Same here - but need the money to help our kids out of mortgage hell in the UK and used to cycle London to get to Imperial College past ‘Baker Street’ trying to avoid the potholes on a Brompton.
“This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul”
“He’s got this dream about buying some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he’ll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about ev’rything”
Darn no I talk about everything!
Thing is - that you guys have given me a system that I adopt then forget about. Just as George1 says - but think @Rachman + @Larkwood would disagree - I just want to dump the money some place and forget about it. Do not care about market fluctuations - did that last century and before you know it, you’re a slave to share prices.
Song lyrics nearly) again:
“The pound goes up, The dollar goes down
Won’t you tell me what you’ve found,
And where we’re bound”
We wouldn’t keep our UK house for the paperwork and also the worry that an ex-Council could come crashing down at any time. Houses don’t have any price appreciation left in them, I don’t think. Even now - property hotspots of Cambridge, Oxford and London are selling flats where you buy a bit and then rent a bit … … worst of both worlds.
Pity that young people can’t see how bad this system is and rebel … … but they’ve never known any different.
@JaneJones - we tired a sustainable community (eco-village) in Cambridge - still on-line I think CFLC - property developers outbid us every time.
You can’t work in the UK AND be resident in France AND avoid getting into the French tax system.
So - have to live for >183 days in the UK to flip back into the UK system, or the money is taxed in France - I pay Cotisations?? (I think that’s the word) and I lose S1 … … so have to work for > 1/2 a year … … which I was planning to do so all good!
If I work in France or Spain (applied to Toulouse, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid Universities) - and work there for 1 year - does that mean the S1’s gone forever? Just need S1 for the reduced Social charges so most part of Health care >67.
And tax.
Almost certainly.
Original plans to take dual citizenship and work not working then!
This is all quite remarkable.
I really think you need to focus! We are trying to help you, but not exactly fair if you then don’t take proper note so we go round in circles again.
You’re a scientist so define your aim and set out the pathways to get there. Then work through which are viable and which aren’t.
So for example dropping back to UK to work at Aldi is really quite daft. You will earn £500 a week max and spend well over half on housing and feeding yourself even sticking to hostels . Add on travel to and fro and this is just not a sensible economic proposition.
If you don’t have the capital to generate the income you need to live on for 10 years then sadly you should take a deep breath and put your plans on hold until you can bridge the gap to pension age. Or start to develop another plan in the UK.
No, that’s not how it works. Work when physically in Uk is taxed and NI in UK.
Jesus wept.
Brilliant advice here - £200 pm for a room in a house (tried Coventry randomly)
eg 'Room to rent ' Room to Rent from SpareRoom
£15 per hour pay at Aldi approx - so just need to work for a day or so to cover rent each month?
(I’ve already had this lifestyle in Cardiff for nearly a year so costed - it’s hard without a kitchen, washing machine, fridge, freezer etc … … but you get used to it)
Thanks for your compliment 
I’ve been building up my pension(s) for years now as my France house purchase fund, so cashing them in the right way is important to me! On your query -
Remember if you’re married the higher income limit is 500K. Remember though you have to cash in a pension pot in its entirety (technically - ‘extinguish all rights’). You might be able to book a ‘free’ session with Blevins or also @Dave_Lawson who is the forum’s resident pensions person - I think he hasn’t posted anything here, perhaps he hasn’t read the thread as a ‘pension’ topic.
You mentioned
well, you would be like me, a ‘frontalier’ - if you commute, and you would be entitled to a S1 as such. Though why work at Aldi, could you not keep your existing professional work? Though perhaps you are fed up with it!
Glad you are enjoying T212, and partly in answer to
It’s not for the ISA, its euro savings rate is 3.4% gross, so better than the Livret A rate 2.4% net. And as you mentioned, it’s the highest paying sterling account for newbies at 5.16%. Though with another BOE bank cut today possibly its loss leader won’t be at that rate for long.
PS one thing about cashing in pensions which might not have been mentioned is that when you cash the pension in you don’t actually have to change the money to euro’s, you can still hold it in sterling.
Conversely, once you cash the pension pot in you will have to pay France tax on the interest - so consider keeping the pension pots until you need them. Though remember - we’re not financial advisors! (except Dave Lawson of course).
Hey - can I check this with you as I’m fairly sure that the key rule is live in France for >183 days and pay tax in France so if I work in UK for 3 months - France will want the tax? No?
So most important thing about this lifestyle is not to smell (I use white vinegar as it’s so cheap) and 1 set of metal impregnated clothes to prevent needing to wash them - copper + silver work well. Most important - the glorious Brompton as you need to live in quite dangerous districts so your bike’ll be stolen … … my co-worker in Cardiff had his stolen, for instance.
