Interesting perspective here - presumably for the life-style UK.
Compare it then to the requirements for a “quiet” lifestyle française and the requirements for a CdS as well as the UK requirement for settled status.
I wonder if that assumes mortgage paid off.
The bottom line is that anyone trying to live on a UK pension alone (£168/week for the “new” pension or £8736pa) is screwed.
Possibly folk will have different ideas of comfortable living here in France as against in UK.
It’s been thrashed about a bit already on the forum, but it is interesting to see what Sky News reckon I would need to be receiving as Pension if I were still in UK. On our actual income, there is no-way could we match the lifestyle we enjoy here in France.
3 Likes
I confess I thought some of the suggestions a bit odd - eg 2 year old car replaced every three years. If you are retired and only doing a couple of thousand miles a year why bother to waste money on a new car which would free up money for more than a poxy 3 weeks of “holiday” a year.
2 Likes
Ha ha… living in France can “almost” be viewed as being on holiday. Always something interesting to do, see, eat, drink… etc.
3 Likes
Indeed, our plan is still to spend as much time in or move to France depending on the exact tax situation; Schengen rules might cramp our style a bit though if we have to abide by them.
1 Like
In the UK that might be a necessity (particularly if your “golden” years are spent close to the sea) but here in France I doubt that a car needs to be replaced quite so often - I’ve seen pensioners still driving cars with number plates probably going back to the 80’s and not a hint of the slightest rust 
4 Likes
Even so modern cars just don’t rust like they used to.
2 Likes
We visit friends for a long weekend (all over France), or go with our car club for a few days maybe for a week. But, we no longer choose 2/3 week holidays as we don’t like being away so long.
Truly, it is fun living here.
OK, our income is diminished by the exchange rate but that is just something we must take in our stride.
1 Like
Holiday… some of us work 7 days a week, yes, even here in France! 
5 Likes
Sorry Andrew - I know you are still hard at it. 
Much of the time my days are full too… but that is voluntary work and I am a glutton for punishment. 
However, I think the article was related to Pensioners and assuming they did not have paid employment in their Retirement… 
2 Likes
I have to agree with them on this… No-one wants to drive an old banger!
(I have a 14 year old Honda CRV and love it- having given up shiny BMW to move to France = life choices!)
1 Like
It’s the psychological thing really - envy…
People see others driving a car “better” than theirs and they want to go one better still.
I think the French psychology on this is somewhat different - like “who gives a shit”
That’s what I prefer.
10 Likes
tongue in cheek, Stella, read in context your comment is perfect
1 Like
But, as I said, modern cars just don’t deteriorate very quickly - mine is 13 years old and is a long way from being an “old banger”. I am thinking of changing but there’s no rush.
1 Like
We basically drove our first car here in France into the ground and only replaced it when it died a death.
Our second user Seat Ibiza (sourced from Spain) works perfectly well for us and the only reason at the moment to consider a replacement is to go electric
4 Likes
I wouldn’t feel safe in one of them, I imagine it would be like driving around in a bubble that could “Pop” at any moment! 
Exactly. We think shiny new cars are lovely to look at but don’t necessarily think we need one, they are also a bit m’as-tu vu.
5 Likes
Blimey, their definitions of what you need to live well are not mine! We’ve nearly finished decorating all the rooms in our house (after 11 years here) and I have no intention of decorating them again for many, many years. And we run a 10 year old car that we have no intention of replacing for a few more years yet. Our last one was 17 years old when it was replaced, and that was only because of the UK scrapage scheme at that time paid us to do so.
Our budget is much more slanted to fun - cinema, theatre, presents etc - than clothes or replacing perfectly functional kitchens…
2 Likes
Year after year the media or some think tank comes up with pie in the sky costings for raising children,he cost of a wedding or some other survey and this week it is how much you need to be a comfortable pensioner.
We have always made sure that value for money is top of our agenda no matter how much money is available because that’s how we were brought up. I sometimes wonder what planet these number crunchers are on.
When you have lived/survived for 65 years do these number crunchers think we have learnt nowt about budgeting and managing finances in accordance with your needs/requirements?
2 Likes