what interest rates are going to do in the future.

But since nobody has offered a serious figure yet, I'll start the bidding at around 100k GBP. That's assuming your pension covers all your living expenses including top up health cover, taxes, etc. Then if you live for another 20 years, you'd have each year on average a spare 5k, plus (diminishing) interest, to pay for your brekkies in quaint little cafés, the occasional holiday, and the inevitable major expenses like new cars, household appliances and structural repairs, that would otherwise swallow up all your pension.
If you live for 30 years you might have to stop eating out and buying new cars.

I think 'need' is the wrong word though. You don't 'need' any savings to live in France if you have a UK state pension. Not until you land up with a bill you can't pay, that is - and then you'll know exactly how much you need, down to the last euro.
The 100k is more a 'would feel comfortable with' figure.

EuroTrash

As it happens, I was one of those 2 million. It's enough to cover the essentials. Yes you have to go without a lot of things that you'd like but that isn't real hardship. In fact it's quite a good exercise in focusing the mind on what's important and what isn't and getting your priorities sorted out. Lean and mean, that's the way to go.

dmu

FWIW,
Insee - Revenus-Salaires - Seuils de pauvreté mensuels
indicates the latest official French Poverty Threshold at an average of 900 € per month for a single person to survive.
Others will confirm that a UK Pension should be sufficient to live on, but, as mentioned, it wouldn't cover a Mutuelle, unexpected repairs, outings, ....
Asking how much to have in the Bank to cover these "extras" is like asking the length of a piece of string.

EuroTrash

Yes but I think those figures assume that most people on low incomes will be renting, so you can chop 400€ or so a month off that for a home owner.
Honestly, no single person in France should need anything like 900€ a month to survive if they live modestly and don't have rent to pay.

+1

loy loy

It's twice the length of one end to the middle

Yes it's impossible to say, you could die tomorrow or live for another 30 years. The amount of money you will need in those two extremes is hugely different.

one person, assuming no mortgage, I'd say 1200e a month. 1500 would be nice.

This doesn't allow for any unexpected bills, like our bimonthly electric bill of nearly 900e the first winter we were here!