Retiring in Central/Eastern Europe

9POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there,

I am retired, and I am considering moving from southern Alaska to Central or Eastern Europe (I am particularly looking at Hungary, Czech Republic, or Poland).聽 I would be moving with my wife and son who will soon be graduating from high school.聽 I have a few questions regarding countries:

1. Cost of living.聽 I am currently earning ~2500USD in pensions.聽 Would this be enough to support my family reasonably well?

2. How does the cost of living change outside of the big cities?聽 We are not very interested in living in cities, and would prefer to live in a small town or village nearby and commute if need be.

3. How hard would it be to get the visas and permits necessary to do this move?

4. What countries have good universities/colleges for my son?聽 He is particularly interested in Anthropology or Psychology.

5. I am also interested in the possibility of owning a business once we are established in the country.聽 Which countries would be good for doing business in?

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David ViP

9410POSTS

13 years ago

Hi HFTarasque,

Welcome to expat-blog!

Please feel free to go through the forum concerning the countries you are looking for information.

If you need any assistance feel free to post an advert on the forum.

Thank you,

David.

yamyam Member

3POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there!

are you really sure about this? How are your language skills? Do you have any links to either of the countries that you mentioned?

Yes, you could live quite well out in the sticks on that sort of income in rural Czech Republic and actually on a lot less - most have to.

Have you or your wife ever lived abroad for any length of time before?

You really need to consider carefully. I would be happy to help but really, if it is just a money thing you really need to examine your motives carefully first. I say that as one who has lived in the Czech Republic for sixteen years.

happy to help if you want and no, I am not a real estate agent or out on the make in any other particular way!

Think it through,

Cheers
YamYam

HFTarasque New member

9POSTS

13 years ago

yamyam wrote:
Hi there!

are you really sure about this? How are your language skills? Do you have any links to either of the countries that you mentioned?
Yes, I am quite sure that I want to retire overseas.聽 The question I need to answer though, is where.聽 My son knows a small amount of German, but that's the extent of our language skills.聽 I have no links within any of the countries mentioned, but I do have family in Germany.

Yes, you could live quite well out in the sticks on that sort of income in rural Czech Republic and actually on a lot less - most have to.
Good to know.聽 I know that Prague is a little more expensive than neighbouring cities, but it's good to know that rural areas can still be quite cheap.

Have you or your wife ever lived abroad for any length of time before?
No, only visited.

You really need to consider carefully. I would be happy to help but really, if it is just a money thing you really need to examine your motives carefully first. I say that as one who has lived in the Czech Republic for sixteen years.
It's not just money, I and my family are very interested in being in another culture, the overseas experience, learning a new language, etc.聽 The money is both a bonus and a limitation.

happy to help if you want and no, I am not a real estate agent or out on the make in any other particular way!

Think it through,

Cheers
YamYam

Thanks for the comment.聽 Response in bold.

yamyam Member

3POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there,

I assume that if your son wishes to continue studying that he would be away from home most of the time anyway. Study in the Czech Republic would be a bit of a non starter in either of those fields. Not because the quality is any poorer or better than elsewhere but that principally courses are held in Czech only. If it anything else then I would suggest that he look at universities in Germany for courses held in English. This is becomming quite commonplace. Connection to Germany is quite good and the rail network in the Czech Republic good.

Most peoples view of a foreign country, any one, is usually good at first but I would draw your attention to wikipedias article on culture shock!

Prague is expensive, but what sort of place are you looking to live in? My adopted home town is Litomysl in Eastern Czech. You could do worse. Having said that, everywhere apart from Prague is small town and this may mean different things to different people. Prague Post is an expat newspaper that also may give information on buying and selling and visas and so on { I have no connection with them] .

If I can be of any more help, let me know. Glad to oblige.

HFTarasque New member

9POSTS

13 years ago

yamyam wrote:
Hi there,

I assume that if your son wishes to continue studying that he would be away from home most of the time anyway. Study in the Czech Republic would be a bit of a non starter in either of those fields. Not because the quality is any poorer or better than elsewhere but that principally courses are held in Czech only. If it anything else then I would suggest that he look at universities in Germany for courses held in English. This is becomming quite commonplace. Connection to Germany is quite good and the rail network in the Czech Republic good.
Yes, we'll see how this works out.聽 Right now he has one year left of high school before we have to figure this out.聽 Also, we homeschool him here in the States, as foreigners would we be able to continue homeschooling him for his last year?聽 I know in many parts of Europe homeschooling is illegal.聽 Also, he has found a university in Pecs, Hungary that seems to be quite nice and has a BA in Psychology in English.聽 The downside is that tuition is fairly high for non-EU citizens.

Most peoples view of a foreign country, any one, is usually good at first but I would draw your attention to wikipedias article on culture shock!

Prague is expensive, but what sort of place are you looking to live in? My adopted home town is Litomysl in Eastern Czech. You could do worse. Having said that, everywhere apart from Prague is small town and this may mean different things to different people. Prague Post is an expat newspaper that also may give information on buying and selling and visas and so on { I have no connection with them] .
I'm looking to live in preferably a village or small town, but one that is within an hour or so of a larger city would be nice.聽 For reference, where I live now has about 7,000 people, and that seems to be a pretty good size, though smaller is fine too.聽 I would prefer not to live in Prague proper.

If I can be of any more help, let me know. Glad to oblige.

yamyam Member

3POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there,

I am afraid that I have absolutely no idea how homeschooling, USA style, relates to final post-schooling certificate and hence admission to higher education.

If you should happen to decide on the Czech Republic then I can say that, although roads are nothing to write home about, rail allows you connection, if on a main line or near to,the principle cities within a couple of hours. Its not a big place after all. You could quite easily loose it in a corner of Alaska!

Perhaps an exploratory visit to this area would'nt be a bad idea?

Do please note that there will be differences in the way things are done. I would check to see if there are any basic sites on country to country cultural differences available and go through those carefully.

House-wise, you could pick up a house with a bit of land in reasonable condition and a nice location for around 100 000USD, perhaps recently built. I'll find you some info if you are interested.

Cheers

Joda123456 Member

1POSTS

12 years ago

My wife and I have been living in Poland for over 6 years. Our pension is a little less than yours but it is enough to live reasonably well. I don't know if yours will be enough for three people, it depends on where you live. Of course, cities are the most expensive to live in and small towns or even villages are cheaper. The cost of electronics, clothing, renting is higher here but food, health insurance and a few other things are cheaper. Certainly health insurance, if you have national health care, is much, much cheaper.

As far as universities, there are universities that have courses in English, you would just have to find the one for your son. Many of the younger generation are now speaking English so it shouldn't to hard for him to meet new people. Our medical university has a complete four year course in English, for example, although that is not his chosen field.

Since we are retired, I have no idea about starting a business and anything related to that issue.