You are obviously an enthusiastic person, but the interplay between all these things in the human body is so complex that serious metabolic scientists would merely smile. Of course you may be one of them, but what you right is a bit simplistic.
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Wozza is a gardening guru on here - look out for him and those who correspond with him.
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@SBcamsci, didn’t you thrash out these issues a couple of years on the French forum of Britishexpats.com?
You posted under the username SB_UK
I thought, after extensive posting, you concluded it was best to buy a second home in Spain.
https://britishexpats.com/forum/france-76/thread-tax-simple-minded-people-950110/
https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/stay-spain-3-months-uk-eu-citizen-wife-950189/
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£200k a year = @€240k which is well below the threshold for CEHR, which is €500k for a married couple. That works!
Actually if you move to France in March this year, the UK tax year of course ends on 5 April, so you could consider taking the lump sums on or after 6 April 2025, which would be complete UK tax years of non-residence provided you really have cut your ties with the UK ie have no accommodation available/have sold your house before moving, have minimal visits to the UK etc etc…Obviously the longer the time gap from leaving the UK and the minimising of all links to the UK strengthen the claim that any lump sums are only taxable in France as a resident and a non resident of the UK.
You’ll still need to do French tax returns, as residents, especially if you wish to claim the special lump sum treatment for your pensions…
…
Agreed, though income (interest, dividends, gains) from the savings themselves would of course be taxable .
It definitely is considered income! It’s considered as deferred earnings from past year’s…
Hopefully that answers some/all of your current questions??
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Yes a Metabolism Scientist looking at the reversal of ageing.
Ooooo " Significant decrease in total cholesterol (TC), high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was seen in individuals with increased sunlight exposure (P < 0.05)."
… … … the idea’s actually already out there.
When myself and wife had it yesterday lunchtime - it just seemed obvious … …
We’re working on brain regeneration currently.
Looking out for a Wozza - last Wozza I knew from school was a Worrall!!
Heya 
Blimey hello again Helen … … I don’t think you used your surname on the other forum. Thanks for the help there - was really helpful.
We road-tripped Spain and think that global warming’s not going to be kind to Spain … … and went into a tax office in France to get clarification at the same time.
Of course, we want to do the right thing - but it’s terribly hard to know what that is when we’ve nobody official to talk to in the French system.
Unfortunately despite being nice - nobody (in the tax office) knew how to work out what the social charges are on a private pension drawdown - which was my question.
I left the other 2 forums thinking that after we take our lump sum, we have to pay 17.2% social charges on the private pension pre-S1 … … but I think George1 has taught me that it’s more like ~8% if we opt into the French Health System and nothing if we opt out.
We’d love to ask somebody official about Social charges but the tax office in Auch sent us to 3 other offices - none of whom knew!! They didn’t even know who would know or to find out who would know … … which is very strange indeed.
So - everything’s come back on line with George1’s idea of transferring the whole pension from UK to France as we don’t need to worry about what the Social charges are on drawdown … … but then things became a bit wobbly with his mention of the notion of a cap … … but as of yesterday - I’m going to open a new private pension (just running a market comparison of SIPPs/Stakeholder pensions across all UK providers as we speak) so that I can divide our private pensions into two and bring them over (<£200k each) without hitting the limit imposed before a higher rate tax becomes payable on these transfers.
Just how irritating all of this is - we had 20 or so pensions 6 months ago … … and I closed them all into 1 for my wife and 1 for myself … … only now to have to open another one, which since it’s not a work pension is soooo (0.18% to 0.4%) more expensive than the ones I’ve just closed.
It’s no wonder that we don’t move quicker as a species with all of this money (I’m afraid to say) nonsense getting in the way!
Hey George1 - another coincidence school tried to drive me in the accountancy&law 4 year degree at Manchester University … … and told me that I’m an accountant at heart! There you go :-).
I think it’s the desire for balance which medicine and accountancy share - for health we need balance the books.
-*-
I think all in all, that France is the best option for us, but undersanding the Social charges rather than tax is horrendous - especially since we haven’t been able to find anybody official who understands the Social charges and the complications which arise when a UK product (the private pension which does not exist in France) is taken in France. As mentioned to Geroge1, I was lead to believe that Private pension drawdown was taxed at 17.2% not ~8% previous to conversations with him - but in complete confusion over what the right answer is - the complete transfers remove all of the uncertainty.
So yes our ideas have shifted from Cornwall (house prices!!) to Spain (climate change!!) to a shed in Foix (they have a Leclerc and Basic Fit which’re the two cheapo stores I need until we go self-sufficient) … … We’re probably going to build as we can’t find any 2 or 3 bedroom homes there - only 4 or 5 bedrooms and I think one of the French taxes (Fonciere / d’habitation - can’t remember which) relates to size of home and so the fewer bedrooms, toilets and swimming pools ! the better.
