aboris

My wife and I are planning to retire to the Dordogne next autumn. We will have a combined annual retirement income of circa 58,000 Euros (excluding investment and savings interest income). I will be in receipt of the UK state pension and therefore have an S1 to cover my wife and I for French healthcare.
From experience, will this income be sufficient for us to live a reasonable lifestyle in France?

cyrian

Simple answer = yes.
Many members of BE would love to have €58k +
You would be wise to have a look at Inheritance Tax and succession rules as IHT kicks in at much lower levels than in the UK.
If you are in the position of having children from previous marriages then it gets messy.

Have a look at the Notaires de France site (in English) for more info.

I have just re-read your previous posts re your planning - so my comments regarding IHT are probably not necessary

Good luck with your move

cardi

As said you are on the affluent side of retirement income compared with most of us, many of whom get by on a quarter of what you receive.

Watch out for the impots as I am sure you know.

TinaBee

Oh boy! Many posters on here and other places could only DREAM of an income of that scale. Live the dream and enjoy!

On a more serious note, when we first arrived we believed our combined income was more than adequate for a reasonable life, that was in 2006 when the exchange rate was 1.52. In 2008/9 the rate dipped to 1.05 or less - a drop in income of about 30% overnight. Do your sums or hedge in some way to ensure you can cope with severe rate fluctuations. Some observers believe that the financial crisis is not over yet.

Im_and_Er

As an income from a job €58k would probably put you somewhere in the top quartile of salaries in France and I really can't imagine that fluctuating exchange rates would be something to be keeping you awake at night !

TinaBee

Only if you get used to spending it . . .

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Mr Micawber from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens,

bigglesworth

Probably a more exclusive cohort than that, I&E. (By the way, what a particularly apt acronym in this context).
I was at a conference of social housing providers (mainly local council and housing association executives) 7 or 8 years ago where the moderator (Hamish McRae) asked the audience to indicate how much they believed the top one percent earned. He started at five million and counted down. At one million hands started appearing, and at half a million, a large minority were up
By the time he got to 250,000 over three quarters the hands in the room were up, and all bar mine and one other were up by 150,000.
The actual number then was a shade over 60,000. Now £50K is the top 5 percent.
As France is , I hear, a more egalitarian country, , I imagine 58K might put you in the top 2 or 3 percent.
In the UK the average salary was 25k a few years ago. I saw recently a figure of 23K average in the private sector, and median a mere 18K

cjm

I wish. Okay, posted before, but we are back in UK, but holding our house in France. Not seen your earlier posts aboris. I share only one wise phrase from my wife's father, a builder and carpenter - measure twice, cut once. If you do not have a place at present, use your head with a touch of heart. So many of us use the reverse. France is a wonderful country as are its people. News says that times are getting tougher, certainly for M. Hollande. France has been downgraded as far as its credit rating goes. It's lost the + rating from AAA. I believe house prices will fall, have fallen. Choose well. Bargain hard. Enjoy your life in France and as others have said, do your research. Head and Heart!

Nectarine

yes that's a good income and will enable you to live well over here without worrying too much over fuel bills, etc. Obviously depends on your lifestyle but on that you can run a largeish house, garden, pool, eat out often and not faint when the bills come in. As someone else mentioned, sound financial advice to protect your investments would be useful as the tax regime in France is different. A good accountant might advise you to take out some UK or offshore investments to minimise tax payments. But in answer to your question, yes I know many who are on a quarter of that ... albeit they're struggling a bit. But I'd say yours is a healthy income that will enable you to enjoy a good life over here.

cyrian

Hi Again,
I assume that you will be in receipt of private or company pension(s).
The last I heard was that if you are taking your 25% tax-free lump sum then this would be taxable in France
You are taxed one year in arrears in France and therefore any tax-free money received in 2014 would need to be declared in your return in 2015 and would be taxed.
They was some debate over this and they may have changed this ruling.
If this applies to you them you should check it out.
Happy Googling

Scots in Treignac

Remember you have to claim you UK state pension in order to qualify for French Healthcare.

With your income, you might br tempted not to claim it and get a larger pension in a few years (probably one of the best methods of saving right now).

Also be aware of the political pressure to clamp down on expats returning to the UK for NHS treatment. This is the largest group of Health Tourists.

Im_and_Er

The rules on tax fee lump sums are complicated but the whole issue can be avoided by taking it before moving and becoming French resident

http://www.french-property.com/news/tax_france/pensions

cyrian

Exactly, paying attention to the different tax years in France and the UK.