Realising the Dream?

[Debs]

We now feel we are closer than ever of leaving the UK and moving to France. However, apart from the mission of finding a suitable property, just how realistic is it of having a decent life in France on £15,000 per annum? We are primarily looking at property in dorgogne/limosine area mainly for transport links back to our uk airport and not too far to travel with our dogs.

[Lou]

Well, welcome to the forum - I'll go first on this one, you'll get some (ahem) interesting replies as this is (though no particular reason for you to know as a new member) a topic which frequently comes up and frequently gets some acerbic replies!

The basic reply is - how long is a piece of string. It depends on so many things, impossible for someone else to tell you, only you know your life-style.

Basically, these days, don't bank on anything being cheaper here than in the UK, so as a rule of thumb - could you live on this amount if you were doing so in the UK?

If you would really struggle there, then my guess is you'd struggle here.

Many people - both French and foreign - and including many people on this forum, live on considerably less than the sum you've asked about. It all depends on how you want to live your life.

Good luck

Lou

[woolybanana]

Well, you shouldn't pay too much income tax on that income, probably none, but not sure about social charges.

 

[Debs]

Sorry should have been a little clearer. We live a fairly simple life, both like the red nectar and a good meal out now and then, should be once a fortnight however not always. Hoping once settled to have a little room for a small veg plot, whilst not living totally on home grown produce I would like to be able to supply close to half the weeks food. I suppose what I'm concerned over is the taxs, gas electric and prices of food, you know the usual. And no I have no intention of paying way over the odds for PG tips (apart from the fact I'm a coffee drinker). :-)

[Pickles]

Have a look at this thread which will tell you about why people go back (bit ar*e about face, but a lot of good points are made there).

This thread covers some of the questions that you may be thinking of.

This thread comes at it from a different angle.

Once you have some more specific details, more detailed answers would be forthcoming.

[EuroTrash]

The big question is, are you intending to work, and if not are you UK retirement age yet, and if not, how far off? £15 000 pa will go a lot further if you don't have to set aside several thousand a year for private healthcare, which you may have to if you are intending to be 'early retired', or as the French term it 'inactif''.

[idun]

Retired?  Not retired?

If retired, if it is a public sector private pension that would still be taxable in the UK.

If not retired, limited cover with an S1 the old E106 and then you'll need to pay for private health care, which can be a lot of money. That would be up to your first five years and then pay into the french system,

I live simply and yet I seem to get through enough money, no matter where I live. No one can answer about local taxes, they are so varied and can be dearer or cheaper than the UK.Remember the people you buy from may have different circumstances to yourself and so pay quite a different rate for their taxe d'habiation. Water is always metered and gas and electric you can look up on french web sites, you know how much you use now, after all.

Getting to and fro from the UK. Well I have found that the air prices are a lot dearer than they have been. Don't depend on cheap and circumstances change. And driving, well, I was thinking about driving down from the NE of England to my old village and I reckon that it would have cost me about £500return, autoroutes and diesel being expensive, plus it's so far that we haven't been able to do that run without a night in a hotel for many's a year.

[Alan Zoff]

Renting for a year would give you a good idea of how far the money goes, a feel for the area you have selected, the effect of the changing seasons and, most importantly, whether you are really cut out for emigration.