"Don't retire abroad!"

I have just been watching this inaccurate, misleading and dishonest YouTube video and it made me absolutely furious!


What a load of utter garbage! Yes, you might want to retire in the Algarve or in the South of France, but most sensible people will want to avoid such ridiculously expensive places. (Why not retire in Monaco or Switzerland, if you are an utter idiot and you have money to burn?) I know lots of Brits who have retired to Bulgaria, but of course Bulgaria is not even mentioned in this silly video. 

What does "poverty" really mean? About 25% of all pensioners in the UK are supposed to live "below the poverty line". Well, yes, you can always believe the government's statistics, if you want to. I would say that "poverty" is worrying all the time about money, so that you never really enjoy your life. Even if you do have a holiday or buy a new pair of shoes, you are always wondering if you will be able to afford to do things like that next year. I think that many pensioners experience this kind of poverty in the UK. 

A friend of mine was hoping to sell his house in the UK, only to learn that the wonderful Labour government is planning to move hundreds of illegal migrants into an Army base nearby. For some strange reason, the Islamification of the UK, Sharia law, cruel halal slaughter and the rapes and assaults on young British girls by Muslim migrants are not mentioned in this video. I wonder why that might be. 

Yes, it is true that the cost of heating your home in the UK can be outrageous and that is why, here in Bulgaria, I have bought myself something called a "chainsaw". Our big log fire has a boiler on top, with an electric pump to send the hot water round to all of the radiators. In Bulgaria, it is often possible to get firewood cheap or even free, while in UK logs fires are banned just about everywhere or else you have to get all kinds of permits and safety inspections.


The Bulgarian health system is not perfect, but I saw my GP in Veliko Tarnovo on the Tuesday and had the operation on the Thursday. In the UK, you can have all kinds of problems just trying to arrange an appointment with your GP, as well as waiting for months for an operation. And either the doctors or the nurses (or both) will probably be on strike again. Many Brits have simply given up on the National Health Service and "go private". If you do go to a hospital in the UK, even parking your car in the hospital car park is going to be expensive. 

Yes, there is some paperwork to be done when you first arrive in Bulgaria, but this video seems to suggest that all expats will be given mountains of endless paperwork to fill out each year. This is simply not true. 

Similarly, the water bills in the UK get higher all the time, but here in the Bulgarian countryside many houses have their own wells. If you want some free mineral water, just take some big bottles and go to your nearest spring, where you can fill up for free (or you could always buy Royal Deeside Mineral Water from Waitrose at £2.27 a litre). 


This stupid and misleading YouTube video goes on and on about renting an apartment in different countries around the world, but why would anyone want to do such a silly thing when you can easily afford to buy a proper house (never mind an apartment!) in Bulgaria? Yes, it is true that posh properties in the capital, Sofia, are a bit expensive, but in the Bulgarian countryside it is still possible to buy a country house, with maybe 2000 or 3000 sq metres of land, for less than £50,000. If you were to buy a "renovation project", then that might only cost you as little as £10,000, but you would probably need to spend a similar sum on repairs and renovations. If you are renting an apartment, then it probably will not have a garden, but buying a country house with a big garden gives you the option of growing at least some of your own food. 



Yes, loneliness can be a real problem in old age. Thank goodness that there are absolutely no lonely old people in the UK! Yes, it is true that sometimes expats feel a bit homesick and they might miss their friends and family back in the UK when they move overseas. That does happen. However, Ryanair flights are usually very cheap and there are one or two other budget airlines that fly from Bulgaria to the UK quite often.
Last, but by no means least, there is that charming and quaint British tradition called "Council Tax". For a three-bedroomed house, you might well find yourself paying two hundred or even three hundred pounds every month in Council Tax. Here in Bulgaria, we have something called "danak". This is a local property tax and I suppose it is the Bulgarian equivalent of Council Tax in the UK. Last year, we paid 43 leva for our country house and that is about £20 for THE WHOLE YEAR. 

To sum up, this video is a lot of lies, exaggeration and nonsense! You can read (and see lots of photos) about the pros and the cons (yes, there are some disadvantages as well) of retiring and living long-term in Bulgaria if you go to my blog https://bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com 

If you leave a comment on my blog, I will get back to you.


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