Dennis says:
Today , just want to share a bit of the conversations I’ve had with a few of the local people I’ve come in contact with, a tour guide, the owner of a vineyard, and a vendor at the fish market in Lagos. All gave similar accounts of living and working in Portugal. First, the minimum wage by law is about €600 a month, say $750.00. Other than business owners, this is what the average person makes. Housing is expensive relative to this wage. Let’s say your rent is $400-$500 per month. That’s 75% of your net income. you have to share this expense with roommates or both a husband and wife must work. To us, $400-$500/month is cheap but not when you’re making $600 per month.
Next taxes, there is a three tiered tax system. Luxuries such as alcohol (not a luxury to me) is taxed at 23%. Prepared food (restaurants) is taxed at 13%. Clothes and necessities at 6%. Those are pretty stiff taxes, even though prices are cheaper than in the USA. A car is taxed over 23%. Why? I don’t know but it makes cars very expensive. Gas? Say $5-$6/gallon. Health insurance is covered by the government but getting care is slow. End result? The people I talked to are happy to live in Portugal but they are not happy with their government. Sound familiar? They don’t believe their government does enough to help the average person.
Now if you (a US Citizen) retire in Portugal and have an income of $3,000.00 per month, you could live very well because prices here are more reasonable than they are in the USA. Here, you can go to a very nice restaurant, have an excellent fish dinner (or lamb), a bottle of decent wine, and spend $30 - $40 for two people. For us, that’s cheap.
Here, if you’ve got $200 - $300 left after rent, it has to be divided between clothes, food, utilities, and gas. You’re not going out to eat very often. I could go on and on but will stop here. Just wanted to give you a “boots on the ground” accounting of what I’ve encountered thus far in Portugal.
PS I love the smaller towns...beautiful.
PS from Cindy: Speaking with two women entrepreneurs, I learned that while they welcome tourism, it has changed their culture. In the past, much like in the USA they used to get together on Sundays for big family dinners. Now, it’s difficult. As tourists we want to be able to still be “entertained/involved” on Sundays—eating out, taking tours, visiting museums, etc.. So their livelihoods have changed in order to accommodate this new economy. Summer is the busiest time, the kids are out of school, the parents try to divide their time so someone is always there for the kids, but that means they’re not always available to each other. Dennis had a good idea—have the long school vacation in January-March. So isn’t that a change to the culture? In The U.S. studies have shown that year round school is the best for children. Do we have that? We are no longer an agricultural dependent society but have we changed? This travel thing opens up all kinds of conundrums.
Next blog will bring back humor, I’m sure we’ll get lost again or do something crazy...promise.
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