Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

droopsnout

Things are looking very bad in the UK.

Have a read here. One expert is advising people to sell all their sterling and saying that Britain is finished.

Current exchange rate:

1 GBP = 1.06592 EUR
1 EUR = 0.93816 GBP

carrots

I saw that, too, DS. It seems he - Jim Rogers - is very influential but he has given bad advice in the past, notably in 1996 to pile your money into Zimbabwe. However, a lot of people will listen to him.

To a great extent it's greed that has got us into this mess. Somehow, I'd feel better if some of the greed were mine personally. Many banks seem reluctant to reveal the extent of their losses, so each day brings more shocking revelations and the UK government has to take over their debts (that means us, really). I saw the other day that one well-known bank had turned from "toxic" to "radioactive" as more debts were revealed. At least some bankers have a sense of shame and are forgoing their 7 or 8 figure bonuses.

The UK government (us again) is borrowing trillions. From whom?

hotbod

we have had enough of this country and are very interested in living in France and buying a small property, although we are young and have children but dont speak french - yet!

we are hoping to rent out our property in england to help cover our living expenses

any advice?

donny-gal

Don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Learn French - essential if you are to get work.
Find out what work there is, and if you are qualified to get work in France.

If you are think of the building trade, don't forget that many who are having work done in France are British and cannot afford atm to do much.

Sorry to sound negative, but it is not a bed of roses.

DG

donny-gal

droopsnout wrote: »

Things are looking very bad in the UK.

Have a read here. One expert is advising people to sell all their sterling and saying that Britain is finished.

Current exchange rate:

1 GBP = 1.06592 EUR
1 EUR = 0.93816 GBP

I agree that I think that the "expert" is oot, but as we have said before, it gives us a good feeling to know we have property and as such savings in Euros and £'s.

DG

droopsnout

I'm sure Jim Rogers, as an ally of George Soros, will be followed by many, but although the pound has again fallen today, it hasn't collapsed in the way it could have done after such a shocking piece of advice from a renowned source.

I didn't know about his advice re Zimbabwe, though, so thanks, carrots. Of course, Zimbabwe should be such a rich country, given its assets and resources.

I agree with d-g that it is reassuring, when money could soon be worth nothing, that we have a house to live in. Of course, if money is worth nothing, then neither are houses, but at least we are sheltered, and as the days are getting longer, and I'm seeing catkins on the local nut trees, green shoots and buds appearing on one or two plants, and camellia flower buds not too far from opening, I can think that if the worst comes to the worst, and I can't afford to paint and decorate, I'll still be able to sit on our terrace in the sun to watch everything rot! (I hope - or are the politicians and financiers going to mess up the weather next?)

droopsnout

hotbod wrote: »

we have had enough of this country and are very interested in living in France and buying a small property, although we are young and have children but dont speak french - yet!

we are hoping to rent out our property in england to help cover our living expenses

any advice?

Why have you had enough of your country, and is France significantly better than your country in this (or these) respect(s)?

If you have no French, you will have no job. If you do have French, you are still very unlikely to get a job, unless you are in a very small niche market with high demand. And it takes years to become fluent for an adult. Your children will be fluent long before you if you move.

There is a lot of advice in this thread, and so my first bit of advice is to bite the bullet and skim through it for the posts that are useful to you.

You might also like to find the specialist forums for people who have homes in France, and read the oodles of advice on those sites, bearing in mind that there is also a lot of misinformation about.

Consider, too, that an income in sterling from your UK property may not be worth much in the future if the pound continues to fall. And are you happy to leave your UK home in the hands of agents, who have (generally speaking) a poor reputation when it comes to taking care of property?

Read all the magazines you'll find on living in France, especially "French Property News". Use every website you can find to trawl through job vacancies in France. Consult the ANPE site (ANPE= Agence Nationale pour l'emploi) for vacancies in your chosen area. Work out, in fact, where in France you want to live, and why. Spend all your holiday time there to see that it really is where you want to live, especially spending all winter holidays there. (Everywhere's nice in the sun, but winter brings other views!)

Consider the feelings of your friends and relatives, especially your Mums. Think about how you could fulfil your family duties of perhaps caring for aged relatives. When choosing a property, think about access for elderly relatives.

I have no idea what your profession is, but it could be that any qualifications you have from the UK are more or less worthless in France, where different standards may apply, for instance in electrical installations.

If you achieve some degree of fluency in French, and if you have the knowledge, skills, attitude and persistence to set up your own business, you could have a good chance of success, and the main beneficiaries of that success would undoubtedly be your children.

Your enquiry is short of detail about yourselves, so this has to be a general reply.

Whatever you do, put your children first, and good luck.

droopsnout

I might just add that you could benefit from the low house prices at the moment, and that is in your favour. Small houses in rural towns and villages, especially where the French themselves don't want to buy or live (agricultural areas with no employment prospects) are available for a very small outlay in UK terms. But then, if there are no jobs there, it's perhaps not what you're after.

EdInvestor

droopsnout wrote: »

I'm sure Jim Rogers, as an ally of George Soros, will be followed by many, but although the pound has again fallen today, it hasn't collapsed in the way it could have done after such a shocking piece of advice from a renowned source.

It's likely Mr Rogers holds a large short position in sterling so his "expertise" may be a touch self interested.

Savvy_Sue

donny-gal wrote: »

If you are think of the building trade, don't forget that many who are having work done in France are British and cannot afford atm to do much.

Not to mention that in the building trade they do things differently in France. And in electrical terms, even more so!