Author Topic: My retirement blog.  (Read 401028 times)

Patrick

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #240 on: January 10, 2017, 08:59:12 am »
How are things going, are the doctors making any progress with Mrs Orca?

I'm a spouse of an EEA member too but I had to get a VISA when I went to the UK (maybe because I don't have a bio residency card), fortunately it was free though.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #241 on: January 10, 2017, 10:32:30 am »
You would need an EU bio residence card. In other words, you will have to be a resident of an EU country and your spouse must hold an EU country passport.
In your case @P, you will always need a visa as long as you are a SA resident. The only advantage you have as a spouse of an EU member state is that the visa must be for free, you get placed at the top of the queue and the visa must be expedited. Cost of a UK visa is well over £1000 if I remember correctly.

If one day you wish to emigrate to the UK (no Brexit yet) the easiest way would be to move to Ireland for 3 months and apply for an Irish residency card. No visa is required for Ireland. Once you have the RC, you are free to travel throughout the EU as long as your EU spouse is accompanying you or you are traveling to meet her.

My wife has an appointment with a neurologist this Friday for nerve tests of the arms and legs. She seems a bit better as she no longer gets dizzy and has no need to cling onto me or the walls when walking. Perhaps the antibiotics she was given for her stomach cleared her ears out as well.

 
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #242 on: January 12, 2017, 02:34:44 pm »
So the Euro has depreciated by 22,7% against the ZAR over the past year.  :TU: This coupled with my portfolio that grew by 19% had me do some sums today.

At last count we were spending R10 500 pm on living expenses. This has now dropped to ~ R8 000 pm and we are not trying to cut expenses at all. However, this does not include medical of €1 330.00 py that we pay yearly in advance.
To break it down:

Rent R5 420.00
Unlimited internet R420.00
Food and stuff R1 100.00
Utilities R 430.00
Entertainment R 700.00

Not bad considering we were spending more than double that in SA nearly 3 years ago.
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #243 on: January 12, 2017, 05:48:57 pm »
Thanks Griffin. Been spinning for Yellowtail all weekend to no avail. Anyway, a bad day fishing is better than a good day at the office. Boats coming in with loads of Snoek though.
Anyway, to make myself credible, I have to show some figures. Nobody knows me anyway so here goes.
CML - R1 925 350.00. Eish. Too much but it just grew all by itself.
MTA and PNC at almost equal amounts totaling R643 000.00.
OMN has a teeny amount of R54 531.00. Was going to add to it monthly but decided to increase MTA for alpha.

That is roughly R2.6M. This is my starting point for this blog.

ex roughly 14.25 in dec 2013 so around 182 000 Euro's. Guess if you have the same or more you doing well.

BTW wd on 19% growth for the year  :TU:
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 05:58:54 pm by Mr_Dividend »

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #244 on: January 12, 2017, 06:51:35 pm »
I had to drastically change my portfolio since 2013. MTA started tanking due to the Syrian war. A PNC director had bribery charges against him and she too tanked. OMN just went out of favour.
Here is a 1 yr chart of what I had for 2016 and still have today. Note that it does not include divies so I added 3%. DIVTRX is 75% of my portfolio and my best performer after the exchange rate of course.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 06:54:46 pm by Orca »
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Yman

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #245 on: January 19, 2017, 09:56:39 am »

I am considering to relocate as well and I am glad that I stumbled upon that blog.

Thanks Orca for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

The site below show for costs of living in Portugal, Thailand and Belize.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Portugal&displayCurrency=ZAR
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand&displayCurrency=ZAR
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Belize&displayCurrency=ZAR

Portugal comes out tops when it comes to the price of wine by far. :TU:

Yman

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #246 on: January 19, 2017, 10:02:36 am »

And getting away without paying income tax for 10 years is also very appealing.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #247 on: January 19, 2017, 10:58:19 am »
The COL index is somewhat skewed as it shows the prices in Portugal are higher than SA. This is because it points to the Algarve and Lisbon prices. They are tourist destinations and are about 30% higher than non tourist areas such as the north or inland villages.
Mumbeo has these prices and I include the prices that I would pay at a supermarket although the farmers markets are cheaper and every city and village has them.

Coke 0.33 L - R16.82 ........I pay R8.60 for 1 L
Chicken breasts deboned and skinned Kg - R74.56....I pay R49.56. My favorite is the chicken leg quarters at R16.20 per Kg.
Beef Roast Kg - R121.62.....I pay R49.50. This is imported from Chili so I prefer pork roasts at R36.44 per Kg.
Beer Local 500 mL - R13.08....I pay R8.64 for a beer similar to Castle Lager.

So I would not go for those numbers Numbeo shows as they are edited by expats living in the Algarve (little England).
 
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #248 on: February 01, 2017, 08:58:50 pm »
Seems like my wife has no Motor Neuron Disease or any neurological disease. It seems to be her gut that is infected with a bacteria that causes symptoms of Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease. This is a new discovery and thankfully we have top notch specialists here and they put her on antibiotics for 6 weeks and the wheelchair I bought is now a clothes hanger.

Not out the woods yet but baby steps. At least I do not need to follow her about the apartment in case she falls anymore but we are still housebound for some time.

What very surprised me was the age of the doctors and specialists here. Seems like the whole private hospital is run by young doctors under 30. The Neurologist looked like 27 years old but he was so professional. Not used to this.
 
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #249 on: February 01, 2017, 09:16:04 pm »
As I was saying about Portugal. Since 2001 Portugal has decriminalized marijuana and most other drugs. This led to this: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/portugal-drug-decriminalization/

At the time I thought it will help my wife to eat more and feel better about her health but she was too stubborn. No drugs for me she said. I was quite prepared to participate and help in this regard but what the wife says goes.
I have no problem with medicinal marijuana at all.   
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #250 on: February 01, 2017, 09:18:23 pm »
Glad she's been diagnosed and it's sounds not too serious.


gcr

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #251 on: February 01, 2017, 09:55:50 pm »
Glad she's been diagnosed and it's sounds not too serious.
+1
Not everything that counts, can be counted, and, not everything that can be counted counts - Albert Einstein

MoneyChief

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #252 on: February 02, 2017, 09:51:05 am »
Antibiotics for 6 weeks, yikes!

Moneypenny

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #253 on: February 02, 2017, 10:48:29 am »

Yman

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #254 on: February 03, 2017, 05:47:52 am »
Glad she's been diagnosed and it's sounds not too serious.
+1

that's good news, hang in there