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Thanks George1 - splitting my wife and my pensions into 2 and bringing E200k across in 2 consecutive years is what we’re now going to do. Really a pleasure to talk to you - I’ll pass on all of your advice onto the others that I meet on our 3 forums … … at least when I’ve jettisoned my onerous job here and become a full-time composting cyclist! Can’t wait to resign - you’ve no idea the nonsense that people engage in, in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. During the day they market themselves as searching for life saving therapies, whilst spending their nights at the Mercedes dealership!
Life’s better on a bike
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Having a French wife should make things much easier.
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Aye - she’s a good 'un and is cleaning up as I type - should really go and help :-).
Just remember that financial rules change over time, so you will never get an answer that is 100% definitive. Most of us have researched as thoroughly as possible at any moment in time, and then decided a course of action and done it.
However if you are uncomfortable with ambiguity then France may not be for you culturally - how long ago did your wife leave? Especially if planning to build a house I foresee quite a bit of frustration for you as transparency is not a word used to describe French bureaucracy.
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Hey Jane - just really after somebody who understands Social Charges on private pensions and I think George1 has answered that. Really easy to find out about Tax but Social charges not so. Believe it or not the Tax chap in Auch/Gers gave us his personal email to help, but only re:tax not social charges, which he had no idea about.
Just talking to my wife this morning (she left France >40 years ago) - and because we may not get a garden, a basement (for heat when it’s cold - the principle of ground source heat pumps), out building (for gym/servicing a bike) or stream/well
… … we’ve just decided to remove any excess bathrooms and fill any swimming pools we may or may not get to get a reduced prices taxe fonciere/d’habitation … … whichever it is.
After living without central heating in the UK - things should be easy in France.
Jane - Last builder we had coincided with my wife’s major disease … … she’d had to take off her wedding ring during chemo … … and we weren’t really thinking security and so her jewels were out whilst our ex-council was being extended to fit out kids in. She unexpectedly found the builders in the room where her jewels were and didn’t think anything of it … … until they were stolen, a couple of days after the builders left. All of which is to say - that we’ve been burnt by builders, financial advisors, car mechanics … … just like everybody else, I’m guessing … … so would prefer to avoid people that ask for money for services … … think we can - but dissecting Social Charges (that George has helped me with) has been one of my greatest failure in life … … I know how to solve diseases like Obesity, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s Disease (my current task) … … … but I can’t find any logic in Social Charges (in fact money particularly in France). Bit sad really, since France was once considered a centre of philosophy and left-leaning politics … … and now it feels as though it has tripped itself up through failure to simplify administrative schemes.
Having said that though - it has the only think myself and my wife need of sun!
I’ve tried reading up about the logic of Social charges but they were supposedly brought in for a temporary period, stuck around - and there have been ideas mooted that they’d be scrapped … … I can find more details on what I’ve been told - but don’t know anything beyond what I’ve just written re:time-frames for dismantling Social charges.
ps from French philosophy and TV yesterday … … love it! and the spirit of true France
“L’oeil ne voit que ce que l’esprit est prêt à comprendre” – Bergson (philosophe)
I really don’t mean to poke fun at you in any nasty way but that made me laugh! People have been trying to solve Huntingdon’s for 150 years now and sadly haven’t yet got there. So if you know how that’s amazing!
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“After living without central heating in the UK- things should be easy in France”
Sorry but that is so untrue. World climates are changing and France is no exception to the cold, the wet, high winds and extrememe heat. Wherever you lay your hat, you need some sort of heating and or/clim. Be careful living near streams or tiny rivers, they can become killers as we have seen recently all over the country and can damage the land causing other miseries.
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I seem to recall you talked about this on the other forum:
“To be honest - the main reason for the switch is to live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle - to try and beat disease and to withdraw from the Consumerist madness that’s taken most of the world by storm.
Our key ‘hobby’ is fasting - so the goal is to go for weeks or months without eating - have only managed a couple so far!
It’s not really a big deal - somebody’s managed > 1 year.”
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Not sure that requires a move to France (or any other country) as plenty of examples of sustainable off grid living in UK. And somewhat ironic if funding this via pension schemes that are generally the absolute worst offenders in sustainability terms, unless they have moved to one of the few ethical ones.
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All here! Matt’s my key collaborator.
You’re right - have been thinking about revising the idea about streams and changing to well rather than stream.
Managed between -5oC and 42oC without heating + A/C … … but admittedly it’s no fun.
Trying to acclimatise to cold with ice baths.
It’s a huge subject in Medicine currently because of the effects cold exposure has on driving physiological resilience.