Move to Aveiro, Portugal in retirement

Hello this is Judith from Canada.  I too am moving over as soon as I have my vaccine and flights are moving again.  I believe that my money is going to go a lot further in Portugal than Canada.  We own a hone so won't be renting so with 2000 euros will live very well in Portugal.  Although we will purchase a car, it will only be to travel outside of Nazare where we will be settling in.  I will adapt to walking everywhere, that's why I chose Nazare.  I have been to Aveiro and don't know why you would use public transport instead of  walking, unless you will live far from town centre.  The whole idea for me is to change my whole life style from, consumer based North America to a relaxed, low key European lifestyle.  I guess how you budget your money will be key as well what your wants and needs will be.  For me as long as I have the ocean near by, I am happy.  I believe you can be comfortable on your budget, rent amount will be key.  Most locals minimum wage is 600 euros.  I had a home in south Florida and the costs of owning a winter home there with all the costs associated with it was crazy.  That's why we sold and bought in Portugal.

Hi Edwinholder,
What you are saying here is not true. One should avoid writing here about what one is not sure of. ....

Minimum wage (2021):
665 eur x 14 months = 9310 eur
9310 eur / 12 months = 775,83 eur

In Portugal, the wages are paid 14 times a year: 12 months + Christmas bonus (in December) and holiday bonus (in June), unlike many European countries, where wages are paid 11 or 12 months.
The minimum wage covers around 21% of workers.

https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc22/com … os-em-2021https://www.tsf.pt/portugal/economia/go … 63475.html

The average wage in Portugal is 1266 eur (November 2020):

https://www.jn.pt/economia/salario-mens … 02083.html

I have seen so much incoherence and lack of truth written here that led me to subscribe to this forum... The fake news, the dark side of the internet, has revealed itself to be a serious problem today. I don't know how this so-called modern society will manage to overcome this (!)...

Janemarlow wrote:

Hello, I live in Reno Nevada USA. I am planning to move to Aveiro, Portugal in retirement. 3 more yrs. I will have 1,900 a month fixed income and plan on renting. I'm concerned that I won't have enough to live comfortably there.... Jane

Hi Jane, Welcome

I don't know what to say to you. You took comments from someone who doesn't deserve the time I spend here denying it. I am tired of comments from non-regular residents who come to Portugal to avoid paying taxes in their countries, and complain about everything in Portugal (mostly due to ignorance), and quickly forget what made them to leave their countries.

In your case, this amount is more than reasonable to have a comfortable life in Portugal. It is recommended that the rental amount you will pay does not exceed 50% of the amount you have available per month. This accounting rule applies to you and to anyone living in Portugal or elsewhere. It is also difficult to throw values into the air, when each person is different and makes a different lifestyle ...

After Covid, please come to Portugal, spend some time in Aveiro or in any other city, in an Airbnb or so you don't have to spend too much money. Travel by public transport, ask questions, see with your own eyes, and draw your own conclusions.

Best regards

I kindly ask to the forum moderator to open another discussion with the posts after #19. This thread is only for introducing new members.

Hi everyone,

Following JohnnyPT's advice, i have created a new thread withall your posts in the Portugal forum.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com Team 

JohnnyPT wrote:

In your case, this amount is more than reasonable to have a comfortable life in Portugal. It is recommended that the rental amount you will pay does not exceed 50% of the amount you have available per month. This accounting rule applies to you and to anyone living in Portugal or elsewhere. It is also difficult to throw values into the air, when each person is different and makes a different lifestyle ...

How can you be so sure it is "more than reasonable to have a comfortable life," when - as you write - "each person is different and makes a different lifestyle".

I would recommend to everybody who is moving from one place to another to have a look at www.numbeo.com and compare the the cost of living in the current home city to that in the planned future home. Numbeo has a tool that allows you to "tweak" the cost in your current location to what you are really spending and then apply the same principle to the new location.

Johnny might not like it, but there are very many people moving to Portugal because of the NHT regime and the Golden Visa and the lower cost of living. There is nothing wrong about it, but if one has only lived in one place/country for a long time and then moves to a new location then - after a while - one will also see all the disadvantages. Nothing wrong about this.

I came to Portugal for a number of reasons and these are still very valid. That doesn't mean that I should close my eyes to the not so great things.

Tom around the world wrote:

How can you be so sure it is "more than reasonable to have a comfortable life," when - as you write - "each person is different and makes a different lifestyle".

Hi Tom, nobody here is sure of anything... Everything I have said, I maintain and reaffirm. It's common sense. When the value mentioned by Jane is considerably higher than the average value, I can obviously talk about "comfortable". Or am I that wrong? Do you know what is the "normal" Gauss distribution curve? Yeah, that's it....

That's the statistics. One person may eat 1 chicken alone, and another none at all. But the average is, each person eats half a chicken... statistical divergences, especially when the sample is small. When we talk about the average value of wages in a country, the sample is larger, and the margin of error smaller.

