SpatexBrit

(And one probaly asked more times than hairs on my head)

Ok, firstly i know from previous experience of seeing this question asked (and, indeed asking it myself as well) in various expat fora of countries as diverse as European countries, to Turkey, and even the Far East.
It normally brings out both the best and worst in forum members, and usually ends up in the usual flame war and weeing contest.
Perhaps its best if i just ask the darned question, and be done with it lol
Which is:
Whats the whole nine yards to making a happy life in Todays Spain, given the current climate both here and the UK? (where i am sat right now, watching the snow slowly melting and life returning to "normality" ...if thats possible here, before the next batch of snow forecast)
And i dont mean just the weather, either. The financial climate, and what i call "the wellbeing" climate as well are equally important
As a sixty year old self funding ocupational pensioner, i feel i have the world as my oyster, as it were, and want to spend my the final laps of my race somewhere other than to........well, lets draw a vail over the reasons, as i'm sure most on here can guess, and had the same thoughts themselves.
With that in mind, i'm debating 3 places with myself. Spain/Italy/Portugal as one choice, Turkey as another, and, as i have friends and near family there....Thailand.
So, as this is a forum for expats in SPAIN (and would be ones, too) i shall ask about Spain in here lol
Firstly, perhaps a bit about myself wouldnt go amiss------single male, with little to tie me to the UK except for family... who will "be there for me" if things go awry anywhere and i need a bolthole back in Blighty.
I have an occupational pension, plus savings etc.
I'm not that naive to just think i can rock up, all "jazz hands and TADA!!!", rent a place to live, and everything will be hunky dorey for me. So i need to know the skinny, as our American friends say
I can live "comfortably" in UK on what i get from my pension. But fewer and fewer luxuries as time goes by
But i also realise its not all about the money, but lifestyle choices, healthcare etc and all that kind of thing
Can someone give me a few pointers to whats what in each of those areas.
BTW, i have narrowed my choice of a place in Spain to Mojocar, and will admit to not having heard of it until i put my mind to seriously looking at Spain as a retirement destination, and have only ever spent times on holiday in places like the cosas,, and the islands..both Balearic and Canary
Any info, and indeecany questions, please feel free to contribute and i hope its not a case of "let battle commence" lol!!
One last point to make.
My monies will be staying, lock, stock and barrel in the UK, and i will manage on ATMs and bank transfers etc as much as possible. Recent, and possibly future events in the Eurozone have reinforced that thought in my head
I got a few things and phrases used that i am confused about....but more on those later

Spooner

Rosemary

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

amideislas

We're all victims of our environment.

First, if you have money, you'll like it here. If you don't, you'll still like it, but you'll be much, much hungrier, probably have to go home because you won't get council housing or all the other freebies you get in blighty.

And because you asked, things aren't nearly as organised as you might be used to, a lot of stuff is frustrating, like queues for no apparent reason, people standing in the middle of busy street or sidewalk paying no attention to cars or pedestrian traffic having to divert around them, and all the stuff you'd buy at Morrisons is spread out amongst in 4 different stores here. And people don't worry about whether the loo paper hangs on the inside or the outside.

But good wine is really cheap, and once you get in the rhythm of life here, it's great.

If you can pay your way, and put up with all that, you'll love it.

But yes, need to look out for the EU banking situation. Probably better to keep your money in the UK at the moment, and send it bit by bit down here.

Oh, and if you can't speak any Spanish, you're gonna be sorry.

SpatexBrit

Ok, thanks for the replies so far
Rosemary,thanks for the welcome and for pointing me towards the info thread (The Spanish Age Concern links are broken, BTW)
And, TBH its the INSIDE info i need..all the ducking and diving etc, if you catch my drift
But again, thanks for the pointers and i'm sure i will while away a good few hours in there

amideislas, thanks for YOUR reply, too
Can i ask...when you say "if you have money" just what amount?
Ball park figures are good but would, say €1500 a month make for a decent standard? €2000? €100 doable at a push?
And yes, i realise this is where these threads turn to rat pooh, whan all the high rollers come in with fanciful figures of 5 times average income etc
Reason i ask (and im NOT struggling financially here in UK by any means) is that the other day i was working out just exactly how much i pay, just to rent this roof over my head, after selling my house last year, and i was shocked at the amount.
This place i am in is a one bedroomed flat in a 2 storey purpose built block, in an average, socio-ecomomic wise area. That is, its not posh, but not a sink estate, either. Anyway, all in, including the dreaded Council Tax and water rates, i am paying £600+ a month.
I was passing the time away, looking at proerties to rent in a couple of places and cant believe the apparent disparity between the UK and Spain
Heres the blurb from a property site (yeah, i know what people will think..... Estate Agents and all that)
This is for a THREE bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with pool though.
Remember i'm paying over £600 and this is on the market for €399 per month

OK, the example seems a bit extreme, and one might need to sit out in combat gear and a crash helmet, in case of stray golf balls, lol but thats just one example. I've looked at others from less than that (€250 a month and less) and they SEEM comparable to what i am paying over six hundred quid a month for

And i'm fairly fluent in German and English, passable in Spanish,c and a ninja warrior at talking Rubbish !!!!!
And i dont mind a bit of chaos and a good old mooch around the shops, if truth be told

Spooner

pete_l

I didn't read the whole piece you wrote - it was just too long (TLDR syndrome ).
However, the answer to the question you asked is simple: To have lots and lots of money (and a good accountant helps, too) - there is no upper limit. Money gives you options. Options to find different routes to happiness, options for self-fulfilment and to make as many / few friends as you want and of course, the ability to keep yourself in good health (if you would so choose) and out of jail.

