The Lemon Fool

We are giving serious consideration to leaving the UK. Not because we have a burning desire to go to a specific other country, but rather because we question staying in the UK. So, I would be interested to hear thoughts from other Lemons about where we should should consider living.

We do not speak any other languages well enough to count so we are probably limited to an English speaking country, or at least one where you can live a reasonable life using English. Probably best not to assume we will all learn a new language before or after arriving, though if there are super options with only this limitation it is not a complete no go.

At this stage I am not worrying too much about entry requirements, I want to get a list of options and then look to cross out those that will not work for various reasons.

Timing is most likely in about two and a half years, as that is a decent break point for kids educational progress.

All input welcomed and thanks in advance.

In dull reality this probably boils down to which countries would grant you an appropriate visa. This, in turn, is driven by your Age, Skills, Net Worth etc. Australia*1 and Canada*2 are probably the most practical options........
*1 Wonderful wonderful country currently in the middle of the mother of all property bubbles, so best rent for a few years.
*2 Damned cold in the Winter but a fine country. If you can Speak French to an acceptable level Quebec grants a visa quite easily.
Your Friends and Family may have a baring on your decision also?!

We lived in Finistere Brittany for 15 years, good people, lovely country. Housing cheap by UK standards, cost of living roughly similar, wine dirt cheap.
Health service best in the world.

Wizard wrote:Probably best not to assume we will all learn a new language before or after arriving, though if there are super options with only this limitation it is not a complete no go.

That's disappointing. One of the main reasons for living abroad is to learn a new language, and the culture that goes with it.
Come on, challenge yourself

--kiloran

We are in the same boat and this will likely happen when my wife retires.

Like you I mostly only consider English-speaking places. Although I'd make an exception for any place with a large English-speaking community e.g. Singapore, Portugal.

A big factor for me is taxes. I'd want to be somewhere with lower taxes than the UK and preferably in a country with no estate or inheritance tax (e.g. Canada, Australia, Austria, Norway, Sweden etc.)

And somewhere warm. I'm really not interested in winter any more since I gave up skiing. So that rules out some of the tax havens but leaves plenty.

Finally a country with a major, modern airport and where the local airline isn't a basketcase, which rules out all of Africa and large parts of Asia and Central and South America.

It will probably be the US, and one of the Southern States that don't have a state income tax i.e. Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee. My wife is a US citizen so that would be easy for us.

Wizard, other considerations might include: health care and cost of, and, if you are likely to be of UK state pension age (and have contributed to & earned a state pension), whether it it will be paid with the cost of living increases to the country that you move to.

As an "off the beaten track" suggestion how about Belize ?
I spent some time there 15+ years ago and really enjoyed it. They run a scheme called Qualified Retired Persons (QRP) which exempts you from income tax provided you have sufficient regular income ($24K/yr) and are over 45.
I was sufficiently intrigued to store this information away for future reference (maybe one day..). It's English speaking but you do need to like sunshine, beaches, hurricanes etc. and probably want to stay away from the big towns.

New Zealand seems pretty nice. I just wonder though, whether the sun heat and water problems in Australia will also affect NZ in due course.

Ireland?

As this is LoOTP, how about Belarus?

This is an interesting topic. My wife and I are having similar thoughts, though more regarding the threat to our finances from Brexit and (worse) Corbyn.

The country figuring most prominently in our thoughts is Portugal, because of its NHR scheme, which allows new residents to apply for a 10 year exemption on tax from externally-sourced income. We'd really prefer Spain, but its tax system is quite severe in comparison. In our case, we have Irish passports, so residence anywhere in Europe should remain feasible.

For me it would have to be Cyprus.
Anecdotally, on the first evening of my first visit I had wonderful steak and a couple of pints of the coldest Guinness I have ever had in Mandria Square. Waitress said sorry the credit card machine was not working so would I mind coming in and paying when we were next passing? Your experience may vary in the UK!
Although it looks like one of the biggest pension tax advantages for me is stopping soon( Cyprus taxation of UK Government pensions). Cyprus it is still top of the list when I do eventually finish work.

NomoneyNohoney wrote:New Zealand seems pretty nice. I just wonder though, whether the sun heat and water problems in Australia will also affect NZ in due course.

Re sun heat and water problems, no I doubt it.

New Zealand is IMHO one of the very best places in the world to visit in summer, but one of the lousiest places to live in winter. It's stunningly beautiful on a warm summers day, but depressingly miserable on a wet winter one.

BrummieDave wrote:

NomoneyNohoney wrote:New Zealand seems pretty nice. I just wonder though, whether the sun heat and water problems in Australia will also affect NZ in due course.

Re sun heat and water problems, no I doubt it. New Zealand is IMHO one of the very best places in the world to visit in summer, but one of the lousiest places to live in winter. It's stunningly beautiful on a warm summers day, but depressingly miserable on a wet winter one.

The other problem with NZ is that it awfully far from anywhere else. We would always be making at least annual trips to North America, Europe and Japan, and don't want to be taking 20 hour flights in our dotage.

Channel Islands !?

Aus, of course.

GS