please read ~ advice needed :)
 

hello and thank you to anyone that takes the time to read this,

i am a 28 year old man with a partner and 4 children under 7 and one on the way ! i have family that live in alhaurin el grande and i am strongly considering moving there.I rent a house in the uk for £1500 a month that is falling apart and a landlord from hell that refuses to do any repairs.I would like to move to spain long term asap rather than rent again in the uk, my family have property in alhaurin and have kindly offered us an apartment until we are settled, i am concerned about finding work there,(i am a pc/laptop technician i repair, buy and sell laptops/pc's etc) and also whether this is the best decision for my childrens future ! i would appreciate any advice ~ thank you ~ Richard

Re: please read ~ advice needed :)
 

Hi

Don´t do it. Read all the threads on this on this forum. There are no benefits here. Correct no benefits. Unemployment in my region is 40% for under 25´s 67% for under 25´s.

Davexf

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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.


I am really sorry to be negative but the work situation here in Spain is dire so although your living conditions might be vastly improved you would be putting your family at risk of not having an income. Spanish families are really struggling to exist, there is no benefits system to assist them and no work. Please think very, very carefully before jumping at this chance, you would be better off searching for different accommodation where you are.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

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Why not just rent a different house in the UK if the landlord is that bad?
And if upping sticks and moving is not a problem then move to a cheaper part of the country where you can rent a nice house for that kind of money.
Certainly more chance of getting a job over there than here in Spain.

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I have to agree, you will find it extremely difficult if not downright impossible to find any sort of job, and to get registered as a resident you will have to show a certain level of income and healthcare provisions in place, even if you did decide to be self employed you would have to pay €250+ a month just to be registered as self employed and get healthcare, the only other way is to go private. There is no unemployment benefit provided by the Spanish authorities unless you have been working for a certain length of time. Best thing for you would be to find a better UK rental, and just come over to Spain for holidays. There is said to be only one way to guarantee to be a millionaire in Spain, and that is to move there with 2 million, you will soon be down to the last one million.

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OK, I am joining the bandwagon,
DON'T DO IT
STAY WHERE YOU ARE
:(

I know that isn't what you want to hear, when you wanted to hear about all the opportunities there are in your line of work.
Well the PC/Software business is flooded, literally.
What is giving you a nice little earner in the UK is only going to drag you down out here.
Then you have to consider:-
Self employment (Autonomo) will cost you approx €295/m, each and every month, taken from your account on the 1st. Irrespective of how much you have coming in. So if you have nothing coming in - you still have to pay !!

Medical cover will be nil initially so you will be paying for private medical, but later on to back up the Spanish Healthcare. With your family I would imagine your partner spends more time at the GP's than with you - been there done that !!

So unless you can find a job as an employee near to relatives, stay where you are, dump the landlord and get yourself sorted properly.
~From that you will be able to get some money behind you, take trips out and be ready when (?) the situation here improves. But don't hold your breath.

let us know how you get on
kr

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Agree, stay put, furthermore there are loads of nice places within UK where £1,500 a month would rent you a palace! ;) I'm only amazed your rellies seem to be encouraging you to move to Spain, surely they can see how dire it is. Nearly everyone wanting to move to Spain seems to be a beauty/nail technician, computer guru, web designer, the place is awash with them.

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firstly thank you for your replies, i asked for advice and got it ! not the advice i wanted but certainly has give me something to think about.
i lived in spain when i was younger and have longed to return, i am thinking that with the ages of my children now would be the best time really.I understand that the economy isnt great etc.We have no family support in the uk so moving closer to my family will be a great relief in terms of getting help with our children.With regards to work, i am trying to work out how i could run a ebay business from there, mainly buying broken laptops/iphones etc and fixing them for re-sale, aswell as starting my own repairs business.I am very good at what i do and the 295 euros a month tax does not seem to bad.

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The 295 euros isnt tax, it is your social security contribution, tax is on top of that

Almost every town in Spain has a laptop repairing shop, they are more likely to repair old laptops than in the UK for example

I hope you speak fluent Spanish! Or you will be limiting yourself to a shrinking British population.

What about your children and savings? I'd say you'd need at least 20k savings to allow business to build.

Are you happy with your children going to the local school? Any idea how good it is or can you afford 5k per year per child to send them to private or international school?

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Well, something we agree on :thumbsup:

€5K for private schooling? That's very, very cheap. Can't get into an international/private school here for less than €15K per year per child - and that doesn't include expenses.

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wow, no encouragement from anywhere ! I understand what you are saying but if there is a chance that i can succeed i would rather go for it than live in regret. I have savings, i will have family support which we dont have now, and a state school is fine.I can see my wife and children happy in Spain and i am willing to work until i bleed to provide for them.I dont drink, my partying days are over, all i want to do is work and provide.

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Logically there is no way that anybody here can advise you to do it because it would be a stupid thing to do that puts the future of your children at risk.

What happens if you simply run out of money? How will you eat or pay your rent? Will you have to pull your kids out of school again and run back to the UK?

But, it is your life and up to you of course, but think what your children would get out of it. I dont think your children would have a better life in Alhaurin El Grandre than in the UK, why would they? Because the weather is sunnier? :D

It is a deprived area which is why it is so cheap.

