Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

droopsnout

Well, £5 is less than £8, so as a MoneySaver I should try it out!

Thanks for the info. If/when we need to transfer some more dosh, I think I'll give Moneycorp a try.

Mind you, another aspect is the exchange rate offered, which could either wipe out the £3 saving or else increase it!

But it seems impossible to know what rate will be applied to a transfer via the bank.

gfplux

Diesel prices for information
I have recently been in Germany and this last weekend travelled from home (Luxembourg) to the south of France.
Basic Diesel, I see no point in paying more for premium diesel.

Germany, Black Forest 4th March €1.35
Luxembourg 15th March €1.179 (price controlled by the state so this price applies to all outlets in the Country.
France Motorway (the prices are shown on panels at the side of the road) 16th March between €1.429 and €1.456
France Les Issambres 17th March (83) €1.317

I hope that is of some use or help to someone.

de1amo

İ lived in central spain for a period and found it much easier than where i have settled!!...This is a long thread and i don't know if Turkey has been mentioned?? Being outside the Euro zone it offers great value for your pound but provides other challenges.
İ have an occupational pension due to ill health but no other benefits are a llowable due to being outside the EU.....but the cost of living makes it affordable. İ still work and have a 16year old daughter who consumes large amounts of money!...i am well funded/salaried but struggle with the necessity to rebuild my home in a few years due to living in an earthquake zone..i still have a home in britain which my nephew looks after and covers the bills....i keep it as a safety path from the politics or economy here!!

droopsnout

Yes, Turkey has had a little mention on here. You posted here yourself in April 2010!

Sadly, there was no-one else from the country to get a conversation going about it, I seem to remember. We discussed satellite TV at the time.

That doesn't mean that the rest of us aren't interested, though!

droopsnout

De1amo, it sounds as if things can be quite difficult. Outside of the EU, you have no EU protection which perhaps expats within the Union tend to take for granted (though things are changing in that regard, as the UK drifts towards pulling out).

How do you arrange health cover? Privately? Has the fall of the pound in 2008 and the subsequent partial recovery affected you a lot? Did the pound fall as much against the Turkish lira?

I have hundreds of questions!! Love to know about everything! Housing, diet, local taxes, religious difficulties, etc., etc.

de1amo

İ have a business in Turkey as well as a home. The company pays my medical insurance because i am married to a local, a family policy. There was agreement made at one time to allow all foreigners to pay Nİ and be covered but it keeps changing.....İ pay about 80 quid a month to cover the whole family and for that my wife will get a pension in later life and we are covered for medical emergencies..if we pay a little more we get access to all the private health hospitals...about 6 quid an appointment(and treatment)...health care is fantastic and they have undone all the harm the UK NHS did to me!!

At the moment there is great political turmoil but after the end of March it should settle...i still keep a home in the Uk for every eventuality. The devaluation of the lira has been massive but it makes coming here cheap for the brave ones...there is an over supply of homes in the resorts and i would recommend people to rent for a good period because it is a wild west mentality in the resorts for estate agents and crooks....i dont live in the expat area but on retirement i will relocate for half the year to an expat area....

droopsnout

This is fascinating stuff, because unlike most expats I come across you're actually working, and with your own business, have married a local and clearly appear fully integrated, if that's the right word.

The prices you mention are extraordinarily cheap when compared to what we pay here in France. For healthcare, for instance, if you're not covered by the UK through retirement or sickness benefit, you would pay the State 8% of your earnings (less an allowance of 9,000 euros), plus a top-up insurance. For the insurance we pay 145 euros a month for my wife and me, but you can pay more or less than that depending on the company you choose and on the amount of cover for dental, optical, maternity, going on a "cure", etc. I guess the average French couple our age would pay around 175-250 euros a month altogether. (French people never talk about money or what more private things cost, so it's hard to know).

For an appointment with a GP here, you pay 23 euros, but 22 of that is reimbursed by the State and the top-up. (I seem to remember it was a similar figure when I took my daughter to see a doctor in Spain a couple of years ago).

Turkey is in the UK news today after blocking Twitter. That sort of State interference isn't likely to go down well with potential EU partners. Or is the move to join the EU a dead or dying duck now?

Anyway, thanks for the info so far. It is very interesting, and I'm always ready to learn more! I would say that I'm particularly interested in the way of life, and how people live - whether they're locals or expats.

de1amo

the current PM is sabre rattling....his actions are doing my business a world of good...he has become very extreme in his language but he talks a lot of sense(but he doesnt dress it up).....Turks do need whipping into action sometimes....the present problem is a non resident powerful business man causing agitation from his home in USA.......he has been mucking raking because Erdogan is threatening the guys income stream by trying to improve the life of people actually living in Turkey......Erdogan's action of closing twitter is purely symbolic as everyone knows how to get their service restored...his message is going out to America not to mess with him!!.....he makes statements of power to let the world know!!!...Turkey had a special friendship with America but recently Turkey has moved away from America and learn to influence the middle east on it's terms......Turkey has grown it's export markets by growing into the middle east and avoided the world wide recession....it is a power house economy and Erdogan is the reason!!....

Most of the expats here have come here with the idea that Turkey holds the values that is inherent in Britain....and get ripped off....İts a brave new world and you have to be 'aware' because the Government here doesn't protect you....it isn't a nanny state......i have done well with the guidence of my wife and family here but i can see why so many people get ripped off and dis-illusioned.....buyer beware!!....like i said i wouldnt put all my eggs in this basket!!

droopsnout

Well, I love politics, but this is well outside my field of experience.

I've just been reading up some of the background on the BBC website (not that I wholly trust the West's major news sites), and I think this is one barney I'll keep out of!

But for you and your family, and for Turkey itself, I hope things settle down quickly.

de1amo

Oh the BBC is totally dellusional about Turkey and it makes my wife 'boil'...i sometimes wonder if they have lost their grip on reality!!....we are well positioned to leave Turkey and live wherever we want...anywhere apart from Britain!!!...the weather and discontent is so unappealing......i used to live in Brasil and would love an excuse to return!!