Which country to retire to for fun, culture, nightlife? Ireland,France, Spain?

I have not and, again, my original point was that the majority of people on here will not have lived in any countries outside the UK so this wouldn't be the best place for you to gather information around how tolerant other countries are when you aren't a tourist.

Look, the only point I made in my original response is this: Take that survey with a big pinch of salt because the survey is asking a basic question (I.E. would you feel comfortable with your child dating a person from x-minority) and was surveyed back in 2015 and that leaves a lot of room for inaccurate representations (E.G. a person knowing it's morally wrong to say they wouldn't be comfortable and therefore lie on the survey or genuinely feel they would be comfortable until it actually happens to them). The whole point I was making was that you might go "oh, this place seems to be really accepting in this study!" and then you get there and find it's actually quite intolerant so I'm not entirely sure you're letting me know that - as a Caucasian married to a Caucasian I wouldn't understand the concerns (as I never claimed that I personally experienced any of that or pretend like I would know what the experience would be through that point of view, I was merely advising about that survey). You said that survey did more than just ask that basic question. I'm telling you I can't see where it states that so would be interested if you could share as I would find that interesting to read.  As for looking at the study as your only means of information, that would be because you simply shared it saying "The above link shows just how inclusive Europe is toward the various minorities. I found it to be very insightful and a good aid in considering and planning a move to Europe. Very easy to follow and the graphics highlighting maps is an additional plus. The UK was the best inclusive country followed by Sweden, Denmark and France." so you didn't exactly mention that you married this information up with personal experiences from people living there so I was attempting to give you the friendly standard reminder that this won't replace speaking with people from those countries and that I would take these findings with a pinch of salt given what question was being asked and the age. I also did not see where it says that it was done in partnership with Harvard but, again, perhaps I just missed a bit of information in the link  where this was highlighted so apologies if that's the case.

As for whether or not I think these findings marry up with the statistics to show that the UK is one of the least racist places, all I would say is that they voted for Brexit....Obviously the country as a whole is more accepting but you also have very vocal group here like EDL that like to stir racism and it's disgusting. The target doesn't necessarily seem to be focused on black people, but Muslims.

I will leave it there though as I think our back and forth on this has been exhausted and you clearly know what you're doing and what works for you. Again, I was just trying to give you one simple bit of advice in response to the post you made with the link to the research you found. Best of luck to you and your partner.

Thank you XO

We're very excited about this move to Europe and all the advice and input from various sources is much appreciated so thank you again for your part. This is a very big move for my wife and myself and both of us have lived outside the States at different times in our life. When upping sticks it's important to be as informed as possible ticking all the boxes but at the same time keeping one's wits about them. And that is how we plan to manage this immigration process. We are extremely lucky to have so many countries that one, will allow us to move and retire there and two, that we both find stimulating.


I'm curious, how long before you moved to the UK did you start the planning for your immigration?

Nan, Thank you!

We will look into that issue in short order.

Slight boo-boo there. I was looking at government pensions for France. But double-checking:  Here is the language from the US/France 2009 protocol (signed 13 January 2009) amending the earlier treaty. It sure seems to say that SS and pensions from US sources are not taxable in France....

The first sentence of paragraph 1 of Article 18 (Pensions) of the Convention
shall be deleted and replaced by the following:
“Payments under the social security legislation or similar legislation of a
Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State or to a
citizen of the United States, and pension distributions and other similar
remuneration arising in one of the Contracting States in consideration of
past employment paid to a resident of the other Contracting State,
whether paid periodically or in a lump sum, shall be taxable only in the
first-mentioned State.”

I'm curious, how long before you moved to the UK did you start the planning for your immigration?

In which way? Planning as in researching to make sure It was right for me or planning as in physically preparing to move my life?



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Slight boo-boo there. GOVERNMENT service pensions are not taxable in France. Regular ones are. Sorry.

No problem Nan. But you did give me a slight scare hehe

In which way? Planning as in researching to make sure It was right for me or planning as in physically preparing to move my life?



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Both

No problem Nan. But you did give me a slight scare hehe

I'm having a brain-fog day. I've amended the post - I was right (it seems) the first time. I've also found this written on a few other websites. But I'd sure want to hear it from a tax pro - it definitely appears to say that US source pensions and US SS payments paid to US citizens resident in France are only taxable in the US.

