Prosperous soul in the making

Tahlullah.H

Portugal sounds great as an option Savings.  If you get the opportunity, see if you could send a message to Tilly, who did exactly that, emigrated to Portugal.  She left in 2018.  Her diary tells all how she did it, including the infamous Tilly Tidies.  Worth a read- if you have the time!   Good luck following your dreams.

clearmydebts

Love the Portugal plan Savings! It is our plan to go there too but would ideally have a property at home too. Really interested to hear more about your thoughts!

savingholmes

Thanks guys that was a lot more supportive than I was expecting. My wider family would have poured cold water on the idea. There are definitely options at virtually every price point - if you are willing to work hard. I've looked at a load of property online as well as U tubes of people that have done it. Will be interesting to see what happens after Brexit too although I could potentially still get an EU passport via Ireland. If we waited 5 years until we turned 55 it would be more straightforward and our pension situation would be more secure for the future. Alternatively we could cash in the equity from our house at some future point and go but it would be more of a struggle and we'd have less of a safety net to fall back on if things went wrong - alternatively we would need to take some remote work with us. It's part of why I want to set up alternative income streams if I can - so we are less dependent on our day jobs and can live wherever we choose.

I'd be happy to share the book link with regular posters once it's live. Like I say just waiting on the banking side of things at the moment. I will look into Tilly too.

If you/we can prove you/we have enough £ to live on - Portugal appears very welcoming. They have few jobs and low pay though - so you/we would probably need to be self supporting which is why it would fit better with age 55 for us. The utubers recommend renting first to test out where you are thinking of living first and to make sure you like it. They also say there is a lot of word of mouth and even FB advertising of property at better rates than seen on RM or similar adverts. The appropriate property sale price isn't easy to uncover though as it appears that they over-price by 25-40% and are willing to take much lower prices - great when you are buying not so good when selling. There could be tax benefits to going too - and the risk of tax penalties - so I would need to fully understand that ahead of time. 

I am really good at languages - and last year I listened to someone speak Portuguese with a translator at an event - and could understand and at times called out words they were struggling with... but writing and speaking could be a lot more challenging. Once C19 clears up and travel is safer again - we want to go and visit P and see whether we like it or not. We would want to go a number of times to different places to be sure. If that doesn't work out - perhaps in a few years time we could take up to a year out to go travelling and find somewhere that does speak to us. I think we are both getting itchy feet from having been in the workplace so long and from lockdowns and want to feel like we are actually living rather than existing. When I started my career 50 was early retirement age - it seems cruel to make people wait longer... 

Tahlullah.H

You are really switched on about this.  Looking forward to following this new line of thinking with you Savings.  And moving whilst you still have your health is so important.  Don't wait for the ideal time - which hardly ever happens - because you never know what is around the corner.

clearmydebts

We've been to Portugal several times and to different areas too. We were actually planning to do a road trip with the kids next year but doubt that will happen now.
I would definitely recommend renting somewhere first as well. Friends of mine moved from Oz to Ireland and bought. They didn't settle and have since moved back but are now priced out of the area they want to live in.

savingholmes

Thanks CMD and Tahlullah. Definitely important to not wait forever for things! Some day is a danger word.
Just plodding on money-wise. DH gets paid tomorrow. At the end of November our patio is finally being done. So working on not touching that money and topping up EF. I will buy the odd xmas present - but expecting to buy most out of next month's £ or give cash. Next month I hope to pay more substantial amounts off debt. Having stopped using the spending CC has definitely helped so I don't feel behind. This month there was still a bit of a hangover as depleted EF to clear it at the end of last month.

Pooch is finally off her season so can walk her again. DS has returned £55 of the £155 he owes me. He is waiting on an overdue client bill. He will then also invoice a new client he has at the end of next week and then should be paid for that in 7-14 days thereafter and should then be able to pay us the rest. The good news is that he is now getting his prescription on the NHS so shouldn't have more bills like that. He is now focusing on clearing debt and building an EF. I got him to listen to the 'Richest man in... B' and it definitely helped him seem what he needed to do. DD still has savings so proud of her. She doesn't want to get into debt at all so that will be good if she sticks to that.

MovingForwards

You're getting on top of it now. 
Using a CC is spending money not yet earned.
They have their place in life, but only for short-term borrowing, not long-term juggling.

Good news about DS meds and his work. DD has her head screwed on and is starting to appreciate the value of money.

Not long until the patio is done.

savingholmes

Today I took DH to my favourite van for steak, mushroom, onions and chips. It was lovely. We took pooch who is finally off her season and walked along the canal. Came back to DD having a TOM fuelled rant which made all the good feelings evaporate. Gutted.

MovingForwards

What a shame, you've needed a feel good day for a while.

badmemory

Drag her to the doctors & get some medication sorted.  It may go against the grain but her studies will suffer & her friendships will too & family life could get very interesting if it continues.  Back  in the day I used to spend 4 days a month in bed with a hot water bottle.  When the pill became available in my early 20s it set me free & I don't mean anything to do with it preventing pregnancy.  AIDS hadn't been heard of back then!