But as you have said earlier, "nothing wrong about this", ...

Hi Johnny,

In my experience of expat life I have noticed that the money an average local has to live a "normal" life is very often far (!) lower than what an expat will require. If a newcomer fully adusts to the average local life than he will have a similar cost of living. But my experience tells me that this is rarely the case.

And yes, as an engineer I know about mathematics and statistics and the like. And I know about expat life in a number of different countries.

Great, that makes two of us

Everything is available for expats and locals at the same prices.

The quality requirements of living  may be different, and that has most to do with the expats' country of origin... There are many differences here on this (...) but this forum is generalised to all and not specific for some... This is my understanding of what a public forum is.

JohnnyPT wrote:

Everything is available for expats and locals at the same prices.

If it only was that easy. Many expats, especially when they don't speak Portuguese and are new to the country, pay higher prices than locals. Not at EDP or at CTT, but trades people are more expensive.

Health insurance to a standard that an individual feels confortable with, can be pricy. Where locals might have a family doctor for a long time, the expat doesn't have that.

Out of curiosity, which countries have you lived in? I mean for at least a year.

Health insurance and private hospitals have the same prices for everyone.

Regarding the National Health System (SNS), all expats living in Portugal have access to the SNS and pay the same prices as locals.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=902977

In shops and restaurants the prices are marked. And fortunately with the euro everything is easier here. And about complaints it is important to read this:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=920033

You are absolutely right when it comes to services like gardeners, plumbers, builders, car repairs, physiotherapists,.... unfortunately this is true. All expats should be aware of this and prevent it by using email instead of phone calls by asking for written budgets (in portuguese).

And the problem of the receipt with the NIF in these services is common to portuguese and expats...

Another possibility is to get a portuguese-speaking friend to be your interlocutor for this type of service. But I recognize that in this kind of services is complicated to manage, not knowing the local language...

I don't know if you have noticed, but my purpose in this forum is try to prevent these problems. Information is power 

JohnnyPT wrote:

Health insurance and private hospitals have the same prices for everyone.

Regarding the National Health System (SNS), all expats living in Portugal have access to the SNS and pay the same prices as locals.
:

Your statement is correct.

But

If you don't speak the local language well then your choice of doctors and hospitals is limited (if you want to speak English with your doctor). And if an expat isn't used to waiting very long time for appointments and elective treatment then private insurance is almost a must. This is simply a fact.

What I want to say is that Portuguese living in a place for a while might be very happy with the local NHS doctors that can explain everything in their own language.

An expat will most likely try to find an English speaking doctor that can see him/her within a short period of time. And that will very likely require private insurance or enough money.

So, overall expats - especially older ones - will likely need more money to have a comfortable life in Portugal than locals. So I would always tell expats that they will at least initially require better funding than they might expect.

I am here for over 5 years and I am keeping a very good record of my spending.

@JohnnyPT Hello Johnny I just stumbled across your post and I love your response it is now two years after your post I will be in Aveiro in 2 weeks. I also am planning to hopefully live in Portugal within 2 years hopefully before I will have either a thousand a month or slightly under, do you live in aveiro?

Thanks, Lilly .R.

@Janemarlow

Hi Jane I'm replying to your post from two years ago today is October 21st 2023 and I will be in Aveiro Portugal the 7th of November. Are you presently living there? Let me know I'd Luke  to make friends with some expats,  I'm from the United States, thank you.

Lilly R. 💃🏻

Hi @shoshannah, Welcome.

As this thread is old, it is unlikely that some members will reply to you. Please use the private message (click on the icon and then send message).

Regards

I think you'll like Aveiro, it's a wonderful city - especially for those who learn the language.  As a tourist you'll find a lot of people speak English, but as a resident you come in contact with more people who don't.

I'm sure there are expats, but a lot more in Porto which is a fairly short train ride to the north.  The Aveiro station is right in town, so you might set aside a day while you're there, and take the train out to the Porto São Bento station, visit the Bolhão market etc.

Well thank you for that information Don! Yes I will do that Porto trip. I've been studying my little portuguese conversational dictionary, I speak Spanish as a second language so it's a lot easier for me to learn Portuguese. Are you presently living in Aveiro?

Are you originally from the states? I am so excited I can't wait to get there.

If you have any more tips and recommendations I would greatly appreciate them, talk to you soon I'm at work right now.🤗

Lilly R.  (Shoshannah)

@JohnnyPT

I don't know where the private message icon is. Thank you, Lilly R. (Shoshannah)

@Lilly,

Just click on the icon/avatar to the left of the member's name, then "send message"

@shoshannah  From Seattle, but not in Aveiro.  We're a ways down south from there, but visited once via train.  Took a boat ride in the canal, walked out to the salt ponds.