I an wondering if some folk do not take enough time to investigate an area before settling there… of course each person is different in what they seek and how well they adapt.
Perhaps better for some …to rent for a year and experience all the seasons. Maybe it will be OK, maybe the person will decide it is not the right place and move on… better that than to live there for years and not be content/happy (in my opinion).
We’re here in Aussie land and have been for the last seven years. Travelling the country in off road van. What a big country with friendly people We’re planning on moving to France for another adventure. Life is as interesting as you make it where ever you are. We are so lucky to have choices.
I can’t see that a quiet (retirement) lifestyle française would be significantly different from the same thing in England/Wales/Scotland)/Northern Ireland. Why should it be?
We live basically the same way as we did in Essex before we moved to Normandy, with the possible exception in my case that I am less actively engaged in charity work here, partly because of cultural differences, and to some extent language.
We eat more simply, but our disposable income is less because our utility bills are higher here, and we have to run a car, whereas in UK public transport was easier to access. We also have to pay more tax, and for a top-up mutuelle to cover our hospital admission tariffs. Chicken food and bedding costs 35 € a month, but we do get free eggs.
The main benefit for us is the proximity of sympathetic and friendly neighbours, and more cost-free or low-cost high-quality cultural resources within a reasonable distance.
We have no real scope for saving from our income, and we have a second home in UK that we have to keep up, for our childrens’ sake.
We live on our English OAP pensions and professional pensions on top. We are comfortable, but there’s no scope for complacency.
I recently copped a garage bill for 1 700 € for which I had to get a loan I’m paying off in four monthly instalments until 2020.
The result is turning off the heating and wearing a dressing gown over my outer clothes, a scarf,and a woolly Moroccan hat with a tassel. Indoors.
But we appreciate the peace and quiet, the slow pace, which costs nothing, and is rare in SE England, even outside the main built up areas.
I’ll be your chicken…sounds like they have a luxurious lifestyle! We don’t have any now, but when we did they cost nowhere near that amount. What do they sleep on?
When we add everything up (social charges and all) here we pay about 14-15% of our income in tax, as against around 17% in UK. Partly as charitable donations are more tax generous here, but not just because of that.
I’ve not done a comparison between costs when in UK and here, as such different ways of living. But since we now live well within our income, despite swapping salaries for pensions, we have to be spending far less than we used to!
The biggest killer for us are the cotisations which are usually around 6k more if we have a really good year, these will disappear when we retire but we’ll then pay social charges although at a much lower level. We have three chickens and I reckon we only spend 10E in feed and bedding per month and sell surplus eggs to a couple of clients so basically they cost us nothing. Other than the cotisations insurance is by far our biggest expense (4k per year) which again will fall upon retirement. With the youngest child now gone our food bill has plummeted, it’s only when you’re not paying for them you realise just how much they cost you!
Overall I think in retirement we can survive very comfortably on 2k per month which is roughly what we’ll have coming before I receive before the UK state pension. If we can’t then we’ll simply work part time.
I currently live on 562 euros a month ; plus anything I can make elsewhere. I am to some extent self-sufficient, but there’s room for improvement.
I think you might be being economic with the truth there Bob unless you are receiving government aid.
Anyone on really low income can try this Simulator to see if they are eligible for the new low-cost/free health care…
My 2 years of employment entitle me to 18.77 (?)euros per day…anyway, a 30-day month gives me 562.23 (from memory), out of which I pay a mortgage & all the other mundane household bills.
Employment here is difficult to find ; & this leads, somewhat inevitably , to a reasonably bouyant black economy…it will never bankrupt the treasury, & in any case, a reduction in politicians’ wages would probably do more good in that respect.
Which of course is one of the reasons why home ownership is not knee-jerk aspirational for everyone in France. On a low income you get generous help with paying rent but you don’t get the same help towards paying a mortgage. It’s one of the big factors an individual or a couple will take into the equation if they are considering buying, and if they see a risk that one day they might end up on a low income with a mortgage to pay, why would they do it. I think all the French homeowners I know, without exception, worked their way up to a good salary in a safe job before even thinking about taking out a mortgage.
So I would say that paying rent/paying mortgage, even if the monthly outlay is the same, makes quite a difference to how much pension you can live off comfortably.
Even if you don’t have a mortgage, the mere fact of being an owner-occupier rather than a tenant can reduce the benefits you can claim. One way and another, being a homeowner in France can be a bit of a Trojan horse.
Bit personal I know Bob but roughly how much total monthly income do you usually have to live off?
Might be better discussed via PMessages… 
A lot of my food is produced here…garden, chooks, eggs etc.,
I get a little from regular egg clients, when the feathery bastards deign to do their work.
The 562 comes from Pole Emploi. I occasionally get a 2-300 from CESU clients, but that’s quite rare.
I do bits & pieces for folks I had as clients when I was still self-employed…anything else is "in the hand"with the minimum of questions asked…so no real monthly amount.
My mortgage is 200
Electricity 75 - 100 depending on the season
TF is around 80
Van insurance 28
Mobile 2
Landline 36
I still buy some food etc., so maybe 150
Then there are nominal amounts for the bottled gas, firewood when needed…
So, as we can see, the “dole” here is not made to keep folks at home doing nowt.
I should also add that this is the first time I’ve been unemployed in 39 years of working…34 of those self-employed.
That seems tight to me and reminds of my toughest years in the UK just after I got divorced, I’ve never known real poverty but have been through a couple of periods when I had no savings and no money to go out even for just a pint, would never want to go back to those days but I do have an appreciation of the value of money and that you can survive on very little if need be.
I got divorced 8 years ago (29 Nov. so will be celebrating next Friday)
That particular period coincided with a very slack time for work…3 months with virtually nothing.
After 11 months of pratting about by my solicitor, & all the bare-faced bollocks from my wife & hers, I was left flat broke ; lucky to have secured a mortgage with no idea how I was going to pay it off, but for the first time in many years, happy…
Most of us have been in a difficult situation at some point during our lives … I hope things will become easier for you before too long. 
Thank you Stella
I’m still poor, but still happy 
Money is useful to pay bills… but happiness is priceless
This ^^
The tax regimes are different @Peter_Goble
IIRC you had a bit of a windfall from HMRC because they were incorrectly taxing your State Pension which should only be taxed in France if you are fiscally resident here. Your NHS pensions are considered for tax in France but if they are below the UK tax threshold (ours are) then there will be no tax to pay to HMRC. Provided you place the amounts in the correct boxes on the French tax form, there is an additional 10% allowance for pension income.
IIRC you have an old Volvo.
Years ago I had an old Volvo 760 - beautiful car and most comfortable but when it started costing me £1000 plus every year for essential repairs I decided it was time to go and bought something much more sensible to my (then) needs.