Early-retirement wannabe

gallygirl

Big ticket capital expenditure - e.g. cars isn't included. Am guessing the house budget at €3,000 isn't allowing for much capital expenditure on new boilers, kitchens etc.

Under 300 days - that's almost next week .

BeatTheSystem

9000Euros / pa heath insurance, is this capped or as you get older will it go up to a point where it becomes unaffordable?

In which case, maybe if you are healthy and wealthy build your own insurance fund.

mgdavid

M-L are there no local taxes in Germany to pay for public services? It is the highest single expense after mortgage / rent in UK !

kidmugsy

"Clothing (again, no real idea but lets say €4,000) I am not an extravagent dresser." Make up your mind.

kidmugsy

Marine_life wrote: »

If we were to come back to the UK there are very few places we would consider as we would want to be be near some hills and mountains. We would really like to move to the Lake district but frankly its just absurdly expensive. health service) and the weather is not too bad!

Right, so move to the coast in Dumfriesshire or Kirkcudbrightshire. Lovely hills behind you, and you can look across at the Lake District mountains from your sunny spot while the rain lashes down on them. Ensure that your house is actually by the shore: living in the light reflected off the sea to your south is life-enhancing.

Almo

Your clothing figure seems pretty high to me. How wild a guess is it?

Just an observation, but a few years without paying those healthcare premiums would go quite some way to offsetting the cost of moving to the Lake District (unless you'd have private healthcare here too?).

If you think, overall, that that's a realistic figure then you might as well work towards it. No point fooling yourself!

Marine_life

BeatTheSystem wrote: »

9000Euros / pa heath insurance, is this capped or as you get older will it go up to a point where it becomes unaffordable?

In which case, maybe if you are healthy and wealthy build your own insurance fund.

The German system is complex and I still have some research to do on this - but there are a couple of points.

Basically you still have to pay for health insurance in retirement which is on a sliding scale based on income. So because pensions are earned income then I would still have to pay anyway its just a question of how much. What I am not sure is whether i would have to pay between early retirement and offical retirement since between that time I will be living off investment income (and capital).

Secondly, the rates of increase in cost of public health insurance are, in most commentators views, likely to rise ahead of those in the private system for a number of reasons (mainly the same reasons why governments are trying to reduce the burden of pension costs) so the view is either costs will increase rapidly or cover will be reduced.

With my private medical insurance we actually pay a compulsory surcharge which builds up into an investment fund which is then used to offset any increases in medical costs once at retirement age. Costs will still go up but not at the rate which reflect the relative cost if you see what I mean.

Anyway the view of most commentators is that if you are in private insurance you should stay in as in the long run it will cost less and give better cover than the public system.

Marine_life

mgdavid wrote: »

M-L are there no local taxes in Germany to pay for public services? It is the highest single expense after mortgage / rent in UK !

See my answer above. Not really - the UK is very fortunate in having free health care available to all!

Cost is high but then the cover is first rate and in the last couple of years I would say we have got out almost what we put in.

Marine_life

kidmugsy wrote: »

"Clothing (again, no real idea but lets say €4,000) I am not an extravagent dresser." Make up your mind.

Yes, you're right - I am not sure what I was thinking there. Hopefully it should be half that.

Marine_life

kidmugsy wrote: »

Right, so move to the coast in Dumfriesshire or Kirkcudbrightshire. Lovely hills behind you, and you can look across at the Lake District mountains from your sunny spot while the rain lashes down on them. Ensure that your house is actually by the shore: living in the light reflected off the sea to your south is life-enhancing.

You mean something like this http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35134702.html?premiumA=true