Anything else can either be acquired from having money or is more due to purely random chance, so can't really be accounted for.

Now if you'd like to help test this theory, send as much as you have to me, and I'll tell you how much happier it has made me.

SpatexBrit

Please dont take offence at this, but this is exactly what i meant when i said about the "weeing contest"
Talk of accountants and suchlike just arent available to people with a modest, but adequate income, looking to maximise their resources as best they can.
Again please dont take offence but it wasnt really helpful, sorry

Spooner

Dxf

Hi

To my mind you need three things to live in Spain
1) sufficient money for your aspirations
2) good health because if you get ill, Spanish hospitals are setup different
3) the ability to drive.

I came to Spain about ten years ago. Single man but had money in bank to last 6 years until first pension cut in. Now got all pensions in payment and can survive. But my area (Costa de la Luz) is a very cheap area. A tapa at lunchtime cost 1-20€ and is sufficient food for lunch

Davexf

Rosemary

If you can live comfortably on your income in the UK you will be alright in Spain. Although it is no longer a cheap place to live that it used to me reknowned for it is not expensive.

What sort of things are essential for you to live the life that you want to live? Eating out is reasonable here, wine is cheap, community type tax is low, car tax is low but telephone and electric are expensive. Each area has something different to offer and the cost of living varies from one area to another so there is not a definitive answer as to the actual cost of living.

Rosemary

njf

One point not to forget is the UK state pension. Can't remember whether you will still be in the present regime or the new one but under the current system, if your state pension will be important, so long as you live in the EU, it will continue to be uprated the same as in the UK. I only mention this because you say you are also thinking of more exotic climes where this may not apply. There are a few where it does but I don't know about Thailand.

Domino

I don't think Thailand is settled enough to make it a desirable place to live for the foreigner. Some manage it but they are the ones who actually "go native", speak the language, dress the same as the locals.

Some people extoll the virtues of India but that is becoming more and more unstable with attacks on foreigners becoming almost common place.

People see so many places only from the back of a taxi, out of a hotel window, from the beach. They very rarely get to even look behind a door letalone under the covers or under the skin of those "foreign" places. As is proven in places like Malaga and Marbella.

The theory is if you can live "comfortably" in the UK on your pension(s) then you can live just about anywhere "comfortably". And as you get older you will be less inclined to want to push for the luxuries, more likely you will be paying out more for someone just to keep you alive.

All of us here have different life experiences, all have different expectations, all you will get is different responses and arguements.

cricketman

Just something to think about...

The studies I've read have said that the happiest people in old age are those who are surrounded by their loved ones

I dont think the price of wine or even the price of rent have much to do with it

Beware of very cheap golf course developments, they are likely to be very lonely with few facilities nearby.

Lynn R

I agree with the other posters who have said that if you can live comfortably in the UK on your present income, you will be able to do so here.

You will need to open a bank account here though, in order to be able to pay your rent and other bills, but you can arrange to transfer just enough each month to cover your outgoings rather than having a lump sum in a Spanish bank.

steviedeluxe

I don't quite get this "transfer a little bit each month" advice.
Quite apart from any extra transaction costs, doesn't this ignore the fact that only a few years back the pound bought 1.65 euros, and now it fluctuates between 1.15 and 1.25?
Of course if you're sure that the euro will depreciate by 20%... but is that realistic? Some pundits are predicting further falls in the pound, although I've yet to find an expert who gets this right all the time.
I understand why keeping more than the 100 k euro limit may be worrying, and even more than 30k seems reckless to me, given the low interest earnt.
But if you're spending in Euros over the next 6 months, surely better to transfer approximately 6 months money at one time?

rammy100

We approached our move with a mathematical twist. We listed the things that were important to our everyday lives....costs, housing, healthcare, social lives, closeness to family, climate, transport etc.

We then scored each criterion for every place where we considered living. For example, considering cost, Switzerland scored higher (or lower, depending on which way you do it) than, say, Spain but Spain would give us a better social life than Timbuktu so scored higher. Do that for everything that's important to you (and maybe add a little weight to things that are particularly important) and add up the scores. It may sound a dull way of doing things but it helped us to rule out certain areas and as your 3 areas are quite diverse it may prove to be a useful exercise.

Whatever you decide, go for it and best of luck,

Dave

Lynn R

I used to make one transfer each year to cover all our living expenses, but if you find you need to do that at a time when the exchange rate is at its worst, that's not good! Making a number of transfers spread over the year tends to smooth out the fluctuations. Now I use Currency Fair and sometimes I transfer a couple of months' worth at a time, if the rate is very bad, just a month. The fee is only €3, much better than the £9 my bank charged.