Best country to retire to

Joseann I think they will turn you away at the border if you overstayed on previous occasions.

Then you have to get yourself back home.

Very good friend of mine has retired very successfully to Spain, she enjoys year round sunshine, her parents moved their tears and tears before, she is unmarried and childless and no siblings. She is now a Spanish Citizen and speaks Spanish fluently. I’m flying out in September to surprise her on her 60th birthday and she will never return here and is living mortgage free and much more cheaply.

Ikiesgranma

We moved to Cyprus in 2009. We made some lovely friends but soon realised that many were struggling financially. There was a weekly flea market where many ex pats sold cakes etc. But some people were selling old Womens own magazines. Many people were wearing ancient clothing because of the cost of living. We left when they switched to the euro. Prices rocketed. I’m glad to be in the UK as since we returned I was diagnosed with two life limiting diseases. I am all too aware that the NHS is in dire trouble but now I have incurable cancer I have had good care from the Christie cancer hospital and Macmillan nurses. I don’t think my conditions would have been picked up in Cyprus. I wouldn’t have had regular blood tests for one thing. We’re here in Manchester close to our family. Three grown up children and three…soon to be four grandchildren.

You obviously left a few years ago and the health service wasn’t as good then as now. It has completely changed and has GESY which is the equivalent of he NHS. You can get Doctor and hospital appointments within 24hrs. There is an excellent cancer hospital in Limassol which my friend attends and is getting excellent treatment. So it’s all changed for the good. I wouldn’t want anyone to be put off retirement in Cyprus because of health reasons … we are well looked after. You obviously did the right thing for you and I wish you a happy life near your family.

62Granny

Can I ask a question to anyone who has retired abroad, I know that if you are in receipt of your state pension when you move abroad it is frozen at the rate it is with no further increases, if you move back to the UK does your pension then increase to the UK amount?

We are in Cyprus ( The Republic of Cyprus ) our state pension is not affected in any way.

Cossy

Very good friend of mine has retired very successfully to Spain, she enjoys year round sunshine, her parents moved their tears and tears before, she is unmarried and childless and no siblings. She is now a Spanish Citizen and speaks Spanish fluently. I’m flying out in September to surprise her on her 60th birthday and she will never return here and is living mortgage free and much more cheaply.

My old schoolfriend now lives in Spain but it certainly isn’t “year round sunshine”. The first couple of winters they were there they had to drive miles and miles to buy portable gas heaters as it was so cold.

Also when it rains, it really does rain! Just a few weeks ago TV showed cars being washed down streets where the rain was like a river.

My niece was a rep out there for 4 years and lost count of the times it was raining so hard when she got to the airport to collect holidaymakers that she couldn’t get out of her car. Then she had to get on to their coach and welcome them to Spain.🤣

Many people seem to return to the UK because of children and grandchildren. Back in the 90s when I was working for a small firm we had client aged over 90 who was amazing. He had been badly burned in WW1 and was at East Grinstead for treatment. He had one daughter, aged about 60 then and a GD.

His DD lived with her DH on a boat on the canals in Europe and GD lived in Oz. He said that when anything happened to him it would be just as quick for his DD to reach him as if she had to drive across England.

My last memory of him was when he told about his 1/2 world cruise. He was away for several weeks and his bar bill came to about £800. A lot of money but he did enjoy himself.

Dinahmo

Many people seem to return to the UK because of children and grandchildren. Back in the 90s when I was working for a small firm we had client aged over 90 who was amazing. He had been badly burned in WW1 and was at East Grinstead for treatment. He had one daughter, aged about 60 then and a GD.

His DD lived with her DH on a boat on the canals in Europe and GD lived in Oz. He said that when anything happened to him it would be just as quick for his DD to reach him as if she had to drive across England.

My last memory of him was when he told about his 1/2 world cruise. He was away for several weeks and his bar bill came to about £800. A lot of money but he did enjoy himself.

Reminds me of a little old lady I met in a bank queue once. Tweed coat, hat, sensible shoes. ….we got chatting and she told me she goes on cruises but small ones to very unusual places. One was to either the arctic or antarctic, can’t remember now.

She used to go alone until she met “the boys” who were two gay men on one cruise and a retired Uni professor on another. They all then stayed in touch and booked further holidays together. Fascinating to talk to.

Dinahmo We live in Northern California and so were not affected at all by Hurricane Hilary. However, there are weather problems all over the world, nowhere is perfect. Give me the sunshine over the wet and grey of England any day.

IamMaz

@ Oreo

One of the issues since Brexit has been that to stay in Spain more than the 90 days in a rolling 180 day period, you need to have a specific visa permit or become a Spanish citizen. Spain does not want people to be a drain on its resources, so you now need to prove your finances are sufficient to support yourself and dependants, or invest a very large amount in Spain. So unfortunately, just choosing to ‘retire to Spain’ is no longer such a simple choice.

My husband and I are retired, bought a Spanish property 20 years ago and are currently considering applying for a ‘non-lucrative visa’ to enable us to stay in Spain for longer than the permitted 90 day rule.

