5 Reasons Why Leaving America for Spain Was the Best Decision for me and my family

hello I'm Eric and I moved with my family in three dogs to Spain from Denver in 2023 this experience has been amazing it's been a very enriching experience and I want to share with you five of the reasons why we moved I think reason number five is the most important one so the first reason was merely an economic reason I had a pretty good income but life in Denver is very expensive I did my research and with the amount of money that I was making we could live way better here in Spain and we do actually so for me I was working all the time to make H meet some bills were piling up some other bills were just too high for example mobile phones mobile phone service in Denver is expensive we here I I think I pay €7 for a line with 8 gigs and unlimited texting and unlimited calling compared to I think $25 or $30 back in the US I pay half of what I pay in rent and I have an apartment that's two times as big as the apartment I had in Denver and much nicer I even have my own little office here where in Denver I had to work directly next to the kitchen in Denver we didn't have parking spaces we had one parking space and it was the car was always outside so if it snowed or rained or the Sun was shining really strong the car was exposed to Nature all the time here where I live we live in a gated community and we have two parking spaces that are underground so our cars are Never full of snow which it doesn't snow where we live but um if it's raining we have no problem accessing the car and it's never the car is never hot because it's not in the Sun so I think that money is one of the biggest factors of peace in your life I wanted to have peace in my life I did not want to be overworking I didn't want to have two jobs or having to have a side hustle just to make an meet granted I like to work I I don't mind working but I need to make sure that all of my expenses are covered month to month with no surprises and then if I have an extra income then we use the extra income for something else but not to pay for the basic expenses so we ran our budget through a lens of the information we had access to here in where we live in Malaga and it made a lot of sense to move here financially reason number two is Health Care although we are a fairly healthy family we haven't been to the doctor in years there's always this sense of what would happen if you know if we got in a car accident if you know we ever get cancer if you know I'm I'm 51 years old and I know that my body is eventually going to have certain problems although I don't take any medicine and it has to do with the way we eat and I'll share that as another reason but as far as health care goes there's always this fear that if something were to happen to you you wouldn't know how to pay you wouldn't have access to those funds or any savings that you would have you would have to just give them up for your healthare here in Spain as a requirement I have to get private insurance and for me 51 years old I pay I think 46 for €51 and everything is included dental and everything else I don't there's no money that I have to put up every time I go to the doctor I just go to the doctor they give me the medicine and that's it I don't have to pay anything obviously depends on the insurance that you get I'm not saying uh that that's the case for every insurance company but there are other insurance companies that just cover less and you still have access to Great Medical Services so that takes away a lot of pressure a lot of fear in your life from just thinking what would happen if this sickness came to my family or what would happen if we get into a car wreck there that was always in the back of my mind what would happen and you know I know we would get service but we would end up owing a lot of money to the medical system in the US and I did not want that we're here we are at complete peace and have incredible peace of mind that if anything were to happen to us as far as healthwise we would have access to Fantastic what I mean fantastic is you do your research but Spain is in the top five Health Systems in the world okay in the world and I think it's number two but I might be wrong but it's still the one of the best systems in the world now with our situation I can be part of the national system where I don't need a private insurance and have access to the National system which is as good granted there are things that in the National system you would have to wait a period of time to actually get an appointment but there are things these things are not normally emergencies but if there's an emergency you get treated right away and you end up paying nothing and again that brings to such a piece of mind that is been it's great it's really great third reason has to do with food if you do your research you will know that in Europe the standard and the quality of the food that can be sold to the public is much higher not just that but portion sizes is way way different here in Europe than it is in the US for for example if you go to any restaurant and you order a Coke they still sell Coke and Coke is not healthy but you let me explain you get a bottle about this size the Coke does not have corn syrup and it is a lot smaller than the portions you would get in the US so you end up eating a lot healthier price to be honest is not that different I mean we end up spending about what we spend in the US granted that in the US we bought a lot of organic food and food that was not processed so we ended up spending good amount of money so the difference in in in in food isn't in in what we pay at the supermarket for food is not considerable but in the quality of the food that we eat is just just very very different and much much healthier the number four reason has everything to do lifestyle you see in the US we used to live mandre through Friday work all day be super tired about work and then at