Recent content by MikeyInMarin

Oiseux: one more thing. I am in the FB American retiree group. What is the Nice group called? I am in a Nice group that is just spam.

Oiseux: i am planning to get a 5 month short term rental. I arrive in Nice September 1. In fact I have a studio that is pending approval from it’s landlord on the Morning croissant site. I had no idea how complex getting a rental (especially as a foreigner) was in France: The dossier, garant...

Thanks Sunset. I had heard of bend points (here in fire), but didn’t bother to look it up. This part of SS is not actuarially based!

I retire in a few months (at 64.5 years old). My plan was always to claim SS at 70 - as longevity insurance. I knew there would be a cost to NOT working for 5+ years, but had never checked what the cost of not working for 5 years was. I assumed it would not be a big deal, as it seems to be a...

Alan: thanks I just made the IRS account. I moved my retirement accounts because Schwab allows overseas access.

GotADimple: I thought I had the banking thing figured out. I opened an HSBC Expat account. But then found out it is useless in France. I am trying to open an HSBC France account with great frustration. I might just do what FIREd did and open a US HSBC account and go through that account to get...

That post was great. It covered many areas I hadn’t thought of, with lots of things for me to think over. My circumstances are different than FIREd. Main example: I am taking advantage of the US / France retirement tax treaty (I couldn’t do the move without it), so my tax situation is very...

Braumeister: thank you. I tried searching for movers and didn’t find anything useful.

I have some things that are ‘til death do us part’. I do plan on renting a starter furnished apartment to do my permanent apartment search (and get my French residency visa started).

I retire this year and plan to move from my house in the San Francisco area to an apartment in Nice, France. One big hurdle is figuring out the options to get my stuff from here to there. An international shipping company is the obvious choice; very easy, convenient and expensive. Are there ways...

Hi oiseux, I appreciate your help, but wanted to wait until I got enough information to ask intelligent questions. I’d like to talk. Can we setup something ? Thanks again

Hi pdxgal. My home is likely worth less than the average SFR in San Rafael. It is small (1200 sf), and sort of, um, unique. I always wondered how I would value it without actually putting it on the market. I just setup a RLT last year, and my home is in that (of course). It never crossed my...

Wow. More good info. I realized I made a mistake in the title: I plan to retire in 2023. Also, for some reason I stopped getting emails when replies were posted back in January, so I just saw the new replies. 2 weeks ago I used the immigration application website...

Timo, I forgot to say where I want to retire: Nice. Why there: The weather (most like where I spent most of my life in coastal California) Well connected transportation hub (airport and TGV) Largish city where I can live car free Fairly reasonable cost of housing Re taxes, my retirement income...

Not early retirement, I will be 64 then. I wish I had found this community 20 years ago. It has been the most useful forum I’ve ever found! I’ve run the various retirement calculators (Fidelity, firecalc, Vanguard), so I don’t need help with that decision. I am single. I will get a $1100/month...