Surviving in Spain on a UK Pension

[LosInnocentes]

Hello, I hope somebody can help my wife and I with a question.
It has long been our dream to spend our retirement in Spain. We have no close family in the UK and have a few friends and distant releatives already living in Spain.
We have been planning and researching our move for quite a while now but unfortunatley the value of our house has been hit by the property market and this along with the exchange rate means that any move that we did make would be done with much less money than we had originally planned.
We should still be able to own our property and car outright, but after budgetting for moving costs, fees and an taxes and new furniture etc... we would only have a small amount of saving to be able to keep to one side for emergencies and not to be used for our everyday living expenses.
We will both be drawing a full state pension by the end of this year, and I also will have a small private pension.
I just wondered how the cost of living had changed over the last two year, to see if it was realistic for us to still be able to make our move over to Spain, and could we manage on a budget of around one-thousand pounds per month ?

[OldTimer]

That's all going to depend on the area where you live; the cost of the upkeep of your property including bills and community fees etc...; and the standard of living that you expect to be able to have.

[MrGrumpy]

That's all going to depend on the area where you live; the cost of the upkeep of your property including bills and community fees etc...; and the standard of living that you expect to be able to have.

...AND your healthcare requirements...

[LosInnocentes]

My wife and I will both be over 65 by the time we intend to move, so hopefully we will have few problems in transferring our healthcare entitlement.
As far as location is concerned, we are looking at a few inland villages in the Granada Province, away from the tourist hotspots. Neither of us smoke, are particularly big drinkers or have expensive hobbies. Other than the cost of the property itself, we have budgetted for buying a new car, moving fees, buying taxes and charges etc... and a small amount for 'unseen circumstances', but this will leave us with only a small amount to subsidise our pension.
It has long been our dream to spend a few years in Spain, but we would rather not come at all if it means living on the breadline.

[AJC]

The biggest factor that will influence your finances is the exchange rate. Basically you need to be certain that whatever your budget, you have allowed for a certain amount of fluctuation - just becuase your UK pension earns a certain amount of Euros one month does not mean that you will get the same amount the following month.

[SimonCarter]

It would be really difficult to give even a basic guideline in terms ofwhat your overheads and living costs are likely to be as there are so many variables to think about here, but I will have a go :

- Car (Petrol, maintenance, upkeep, taxes, Insurance etc...) 125 Euros Per Month
- Food & Shopping 250 Euros Per Month
- Gas, Water, Electric, Phones, House Insurance 200 Euros Per Month
- Council Taxes / Basura etc... 50 Euros Per Month
- Social spending money 200 Euros Per Month
- Contingency money (Because in Spain Bills all seem to arrive at the same time) 100 Euros Per Month

[LosInnocentes]

Thankyou. That is very much in line with what we were expecting / hoping to hear and still very much do-able for us.

[Chandra]

A lot of people in Spain are surviving on very small state benefits, or the minimum was- which is less than 400 Eursos - so i don't see why you shouldn't be able to. It really depends what kind of lifestyle you are hoping to have to finance.

[AJC]

A lot of people in Spain are surviving on very small state benefits, or the minimum was- which is less than 400 Eursos - so i don't see why you shouldn't be able to. It really depends what kind of lifestyle you are hoping to have to finance.

The things is that many of these Spanish people who are surviving on such low incomes also have the support of their family and friends, often have zero mortgages or live with family, and are able to supplement their incomes with state benefits, or by other 'Black' means.