Check List for Moving to France

Actually two lists: move before retirement and move after retirement.

Before Retirement
1. Bank account hits my "number"
2. Visa
3. Home
4. Downsizing, packing and shipping
5. Health Insurance


1. Bank account hits my "number"
I am budgeting to live to 80. Honestly, I'll be lucky to make it to 80. The budget for my magic dollar amount to be able to move on that day, never earn a dime working, and hope that interest on the deposit keeps up with inflation is $100,000 USD per year. Budgeting to 2050 means 34 years of this annual budget is needed, or $3,400,000 USD total. The magic number is living expenses through 2050 plus $500,000 USD for purchasing and furnishing a flat. Which makes the "number" for 2017 equal $3.9m USD.

The number is very much a worst case scenario. It assumes US Social Security will collapse, or find a way to not make payments to me for some reason, Also it assumes I would need to purchase $18,000 USD in health insurance per year for my wife and myself. This is no longer needed, which makes my "number" a bit obsolete in terms of being a realistic minimum cost. This will need to be revisited.

2. Visa
The laws here have changed again. There is now a "Long Term Visa" which allows for the holder to live for a year. The Permanent Resident Card is required to live beyond that year; however, applications for the PRC are made in France, not before leaving the US. It makes the process a bit less "front ended" and more gradual.

3. Home
Leases in France are generally two years. Which would be a good start and decouple moving from buying and furnishing a flat. Fully furnished rentals are common. Since I will be moving light, a furnished two year lease works quite well. I expect to use a vacation rental for the first two months before finding a flat for a two year lease.

After taking a year or so to get to know the city, and sort what parts of town will work best, the balance of the lease should be close to the correct length of time to identify, purchase, remodel (if necessary) and furnish a permanent home.

4. Downsizing
I can't speak for my wife, but I am taking a tablet, a laptop, all of my data on portable drives, my clothes and most of my books. Everything else will be replaced. I am doing this in anticipation of someday turning in my US passport. Everything I take out of the US with me will be added to a final tax bill if I ever turn in my US passport. Naturally, I would only consider this option once I was a dual French (or EU) and US citizen. Otherwise, I would need to pad my "number" to cover my renounce tax and fees.

Packing and Shipping I am not clear on yet. I suspect it is somewhere in the post interview consular information. I assume I would ship my property ahead, and claim it in country where it would be inspected and inventoried.

5. Health Insurance
This one changed dramatically recently. Before the change, Expats were required to carry special insurance that kept them from being a burden on the nation. The plan must not have any copay, coinsurance or any other out of pocket costs. In short, the holder is prepaying their health care for the year, and at a premium. For my wife and myself, the insurance was $9,000 a year, with another $5,000 per year to add coverage when outside the EU. Now such coverage is only needed for three months. After this time, with documentation of intent to live in France at least 183 days a year (slightly over half a calendar year), an expat can join the basic level of local health insurance at a smaller cost. A private policy is still needed for certain types of care, but this is the same as any EU citizen.


After Retirement is a separate, pending, post.

Launch

My name is Kevin Watson. I am planning on retiring in the Champagne region of France in 20 years or less.

Today, I work as as an Information Security Engineer for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, while working on improving my writing and editing skills with graduate classes at the University of Memphis.

I own a small publishing company, Dark Naga (http://darknaga.com) which continues to grow with 2 successful Kickstarter projects in 2016 and at least three planned for 2017.

When I retire, I plan to move to Reims, France where I will garden and write until I shuffle off this mortal coil. I am about 20 years from retirement, and working toward an expatriate life in Reims for my last couple of decades.

Reims is a historically significant city. Notre-Dame de Reims is the cathedral where almost all French kings were coronated. Additionally, there are great Gallo-Roman remnants, and many other great locals for exploration with camera in tow.

For me, the most intriguing aspect of Reims is the story that Marc Chagall loved the city and the residents so much that he donated new stained glass windows to restore Notre-Dame de Reims. The cathedral was destroyed during the First World War, and rebuilt, painstakingly by the residents. Chagall's love for the city and its people stemmed from a loving indifference to his celebrity. He was allowed to live his life and work in peace. The locals did not hassle him with dozens of questions. Legend has it that when tourists asked about him, the local people pretended not to know who he was or where his studio resided. This indifference to his fame, and ability to work without interruption inspired him to recreate most of the stained glass and donate it to the reconstruction efforts.

A city that respects privacy that much is a great place to live. I want to live as anonymously as possible and Reims seems agreeable to that. Below is a photo of the windows Chagall made for Notre-Dame de Reims