Can you tell us if our income is enough to live on in Spain?

Hi

Myself and my husband are avid readers of the advice on this website. We have had a property for sometime in Spain, which we can only manage to visit a couple of times a year, more's the pity. For the past few months though we have seriously considered packing everything up here in UK and taking the plunge whole heartedly in Spain.

We will have an income of approximately £1600.00 a month. Mortgage is paid and we have money set aside to buy a car. Our ages are 49 and 58. The £1600.00 will be our sole income we don't plan to work. We would greatly appreciate some sound advice from this forum if this amount is enough to live on. Can anyone give us some concrete advice of what tax we would have to pay on our income, or point us in the right direction as to where we can find out this information.

I look forward to some very informative replies.

regards

Lesley

Hi Lesley

I have sent you a pm.

Hello

In brief if you can live on that amount in the UK you can live a lot better in Spain no competition, however I would not cut all ties with the UK, try to keep a base no mater how small so if you have to return you are not having to stay with relatives and friends if possible, if not try 6 months as a taster to see what you think as it is a different way of life. (GREAT) but not everyone can hack it for various reasons, once in Spain you need to treat It as you would in the UK and not as if you are on holiday to get the best out of it. 1600 is currently 2000 euros but always remember that can change! even at one for one you would be much better of with the cost of living here, you may need to change your clothes more often due to the heat but they are dry within two hours, sometimes one!!!

Hi Scubydoo

Great advice, many thanks.

Hi Lesley

Please remember that you will need private health insurance. You can get a temporary SIP card which needs to be renewed every 6 months. This gives you a GP and a discount on prescriptions if needed but nothing else. My husband and I are both under pension age and pay yearly for our health care.

scubydoo wrote:Hello

In brief if you can live on that amount in the UK you can live a lot better in Spain no competition, however I would not cut all ties with the UK, try to keep a base no mater how small so if you have to return you are not having to stay with relatives and friends if possible, if not try 6 months as a taster to see what you think as it is a different way of life. (GREAT) but not everyone can hack it for various reasons, once in Spain you need to treat It as you would in the UK and not as if you are on holiday to get the best out of it. 1600 is currently 2000 euros but always remember that can change! even at one for one you would be much better of with the cost of living here, you may need to change your clothes more often due to the heat but they are dry within two hours, sometimes one!!!

Hi Lesley,
I agree with everything Scubydoo has said above - It is very good advice. Keeping a base in the UK was what I was going to write when I first saw your question. It often seems to be the thing that expats who didn"t do it wish they had, especially when they get older. You never know what the future holds and having somewhere in the UK to go back to, at any time, could be very helpful.

Jan

Hi
We understand your dilemma but all I can say we bought our villa as a holiday home with the idea of when we are pensioners coming over for longer periods.
I thought I'd just say them that came over to live when we all bought, are no more , with a similar income .
They have nearly all sold some at a loss as they liked the Spanish way of life eating out
And enjoying themselves but just couldn't afford to keep it up. So it is very hard to comment as it's all relevant if you are sensible and live like you would live at home(uk) for us I suppose it might work but we have seen so many that haven't we bought off plan before our villa was built, and still
Just come 3 maybe 4 times a year. Good luck with want to decide to do.

We have a similar income to you and live comfortably here with two teenage daughters! We have private health care for all us and run a small car.

Hi lesley

I have been watching the responses to your post with great interest as your dilema will be our dilema in a couple of years , but you know where ever you are you have to adapt yout lifestlye to whats affordable , I,m sure if you truly want to make the move then you will make it work , as we all know if the weather is on your side you can enjoy lovely days and evenings without having to break the bank, look forward to hearing how you get on.

From someone who did return home this year after 12 years there.keep a flat or house here rent it out on a long let managed by estate agent and use that as your monthly income depending on area and property could generated £650 - 1,300 a month plenty to live on with a good exchange rate and no mortgage