6 ms·

I am semi retired (unemployed) living in Romania, but you'd likely want to be in Portugal for the cost of living, weather, and food. Also they have a ten year t

by cko 6y ago

I am semi retired (unemployed) living in Romania, but you'd likely want to be in Portugal for the cost of living, weather, and food. Also they have a ten year tax friendly program called Non Habitual Residency. I'm currently aiming for Portugal. Yes, salaries are low all across the EU (Switzerland is not in the EU) and taxes are high, so ideally I recommend working remotely and bouncing between Portugal and Spain or finding a post retirement hobby (easier said than done). (By the way I did consider Croatia too as it is similarly inexpensive, but Romanian is an easier language and I already knew people here from previous travels).

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
vecinu 6y ago
That's interesting, I have a Romanian passport but didn't live long enough there to actually get a feel for what life is like day to day. I think being a worker and having to have a job in RO would be soul crushing, from what I hear from friends and family. Portugal seems a great in between if you can swing a remote job, a lot of tech workers prefer it for the low cost of living and climate, like you said. It seems working remotely is the best option but I'm not sure how feasible that is long term and with timezone differences.
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago
  >I think being a worker and having to have a job in RO would be soul crushing, from what I hear from friends and family. Overall, for most of the population, yes. However, if you're a tech worker, no, as that puts you in the top %10 of earners. In many ways, Romania is like the US, high inequality, low taxes, and poor quality social services, unless you have a corporate job, then you can live like a King as the huge pay(relative speaking) and job perks give you an edge over everyone else.
  - vecinu 6y ago
    > In many ways, Romania is like the US This made me chuckle, I often compare California to Romania (since I know both places well) and can contrast the corruption, money waste, terrible infrastructure and inequality in a way that friends / family that moved from Romania can't agree with. They always paint Romania as a third world *hole that's incomparable to the US/Canada or other "civilized" countries. I follow the news, political developments and have friends there so I'm aware how far it's gotten in the last 2 decades, I'm pretty proud of the direction they're heading in. The only caveat I have for you with living in RO vs the US is the healthcare system. Even if you opt for private care, the really good doctors, the emergency procedures that need to be done in public hospitals are a disgrace. At least in the US if you "live like a king", you can pay for a king's level of healthcare. In RO, you literally have to fly to Germany/Switzerland or elsewhere to get quality healthcare and if you have a really bad accident, you may not make it to the hospital to get the care you need. That's the one thing keeping me from moving to RO today, even with its extremely low cost of living. I can't risk my family's health on the disastrous healthcare system there.
    - disabled 6y ago
      > In RO, you literally have to fly to Germany/Switzerland or elsewhere to get quality healthcare and if you have a really bad accident, you may not make it to the hospital to get the care you need. > That's the one thing keeping me from moving to RO today, even with its extremely low cost of living. I can't risk my family's health on the disastrous healthcare system there. I have the same issue here in Croatia, and I spend a lot of time on the islands. There is no such thing as medivac (air rescue) here. The solution to this is to get an International SOS plan, which covers pre-existing conditions. I know all about this because my sister was an expat living in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Equatorial Guinea (Africa). If one became gravely ill there, you would be medevac-ed to Munich, Germany. Hers was an employer sponsored plan though. You only have to declare one of your nationalities (as in citizenships) when filling out the forms, and I confirmed that this was proper procedure (you can also reside in the country of your nationality under the terms and conditions of the expat plan). I declared myself as a United States citizen. You also state where you plan on living the majority of the year (Croatia). The expat plan is something like $750/year, which may seem expensive. However, if the incident is severe they will also repatriate you back to your home country of citizenship. In my case, this would be the United States. I want to be repatriated where my family is, if I get gravely ill. If you get very sick in Croatia and need to be medevac-ed out, they fly you to Vienna, Austria. Here are where the "expatriate plans" are: https://buymembership.internationalsos.com/expatriate/ https://buymembership.internationalsos.com/expatriate/

by cko 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

vecinu 6y ago

That's interesting, I have a Romanian passport but didn't live long enough there to actually get a feel for what life is like day to day. I think being a worker and having to have a job in RO would be soul crushing, from what I hear from friends and family. Portugal seems a great in between if you can swing a remote job, a lot of tech workers prefer it for the low cost of living and climate, like you said. It seems working remotely is the best option but I'm not sure how feasible that is long term and with timezone differences.

ChuckNorris89 6y ago
>I think being a worker and having to have a job in RO would be soul crushing, from what I hear from friends and family. Overall, for most of the population, yes. However, if you're a tech worker, no, as that puts you in the top %10 of earners. In many ways, Romania is like the US, high inequality, low taxes, and poor quality social services, unless you have a corporate job, then you can live like a King as the huge pay(relative speaking) and job perks give you an edge over everyone else.
- vecinu 6y ago
  > In many ways, Romania is like the US This made me chuckle, I often compare California to Romania (since I know both places well) and can contrast the corruption, money waste, terrible infrastructure and inequality in a way that friends / family that moved from Romania can't agree with. They always paint Romania as a third world *hole that's incomparable to the US/Canada or other "civilized" countries. I follow the news, political developments and have friends there so I'm aware how far it's gotten in the last 2 decades, I'm pretty proud of the direction they're heading in. The only caveat I have for you with living in RO vs the US is the healthcare system. Even if you opt for private care, the really good doctors, the emergency procedures that need to be done in public hospitals are a disgrace. At least in the US if you "live like a king", you can pay for a king's level of healthcare. In RO, you literally have to fly to Germany/Switzerland or elsewhere to get quality healthcare and if you have a really bad accident, you may not make it to the hospital to get the care you need. That's the one thing keeping me from moving to RO today, even with its extremely low cost of living. I can't risk my family's health on the disastrous healthcare system there.
  - disabled 6y ago
    > In RO, you literally have to fly to Germany/Switzerland or elsewhere to get quality healthcare and if you have a really bad accident, you may not make it to the hospital to get the care you need. > That's the one thing keeping me from moving to RO today, even with its extremely low cost of living. I can't risk my family's health on the disastrous healthcare system there. I have the same issue here in Croatia, and I spend a lot of time on the islands. There is no such thing as medivac (air rescue) here. The solution to this is to get an International SOS plan, which covers pre-existing conditions. I know all about this because my sister was an expat living in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Equatorial Guinea (Africa). If one became gravely ill there, you would be medevac-ed to Munich, Germany. Hers was an employer sponsored plan though. You only have to declare one of your nationalities (as in citizenships) when filling out the forms, and I confirmed that this was proper procedure (you can also reside in the country of your nationality under the terms and conditions of the expat plan). I declared myself as a United States citizen. You also state where you plan on living the majority of the year (Croatia). The expat plan is something like $750/year, which may seem expensive. However, if the incident is severe they will also repatriate you back to your home country of citizenship. In my case, this would be the United States. I want to be repatriated where my family is, if I get gravely ill. If you get very sick in Croatia and need to be medevac-ed out, they fly you to Vienna, Austria. Here are where the "expatriate plans" are: https://buymembership.internationalsos.com/expatriate/ https://buymembership.internationalsos.com/expatriate/