Retired couple considering moving to Portugal

    Hi, my wife and I are both retired and considering relocating to and retiring in Portugal.  We're hoping to find some folks to communicate with who are also retired and have lived in Portugal for some time.  We know only some of the basics and have questions that hopefully, someone over there will have time to help with some feedback.          -@vincefandel

Hi and welcome,

If you post on here the basics of your situation (vis: if you have EU passports or from elsewhere, if you have spent time here, what sort of area/property rent/buy ..........) so any replies can be relevant.  Also you need to post 5 ? posts  for you to access PrivateMessage.

Goodluck.

Hi, Some info here:

Experience sharing about Visas to Portugal (D7 & others)

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=971460

Forbes&InternationalLiving reports about Retirement for US citizens

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=903613

Regards

@vincefandel

Vince, My wife and I would like to talk with you about Portugal.  We have spent a lot of time researching and exploring the country.  Several years ago we fell in love with Portugal and that was after we had visited many EU countries looking for that one special country to retire to.  Portugal is that country!!  And our city is Caldas da Rainha.

Send me a private email and I will be happy to call you.

Max & Lana Mitchell

Max, since I've just learned of this site and might be missing the obvious, how does one send a private message?  I don't see an identifier for this action.

Vince

@vincefandel

My husband and I have just moved to Portugal in the North (four months now).  We can share what info we have.

    Max, since I've just learned of this site and might be missing the obvious, how does one send a private message?  I don't see an identifier for this action.
Vince

    -@vincefandel

Please, read post #2 above....

@vincefandel

Hi Vince.  My name is Bill.  My wife and I recently moved to the Portuguese island of Madeira and arrived here on Nov. 20th, 2023.  We began researching Portugal back around 2010 but were still working and at that point we were only dreaming.  We never had any children but as the years went by each of us had a parent who lived in assisted living or a nursing home.  As our retirement approached, we sold our business but were dealing with each of our parents running out of money in nursing homes and had to manage the difficult task of getting them on Medicaid.  Then Covid hit and we weren't travelling anywhere and my Dad passed from Covid in 2020 and my Mother-in-law passed the following year.  Finally it was our time to see if we could make our dream into reality.  We planned a scouting trip for 2 months to Portugal in 2022 and spent 1 month on Madeira and 1 month in the Algarve.  We both knew we didn't want cold and damp weather so that's why we chose those 2 locations.

As soon as we spent some time in Portugal we both knew that ....this was it.  Our final chapter was going to end in Portugal and not the U.S.  We immediately came home from those 2 months and put a action plan in place but first had to spend 4-5 months going through all our receipts from the last 20 yrs for an HSA (health savings account) project that needed organizing, cataloging, spreadsheets, etc.  We had this HSA and never really used them so all that money with proof could be harvested tax free with NO time deadline and we decided to not leave that money sitting on the table. This consumed a lot of valuable time but was worth the time.

We listed our house for sale in late March, and began accumulating all the documents we needed for the D7.  Luckily for us the first looker bought our house and all it's furnishings and we closed on June 1st.  We immediately made a San Francisco VFS appointment for Aug. 30th and began in haste gathering the rest of the documents we needed for that appointment.  We had to estimate our timing of our final departure to Portugal.  We decided on Madeira as our place to begin living because we had made all the necessary contacts of a fiscal rep, realtor etc while we were on our scouting trip in 2022.  Our realtor helped us secure the lease on a 1 BR 1BA apartment and while there in 2022, we hired our fiscal representative who helped us get our NIF's and our bank account.  We knew how long the SF consulate was taking to approve applicants for the D7 so we knew we had to arrive no later than 100 days from the day of our Aug. 30th app't.  We booked 2 business class tickets from JFK to Funchal Madeira for Nov 19th and hoped the timing would work out.  It did and here we are.

I know I left out a bunch of details but I have a 1 hr consult with a Portuguese tax attorney in25 minutes.  If you have any other questions don't hesitate to contact me.

@laurah76

Hi, and thanks for getting back to us.  I have a question on how we can communicate on this site.  Is there a way to have a "direct" message rather than a message in the middle of the forum or would be open to using an personal email and make all this more direct?

Thanks,

Vince n Cara

@vincefandel

My email is.       ***

@bill85lisa and @maxwmitchell1997,

Anyone interested in sharing information with @vincefandel by PM private message, please send him your email address by PM.

@bill85lisa

Looks like you tried to share your email but it was blocked.  They said to you PM for sharing an email.  Now I just have to find out where that is. 

Vince

    @bill85lisa
Looks like you tried to share your email but it was blocked.  They said to you PM for sharing an email.  Now I just have to find out where that is. 

