We often imagine that later life will bring a simple kind of freedom. More time, fewer obligations and the ability to choose where and how we live.
For many people, that vision includes a place somewhere else. A terrace in the south of France. A small Portuguese town where the coffees are strong and the rents are not. A Greek island where the evenings stretch longer than expected.
Many people dream of retiring abroad. But surprisingly – few follow through with it. There’s a massive gap between the life people imagine, and the life they eventually choose to live.
It’s worth understanding why, because the gap is not usually about the idea being wrong – something harder to name is going on.
What makes retiring abroad harder than it looks.
It’s easy to assume that practical barriers are the main obstacle. Legal requirements, tax systems, access to healthcare, visas following Brexit – all these factors matter. But they’re often manageable with time and the right guidance.
The trickier part of the decision is harder to see.
When people picture life abroad, they focus on the beginning. The part that feels open and full of possibility. New routines, new places, maybe even a sense of renewal. But when they begin to think things through, a different question pops up: which version of myself am I planning for?
It’s easy to plan for the version of you that feels capable and independent. That’s probably the version of you that you are today – a version of you who enjoys change and new experiences. It’s tougher to plan for the version of you who, in ten or fifteen years, might need more support, more familiarity, more ease.
This is the question that separates good decisions from great ones. And it’s the question that Federica Grazi, founder of Mitos Relocation Solutions, brings to every client conversation. And the question she helps you think through on the Money:Mindshift podcast.
Retirement isn’t one phase: planning for life abroad at every stage
It helps to think of retirement as unfolding in stages.
At first, there’s often energy and curiosity.
The go-go years: people explore, travel, and adapt to new environments with relative ease. Over time though, priorities shift.
The slow-go years: convenience becomes more important, familiarity starts to matter more. Eventually, stability becomes central.
The no-go years: being close to people who understand you, with systems that are easy to navigate, matters most.
A place that works brilliantly in one phase may need rethinking in another. That’s not a reason to stay put. It’s a reason to choose more carefully – and possibly more boldly.
How to decide if retiring abroad is right for you
Most people who hesitate aren’t doing so because the idea is wrong. They’re hesitating because retirement feels like a single, irreversible decision – but it isn’t.
The people who thrive abroad aren’t necessarily the most adventurous, the most financially resourced, or even the most fluent in the local language. In fact, Ian Usher – someone who decided to retire abroad in the South-West of France and who tells his story in the Money:Mindshift podcast – shares how lack of both money and language skills didn’t stop him. You can listen to the episode 'how to do nothing' on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Rather, what those who do retire abroad successfully share, according to Federica, is a clear-eyed sense of what they need. Not just now, but across the different phases of life ahead. They’ve thought through what being close to family really means to them. They’ve distinguished between the fears that are valid and the fears that might just be those of the unknown. They’ve not just considered where they want to live, but how.
That clarity turns an overwhelming decision into a series of manageable ones.
And here is another takeaway: planning has its place – but so does experimenting!
Test before you move: trying life abroad before you commit to it
Rather than treating the decision as a single, irreversible commitment (sell everything here, buy somewhere there – done) it’s worth considering what a more tentative first step might look like. You might spend three months there, rent before you buy and find out what daily life actually feels like before you redesign it entirely. It’s an idea that resonates well beyond the question of retiring abroad in specific.
It also applies to retiring in general. Christine Benz made that point in an earlier episode of the podcast ('how to retire') – the most useful thing you can often do in retirement is run small experiments rather than execute a perfect plan.
Is the financial aspect the easy part of retiring abroad?
It’s possible to approach this decision mainly through numbers. Comparing costs, understanding tax implications, building a plan that works on paper. That planning is important and can reduce risk, and give you a bit of clarity.
But the financial side is rarely where the real complexity lives. Cash-flow planning, tax advice, pension portability – these are problems with known solutions.
The harder work is planning for a future that doesn’t stay still. For the future-you who will be grateful, ten years from now, that you thought beyond the terrace in year one.