ever since i can remember, i have wanted to live and work in the sun, now the kids have gone, my wife and me are still dreaming about it, is it just a dream for us, or is it still possible? we are both in our late 40s & still fit and healthy, we are both employed, i do have a trade, would it be worth a try? or just forget about it, i know unemployment is at a real high at the moment, but a man still gotta have a dream.
any input excepted
many thanks

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

With an unemployment rate for Spanish nationals of over 25%, and unless you are fluent in Spanish, then I would keep your UK jobs and just holiday in Spain, your chances of gettting legal employment with health cover are pretty much nil unless you have very special niche skills which Spanish nationals will not have. Remember that if you do go down the self employed route it will cost at least €250 a month to be registered as autonomo so you can get health cover and other benefits, otherwise it's private health insurance.

My advice is to not give up on your dream but to be realistic and wait until there are better employment chances. In the meantime learn Spanish and enjoy some holidays here whilst keeping an eye on the situation.

Rosemary

I agree with Mike and Rosemary that the extremely bleak employment situation in Spain would make your dream an unwise move at the moment - and for a few years to come, being realistic.

My tuppence worth of advice (as someone who did it) is that as both of you are employed at the moment, and only in your late 40s, give yourself a goal of making the move when you are, say, 55. Then save as much as you possibly can, with the aim of moving to Spain and having enough to live on until your pensions become payable. You don't say whether you own your house or rent, if you are a home owner it would be wise to get your mortgage paid off and you would then have the option to either sell it, use the proceeds to buy a smaller or at any rate cheaper place in Spain, or rent it out and use the rent to cover the rent on a place in Spain. If you moved having got yourself into that position, any money you were able to earn would be a bonus rather than depending on needing to make enough to survive.

I bought my house here in 2003 but didn't move over permanently until nearly 4 years later, as I wanted to make sure that we could survive without needing to work. Everything I've seen since, including British people struggling to scrape a living doing all sorts of odd jobs (in the black economy) and eventually having to give up and go back to the UK with literally nothing (even ones who could speak fluent Spanish) has convinced me it was the right thing to do.

I know a few people who are still here and get a bit of work here and there, but they all have another source of income either from pensions or rental income, to rely on.

That's a good reflection on the position. From what I can see, as a frequent visitor, is there are very few "working" Expats living the dream and many have returned to the UK.

I know quite a few who live and work in CB at a variety of trades.

so do I - but a lot less than a few years ago & the vast majority who have tried in the last year or so who needed to work have lasted a few months at best

I know two families returning in the next couple of weeks - one has been here years - the kids were born here - they had a good business for a long time..... then it crashed - they can't support themselves any more (& there's no real govt help) so they're heading back to the UK to take their chances there

thanks everyone for the reply, as i said, prob just a dream, in my head i know its the wrong thing to do, but in my heart, it still feels right.
we have spoken about it & are going to leave moving & stay put.
thanks again for the replies, good luck to all still having a go at it,
hats off to you
roy

you could make lots of recce trips

Hi Roy & your Family.
I was in the same position as you about 10 years ago. I was in my 50's and had a nice house and job, as did my wife. After loads of holidays in Spain we grew to love the place and desperately wanted to live and work there in Costa Blanca area. We virtually had our dream nearly come true when the devastating recession killed all our plans

So now we plan to retire two years early on my 63rd birthday and have been saving for the last ten years to build a nice nest egg, have paid up the mortgage and are at present clearing the junk from our home which we will be selling next year to fund our retirement(along with private pensions we have built up).

We are on holiday in Benidorm in September and finally doing a recce or two to see where we want to live and to open a bank account (so we can help to meet all the new requirements on incomes etc.) We intend, one way or another to live our dream which will be happening this time next year!

Keep the faith Roy, don't give up Cos' you will do it.

All the very best

tebo

There you are, a perfect illustration of what I was talking about.

When the idea of us moving to Spain first took hold, I went back to working full time (I had "downshifted" to working 3 days a week in a less senior, less stressful position for 3 years) so that I could remortgage my UK house over a short period to enable us to buy a Spanish property with the idea of using it for holidays until we were able to make the move permanently. The repayments were quite high but we lived on just my OH's salary as much as possible so that we could get the loan paid off and also build up more savings. I got another job in a more senior role to bring in more money. We had a stroke of luck in that when our next door neighbour put his house up for sale we realised that, due to one of those strange blips that sometimes happens in the property market when an area "catches up" with neighbouring ones, the value of our house was nearly 3 times as much as it had been 3 years earlier. In the same year, my OH's father died and he inherited a share of the estate, and we calculated that we would then have enough cash from savings, the sale of our house and the inheritance to enable us to live in Spain until our pensions became payable, so we decided not to wait any longer but to take the plunge.

It can be done, and I am sure Tebo (and Roy if he decides to go that route) will enjoy it as much as we have.

Very few of my circle of friends and acquaintances have left Spain solely due to the recession.

It is certainly not easy to find employment. If OP had no skills, then I would agree he would have no chance. However, IMHO you guys are exaggerating just a tad.

If one gives up on one's dreams then life is merely an existence. Why wait until retirement? I would suggest OP takes an extended vacation and tries to find a job. Then if it doesn't work out for him at least he will have tried and maybe gained some knowledge which may help him succeed in the future.

I didn't read it as Tebo53 and Lynn saying give up on the dream just be careful and there may be another way of doing it all be it a little later. Which in itself could be good thing which may be the ability to see the wood from the trees re the future for expats and Spain. I thought both Lynn and Tebor53 gave sound advice. Although of course you do have knowledge that it can work given that you have the right skill. My view is nothing wrong with airing on the side of caution especially when only in your 40's.

not exaggerating at all, sadly

yes, the OP should by all means do as you suggest, if that's possible

but imo he shouldn't chuck it all in & take a punt - he could end up with nothing..... at least he wouldn't be brining kids though

I know one family who arrived maybe 6 months ago - nothing lined up, but 'certain we'll find something'

he actually has skills you'd think would be in demand - & could probably find enough work self-employed to keep the wolf from the door....... until he sat down & worked out how much it was going to cost him to 'go legal'

atm he's working 'on the black' & panicking in case he gets caught - which I think he likely will, sooner or later - people ARE getting caught in my town

but with no healthcare provision for the kids, him constantly looking over his shoulder in fear, I suspect his OH will win sooner rather than later & they'll head back to the UK