Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

morganlefay

Sorry this is miles off what people have been talking about, but we are just about to have sold our house in France (live permanently in England and can't afford the upkeep any more) but couldn't have picked a worse time to be repatriating money. Does anyone know of any French deposit/savings etc accounts that we could put the money into in the short term (like an instant access account perhaps) in case the sterling/euro rate changes ? Or anywhere we could go for advice ? Our UK IFA doesn't know, and I dread trawling all the French Banks to find out, but will if necessary !

droopsnout

There exist "Livret A" accounts, which are tax free, and it seems you don't have to be resident in France to have them.

Have a look here. The interest rate is set by the government, so no need to research all the different banks. Use your regular French bank if you're happy with them and if it's more convenient.

For other readers who may not want too much detail, but just the main points:

• Interest rate 2.25% tax free in France
• Invest from 10€ to 19125€
• No risk savings account with instant access and no fees
• Available to both UK and French residents
• Everyone can benefit. Limited to one person.

seven-day-weekend

Well I thought our life in Spain was well and truly over, until recently my husband had an e-mail from Decathlon in Vicar (a town on the coast in Almeria province) offering him a 10 euro voucher as a 'valued customer'. We assumed it would only be valid in Vicar and anyway the expiry date was two days hence so we thought no more about it.

The following week, we went to Decathlon in Wednesbury (near Birmingham) and me being the sort of person I am, I asked the assistant about this voucher. He checked and said it was valid in all Decathlon stores throughout Europe So then I said that we'd only got the voucher two days before it expired, he checked again and said they could still honour it . So we expected to get £7-8 off our purchase as the voucher was for ten euros. But they actually deducted £10 they didn't bother to try to convert the currency.

So, full marks to Decathlon in Vicar (for sending us the voucher) and in Wednesbury (for giving such excellent customer service!).

andrar

Anyone got any advice or experiences of Canada? I'm facing redundancy in march and want to shake it up a bit so thought living and working in Canada might be a good option!

gfplux

I have visited North America many, many times. North, East, South and West.
However only one of those trips was to Canada. We visited as a family the East of Canada about 5 years ago.
We were in Toronto for a week and then rented a car to visit visit Ottawa, Montreal and Algonquin Park.
It is a wonderful country and we all have no hesitation about recomending it.
Imagine the USA with all the good things WITHOUT any of the bad things.
I wish I had discovered Canada as a young man.
Good luck

andrar

Thanks gfplux, i've heard some great things about it! I'm just not sure best way to go about it. I went to STA travel but they wanted £50 just to refer me to Bunac?!

Savvy_Sue

I think they are quite fussy about who they let in: I remember a poster from another board who explored this extensively, but could not get in because one of the family is disabled and has ongoing health needs.

I also have an Australian academic friend who did a sabbatical over there: winter is not fun, especially if you're missing an Australian summer at the time, and you spent the previous Australian summer in a cold wet UK winter ...

I'd look around the High Commissioner of Canada's website and if there aren't links to websites for "expats in Canada" then I'd google ... there seem to be several.

andrar

Thanks, it's just me going and I don't mind the cold, I prefer it to being too hot and humid (I'm very pale so don't do well in the sun!) I'll take a look at that website and see where I get.

gallygirl

andrar wrote: »

Thanks, it's just me going and I don't mind the cold, I prefer it to being too hot and humid (I'm very pale so don't do well in the sun!) I'll take a look at that website and see where I get.

Looking at where you're from andrar you'd probably get away with a long sleeved tshirt .

andrar

Haha yep I'll pack my shorts and flip flops too!