Letters: €24,000 is how much we need for a comfortable life in France
Connexion reader has kept a careful record of income and expenditure
Reader says that it should be possible to live on €15,000 a year in a village
Robert Kneschke / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
I rarely make contributions or comments to articles, but on the subject of the amount needed for a modest but comfortable retirement in France I can give an objective input, rather than estimations.
My numbers are based on the fact I keep detailed accounts of everything my partner and I spend. This is necessary because we do not have funds in abundance.
Our annual expenditure comes to an average, over the past two years, of nearly €24,000.
This includes everything: taxes, food, holidays, vehicle repairs etc.
We live in Ariège in an old but modernised three-bedroomed property with an attached gîte and roughly 3,000m2 of land.
The largest outlay is for the mortgage at €6,360 per year, followed by consumables (food and wine of course) at €5,120, vehicle costs at €4,230 (repairs and fuel – we travel a lot and have had repairs recently) and taxe foncière at €1,230.
Read more: Letters – We can live comfortably in France on €15,000 a year- in a city with no car
We consider ourselves very lucky to live in a wonderful country with lovely people.
Living in France is not cheap but managing on just €15,000 per year is probably possible in a village such as ours where small properties with no land are available and no mortgage is required.
Ian Padwick, Ariège
How much do you need to live comfortably in France? Let us know at letters@connexionfrance.com
