The Sunday Times asked us to help them with a recent survey to determine where the best countries are in the world for retirement. Based on a series of criteria we scored various nations on the likes of taxation, property prices, culture and lifestyle etc., and as a result a final list of nation choices was compiled to offer retiring Brits a choice of overseas destination where they might like to live.
Interestingly, France was one country that kept scoring consistently well no matter which criteria we were asked to consider it by. However, we recently received an hilarious account of one expatriate’s time living in France – the story started out as a love affair and ended as a veritable nightmare – proving that how a country can appear on the surface may not be a good guide and indicator of what it may be like to actually live there.
Taking France as our example nation for the sake of this report, we’re going to show you the number one secret to successfully settling in to your new life abroad. After all, if you haven’t done so already, you will one day decide on your ideal choice of nation – and then you will have to work hard to make it your home. We don’t want you to be put off your country choice when you realise that every country in the world has its downsides!
France is Perfect on Paper
When compiling the Sunday Times index of the best countries to retire to abroad we were asked to consider France on 9 separate criteria and score it for each criterion out of 10. We began by looking at income tax and because it can be up to 40% at the top rate we had to temper our score – however, if you’re moving to live on a modest pension you can actually get your income tax rate down as low as 14% - so we gave it 5 out of 10. But as any expat knows, tax is far less in France than it is in the UK, so maybe you could actually score it higher.
Inheritance tax and property tax were also assessed before we moved on to look at property prices – and because you can find something for any budget in France, which is one of the wonderful things about this stunning and easy to reach country, it scored 8 out of 10 even in spite of the strong (ish) euro. As it’s in Europe and for Brits the ease of gaining residency is high, it then scored 9 in this category, as living costs can be affordable it scored 8, for its climate is had to score 8, another 8 for its healthcare – and then we came to the final criteria for consideration – culture.
We ranked France 9 out of 10 for culture – but only if you can learn to speak French and integrate of course!
So, as you can see, on paper France stacks up well. You can add to this the general media view of the country which ranks its weather, cuisine, beautiful people, work/life balance, wine, lifestyle and scenery very highly indeed, and all in all France looks perfect.
Some Ugly Truths About France
France has alcohol abuse rates worse than our own in the UK, it has more MacDonalds per head of the population than any nation other than America, suicide rates in France are the third highest in Europe, it’s a country that’s often held to ransom by striking workers which cripple the nation’s infrastructure and harm the economy. Racial tensions run high in many coastal towns and cities, crime rates in places like Marseille are scarily high. The climate in Northern France is no better than ours in the UK, trains are often cancelled or late running in bad weather.
Rural France is poverty stricken and culture in many communities doesn’t get much more glamorous than line dancing and beer swilling. Gastronomy can mean eating every single part of every single animal – hardly fine dining – and even French fashion can consist of shell suits and hideous florals, refuting the claim that all French people are intrinsically chic!
In other words, France is far from perfect!
So, What Does All This Serve to Teach Us?
You may be wondering why we have gone from highlighting the delights of la belle France on the one hand, to totally trashing our neighbour the first chance we get! The point is, no nation is perfect…and this is the most important lesson that any would-be expatriate can learn.
Forget about learning the language for a minute, don’t worry about integration techniques right now – what you really need to know and understand and accept categorically is that no one country can fulfil all of your dreams of it. No nation in the world is without issue – and the sooner you can accept this, the sooner you will be ready to move abroad and embrace the expatriate lifestyle!
The Number 1 Secret to Successfully Settling in to Your New Life Abroad Revealed…
The number one secret is learning to love your chosen nation, warts and all. Take your rose coloured glasses off, be honest about where you’re living, learn to see the good, the bad and the indifferent and be accepting. The sooner you can accept that your chosen country is NOT perfect, the sooner you will be able to accept it and live in it and allow your new life to become all that you had hoped.
If you move abroad believing that the sun will shine every day, the locals will all welcome you with open arms, that your poor language skills won’t be a problem and that there is no crime, no poverty, no under current of dissatisfaction amongst some sectors of society and that no one will ever try and rip you off, your love affair will sour very quickly as you are awoken very rudely from your dream.
Be honest, be open, be accepting and just know that no one nation is perfect…you have to learn to love your new nation for what it truly offers you.
