Living abroad

[Fargo]

Has any one on here lived in central or east Europe?

I have spent the last 15 years spending my holidays in these areas and each year the amount of British who’ve emigrated for various reasons increases and what struck me the last few years was the amount of young (25+ year olds) who’ve decided to get computer based jobs etc where they have to be in London for one day a month (£85 hand luggage flight and a long 20 hour day) but live on food wages (40k+) in very good value countries.

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Fargo

[yates]

Not sure but with amount of Eastern European nationals who have moved here would suggest it's not all a bed of roses over there 

[Fargo]

1 minute ago, yates said:

Not sure but with amount of Eastern European nationals who have moved here would suggest it's not all a bed of roses over there 

No the jobs are low paid hence why come here or Germany but cost of living is cheap and quality of life is good if you have money to pay for health care etc

[Dave at kelton]

Just been with my brother in law who moved to Limousin, France 16 years ago. My observations are

housing is dirt cheap but you cannot afford to move back

everyday cost of living is about the same as Scotland

if you aren’t self employed you will struggle and even then you need to have a trade and build up a customer base most I met are retired and living off pensions

plenty of brits in that area but you must learn the language

great rural lifestyle and pace of life.

those who have moved out won’t come back

[Fargo]

53 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Just been with my brother in law who moved to Limousin, France 16 years ago. My observations are

housing is dirt cheap but you cannot afford to move back

everyday cost of living is about the same as Scotland

if you aren’t self employed you will struggle and even then you need to have a trade and build up a customer base most I met are retired and living off pensions

plenty of brits in that area but you must learn the language

great rural lifestyle and pace of life.

those who have moved out won’t come back

I’ve worked and lived short term in ukraine , Croatia , Hungary, Belarus , Greenland, Denmark and all brits who are living there are as you say retired or younger who earn U.K. salaries and decided to go out and live in a safe , seasonal, low crime rate countries where living is a lot cheaper and earning U.K. salaries you can live a very very nice life 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, just remember if your retired in UK and decide to live abroad I think the DWP pension payment stays at the same rate when you leave the UK with no annual increases, ??, But then a relative some how kept a UK address and still gained the increased payments and heating allowance,  many many years ago i traveled around Thailand and met many X Pats mostly retired men living there on just their pension, bought property or lived in hotels cheap, it seemed a good life if you enjoyed the weather and cheap cost of living, 

[enfieldspares]

4 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

 Thailand and met many X Pats mostly retired men living there on just their pension, bought property or lived in hotels cheap, it seemed a good life if you enjoyed the weather and cheap cost of living, 

Nothing to do with these late middle aged beer bellied blokes and their fat wallets being desirable to a certain type of young Thai lady happy to gain financial stability in return for sexual favours?

Edited May 7, 2023 by enfieldspares

[Vince Green]

3 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Nothing to do with these late middle aged beer bellied blokes and their fat wallets being desirable to a certain type of young Thai lady happy to gain financial stability in return for sexual favours?

Why else would you want to go out there ?

[udderlyoffroad]

8 hours ago, Fargo said:

I’ve worked and lived short term in ukraine , Croatia , Hungary, Belarus , Greenland, Denmark and all brits who are living there are as you say retired or younger who earn U.K. salaries and decided to go out and live in a safe , seasonal, low crime rate countries where living is a lot cheaper and earning U.K. salaries you can live a very very nice life 

Sounds like you’re much more clued up to what you’re potentially signing up for than most of the people who’ve responded so far.

Only thing I would say is, if it all possible, visit your intended place of residence both in high summer & in the depths of winter. Places like Hungary not only are cold in winter, but also have long hot dry summers with not much in the way of a break in the weather. You need to deal with both mosquitoes & snow shovelling. Something us mild climate island dwellers aren’t always equipped to deal with.

Also avoid the phrase “Eastern Europe”…

[enfieldspares]

I worked in France since August 1999 until the pandemic and lived in Paris from 2002-2006 and 2015-2019. Brexit has changed the rules regarding working n the EU and whilst, yes, Brits very much can still work in the EU they can only do so in fourteen or so limited exceptions. Yet these then do allow them to work there.

Edited May 7, 2023 by enfieldspares

[oldypigeonpopper]

13 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Nothing to do with these late middle aged beer bellied blokes and their fat wallets being desirable to a certain type of young Thai lady happy to gain financial stability in return for sexual favours?

You only have 1 life 🤔

[Bobba]

18 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, just remember if your retired in UK and decide to live abroad I think the DWP pension payment stays at the same rate when you leave the UK with no annual increases, ??,  

Interesting point so I looked on .gov.uk/ state pension if you retire abroad. As ever, nothing is easy. There are countries where payment increases will take place and others where it will not. Choose carefully I suppose is the answer.

[London Best]

If you want to live abroad, just go, there are too many of us here.

[enfieldspares]

7 hours ago, London Best said:

If you want to live abroad, just go, there are too many of us here.

Take Piers Morgan, Stephen Fry and a few others with you please!

[Vince Green]

My workmate was born in Barbados and so when he retired he sold up and moved back there. Within no time he regretted it, sure he had a nice house etc but he said it was as boring as you know what.

It was driving him mad. It made perfect financial sense but he struggled with it. Be careful what you wish for

I could live for a while in Eastern Europe provided it was in one of the bigger cities but they are not the sort of places you want to grow old in 

My ex boss now lives in Spain in Almria but he hates the other British ex pats who he says are awful. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Vince Green

[Fargo]

On 07/05/2023 at 18:50, enfieldspares said:

Nothing to do with these late middle aged beer bellied blokes and their fat wallets being desirable to a certain type of young Thai lady happy to gain financial stability in return for sexual favours?

When we went bird shooting in Senegal it was almost the same there. More mature white men going around with local young ladies hand in hand . Works for them both I suppose .

11 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

My workmate was born in Barbados and so when he retired he sold up and moved back there. Within no time he regretted it, sure he had a nice house etc but he said it was as boring as you know what.

It was driving him mad. It made perfect financial sense but he struggled with it. Be careful what you wish for

I could live for a while in Eastern Europe provided it was in one of the bigger cities but they are not the sort of places you want to grow old in 

That is true . You either want to peg it at 65-70 or have lot of money in the bank to pay for good care 

[Penelope]

On 07/05/2023 at 23:01, Vince Green said:

Why else would you want to go out there ?

Gilhams!!