Premier FX collapse – What to do next for customers

If you are serious about receiving the best financial advice in Spain, chances are any adviser you choose will recommend that, in the absence of a committed property investment strategy, you do not invest too heavily in Spanish real estate.

However, for the enthusiastic expat who has recently fallen in love with the country and the idea of owning a small piece, or perhaps a larger chunk, of its picturesque and romantic charms, it can be hard to resist.

But the truth is that there is often a reason why a property might be going at a bargain basement rate. For example, investment in whole abandoned villages in isolated locations such as Aragón and Galicia has recently become something of a phenomenon, when the reality is that the outlay, which can be under €100,000, will buy you little more than a dilapidated shell without water, gas, electricity, telephone or internet services. So, making your bargain purchase habitable in these circumstances is likely to cost at least ten times as much the initial purchase price.

People across Europe and the Western world are living longer than ever before. This is likely to be the result of a combination of many factors – for example, good diet, technological and medical advances. and increased access to healthcare.

However, simply moving to a country with high longevity is, in itself, not enough to confer any benefit.

For example, if you move to Spain but eat a ‘Full English’ breakfast every day, followed by fish and chips for lunch and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding for dinner, while all the while smoking 20 cigarettes a day and downing several pints of beer every evening, the Spanish climate and great healthcare is probably not going to help increase your lifespan by a particularly significant amount.