Portugal's NHR tax regime meant our pensions would stretch significantly further. A colleague had…
T=0: The Decision
Thirty years in NHS administration. Took voluntary redundancy at 58. Husband had retired two years prior. We had a paid-off house in Coventry, two pensions, and the uncomfortable realisation that we had been waiting our entire careers for a life we kept deferring.
Portugal's NHR tax regime meant our pensions would stretch significantly further. A colleague had retired to the Algarve three years before us and sent one photo per week for two years until we stopped making excuses.
Warm winters. Time to exist in rather than work through.
6 Months Out
Our NHS pensions go three times further here. We sold the Coventry house and invested the equity. We are living on pension income alone for the first time in our lives and it feels like an enormous amount of money in Portugal.
“Start the NHR application immediately on arrival — it requires residency establishment within the tax year. Use a Portuguese accountant, not a British expat advisor.”