garden? what garden ?

My fuschias are still flowering well.

Esspee

I have suggested before that we should have a little national flag next to our user name. It would help with threads like this where the first question has to be “Where are you?”

Sorry -
My fuschias are still flowering well. ???????

NotTooOld

biba - are you one of those chateau owners we see on Escape to the Chateau?

oh you made me giggle. simple answer NO.

This old pile was a Farm/Vicarage - date 1587. Very rustic but very comfy, tons of history and built on an old Celtic site- so good vibes and a 'jardin de Curé' = a Curate's garden = a cottage garden- with many plants from our UK garden, but lots of local wild plants too. A bit mad and wild- but with some control nearer to the house- and natural wild flower meadows all round. Château, and glamorous- it is not.

vampirequeen

Oh no. Where are you? What a nightmare.

no, no nightmare- love it- well equipped. I quite like losing my garden altogether for 4 or 5 months - and then see it spring up again, as if nothing had happened. 4x4 with winter tyres, snowblower, woodburner - sorted

Starting a B&B at your age? are you mad?

Sounds gorgeous, biba70

Count me in for the B&B

Charleygirl5

Starting a B&B at your age? are you mad?

Well, there is something called Brexit- so far a loss of 65% of income due to exchange rate since we moved- and probably another big fall to come soon.

Will be 70 and OH 75 - and 50 years married next year- so not quite what we had planned. But if needs must- then so be it.

Switzerland is a beautiful part of the world but it is expensive to live there. You also have a lovely house there and a bonus of one in this country. We are all tightening our belts these days but luckily we do not have the exchange rate to worry about.

And there are many who have been made redundant or whose livelihoods have evaporated altogether whose belts can barely tighten any further. Hospitality, retail, the arts or entertainment industries for example.
I think some of us on pensions -in particular public sector pensions which provide a degree of stability , might be forgetting those whose incomes have dried up and with massive unemployment, face little chance of finding a job again. And no, I don't want anybody like Sarah70 did, to retort that they can go and live in a van and work for Amazon!
The exchange rate is the least of their worries.

MawBe
I have friends on a basic uk pension of £175 per week. I don't think they would survive if they continuously had to take a drop of 65%.

I take your point, but I was talking about public sector not state pensions.
The basic state pension is a different matter altogether.
But can anybody who is mathematically minded explain the concept of the 65% drop please?

MawBe
Have sent you a PM.

Well, there is something called Brexit- so far a loss of 65% of income due to exchange rate since we moved- and probably another big fall to come soon.

I didn't think that Switzerland was in the Eurozone but perhaps I'm wrong.

Is your State pension subject to increases, biba? Or is it frozen at the rate it was when you went to live in Switzerland?
That is what happens with some countries which do not have a reciprocal arrangement with the UK, eg Australia.
It's hard for some who emigrated after or near retirement.

One of the advantages of having the payment made direct to a bank in Australia is that the pension will be paid in Australian dollars at no charge and at a favourable exchange rate because the British Government bulk buys currencies and so gets them cheaper than you or I could from the usual channels.
Thisismoney

I've just checked the UK government website:
You will get your UK State Pension uprated every year for as long as you continue to live there. This will happen even if you start claiming your pension on or after 1 January 2021, as long as you meet the qualifying conditions.

You will continue to receive any UK benefits you already receive in the EEA or Switzerland for as long as you continue to live there, and continue to meet all other eligibility requirements.

You may also be able make new claims for certain UK benefits from 1 January 2021, if you meet all the other eligibility requirements.

I hope that helps.

Exchange rates do fluctuate so it may sometimes be advantageous, at other times not so.

MawBe

I take your point, but I was talking about public sector not state pensions.
The basic state pension is a different matter altogether.
But can anybody who is mathematically minded explain the concept of the 65% drop please?

I'm not a mathematician but, over the last 5 years the exchange rate has gone from about 1.5 CHF to the GBP to around 1.2 CHF to the GBP, with various fluctuations on the way.
The Swiss Franc has increased in strength against other currencies, not just the GBP.
It is something to factor in when moving overseas with income from another country.

Callistamon
If you recieved, let's say, a teachers pension or a Doctors pension would they be frozen when you left the uk?

petra

Callistamon
If you recieved, let's say, a teachers pension or a Doctors pension would they be frozen when you left the uk?

I don't think so, petra.
I don't think the State Pension is frozen either in an EEA country.

