Winter has arrived early in the UK with heavy rains and the threat of flooding – but it’s only just October so the winter is probably going to be long, hard and miserable. However, don’t despair because you don’t have to stay living in the UK and enduring the horrendous weather, you can make a new life abroad.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, it really doesn’t have to be difficult! Whilst we work hard to encourage would-be expats of any age to do their research and due diligence before relocating overseas, the actual decision required to enhance your life by starting again abroad is not a hard one to make.
The one issue holding many people back from making this commitment is money however – and this is never truer than amongst the retiree demographic for whom money is a very pertinent, and sometimes sore, subject. In this article though, I am going to show you 3 key ways how you could actually be better off retiring abroad.
No matter what your budget is for your retirement, you can potentially be better off living abroad. Despite exchange rate fluctuations, high property values abroad, an expensive cost of living in some nations and the fact that you may need a high income to be able to afford to move to a certain country, there are three key ways that you could be better off if you choose to retire abroad.
The key decisions come down to you and the choices you decide to make however – so if you really do want to retire abroad and ensure that you spend your time enjoying life rather than worrying about your finances all the time, here’s what you need to keep in mind.
Firstly you and only you have absolute complete and utter control and choice about where you retire to – so, if you decide to chose a lower cost country, where the required monthly income to get a visa to move to the nation in question is small, you could find yourself living in a country of your choosing where the cost of living is, on average, lower than what you have to afford now.
In other words, you need to think very carefully about where you retire – get it right and you will discover that your monthly income really can go a lot further. Perhaps it’s time you forgot about Spain, Portugal, Italy, France or Cyprus – i.e., the British favourite retirement hotspots – and you thought instead about Bulgaria, Belize, Panama or Argentina.
Secondly, you have complete choice about where exactly you live in your chosen nation in terms of both location and property type. You may dream of building a villa in Spain to live in, but your budget may be better off affording you a comfortable rental apartment in a country like Panama for example. What’s more, your apartment may be better placed close to the city of David rather than right in the heart of downtown Panama City for purely cost based purposes.
In other words, you need to think about your accommodation requirements, perhaps forget the fact that Britons seem to need to own their own home, and look beyond tourism and business hotspots for better bargains in terms of real estate. You’re much more likely to find lower cost, better value accommodation when you have spent significant time living in your nation of choice – so even if you do ultimately want to buy, rent first for at least a few months to learn more about where the real bargain/good value homes are.
Thirdly and finally you have complete control over the kind of lifestyle you want to lead and live. In other words, if you want your budget to go far abroad you need to live well and comfortably within your means rather than blowing the monthly bills’ budget on a single meal out one Saturday night.
In the UK it’s all too cheap and easy to buy everything you need under one roof from the local supermarket – abroad there is every chance you will get better value if you shop from local specialist suppliers, (i.e., if you buy meat from the butcher, vegetables from the producers at the market and so on). What’s more, learn to buy only what’s in season, perhaps buy in bulk if it’s cheaper, and work to a budget that’s realistic.
The cost of living can be far lower depending on where you choose to retire to – the local economy, the taxes you may pay, the local currency’s exchange rate to the pound are all factors you need to consider. With these factors in mind you can then be realistic about how far your budget will take you, and the kind of lifestyle you can comfortably afford. This is within your power…
In conclusion, you can take control of affording your retirement abroad – as a result you can wave goodbye to the wet weather in the UK and jet off overseas in search of an affordable and excellent retirement destiny that you are in control of.