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Forget about trying to make it by working harder (that will come anyway) and figure out how to work smarter.
I'm doing interviews with small businesses in Spain on my web, and already some common bits of advice are standing out. Make sure there is a market for your intended business - sorry but so far you haven't given any indication that this is the case. Ask people who already work in your field, for pros and cons - if you can't find anyone already in your field who recommends doing it, then probaby a bad idea? Do your research properly before committing to anything...
By the way, (maybe someone can correct me) but the autonomo fee will pay for medical coverage. It still sounds high, at 270 euros a month, but in perspective it's no more than someone earning more than 20k a year in a job in the UK would pay. The downside is you have to keep paying if your business earnings fall (although if things get bad you may have to go on the "baja").

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As do most of us I'm sure - there just isn't any work! Your proposed business is, as already stated, pretty much catered for already.

My concerns would be for the children. Will they be happy? Will they be able to get jobs?

Savings won't last very long - especially with a large family like yours.

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We are not happy in this country........ thanks for the support, made me feel so much better !

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Also you will have to factor in the cost of health coverage, everyone, even pensioners now, have to pay for drugs, there may be some discounts around, but with 4 children and a 5th on the way yours will be high, and I suspect private will be too expensive, you also have to factor in the cost of your baby being born.
No-one is saying 'don't do it' but rather trying to open your eyes to the pitfalls that are around. The Spain of today is nowhere near as cheap as it was even 10 years ago, and remember that if you are running an ebay business from there you will either have to factor in the extra postage costs because you are not in the UK and the more expensive internet and phone. If you are looking to sell on the Spanish market then your Spanish MUST be fluent

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I live in Alhaurin el Grande and ran a computer internet business in town for almost 10 years but unfortunately due to the recession and high costs involved we unfortunately had to close our business at the beginning of the year. We also came out here with 4 children but over the years most of the young families have gone back to the UK for whatever reason and we are only here for another year to see our daughter through her final year of state school before she goes to Uni back in the UK. I must say though I would not fault the Spanish education and your children are young enough to pick up the Spanish language quickly which they wouldn´t do at an International school. Things are not like they were 10 years ago and I am finding it extremely expensive now and even if I won the lottery I would not live here permanently again. I am looking forward to my life back in the UK. I hope all the information given has provided you with food for thought but we are only being honest and it would probably be better for you to stay put in the UK. Good luck with whatever you choose.

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sorry, thats €295/m national insurance, tax is on top
http://www.advoco.es/hot-topics/102-...tax-rates.html
will help you to see how much income tax will be.

the same site has a guide to registering as Autonomo, the Spanish eqvt of self-employed (you knew that but others reading this may not)
http://www.advoco.es/hot-topics/43-g...mo-system.html

you will also have to charge IVA (Spanish VAT) on all your work
http://www.advoco.es/hot-topics/63-i...-in-spain.html
if you should keep some of your UK customers then there are special rules which you will find on the site

As a further downer for you, we have a local shop here where they will repair basic car radios and €25 TDT boxes :eek:

Note: I am nothing to do with the business linked but find their information useful and easy to read and understand

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Karma given!
To the OP - this is probably the only post you should pay attention to on this thread. Try and find others who run the business you are thinking of starting. If none can give you encouragement, then the answer is obvious, I'd have thought?

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Seems like a good site, although some of the advice is out of date

For example, there is no social security exemption for autonomos who are coming back to work from maternity leave anymore, Rajoy scrapped it 6 months ago with immediate effect.

They are also re-working all the age related exemptions, I dont think they are relevant any more either

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no use telling the trumpet Cman, have you told the company concerned ??

but then how much on the internet is correct. :thumbdown:

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ask competitors how good business is - and expect to get an honest reply ??

:sneaky:

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I wish you luck, especially the children, like many you have asked for advice, and like many will probably ignore it. ;) Good advice from the guy in AEG, he probably had your dream as well, and it worked for while, but times are very very different now to even 5-10 years ago. Not sure how you know your wife and kids will be happy there, it's hard to be happy when there is no money coming in, only going out, your savings will soon disappear.
all i want to do is work and provide
You and several million Spanish as well, but even with the advantage of the language, contacts etc, they are all flocking this way, out of Spain. So good luck, go for it, you have nothing to lose!;)

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Spain is a good place to have money. If you don't already have it, it could be not a very nice place for you at all.

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Your post is so informative to the poster, thank you for your comments I am sure that this will help them immensely. I do not know the area that you live in but I am finding that people are leaving my town in droves as there is nothing locally for them. Many have moved to the UK but they are reporting back that it is not easy to find employment there so lately people have been moving to Germany.

Rosemary

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thanks guys, alot to consider ! i will be back on later and will keep you updated

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Hi Rich,
I don´t know about the computer business but my business, like yours sounds, is inunadated.
I opened my own business a few month ago and living in the Costa del Sol, life is wonderful.
Granted we are using our savings at this stage (which you might expect) but don´t be too put off. There are many areas offering different things. If you´re clever about your location, why not come out here, pound the pavements and see what real opportunities are here before taking the plunge. I wish you all the very best of luck. For the record, most expats I know living here don´t regret it for a minute :)
Oh, and one last thing, I don´t think we have a local laptop repair type thing here.

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I could name a couple of Brits doing just that - I'm not sure how 'local' they are though.

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If what this poster is saying is correct - it may be worth taking a couple of weeks to stay in the Mijas area and observing how well local businesses are bearing up?
I'm concerned even so that the laptop business may not have a future, with everyone switching to tablets and even smartphones to do their surfing.