Vince
   

    -@vincefandel

https://www.expat.com/forum/profile.php?id=3694840

@vincefandel

Good to hear , you got there !! Want to hear how are you guys doing

Be blessed

@vincefandel my mail is***

Would love to hear how,are you doing guys.

Seems you are very bold!!

Love that

Be blessed

Milagros

    Hi, my wife and I are both retired and considering relocating to and retiring in Portugal.  We're hoping to find some folks to communicate with who are also retired and have lived in Portugal for some time.  We know only some of the basics and have questions that hopefully, someone over there will have time to help with some feedback. 
   

    -@vincefandel

bonjour nous sommes a charneca de caparica bonne journee loïc

@vincefandel

Vince, we are a retired American couple who lives in Portugal and have been here for almost a full year.

Let us know what specific questions you might have and we will try to answer them.

H
    @vincefandel
Hi Vince.  My name is Bill.  My wife and I recently moved to the Portuguese island of Madeira and arrived here on Nov. 20th, 2023.  We began researching Portugal back around 2010 but were still working and at that point we were only dreaming.  We never had any children but as the years went by each of us had a parent who lived in assisted living or a nursing home.  As our retirement approached, we sold our business but were dealing with each of our parents running out of money in nursing homes and had to manage the difficult task of getting them on Medicaid.  Then Covid hit and we weren't travelling anywhere and my Dad passed from Covid in 2020 and my Mother-in-law passed the following year.  Finally it was our time to see if we could make our dream into reality.  We planned a scouting trip for 2 months to Portugal in 2022 and spent 1 month on Madeira and 1 month in the Algarve.  We both knew we didn't want cold and damp weather so that's why we chose those 2 locations.

As soon as we spent some time in Portugal we both knew that ....this was it.  Our final chapter was going to end in Portugal and not the U.S.  We immediately came home from those 2 months and put a action plan in place but first had to spend 4-5 months going through all our receipts from the last 20 yrs for an HSA (health savings account) project that needed organizing, cataloging, spreadsheets, etc.  We had this HSA and never really used them so all that money with proof could be harvested tax free with NO time deadline and we decided to not leave that money sitting on the table. This consumed a lot of valuable time but was worth the time.

We listed our house for sale in late March, and began accumulating all the documents we needed for the D7.  Luckily for us the first looker bought our house and all it's furnishings and we closed on June 1st.  We immediately made a San Francisco VFS appointment for Aug. 30th and began in haste gathering the rest of the documents we needed for that appointment.  We had to estimate our timing of our final departure to Portugal.  We decided on Madeira as our place to begin living because we had made all the necessary contacts of a fiscal rep, realtor etc while we were on our scouting trip in 2022.  Our realtor helped us secure the lease on a 1 BR 1BA apartment and while there in 2022, we hired our fiscal representative who helped us get our NIF's and our bank account.  We knew how long the SF consulate was taking to approve applicants for the D7 so we knew we had to arrive no later than 100 days from the day of our Aug. 30th app't.  We booked 2 business class tickets from JFK to Funchal Madeira for Nov 19th and hoped the timing would work out.  It did and here we are.

I know I left out a bunch of details but I have a 1 hr consult with a Portuguese tax attorney in25 minutes.  If you have any other questions don't hesitate to contact me.
   

    -@bill85lis

Hi, thanks for information.

My question  Should i  sell appartment before applying for D7 or after interview with SEF in Portugal I can return to USA to finish with home.

Thanks

    Hi, my wife and I are both retired and considering relocating to and retiring in Portugal.  We're hoping to find some folks to communicate with who are also retired and have lived in Portugal for some time.  We know only some of the basics and have questions that hopefully, someone over there will have time to help with some feedback. 
   
    -@vincefandel

It would be great to know your motivation for coming to Portugal. I mean apart from that it seems low cost of living, good weather and ...? I am living in Portugal for almost 10 years and while the decision to come here was excellent 10 years ago, I would probably not move here in 2024.

    Hi, thanks for information.My question  Should i  sell appartment before applying for D7 or after interview with SEF in Portugal I can return to USA to finish with home. Thanks       -@Ludap

You should get your residence permit first, and only then sort out your life in your country. Never the opposite.

@TGCampo - any details you can offer on why your view on moving to Portugal has changed over the last 10 years?  Cost of living? Politics? Traffic? 

I'm considering a move from Los Angeles to Lisbon now and would love to hear your thoughts on the downsides of such a move at this time.

@la_adam The considerations are very individual and thus might not apply to anybody but me. From my point of view, the value for money in Portugal (all over the country) has deteriorated over the past 10 years. Real Estate is only one aspect. However, depending on where one is from, Portugal may be heaven on earth.

@TGCampo - that makes total sense.  Thanks!

If any of those moving wants any tips and tricks about the central Alentejo area, feel free to DM! We're in Estremoz just near Évora. :-)