That’s correct IamMaz…We managed to take up residency in Spain under the Withdrawal Agreement because we were there in 2020 between lockdowns and stayed because travelling back was not advised. That meant we lived in Spain during 2020 so just scraped through for residency. We didn’t have to prove finances as we had pensions and could use the reciprocal S1 for health care.
We already had a holiday home there so live very happily in our new country and are both taking Spanish lessons. Our 2 adult children and their families live in Australia and Amsterdam and if we had not taken up residency in Spain we would have struggled visiting Amsterdam with the 90 day Schengen rule. We’ve kept our apartment in the U.K. and are here now as can’t stand the 40 degree heat in Spain but we’re both looking forward to returning to our Spanish home and multi cultural friends and neighbours in September. Our 6 year old GD is staying here with us for a week so we’re enjoying her company. We’re 73 & 76 so no spring chickens but life’s for living and we’re healthy so we enjoy what we have and will continue to do so for as long as possible.

Couldn't move to anywhere that didn't have 4 "proper" seasons. So looks like we'll be staying put.

Plenty of countrie have 4 proper seasons. England does not however ;) lol

'countries' ooops

Fleurpepper

Plenty of countrie have 4 proper seasons. England does not however ;) lol

What?
England does SO have “4 proper seasons” !
And not infrequently, all on one day! 🌞☃️☔️💨⛈

Greece isn't always mentioned but it's even cheaper than portugal and has great food. Only trouble is the services aren't as polished as portugal's

Fantastic riposte FoxyGloves!
👏👏👏

In terms of weather, last week we had 26°, torrential rain and hailstones the size of a spicy chicken bite.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have official seasons.

Foxygloves

Fleurpepper

Plenty of countrie have 4 proper seasons. England does not however ;) lol

What?
England does SO have “4 proper seasons” !
And not infrequently, all on one day! 🌞☃️☔️💨⛈

LOL yes, but it mostly has the 'wrong kind of snow'

I like my winters cold, crisp, with lots of sparkly snow and huge blue skies (when the snow stops falling!)

We have 4 seasons in the part of Australia I live in but if you go north it is fairly hot all the time. In the Kimberleys they actually have 6 seasons. Many large countries have significant variations in the number of seasons.

Foxygloves

Fleurpepper

Plenty of countrie have 4 proper seasons. England does not however ;) lol

What?
England does SO have “4 proper seasons” !
And not infrequently, all on one day! 🌞☃️☔️💨⛈

Just like Melbourne !! 😁

nanna8

We have 4 seasons in the part of Australia I live in but if you go north it is fairly hot all the time. In the Kimberleys they actually have 6 seasons. Many large countries have significant variations in the number of seasons.

Some parts of the North can get quite chilly at night in winter - I needed a jumper and a coat but still we all sat outside! 🤔

Winter in parts of NQ is rather like how we always imagine summers in Britain to be (but they never are!) - mid 20s, dry, sunny, colder at night.

east west homes best

We definitely have 4 seasons in Northern California which is why we love it so much.

Callistemon21

nanna8

We have 4 seasons in the part of Australia I live in but if you go north it is fairly hot all the time. In the Kimberleys they actually have 6 seasons. Many large countries have significant variations in the number of seasons.

Some parts of the North can get quite chilly at night in winter - I needed a jumper and a coat but still we all sat outside! 🤔

Winter in parts of NQ is rather like how we always imagine summers in Britain to be (but they never are!) - mid 20s, dry, sunny, colder at night.

Many of us Melbournites flee north every year for a couple of months because the weather is divine ( usually but not so much this year, a bit wet ) up there. If I had my time again I would look north to live permanently especially if we had foreknowledge of the idiot who is in charge down here !

tobyianathekid

Greece isn't always mentioned but it's even cheaper than portugal and has great food. Only trouble is the services aren't as polished as portugal's

A friend moved from the US to a Greek island - the one where they made Mamma Mia but before the island was chosen as a location. He and his wife had learned Greek (he being Italian had spent many holidays there as a child). He planned to find old pieces of furniture and do decorative paint jobs He was told by the local police that every time h wanted to move a piece of furniture he had to get a license which would cost 20 euros.

They made friends with a Dutch woman who'd lived there for many years. One day, fed up with the way in which her neighbour treated his dogs (beating etc) she complained to the police. Their response was that they didn't have any law as against cruelty to animals. She said, "yes you do you're in the EU" Their response was that the laws didn't apply to them.

On another occasion we were on holiday on Paxos when a flotilla pulled in to the harbour asking if there was a doctor anywhere. One of the passengers was having a bad asthma attack. They were told to go to the mainland. I don't think that at that time there was a doctor on Corfu, which does seem strange.

I have lots more stories about health care in Greece, gathered over the years but I won't bore you with them.

We have 4 seasons here in the Dordogne. The weather seems to mirror that of southern England but hotter, colder, wetter and drier. Today is beautiful - blue sky and fluffy clouds. We have been waiting all week for this having suffered temperatures in excess of 100F for 3 days earlier in the week. High 90s before that.