English Teachers' Pensions

[Nessie]

I am hoping to move to France in January 2008 with my wife and having reached the age of 60 and left my job in a further education college, will be relying on my teachers pension for support.  Unless I say otherwise, it will be paid into my UK current bank account.

There must be a few ex-teachers out there in a similar position so i'd appreciate some advice on how best to make the most of my pension.  Should I ask for it to be paid directly into my French account and take the risk of daily fluctuations in the Euro?  Is there a better way?  What about tax-French or UK?  Anything else I ought to be aware of?

Look forward to hearing...

Alan D

[cooperlola]

I have a railway pension so not quite the same but the rules are similar.

Where you pay tax will depend upon whether a teacher's pension is classified as government or private.  If the former, you pay tax in the UK; if the latter, you pay it in France.  A teacher would clarify this I'm sure.

You can do as you say and get the money paid into a French bank account and put up with the variation in its value.  However, if you're spending all your money here this willl happen whatever you do and your pension provider can often provide a better exchange rate than most banks. 

However, there is nothing to stop you having your money paid into a UK account.  If you use the Nationwide, you can put your cash card into any ATM over here, then pay cash into a French bank account to cover direct debits etc.  The advantage of this is that the Nationwide will give you BANK rate on all currency exchanges and not charge a fee.  However, you must get the account up and running whilst you still have a UK address as they won't open a new account for a French address although they're happy to keep you on when you move.

Other things : Health care - you need to apply for an E106 for both you and your o/h.

Cars : you must register your cars in France when you live here (it is the law) so try to sell it/them before you leave or you'll have an unsaleable rhd for life!.  Buy a left hand drive when you get here.

There's a lot more but the above is  a start.