So far in our mini-series on retiring abroad we have covered getting your finances in order, picking the right nation and putting all the right plans and preparation in place and to make sure your dream of a retirement abroad comes true.
In this, the third and final part of the series, we’re going to concentrate on how to make your retirement abroad work – from the point of view of succeeding as an expat, leading a happy life, getting the most out of your new life and adapting to a new way of life…phew!
Focus is often placed on how many Britons move abroad every year, but equal focus should perhaps be placed on the fact that of those who expatriate, a high percentage return home within a short period of time because they somehow fail to make their new life abroad work for them. The nature of this report is to stop that from happening to you – because you really can make your retirement abroad work if you want to!
Be Realistic About Your New Life
The very best piece of advice that any expat can be given is be realistic about your new life abroad. You are going to be the same person you were before you relocated, so your life isn’t going to change all that much – only your location will be different! You will still react the same way to elements of your life that you find frustrating, and there will be plenty of frustrations initially when you relocate overseas and are getting your new life in order!
Keep perspective on everything too – remember why you’ve moved abroad and keep the positive reasons in your mind when you encounter any difficulties or set backs. Take time out to enjoy your new environment, don’t just launch yourself into getting your paperwork in order! At the same time, this is your new life, not a holiday, so if you’re going to spend loads of money on boat trips on the med, whiling away your day in a bar overlooking the sea or lying on a beach, the reality of life will be suspended for a while and this can be quite a blow to some people when they suddenly realise that they can’t or don’t want to continue leading that kind of existence forever!
The sooner you can accept that you’re ‘living’ abroad, that yes, your environment has changed but you have not and that you’re going to have to work at making a new life for yourself in retirement, the better!
Don’t Let Language Be a Barrier
If you’re moving to a nation where the mother tongue is anything other than English, don’t let the foreign language be a barrier to you. Yes, in many nations they do speak a degree of English – however, you will never get on if you don’t speak a little of the local language. How can you expect to make friends or even get the best deals in day-to-day business? If you make the effort to learn the language, and see it as a permanent opportunity to learn, develop and advance a very valuable and worthwhile skill, you’ll get along much better.
You could consider having lessons before you emigrate to allow you to have a good base grounding, and then just use every opportunity you have to learn. Learning a language can be exhausting however, and so if you have read a newspaper article or watched a TV programme in the new language in a day, don’t then force yourself to necessarily do more. Your brain can only adapt and accept so much each day…so take your time.
The more consistent effort you put in over the long-term, the more you will learn – and it will build a much stronger bridge for you in your new nation between you and all those around you.
Build Your Network
Back home you will have had friends, family, work colleagues, neighbours and acquaintances with whom you could communicate on any level you wanted to whenever you wanted to. You would also have known your way around your local community blindfolded! You would know where to shop for what, who to call for help with whatever emergency or in any eventuality and quite possibly, you would have taken all that for granted! It’s called having a network.
When you move abroad you leave all of that familiarity, comfort and security behind – and that, more than anything, can really undermine an expatriate’s confidence. You no longer necessarily know where to go to get basic but essential items from a new washing up bowl, a jack for the car to a licence for your television. What’s more, you don’t yet have the friends to call on for advice or the family members around you to whinge to or gain support from when you feel overwhelmed. Whilst money matters may be the number one reason why expats return home, this is surely the second most common reason – people become insecure and unsettled because all familiarity is stripped from them.
It is not a nice feeling at all – and unfortunately you have to work to overcome it. You have to get out and about and meet people, you have to forge friendships and develop associations and this takes time. You also need to invest some time getting to know who does what, where sells what, where to go for what and generally what’s what (!) in your new nation. As stated, all this takes time…but it is time you’re investing very well because it is time that will bring you a greater degree of security and familiarity, more friends and a feeling of belonging in your new nation.
Expat Flu isn’t Terminal!
Associated with the above mentioned feeling of disconnection with your new nation as a result of having no deep seated familiarity with the day-to-day aspects of life is the old expat flu! All expatriates go down with it – but the good news is, it is not terminal. And no, it isn’t a myth either! Within the first 6 – 12 months of becoming an expat you will go down with some horrible bug or other that will lay you low – it’s known as expat flu although its symptoms vary greatly!
The reasons behind it are probably that you move abroad amid great euphoria and underlying stress, you throw yourself fully into your new life, you expend excessive amounts of physical and emotional energy. Added to that your immune system is bombarded with lots of new bugs floating around in the foreign air and eventually your system gives in to one of these bugs and because you’ve used up great reserves of energy, you’re laid low for a few days.
Expat flu is only significant because it is often accompanied by questioning about why you moved abroad in the first place! After all, when we feel ill we want comfort and security around us, but if we’re in a foreign land still not quite knowing what’s what, it can really undermine everything when you fall ill and feel rotten. Don’t panic however, you will get better, what’s more, you’ll perhaps learn to take things a bit easier and invest more of your energy into positive thinking about your new country. If you get ill with expat flu, just keep reminding yourself why you moved abroad in the first place. Don’t worry, it will all get better soon!
And Finally…
Retiring abroad can be a great way to see more of the world, live in a better climate, escape the aspects of your old life you didn’t like, meet new people, learn more and perhaps take up new pastimes and have adventures. You will have your own unique reasons for considering a relocation in retirement as well. Keep all of these positive thoughts and feelings in mind at all times – perhaps write a diary or a list featuring all your reasons for making the move and all the positive things to come out of retirement abroad.
As long as you always keep one eye on the positive, any elements of your new life that are initially difficult or trying will be overcome quickly and will not trip you up. Expats who return home have often fallen out of love with their new life because they forgot why they wanted to embrace it in the first place. There is no where that’s a paradise on earth, all nations have good and bad elements, accept this, keep perspective, remain realistic and you will make a go of your new life abroad and hopefully be able to embrace all the positive new elements of your life.
Other Articles in the Series: -
I Want to Retire Abroad – Where do I Start?
How to Retire Abroad Practical Checklist