cricketman

That is a risk. High-inflation could wipe out your savings. It is something I mentioned

At current rate of inflation, 1000 euros in 20 years would feel like 500 euros now.

Again, people live off that. Another option may be to buy a really basic village house for 30-40k and live off the 500 euros of interest on the rest of savings

200k is the minimum you could attempt to retire off at 50 something this way. 300k would be a safer bet. With half a million you could retire at any age, or certainly semi-retire. As long as you lived very modestly of course

It's something I've given a lot of thought about

Fredbargate

The biggest problem with retiring with only a lump sum and no other income is not knowing how long you will live for.
If you knew when you were going to peg it then it would be much easier to budget and possibly die the moment all your credit is maxed out

Another factor is health and care costs in later life.

cricketman

Sure its not ideal. I wouldnt do it

But we are talking about someone who's never even worked properly and has no health or pension entitlement. It was an option, one of three they have
1. Keep looking for work in Spain
2. Move to the UK
3. Retire on a small income based on your savings

Whether 3 is attractive or not depends on what lifestyle you would be happy with

Lynn R

Whenever I met couples in their '30s or '40s who had moved to Spain and were scraping a living from working "on the black" (doesn't happen so much now as most of them have disappeared back to the UK) I used to ask them how they would live when they got to retirement age, with not enough pension rights accrued in either the UK or Spain. They would either look at me blankly as they just hadn't thought that far ahead, or say oh, we've got the house, that will be our pension fund. Which begs the question, where will you live when you've sold your house to pay your living expenses, and how long will the money last?

Given the OP's situation, even though it is hard to start again in your '50s I think his best bet would be to sell his apartment, even if he has to take less for it than he would like, and return to the UK where even if he cannot claim benefits because he will have too much in savings, he would be able to use the NHS by virtue of being resident there and would also be able to use the money to pay his rent and living expenses and have a better prospect of being able to find some work before the money runs out. Once he gets to state retirement age, even if he doesn't have enough NI contributions to get a full state pension he could get it made up by Pension Credit which also is a gateway to other benefits. Plus (at the moment) free bus travel and prescriptions, and the winter fuel allowance.

cricketman

That would definitely be the sensible option

But not everyone takes the sensible option. Life would be so boring if they did!

CapnBilly

It is confirmed in full once a year in October, but if you move into a new address inbetween, you just complete a form and hand it in at your town hall, and you will appear in the next quarterly revision. I might be wrong, but I believe the credit reference agencies also receive the full details. Certainly we ticked the anonymity box, but our credit reference file updated.

You can also check the full register at the town hall, (libraries have the small version) where it is updated every month. I know because they spelt my wifes name wrong, and I had to go in and check, complete an amendment form, and then go back and check the next month. This is when they told me it would be in the quarterly electronic update release, so we'd still have problems with people confirming her ID with the credit reference agencies until then. We kept having send ID papers because of a typing error.

chippie2

Iam 68 and my wife is 56 and are thinking of moving back to the uk.
We could afford to rent as we have some savings ,but would we be eligible for a council property after a while of residency in the uk ,
we have always kept an uk address since we have been here in Spain for 5years

mikelincs

Yes, BUT you would probably be well down the list, and not likely to progress very quickly, there are a dearth of council properties, and people who have no money or have been made homeless, people with young families and people who have been allowed in as asylum seekers will almost certainly be above you, we applied, but our pensions meant that we could only 'bid' for around 5% of the properties. Getting a house is a matter of 'bidding' ( you just have to make an offer to take it on, it's not like an auction and really is a first come first served) if you bid and then don't like it, then you are usually given a chance to bid on 3 properties, if you don't take any of them, and you can't go round before you bid, then you are likely to go back to the bottom of the queue.

chippie2

Thanks for that,so could we claim benefits to help with the rent etc etc

lynnxa

why would you need to rent somewhere if you you've kept an address in the UK

Fred James

Since this has nothing to do with healthcare in Spain can I ask you to post in the "Moving back to the UK" section where you will find plenty of information.

You will find it here.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=61

mikelincs

Those benefits are means tested, so if you qualify you would get them, the criteria have been tightened up recently as a result of government cut backs, but are still available. Rent rebate and Council tax rebate are possible, will depend on your income and what you are renting.

I assume your UK address is someone elses house? a relative?, if you have UK property, then you would be unlikley to get any help.

chippie2

That is correct ,it is my sons address.
Ok I will leave it at that, as this is not about the change in the healthcare but this is one of the reasons we are looking at it seriously