HBG

The most popular retirement location for Brits.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance...e-the-country/

I must say I'm not surprised.

Mitzyboy

Thats very sad

Dick Dasterdly

Not really.
Looking at the listings of which countries most prefer to leave or stay as the case may be,I would say that climate is probably the major factor.
In any event quite a lot of Brits eventually prefer to return to their roots for the last few years.

Mitzyboy

Yes, really.
The fact that we are up at the top of people who want to desert their country in retirement ... Its sad

jackytoo

They come out with these surveys every few weeks don't they. Many say they want to leave but few do anything about it. One thing that puzzles me is all the super rich who could pack up and leave tomorrow but they don't Even lottery winners seem to stay in the UK! Is it because they know they can they no longer want to?

Dick Dasterdly

Don't think you get my point.
I'm surprised that even more ppl. living in a country with a climate like the UKs don't have thoughts of some years in the sun.
How many actually decide to do it when given the opportunity?
How many having done it prefer life back in the UK either sooner or later?
In addition to the climate, add the typical British discontentment for little good reason, plus wanderlust and its no great surprise.

If the ones who said they fancied it in years gone by had all done it and stuck with it, the UK would probably by now only be populated with immigrants who think it is paradise or the streets are paved with gold and are willing to risk life and limb and all they have to get there,rather than settle for mainland Europe.
Can't be such a terrible place after all.

HBG

The saddest thing I found from those statistics is that so many Brits want to leave their country on retirement and come to Spain, while Spanish people want to stay at home. The weather may account for some of it, economics as well, but overall there must be deeper, underlying reasons.

I've been away from the UK too long to comment sensibly, but on my visits home I've been surprised by the increasing numbers of foreigners in the streets (which is what I am in Spain), so I don't mean it offensively, but it is noticeable.

I seem to be talking myself into trouble here without meaning to, but on my last visit to a familiar part of London, I walked a mile-long, busy street, and didn't see another white man. There, I've said it, that's how it was, and I'm not a racist.

Dick Dasterdly

London and a few other big cities are far removed from typical Britain.
However once you get around a bit and away from the big cities most of it still is typical Britain.
I am back at my home village and I love it more than ever ,after many years away, but I'm only here for the Summer then back to my patch in Spain which I love just as much.
No I am not racist either. We have just a sprinkling of immigrants here.
They are all well liked, fit in well, and contribute their little bit to the local community in many different ways to make it an even richer place to live.

I spent best part of ten years in the Canaries and knew lots of very contented retired elderly ppl.there and knew them quite well.
Mostly they had retired there for good and very rarely if ever, did they express thoughts about going back to the UK, as they appeared so happy with the lifestyle,climate and all.
Yet it was amazing how so many of them did eventually return,not through necessity, but just simply to be back to their roots in good old blighty.

Jualsy

I think the lifestyle here is amazing after retirement. You can be as busy as you want or just chill all day long doing nothing except relaxing.

I think the UK has lost the plot in almost all directions and I would find it difficult to make the adjustment of going back there the way things are now.

Mind you, who knows what lies ahead??? Tomorrow is an unknown area!!

Lenox

I would probably be happy enough living anywhere - but not Britain...

Rotor

Thats because you can have a very good quality of life even in the UK if you have deep pockets ,I reckond 10 years ago you needed to be on at least
100k pa in the UK for a pleasant lifestyle.

JMOT

You can still live a very very pleasant lifestyle on 100k a year in the UK and still have plenty of money left every month... Sheesh!

of course if you define a pleasant lifestyle in the UK as living in a 5star hotel and dining out every single night in top restaurants then no.... you need more money

Dick Dasterdly

Whether in Spain or the UK, it is, as always, all about location.
Plenty of places outside of the most heavily populated regions where you can have an excellent relatively trouble free lifestyle in the UK, just as in Spain.
Once you have aquired the right property in the right spot, I don't think you need lorry loads of money for a contented lifestyle,...unless of course you're a shopaholic,..but are such people ever satisfied?

jimenato

It's all about money. I was on that kind of money in the UK for years and wasn't happy. Now I live on a tenth of that in Spain and I am happy.

Dick Dasterdly

Nice post,refreshing to hear.
Reminds me of Chris Stewart who wrote "driving over lemons".
Today's world is just to materialistic for me.
How many of todays luxuries do you really need for a contented lifestyle,...apart from your broadband connection of course.