Downsize to retire early
Many 50+ old UK citizens are now taking a serious look at retiring early. Kids all grown up, a house costing money to maintain and the job doing the head in. Retiring 10 years early seems like a great idea, and retiring to the sun even better.
It is possible to use the capital tied up in the UK family home to provide an income, not by investment these days of course but to draw a wage from the capital and that is exactly how many people have done it.
Here are the advantages, stop working, better weather, and a lower cost of living. Buying an apartment or a park home means you will have the capital to spend on your early retirement until your state pension kicks in.
Getting up in the morning saying what do we want to do today is the sign of a person who has retired early.
To live in Spain before retirement without a job, you need two things, private health cover at around 65€ a month and a money pot to show you have funds to live on. Without this, you will not get residencia in Spain.
If moving into a residential mobile home park, you only need to bring proof of a money pot with you; the park arranges health cover for you as part of the registration process. If buying an apartment, the “Gestor” will have contacts for sure for private health cover.
Depending on where in Spain you want to retire to you can locate the help you are going to need in advance online.
With health care and money pot in place, it does not have to end there. Not having to work is not the same as working when you want to. Many supplement their “money pot” by doing other things that earn a little money on the side whilst doing what they enjoy.
Examples from people living in the residential parks include article writers for websites through to making personal cards. They do that when they feel like it, and the money they earn means they draw less from the pot.
The trick is not to work as such (as that requires being self-employed and involves costs) but to earn a little something now and again and declare what you get as casual earnings. Being self-employed part-time in Spain is not usually worth doing because of the costs involved.
Self-employed pay up to 305€ a month every month, although that does include state health care.
Having said all that if the plan is to retire early so you can sit on the beach all day, then you will get older quickly. If the plan is to go out and live life to the full, then you will stay younger for longer. The Mediterranean lifestyle is a very healthy one.
Does downsizing sound like an idea for you? See what your house is worth.
