TaffT

Coming late to this one, we're budgeting on £25,000 pa for our first few years of early retirement.

(Couple with no dependents, mortgage free house, living in deepest Cornwall.)

Editha

You'll probably be OK on £25,000. In another thread, you say you have additional funds to spend on house renovation. We've been in a similar position; our living costs in Devon would be much lower if we weren't renovating a house.

We have found the cost of renovation higher than expected.

As someone who lives in deepest Devon I'm confident that if you are in 'deepest Cornwall' you will be spending a lot on petrol and car maintenance, particularly if you are doing up a house. Our nearest builders' merchant is 15 miles away and the nearest DIY store is twenty-five. With workman having to travel 15 or 20 miles to us, it all increases the cost of renovation.

TaffT

Thanks for that, and yes you are right.

We'll not be spending too much on doing our house out as it's a straightforward job, and me and a mate will be doing it together, (me labouring, him building.)

The main expense will be adding a conservatory.

I know well the costs of car running down there, having worked in community mental health there for 10 years! (That was in an NHS car too!)

We'll have to cut our cloth according to our budget!

Editha

Well, good luck on your project.

My brother is doing up a place in Cornwall at the moment, on a rather ambitious scale. It is more like a re-build, involving architects. At the moment he has reached the stage of getting bat surveys on the house and outbuildings. They've found a colony of long eared bats in the bit of his roof that was going to be demolished for his two storey extension. I'm trying to sound sympathetic, but not succeeding.

spouse of scouse

Not sure if you realise, but if your wife's applying for a spouse visa, savings to meet the financial requirement don't have to be in a UK bank.

Edit: just realized that I was responding to a post from June. I hope he didn't fly to the UK just to open a bank account!

TaffT

Cheers! :-)


Oh dear!

scot47

My advice on transport is this. Even if you always use cars, check out public transport in the area you are moving to. The day may come when you cannot use your car(s) and you will need a bus service. Most places have public transport but in some areas buses are few and far between !

Pulaski

This is very wise advice. I used to take my car to be serviced a few miles south of Heathrow airport, inside the M25, and while an four mile stretch of road that connected two railway stations (Shepperton and Staines, on different lines) did have a bus service it ran only once an hour, and stopped at 7pm in the evening. Much of the road was lined with houses, with more housing off to the side, and I was astounded that an area like this could have such a pathetic provision of public transport.