Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in United Kingdom runs about 23% pricier than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €3,080 a month here — roughly €36,960 a year, and a ×30 number near €1,109,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Oceanic — mild, damp, changeable; rarely extreme.
transaction price
in London (outer) — about €1,670/mo for 70 m²
The UK sits outside the Eurostat housing series, so the level-vs-EU and trend aren't shown; the price and rent are Deloitte's.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data).
The rules that matter for an exit.
£20,000 a year into an ISA, and gains and withdrawals inside are tax-free. The SIPP pension sits behind it for the long game.
Outside the wrappers, gains above a small annual allowance (£3,000) are taxed at 18% or 24%.
Freedom of movement no longer applies — a continental move is now a visa question, in both directions.
None — wealth isn't taxed annually in the UK.
Inheritance tax runs 40% above a £325,000 nil-rate band — £500,000 when a home passes to children, and unused bands transfer between spouses, so a couple can pass up to £1m. The bands are frozen until April 2031, and unused pension pots join taxable estates from April 2027.
A cap on the cash side of the ISA arrives in April 2027; the overall £20,000 — and the shares side — stands.
Can you actually move here?
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No retiree or passive-income route — the doors are work, family, ancestry or study, and since Brexit an EU passport needs one too.
the Tier 1 investor visa went over security concerns; nothing replaced it.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · English at B1 + the Life in the UK test
fewer can catch you: the Statutory Residence Test runs on day-bands and ties
The UK has no door for money alone: the retired-persons route is long gone, the investor visa closed in February 2022, and the realistic ways in are a job, family or ancestry — since Brexit that applies to EU passports too. Once in, the clock is friendly enough: settlement at five years, a passport about a year later, dual citizenship allowed.
A 2025 white paper proposed stretching settlement from five years to a ten-year 'earned' baseline; the consultation closed February 2026 and the final rules are still unpublished — re-check before planning a UK clock.
Check it yourself: gov.uk — earned settlement consultation · PwC — UK tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
The NHS is residence-based — free at the point of use once you're ordinarily resident, no contribution history needed. Visa applicants pre-pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (£1,035 per adult per year) with the application, which buys full NHS access from day one.
Private cover: not a visa requirement (the surcharge replaces it); going private anyway runs about £83/month for an adult (market survey, March 2026).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How much can I put in an ISA each year, and are the gains taxed?
- You can put £20,000 a year into an ISA, and the gains and withdrawals inside are tax-free. The SIPP pension sits behind it for the long game.
- How are investment gains taxed in the UK outside an ISA?
- Outside the wrappers, gains above a small annual allowance (£3,000) are taxed at 18% or 24%.
- Does the UK have an annual wealth tax?
- No — wealth isn't taxed annually in the UK.
- Is the £20,000 ISA allowance changing?
- A cap on the cash side of the ISA is due in April 2027, but the overall £20,000 allowance — and the shares side — stands.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in United Kingdom?
- No retiree or passive-income route — the doors are work, family, ancestry or study, and since Brexit an EU passport needs one too. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a United Kingdom passport?
- 6 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with English at B1 + the Life in the UK test. Dual citizenship is allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.