That is an urban myth. France does not have a 183 day rule despite lots of mention on unreliable fora. If your permanent residence and your wife are here you will likely be deemed a fiscal resident even if not here for over 183 days.
You are assuming that you can rock up and find a room whenever you want with no problem. I rented a room in UK flat using spare room for years and every time a room became free there was a very long queue of people that I could pick and chose from.
Wonderful post again larkswood - am on a phone call to Aviva to set up a SIPP/Stakeholder pension to split my workplace pension into (it is allowed, I’ve been told) - but thinking of maybe a Scottish Widows SIPP/Stakeholder just to ensure that when I close out the pension for a transfer, that the company doesn’t close out both … … ie I don’t go over the magic E250k limit … … …
You may know - I think as a French citizen we can still contribute and get tax relief on ~£2750 each year over 5 years, and so with our wife that’s £10k which we can port over to France when the 5 years are up.
If you want to know how to set up a free SIPP at SW or Aviva just say - have been on the phone whilst typing with a lovely lady who has guided me through it. We can bypass all the regular monthly payments/lump sum to start a SIPP by opening with a cash lump sum (4.1% interest currently) - so if we’ve 3 pensions for closing out 100k x 2 and then 5k in 5 years time - it’s all do-able without paying.
Total fund charges for my workplace pension are 0.18% but 0.4%+0.35% for a SIPP (paid monthly) - however dropping your money into the cash pot means no charges - no risk and we can close down each pot to <E250k at a time ie not pay the additional charges on transferring the pots over.
You’re right re:Spareroom - had the problem that if you had the free account - the premium account guys beat you to the best accommodation … … thing is though if you’re willing to live in a dump - always fine. Lived in Moss Side (druggy centre of Manchester when I was there) for a good while and it doesn’t get any worse. Even burgled whilst in the house - so solution to that is to have your bike and possessions next to you when you sleep … … haven’t yet been burgled at knife-point in my bedroom in England in the 5 - 10 burglaries I’ve experienced … … but there’s no way anybody’d want a Brompton which is all I’d have.
That is food for thought - so once we move, there’s absolutely no way of making any pocket money? other than by running a gite (there’s a special name for these types of jobs I think) … … hmmm… … thinking about that now!
That requires a visa that allows work (unless a passive investment) and these days that required more than one to make the financial threshold.
Hey larkswood - Blevins got heavy with me pushing a QROPs and their charges were a bit scary!
“well, you would be like me, a ‘frontalier’ - if you commute, and you would be entitled to a S1 as such. Though why work at Aldi, could you not keep your existing professional work? Though perhaps you are fed up with it!”
Can I ask about that - is there any way of working and still ending up with an S1?
IT / Science are really scary fields - you’re as good as redundant >35 years of age, or at least cease to be employable as you become too experienced/expensive and no supervisor wants somebody they’re scared of. I’ve been told this explicitly by Hiring Agents … … so very happy with Aldi - high rates of pay and solves the food problem.
Already worked out with the staff how they get reduced price food. Now, no discount at Aldi but they have breaks which they need schedule with discounting to get 25% - 50% off food … …
As Larkswood says - Loss Leader at Trading 212 - also uncertain outlook on Interest rates - all prediction suggest 4% by year end though Tariffs should stoke inflation … … who knows?
Hey - what do you think about an assurance vie in Ireland/Luxembourg in £ rather than a French one in a traditional bank or fintech. Really sold on a French Fintech - Nalo (Generali) and Boursorame (Societe Generale) calling to me … … but it’d be easier to have an Irish one.
Also - free current account/debit card/credit card in Boursorama … … pretty sure we can get the same as a UK citizen in an Irish bank (I think??) … … … Lots of talk here on Ireland becoming a financial hub so might be good to ship everything over to Ireland and a proper bank … … maybe start the 8 year assurance vie counting down now rather than when we move in 1 - 2 years.
@JohnH - as larkswood says - French accounts pay poor interest and there’s a limit on what we can put into a Livret A - so a UK Trading212 account covered by JPM and with £85k FSCS cover sounds nice!
Hey - brilliant advice - so George1 has mentioned that he has many Assurance vie (now I’m guessing that’s because there’s only protection on them up to a certain level) - so I’m going to shovel the money straight from pension into Assurance Vie and forget about for 8 years … … to avoid tax. Problem is the number that need to be opened - and so having to work out Assurance vie in Luxembourg vs Ireland vs France and brick and mortar bank vs fintech … … total nightmare. Probably have to work out returns over 8 years and ensure that that doesn’t exceed the level covered … … darn! haven’t worried about that until a minute ago.
Can we partial transfer assurance vie to assurance vie like we can ISA to ISA?
Actually that could be rubbish as I’ve only transferred ISAs in their entirety so don’t actually even know if we can do that.