Your Overseas Retirement Beckons – Here’s a How To
Planning to escape overseas to enjoy your autumn years? Here’s our how-to for ensuring your new life is every bit as successful as your sun-soaked dreams.
When to Start Planning
There’s a lot to do, and you’re going to need around 3 years of organising and arranging if you want your fresh start in a new country to be as successful as possible. Key factors we’re about to move onto include: income, logistics and settling in.
Your Income – Pension and Financials
Our top tip for ensuring your finances are healthy enough for a move abroad is to seek independent financial planning advice, and this can become all the more important when you’re buying property abroad. Seeking this advice early on can help you top up an adequate savings pot to guarantee a monthly income from your pension.
Ideally you’ll want to aim for being totally free from any debt, which once gain emphasises the need for early planning. You’ll need to ask for pension statements from both your private pension and state pension (and have a careful think back to whether you’ve forgotten any past pensions that you started when in previous jobs).
At the end of this review, you should be able to set a date for your move abroad – and then the countdown can begin!
Your New Home – Where will Your Live?
Time for a spreadsheet. You see, the chances are that you won’t be able to have it all when it comes to your new home, so you need to work out what’s the most important. Is it the sun, culture, a lower cost of living, an ex-pat community, a better quality of life, a more luxurious home? Rate them in order of importance and be prepared to compromise.
A big helping hand can come in the form of online expat community forums – these often provide the truest idea of what it’s like to live somewhere (far truer than the image painted by estate agents who may simply want to make a sale).
You may also want to take a few field trips – short holidays to test out different areas.
Key question – Do you Need Visas?
The Visa application process is complicated, to say the least, and it may only become more so once we leave the European Union.
Bear in mind that depending on where your moving, this process can take as long as two years (such as is the case when moving to the USA). This Visa Website right here will help cut the complexity and guide you through the process.
Settling In
No matter where you’re moving – whether to the quaint English village next to your town, or to a hustling, busting Spanish township, there are some golden rules to ensure you settle in smoothly. Read our how-to guide for a step-by-step: Starting your new life after a big move.
Key question – When Should You Book Your International Removals?
Ideally you’ll begin to think about the removals logistics 6 months prior to your move, contacting a removals firm to book up in good time.
Planning for an overseas adventure for your retirement? When you’re ready to set sail, we’ll be there – already making our way to your brand-new home abroad. Find out more about our European Removals, or get in touch to talk about your pending retirement move.
07931 849 112 | 01904 375 995 | Get your removals quote online | admin@vanmanyork.co.uk