Both

It didn’t take me and my husband long to decide that the Uk was more beneficial for us to start our life. One of us had to move and we effectively did a pro/con list for where we were at presently and where we wanted to be in the future and how would those goals be impacted positively and negatively in both countries. We didn’t have much on our “absolute deal breaker” list and the opportunities here in the UK combined with the fact my husband already owned property, had started down a career path, owned a nice car he would hate giving up, etc. while I had the basement apartment at my parent’s house, worked retail while ping to school, and had a sh*t car meant the move would be harder for him than me and would give us less advantage in starting our life together.

In terms of how long it took us to physically do the move. I would say it took less than a year. I had to start going through my stuff while also planning a wedding to figure out what would stay and what would go, packing up what would be stored with my parents, binning what was rubbish, and setting aside what id take. I became familiar with what we needed for my visa and work d to collect all the info we needed and checked, double checked, and triple checked the evidence so we could submit ASAP. To be truthful, there probably wasn’t much I could do until I was 6 months or less away from the move so I would say probably 6 months *max* it took me to physically prep for it (maybe tack on time outside that familiarising myself with the visa and preparing using this forum on what to expect.


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I'm having a brain-fog day. I've amended the post - I was right (it seems) the first time. I've also found this written on a few other websites. But I'd sure want to hear it from a tax pro - it definitely appears to say that US source pensions and US SS payments paid to US citizens resident in France are only taxable in the US.

I wonder if that taxation comes down to those that work in France? There is a tax treaty in place for Americans living in France. We will definitely have everything checked and rechecked by attorneys.

This was posted on Reddit and I thought it might be an way to get some ideas : https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/retirement/2018/07/07/done-working-heres-where-you-can-retire-nicely-just-30-000-year/760387002/

Ummm, about parasites and medical care in places like Costa Rica...   

Ummm, about parasites and medical care in places like Costa Rica...   

Hey the article clearly states "excellent medical facilities"!!! The internet never lies! :p

It didn’t take me and my husband long to decide that the Uk was more beneficial for us to start our life. One of us had to move and we effectively did a pro/con list for where we were at presently and where we wanted to be in the future and how would those goals be impacted positively and negatively in both countries. We didn’t have much on our “absolute deal breaker” list and the opportunities here in the UK combined with the fact my husband already owned property, had started down a career path, owned a nice car he would hate giving up, etc. while I had the basement apartment at my parent’s house, worked retail while ping to school, and had a sh*t car meant the move would be harder for him than me and would give us less advantage in starting our life together.

In terms of how long it took us to physically do the move. I would say it took less than a year. I had to start going through my stuff while also planning a wedding to figure out what would stay and what would go, packing up what would be stored with my parents, binning what was rubbish, and setting aside what id take. I became familiar with what we needed for my visa and work d to collect all the info we needed and checked, double checked, and triple checked the evidence so we could submit ASAP. To be truthful, there probably wasn’t much I could do until I was 6 months or less away from the move so I would say probably 6 months *max* it took me to physically prep for it (maybe tack on time outside that familiarising myself with the visa and preparing using this forum on what to expect.


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That's a very reasonable time span in putting together such a big move, and that information will help other readers get a sense of what to expect time wise in formalizing their game plan. Incredible you were planning a wedding at the same time. True multitaskers! We are looking forward to completing the process and settling into our new home. It's funny how some of our friends think the idea of upping sticks and moving to a entirely different country is crazy. For some reason they can't understand why would a couple of 50 year olds want to experience living in a different culture, especially if home is comfortable. It really is about living life to the fullest. Why watch the French Open on television if you can go to the French Open in person.

This was posted on Reddit and I thought it might be an way to get some ideas : https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/retirement/2018/07/07/done-working-heres-where-you-can-retire-nicely-just-30-000-year/760387002/

Thank you XO

That's a very reasonable time span in putting together such a big move, and that information will help other readers get a sense of what to expect time wise in formalizing their game plan.

I honestly think the amount of time it takes you plan and how much research you do all comes down to how/why you're moving here. For me, I was marrying a Brit. A lot less "research" per se had to go into the decision making process than a person who, for example, wanted to move here for work. There would be additional hurdles for a person who wanted to come here to work or retire. It's all kind of relative to your story in particular.

I honestly think the amount of time it takes you plan and how much research you do all comes down to how/why you're moving here. For me, I was marrying a Brit. A lot less "research" per se had to go into the decision making process than a person who, for example, wanted to move here for work. There would be additional hurdles for a person who wanted to come here to work or retire. It's all kind of relative to your story in particular.

Very true it's down to a particular reason why someone decides to immigrate. Do you miss much about home and has your life been better in the UK?