Hi all
The wife and I are thinking about living permanently in Spain, not sure of area just yet.
We are from the UK 63 and 60 years of age. Have lived in Australia and Bulgaria now looking to settle
Looking for any info regarding, cost of living, taxes. healthcare.
Any information would be very much appreciated
Regards
Phil n Les

Hi.

you need to be a little more specific. Spain has lots of different living conditions, weather and economic variables.

Cost of living varies depending on which part of the country you are in. We can get a meal of the day for about €10.00 but when I was in Barcelona earlier in the year the cheapest was about €14.00. Our local bar does a pint for €1.60.

We have an apartment in a small village thats part of a larger community numbering about 11,000 residents. Its a 20min drive to the nearest coast (Albir, Altea, Benidorm) and we have little to no facilities in the village. You have to drive down the road to Polop for shops and bars.
It suits us as we have family and friends in this area and have been back n forth over the last 15 years.

I would suggest using Google maps and a search to find out about areas then visit at various times of the year to see if its what you want. Then rent (ok we didn't but we know the area) for some time before putting down roots.

Also it depends on what you want but the general consensus is that its hard to live on the UK pension alone. I reckon for the 2 of us about €1400 a month covers everything (no mortgage or rent in this) but includes a small car.

Wow Barrie I know I am frugal but having lived in Spain for over 30 years now,working & now retired, I think you will find that hundreds of British pensioners live on their UK pension alone,own their own home & even manage the odd treat or two

My wife and I own our home, and I worked out that here in inland andalucia it would be possible for one person to live alone on one uk pension, Not that we are thinking of splitting up of course.

I will agree that a "basic" uk pension of €800 a month per person - a couple, we can assume recieves nearly € 1600 a month. That should be enough for anyone to live on, if you live a "normal" life and dont want to go out every night of the week.

this is very true - i know alot of them, and they live better than me, working 40 hours a week .

Not sure which UK you are referring to but the basic state pension is £129.20 per week = 143 euros per week so a total per person of 619 euros per month. Not so attractive now is it?
source https://www.gov.uk/state-pension

That is if you are not on the pension introduced in 2016 Single Tier pension which is I believe £168 per week.
https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get

My state pension is over £220 per week inc.Serps/SP2 and that would have been higher if I had not been contracted for some years.

This thread is not about how much a pensioner receives please return to the original topic..

Rosemary

I will now add to my earlier reply.
Me n the wife are 57 and Private health care for the year works out at about €2100 (I have no issues, the wife has high blood pressure and asthma) Im the cause of the blood pressure and she never has an asthma attack when we are in Spain.
As others have said, it is possible to live on an old age pension but neither of you are at that age (nor are we) So you will be living off savings or investments.
So my calculations were based on the current running costs of our property in Spain weighed against the costs we incur here in the UK (we have not made the full move yet)
Removing such things as rent/mortgage I reckoned we could live comfortably on the amount I gave. (I added 20% to my figures to cover emergencies.)

Tax in spain.
We have our IBI (council tax) is about €600 a year (we pay just shy of £1800 in the UK)
Community cost (no pool, no gardens) of €400 a year (just over £900 but we don't pay as we rent)
Electric 5.5kw (electric in spain is charged at a potential usage) Ie, turn everything on and the breaker goes. In Spain €30 a month when not there (€75 when we are) UK £150 a month
Water €25.00 a month (when not there) €35.00 when we are. UK I pay DD of £40.00
You have to add car costs etc. But Ive found that we can eat at home for about 2/3 of the cost in the UK and thats like for like. No missing out on stuff.
Beer and wine are also cheaper. So is petrol in most places.
The sun is free. And the life style is better.

Most of our outgoings are less than 1/2 the cost of the UK

We hope to move permanently next year come what may.

As always it depends what you fancy and Spain can be just as cheap or expensive. While the UK might be expensive for you, I can only say that we pay more property tax in Spain and the property is a lot smaller than are main home here in Ireland. In Spain you have to pay for water (free here). Electricity in Spain is also pretty expensive compared to other EU countries and for us it's cheaper here in Ireland. No doubt the heavy drinkers and smokers will find Spain a lot lot cheaper, but when it comes to supermarket prices Spain is like Germany and only cheaper when it comes to the lower end. If you want higher quality like you'll find in parts of Galicia, you certainly have to pay similar prices. Petrol is only a bit cheaper but then there are other things like road tolls. Those focused on sun and beer, will certainly always find Spain cheaper. However, if you look at other things, you don't get everything for free and things still cost money and aren't that cheap. No doubt the quality of life can be high (depending on area) but the biggest problem for me is that summer is too crowded, so I'd be happy to split time later on. The person looking for Bulgaria prices in Spain will probably be disappointed. if money isn't the biggest issue and you compare with London, then sure everything is cheap.

and good read, i agree,more or less,free sun and better live style