night just watch TV and not want to do anything else in Spain lifestyle is completely different there is no division between your workday and your weekend in the sense of meeting people it's totally common for somebody on a Tuesday to invite you for dinner or to go out and grab some coffee during the day with a friend on a Wednesday you don't live this life that Monday through Friday is for your work and you and you and then on the weekend you might squeeze some time to be with friends you know and and and not everybody's busy this is just funny um I share another video that you should have access to here on five culture shocks that you will find when you move to Spain one of them is the sense of slow pace that's incredible let me tell you for example if you want to go to the bank deposit money or or just do any transaction but banks are open from 8:30 to 11:00 that's it if you want to open an account and do other activities with an executive person yes you have access I think till 2:30 that's it uh Sundays most supermarkets are closed you can't go buy anything now there are smaller supermarkets that have just the basics that you can go buy but the large supermarkets or the supermarkets that you go more often they are closed that forces you to live differently it it does uh another example is some stores are closed from 2 to 5 they might be open till 10:00 but they're closed from 2 to 5 just for Siesta and for a break that's you're not used to that in the US but again that forces you to live a different lifestyle a lifestyle that you're not constantly rushed that you're not constantly thinking about being productive which is at the end of the day something that will stress you out and burns you up for real I had that feeling it was just constantly am I not being productive enough am I not working hard enough am I not doing enough here is just relaxed it's incredibly relaxed and that is incredible I have made available a free newsletter that you can access at any point just follow the instructions in the description and join the newsletter where you get tips about moving to Spain and some Spanish speaking tips in case you want to learn the language now if you want to learn the language I've also created a WhatsApp group if you don't know what WhatsApp is it's about time you should find out WhatsApp it's it's an app it's owned by Facebook Facebook bought it a couple years ago but it's the number one communication platform in I want to say in the world but especially in Spain nobody texts or anything they just use WhatsApp so you can join the community the the group basically in the group I say a word and say an expression and you have the opportunity to record yourself and I will correct you again that's free to join lastly I want to tell you I have made available a guide to moving to Spain this is an incredibly comprehensive guide of everything everything you need if you're moving from the US to Spain everything you need to know follow the link below learn more and you can have access to the guide that is that will help you out tremendously if you're serious about moving to Spain and the final reason which really is a summary of what I just told you is longevity granted that longevity has a lot to do with all the factors I just told you for example if you don't have Financial stress you'll live longer you will will be happier in your day-to-day interactions if you eat healthier you will live longer if you have a lifestyle that allows you to rest allows you to exercise you don't feel this constant pressure of producing or on being top of your game in whatever you do you will live longer you you will simply live longer if you avoid a lifestyle that that's full of pressure that's full of bad stuff going into your body that where you can actually sleep longer or you can actually live a lifestyle that not not consumed by constant work and pressure so that has been to be honest the biggest change that we've seen basically it's funny but you're able to take a siesta nowadays you're able to say you know after lunch hey I'm going to take a little nap 20 30 minutes and that's it and then you have strength for the rest of the day you're able to walk I mean go for a walk during the day without this constant pressure that you have to be producing that you have to be making money that you have to be constantly thinking about work and thinking about production and thinking about being a better version of yourself now I'm not against that obviously like I told you before I'm in favor of work I'm in favor of improvement but I am more in favor of an internal pressure than a pressure produced by Society if you read more on the culture in Spain and in Europe in general but vacations they have a lot more vacations than the US they have a lot more free days in uh during the year than in in the US so like I said being in a place where you can be at peace where you know that things are moving at a different pace does slow you down and not in a negative way it slows you down in a positive way where you are feeling much better about yourself and where you're able to engage in more relationships that are really satisfying that can really help you live longer thank you so much for your time and watching all the way till the end if you think this video has any value to somebody else just click the like and that will help YouTube determine whether this video has value to anybody else who might be considering moving from the US to Spain if You' like to learn more about moving from the US to Spain follow the links below below and subscribe to the channel thank you

Channel: America To Spain

Views: 31,661

Keywords: Culture Shock, Digital Nomad visa, Spain, Retire to Spain, Move from America to Spain, Retire in America with Money, Help with Retirement, Living in Spain, Move to Spain, Americans In Spain, Canadians in Spain

Id: CKEvKmKzXTA

Length: 16min 11sec (971 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2024