tough decision about moving in ch - Page 2

st2lemans · #21 27.04.2021, 19:16

	Quote:	meloncollie
	As others have said, key is thinking about what your wife wants or needs most.

In my wife's case, it's shopping and photography (she comes from a long line of Swiss professional photographers).

Tom

Chuff · #22 27.04.2021, 22:53

	Quote:	meloncollie
	As others have said, key is thinking about what your wife wants or needs most. Is she able to job hunt from abroad, even if only to get a sense of what her field is like in Switzerland? Once things open up, once the economy starts to rebound, could she come over for an extended visit to do a bit of job searching before committing to the move? FWIW, I moved here in my forties, leaving behind a high flying career. I knew that the chance of resuming my career in Switzerland was about nil, so instead threw myself into volunteer work. All fine and dandy, i found a new purpose. I enjoyed the work I did, got a lot of self-satisfaction out of the volunteer work, perhaps more than I actually did through my career. But now that I am older, regrets have started to re-surface. Volunteer work was fulfilling personally but those missing decades of paid work have left me financially vulnerable in my old age. If I could do it all over again, I would do things differently. I wouldn't recommend giving up a career today, even for personally rewarding activities, even if you can get by on one income. Life is full of twists and turns, you never know what the future holds. Not knowing what your wife does it's hard to suggest routes she might take to continue her career here. If you are comfortable sharing that info perhaps we can be of more help. Good luck to you both.

If there is one thing I have had drilled into me it is the importance of preparing for your retirement and old age. After working for 40 years I definitely want to live the last couple of decades of my life in relative comfort and security without worrying about finances.

Susie-Q · #23 28.04.2021, 09:23

	Quote:	Chuff
	If there is one thing I have had drilled into me it is the importance of preparing for your retirement and old age. After working for 40 years I definitely want to live the last couple of decades of my life in relative comfort and security without worrying about finances.

Indeed ... wife may not be happy in the short term initially in Switzerland, but not having any money in retirement will surely lead to much more misery.

Sure I miss home & often fantasize about moving to places in Europe that are more jovial/familiar, but I am able to go to those places on holiday and not have to worry about if I can pay the hotel bill at the end of my visit. As someone who has spent most of her life worrying about those things (such as having enough money for rent, food & healthcare) before I came here, I never want to go back to that state again.

Klostersgirl · #24 28.04.2021, 09:51

	Quote:	Chuff
	If there is one thing I have had drilled into me it is the importance of preparing for your retirement and old age. After working for 40 years I definitely want to live the last couple of decades of my life in relative comfort and security without worrying about finances.

I believe I can also thank you (maybe in another guise?) for alerting me and others on a thread here some years ago to the possibility of paying in Class 2 NI contributions in the UK to boost one's pension. Now that retirement looms, the wisdom of planning and preparing for the future is more and more apparent. We all need enough for bread and butter, but I would like a bit of jam on top too. Whoever drilled that discipline into you did you a favour.

Chuff · #25 28.04.2021, 10:10

	Quote:	Klostersgirl
	I believe I can also thank you (maybe in another guise?) for alerting me and others on a thread here some years ago to the possibility of paying in Class 2 NI contributions in the UK to boost one's pension. Now that retirement looms, the wisdom of planning and preparing for the future is more and more apparent. We all need enough for bread and butter, but I would like a bit of jam on top too. Whoever drilled that discipline into you did you a favour.

You're welcome. It's interesting, I went to check my voluntary contributions the other day and they now have a warning saying that "it may not be worth paying voluntary contributions so please speak to an advisor before doing so to check if its actually going to be beneficial to you". I am assuming it means that you could have already hit your max contributions and then be paying more in for no return, but I need to call and ask about it to be sure.

In the end the UK pension will not be much, around 900chf per month (https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension...tate%20Pension), but it's better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper.

EDIT - I just checked my forecast on the government website and it says: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check...ension/account

-----------------------------

You can get your State Pension on 14 April 2031. Your forecast is

£179.60 a week

£780.94 a month, £9,371.27 a year

-----------------------------

So I guess I am not far off my max contributions now!

Klostersgirl · #26 28.04.2021, 10:15

	Quote:	Chuff
	You're welcome. It's interesting, I went to check my voluntary contributions the other day and they now have a warning saying that "it may not be worth paying voluntary contributions so please speak to an advisor before doing so to check if its actually going to be beneficial to you". I am assuming it means that you could have already hit your max contributions and then be paying more in for no return, but I need to call and ask about it to be sure. In the end the UK pension will not be much, around 900chf per month (https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension...tate%20Pension), but it's better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper.

I think they always gave that proviso. I paid back 10 year's worth, and only needed to pay another couple of years to reach the max. I am about to pay another year for my husband and then he is also paid up. As you say, its not much, but it will pay our private medical insurance for example and having just had a stay in hospital, this is important to me.

fatmanfilms · #27 28.04.2021, 10:24

	Quote:	Klostersgirl
	I think they always gave that proviso. I paid back 10 year's worth, and only needed to pay another couple of years to reach the max. I am about to pay another year for my husband and then he is also paid up. As you say, its not much, but it will pay our private medical insurance for example and having just had a stay in hospital, this is important to me.

If you have a Swiss OAP & live in CH, you have to pay your health insurance costs yourself as the UK would not be responsible for your healthcare, if you do not have a Swiss OAP the UK will pay.

Klostersgirl · #28 28.04.2021, 10:55

	Quote:	fatmanfilms
	If you have a Swiss OAP & live in CH, you have to pay your health insurance costs yourself as the UK would not be responsible for your healthcare, if you do not have a Swiss OAP the UK will pay.

Yes, thank you. I simply meant that the amount of UK pension I will receive is about equal to my private Swiss health insurance so it would cover that ... just a mental allocation of money.

Chuff · #29 28.04.2021, 10:58

	Quote:	Klostersgirl
	Yes, thank you. I simply meant that the amount of UK pension I will receive is about equal to my private Swiss health insurance so it would cover that ... just a mental allocation of money.

I think anyone with an IQ of 60 or more could have figured out what you meant.

Phil_MCR · #30 28.04.2021, 11:07

	Quote:	Chuff
	a warning saying that "it may not be worth paying voluntary contributions so please speak to an advisor before doing so to check if its actually going to be beneficial to you". I am assuming it means that you could have already hit your max contributions and then be paying more in for no return, but I need to call and ask about it to be sure.

not just that you have hit it already, but for those people working in the uk and paying NI, if you have, say, 10 years of contributions and have another 25 years to work, you will anyway have enough by retirement and so voluntary contributions will just be a waste of money. for those that might end up working in the UK again, it is worth bearing in mind.

Brian1985 · #31 28.04.2021, 15:52

If you are 54 let's assume you have another 11 years until retirement age at 65.....and the way companies are going these days you don't see many 65 year old employees around the office due to (i) high pillar 2 pension costs and (ii) the "juniorization" of pretty much every industry.

At 160k you are probably taking home 10k/month after tax and deductions? If you can save 3k/month (36k/year) and invest that into the stock market (earning 5% p.a.) you would have just over CHF 500k at retirement age of 65. Such an amount could probably fund a comfortable retirement in either Spain or Portugal.

Given that you have no savings it makes 100% sense financially for you to work in CH for as long as you possibly can. The other option, if you can stand it, is to work in Zurich and fly back to Portugal every weekend to be with your wife. Some couples can tolerate time apart and some can't so it's a personal decision.