It does get frozen in Australia, though, which was a consideration for us years ago.
It must depend on UK agreements with other countries.

Your State Pension will only increase each year if you live in:

the European Economic Area (EEA)
Gibraltar
Switzerland
countries that have a social security agreement with the UK (but you cannot get increases in Canada or New Zealand)

Not going to be drawn in a long discussion here.

When we bought here, we got 2.50 Swiss francs for £1. Currently it is about 1.18- but at some point last year our pensions were paid t 1.14. The maths are not complicated really.

If No Deal, it is expected that we will go to parity- so £1 for 1 CHF. Again maths not complicated.

Yes, Calli- we were very aware that currencies fluctuate. When my mother studied in London in the 30s- she got about double the amount I got in 1970. Mind you, it was easy for the maths- as I got exactly 10.- for £1.

But nothing can prepare you for that kind of loss- and there was NO way we could anticipate this.

If we sold here and went back to UK when Sterling is very low, as expected early next year- we would be very well off. But at the moment, it is really not an attractive prospect. I gave the UK all I had got, my heart, my soul and my skills - and it gave me so much back. What I so loved about it has gone and going. Tolerance, open mindedness, humour, generosity, equality for all, a mixed society that worked.

And this is why I get so upset- because I so loved England, the UK. Just as you get upset when you see your favourite friend or sibbling change, from a wonderful, honest, happy, funny person - to someone two-faced, dishonest, unfair and cruel- and you watch in disbelief- unable to act or do anything.

So let's got back to my disappeared garden.

Been snow shoeing with a young British friend in the fields and up to the woods and back, having first had a try in our back field. We had a good giggle- made a pact not to talk about Brexit- and had a wonderful time. Right up to the moment we had to climb up to the road and over the mound of snow left by the snow plough and I stepped on the front snow shoe with the back one- lost my balance- curled into a bowl and fell on the icy road and could not get up as I could not get a grip.

We laughed so much and no damage done- and went home for a cuppa and a good chin wag- sitting on a sledge in the front garden in the sunshine.

Pensions not frozen- but this is pretty irrelevant when most is lost to exchange rate.

How lovely. My gd can't remember snow I would so love to make a snowman for her

ah yes, such a joy. Sadly grandchildren won't be joining us for a white snowy Christmas- and probably not to ski in February ...

Hopefully we will be together in the UK for Easter- but che sera, sera.

It's lovely that we have become surrogate grand-parents for many youngsters here - young British families also cut off fro their family in the UK - and we can look after each other. And to be trusted with their children who think of us and another pair of, more local, grand parents or Aunty and Uncle.

Charleygirl5

Starting a B&B at your age? are you mad?

blimey- wish you had not asked Stanley!

Anyhow, NO garden, for quite a long time- was the message. Let's stick to that, ta.

So plenty of time to get back on ladders, and lie on my side, to fill, sand, prep, undercoat, top coats - ceiling with beams will be the hardest. All 3 bedrooms in own suite with fab bathroom will be ready- just in case ;)

When we bought here, we got 2.50 Swiss francs for £1. Currently it is about 1.18- but at some point last year our pensions were paid t 1.14. The maths are not complicated really.
Yes, the same thing happened to us in Australia, $2.4 to GBP1, although we decided not to stay anyway. Then it plummeted down, now is up again, not as high as it was in 2000.

Your Swiss Franc is very strong which affects the exchange rate, of course.

It puzzles me why this is attributed to the fall in the value of sterling alone and does not take into account the appreciation of the Swiss Franc
I decided to research exchange rates now and shall we say over the last 20-40 years and read...
When I started selling Swiss property in 1986 the exchange rate was almost 3 Swiss francs to the £ but as I write this today (1st May 2020) the rate is just 1.2 CHF / GBP. That means in simple terms that if I had bought a Swiss property for £1 million back in ’86 it would be worth £2.5 million in sterling terms today. That is just on the appreciation of the currency alone and without even taking in to account the capital appreciation of the property

So yes the exchange rate has changed as the value of the CHF has risen - and no doubt the standard and cost of living accordingly. The capital appreciation of property will also be considerable - and the value of any house that much greater.

Just saying that a lot can happen over 20 or 30 years, in 1984 we sold our house in London for £65k . Adding a nought to the end of that figure not buy back the same house today!

So I don’t think we can blame Brexit for everything do you?