Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

seven-day-weekend

If his IB is stopped we will lose our medical cover too.

However, I'm assuming that it will be a few months yet before he has the medical, and then another few weeks before a decision is made.

That takes us up to about April/May.

In January 2010 I become a State Pensioner and will be eligible in my own right for the Health cover and my husband will be covered on that (I am covered on his at the moment).

So, even if he loses his IB, it's only a few months to wait with no medical cover.

And anyway, they might decide he is still incapable of work!

OR we might be resident in the UK by then.....

Droopsnout, his State Pension entitlement is OK, he has more than enough NI contributions already.

He's worried about losing the money (although we very rarely use it to live on, but with the Exchange rate eroding his Teachers' Pension .....)

He's also worrried about us losing our health cover, ( but as I've explained above, even if the worst comes to the worst, we'll only be not covered for a few months).

He's worried most of all about the medical itself - but I am now going to print out your last post and show him ... it may make him feel better.

Thanks for your concern.

droopsnout

Yes, all sorts of pressures. I assume he is, like me, more anxious than most when confronted by tricky situations.

Can I suggest that when he does have to go for the medical, you make sure that he is organised with all the necessary paperwork? He can point out that he is unable to organise himself so well, and that he relies on you for that. (Forgive me - I'm assuming from what little I know that this is true, but please don't feel you have to confirm or deny that here).

If indeed his condition is to do with depression and/or anxiety, then it would in fact be best if his nervousness is in evidence at the medical - but obviously you don't want him to be on tenterhooks between now and then, so yes, do try to put him at his ease. He will certainly be nervous enough when the day arrives. I know I was.

If there is a period during which you are without "automatic" cover from the Spanish authorities, perhaps you could consider buying a private policy for the intervening months.

And regarding your comment about possible residency in the UK, I'm afraid such thoughts do pass through my head, too, though I'd like to think that it won't come to that. Trying to be realistic, though, I can foresee the need for us to spend the winter months in the UK in order to cut down on expenses - not that it would make all that much difference, and I really don't see Mrs Snout being happy with that.

But with the pound closing at another new low against the euro this week, and a loss of value of my pension now at 40% in six years, there's nothing more I can pare away from our expenditure, except for food and heating.

The crocodiles are snapping at our bums, so we have to do something quite soon.

Anyone out there need someone fluent in French???

Oh, and I haven't noticed lots of useful advice coming from those much-vaunted ex-pat message boards. Perhaps Martin could do an article about the depreciation of the pound and its effects. (Apologies if he has already and I've missed it).

D-g, I haven't had a reply from your telecoms chap. I did refer to you as PINA. Is that right?

seven-day-weekend

Hi Droopsnout, yes, it is precisely these sort of situations that will send him into a flat spin.

When he is in a 'state' I have to do all the organising (even when he is not, he is still not all that good at it sometimes).:rotfl:

seven-day-weekend

Hi again, hit 'enter' button too soon!

He is going to take everything with him that he has sent to the DWP - thank goodness I kept copies!) - and yes, his anxiety and depression and also his IBS will indeed rear their heads in glorious technicolour as the day draws closer.

Just to say I showed him your post and said I thought you were an ex-Teacher who's on IB and he said 'oh he cracked up then like me did he?'. Please forgive me, I don't know whether that is true, but it made him feel better to think it, so I said nothing. Please accept my apologies if that is not the case. However he was very moved by the care shown in your post and the effort made to post it and he is indeed slightly calmer, so thanks.:beer:

About the UK residencey - this was never meant to be a permanent move and we were thinking of doing half-time UK and Spain anyway in 2010, so if his IB is stopped it will just enable us to make our minds up a little quicker than we otherwise might have done. We will probably spend the winter and spring here in Spain and the summer/autumn in the UK. Lovely as it is here, we do I'm afraid, miss the city! Luckily we still have our UK house, even though we'll have to share it with our son and his lodger while we are there.:eek:

We too have pared our expenses down to the bone because of the exchange rate - we have lost about 30% in four years - that is why we sometimes now have to use the IB for things like car insutrance which we could budget for before.

Thanks again for your kindness.

droopsnout

You are/were correct on all counts!

My very best wishes to your husband: I know exactly how he feels. I also know how much patience and understanding you must have shown him. Well done, you.

Regrettably, this situation has occurred all too frequently in our profession, and if I might say so, the professional associations have never properly defended their members from the pressures imposed from outside. And before those in industry tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, I'll tell them I do, and suggest they try it out for themselves.

Unfortunately, the more conscientious one is, the faster and the more easily one descends into an irretrievable situation. And there is no pleasure whatsoever, as a professional, in saying, "I cracked up." In fact, it feels like an admission of guilt: "I could not cope." (And this is often after many years of doing much better than just coping!)

Someone, somewhere, should find out why this happens so often in the teaching profession, and create systems to reduce its incidence.

Sorry, peeps. Rant over.

Errata

Rant away Droopsnout - you're certainly entitled to in my view.
I'm sure both you and 7DW's husband won't be surprised to learn that of all the jobs and professions in the UK the teaching profession has the largest percentage of workers who have a crack up. Most of them never return to teaching, and I for one don't blame them.

Savvy_Sue

Just be grateful you got out before encountering DS3! charming and intelligent boy, but caused a leeetle stress with his GCSEs with his attitude to 'boring' subjects! :rotfl:

slightly better now he's doing A levels: two teachers commented at parents evening how wonderful it is to have him doing their subject, because he's going to make their 'value added' stats look simply amazing! His results were so mixed at GCSE (although not THAT bad, I didn't think!) that he's predicted to get Es and his Challenge Grades are all Ds. They're all convinced he'll get Bs with minimal work and As with the slightest bit of effort, but that's what you get when you take the job of predicting results away from real people and give it to computers! :rotfl:

Well, that's me off topic. consider my wrist self-slapped.

droopsnout

I went back after one breakdown and lasted nearly three years. I wasn't going to go back after the second one.

Thanks, Errata, both for the info and the sympathy. Out of interest, I wonder if you could point me to the research results that you refer to. Thanks very much.

droopsnout

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Just be grateful you got out

I suspect that Mr s-d-w and I had little choice. We didn't get out - we fell out.

And when I reflect in my more morbid moments upon my departure, I recall that I didn't receive a word from my Headteacher nor a leaving/retirement present of any kind, despite serving the same school for 22 years as Head of Faculty (plus all the out-of-hours stuff like rugby coaching, language clubs, extra tuition, school magazine, liaison with press, etc., etc.)

Bitter? Me? Nah!!! I'm here, and they're still there!!! :rotfl:

But, Sue, best wishes to your son. He has an excellent role model!

Errata

I can't give a reference for the research, I came across it some 7/8 years ago when I was working with NHS, planning mental health services. It would most probably have come out of either DOH or DWP commissiong a uni to carry out a study.