Author Topic: My retirement blog.  (Read 400922 times)

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #105 on: February 24, 2015, 07:04:23 pm »
While I'm on this subject. The UK has very stringent border and immigration controls. A case in point.

A British citizen married an Argentinian Doctor and they had one child in Argentina. She was a housewife with no personal income of her own. They decided to relocate to the UK. Her Doctor husband had a Spouse Visa that expires after 3 months as do all visas.

When he applied for residency, it was refused and he was sent back to Argentina to reapply for a visa. You cannot apply for a visa inside the UK.

The reason for the refusal is that the British spouse must sponsor the third country spouse. To do this she had to have an income of around R27k pm or savings of R1.8M but as she was a housewife she had none. It does not matter that her husband is a high earning Doctor.

British citizens bringing in a foreign spouse now have to use the EU Treaty laws. To do this, they have to live and work in an Shengen  member state for at least 3 months and get residency in that state. Then enter the UK using Treaty Rights as it overrides UK's internal laws.

This can be done via Ireland as many do due to the language. South Africans can enter Ireland without a visa and can apply for residency if the spouse is an EU member citizen.

   

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

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #106 on: March 09, 2015, 01:49:20 pm »
Strange tax laws here in Portugal.

Spouses fill in one tax return with both incomes combined together. This sucks if both work.

Shares held for 12 months are considered Capital and if sold, you would not pay CGT if you acquire shares in a different company with the proceeds.
The same applies to property, primary or not.  :TU:
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

erwintwr

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #107 on: March 09, 2015, 04:06:32 pm »
Strange tax laws here in Portugal.

Spouses fill in one tax return with both incomes combined together. This sucks if both work.

Shares held for 12 months are considered Capital and if sold, you would not pay CGT if you acquire shares in a different company with the proceeds.
The same applies to property, primary or not.  :TU:

cant we agree to call those normal tax laws, and the ones in SA strange? :P

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #108 on: March 09, 2015, 06:21:31 pm »
I thought SA had the best tax system in the world. Here, whatever you buy or service you pay for that may be tax deductible, your tax number is included in the transaction. For instance in medication your health insurance payments, doctors fees, nursing home costs etc are automatically entered into the tax system. When you do efilling, the totals are already populated for you. Now how cool is that!  :TU:
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #109 on: March 27, 2015, 09:41:55 pm »
I never thought I would one day ask Jesus for help with my tax but I just did. Hopefully Jesus will be successful in his application on my behalf for immunity from tax in Portugal.
I may have mentioned this before but I am very forgetful of late so will banter on about this system.

Portugal has a shortage of cash and not unlike South Africa, the politicians needed extra money to pocket so they came up with a system to attract foreign money for their Nkandlas. I think they called Costas Enormicos here but not too sure.

The wording of this system or regime is somewhat confusing. Non Habitual Residency. This is what Jesus will get for me even though I have permanent residency in Portugal. Confusing right?

Customs and Border control has recorded me as a permanent resident so I'm good to live here but the tax office will see me as a Non Resident for 10 years. So effectually, I will not pay tax here for 10 years because I am not "residing here".

Whoopee. A tax haven. Now to wait for Tony Jesus, my accountant here in Portugal to be successful in my application.     





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

Patrick

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #110 on: March 28, 2015, 11:47:07 pm »
What will happen if you decide to pack up and go somewhere else in 10 years. Will it be OK, or will they want to claim those list taxes back?

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #111 on: March 29, 2015, 07:05:22 pm »
No P. That was discussed here but they specifically did not include that as it would defeat the aim of attracting foreigners into Portugal with money to spend here. Most of the foreigners have bought property here anyway.
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #112 on: April 17, 2015, 05:09:57 pm »
Very interesting reading Orca - have a ton of questions - I am in a very similar situation. Bit younger at 41 but also retired with a similar stash - wife still works from home though. Also loving it.

Doing it again, would it not be best taking all/part of you money out an investing in the EU? I am guessing it's a toss up - tax and nice growth in SA VS really being on the edge when it comes to currency movements. No good doing well in SA if the rand plummets!

I am impressed that you lived on around R12K p/m - I am around that but with a house paid of.  What is it costing you roughly to live there now?

In case you haven't - great link with similar minded people moneymustache.com

Patrick

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #113 on: April 18, 2015, 01:03:11 pm »
Very interesting reading Orca - have a ton of questions - I am in a very similar situation. Bit younger at 41 but also retired with a similar stash

And now I have a ton of questions, you should have your own thread!

Mr_Dividend

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #114 on: April 18, 2015, 07:32:03 pm »
Very interesting reading Orca - have a ton of questions - I am in a very similar situation. Bit younger at 41 but also retired with a similar stash

And now I have a ton of questions, you should have your own thread!

Found your blog very interesting - you are a very entertaining writer and have obviously read MMM. I already had formulated my "perfect" life long before finding his site - but was nice to find a group with similar objectives. Haven't found many South Africans that would consider retiring early and living off less - we seem to really like our glitzy baubles and have no problem using debt to purchase them and working long to fund that debt.

Nios

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #115 on: April 19, 2015, 08:44:21 pm »
This too is my path :) I wish to follow. 35. House is paid off, 3 rentals (2 are townhouses(bonded) and 1 is cottage on paid off property), in the process of acquiring a 2nd easy to run small business. I'm all for easy to manage passive income streams with minimal effort. I'm starting to realize it's rare where you see the returns else where like in profitable small businesses started or bought at the right price, although let me say finding them is a task on it's own. Stock market and property included.

I think a separate early retirement thread is a great idea Patrick, especially for those that have done it. Would love to hear Mr_Dividends story too and ask questions as they come to mind.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2015, 08:58:00 pm by Nios »

jaDEB

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #116 on: April 20, 2015, 09:08:32 am »
Yes, please do so. I am green with envy....
jaDEB

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Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #117 on: April 20, 2015, 01:40:47 pm »
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/special-reports/11519095/The-ultimate-pension-freedom-Retire-in-Portugal-and-reduce-your-tax.html

Here is some good reading about tax havens in Europe. If you think your pension may not last then this will benefit you.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2015, 01:44:02 pm by Orca »
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #118 on: April 21, 2015, 06:59:39 am »
Orca, still interested to know what your reasoning is with regards to leaving your money in SA Vs taking it out and investing it somewhere in Europe? For me, I would worry about the exchange rate as well as access to my money. For me, there would be plenty of companies over there that pay decent dividends.

http://www.topyields.nl/Top-dividend-yields-of-STOXX-Europe-Dividend-30.php

Orca

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Re: My retirement blog.
« Reply #119 on: April 21, 2015, 10:48:41 am »
I explained my position with divies vs capital growth on the other retirement thread.

As to keeping my money in SA. I have inquired on UK and EU investment forums about shares or ETF's here that consistently produce 25% pa and I seem to have made a laughing stock of myself. "In your dreams" one stated in reply.

So in short. Developed markets under perform emerging markets and investors are looking at Africa for growth.

The ZAR does not decline against the Euro as much as other currencies.  Over the past 10 years it declined by about 4% pa. In a way, the ZAR is pegged to the Euro.
I can live with -4% pa in a market that has superior growth.
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.