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Ola Amigos Stuart here from Spain Speaks and
today we're going to look at some of the pros
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and some of the cons of moving to this country
Portugal in the year 2025 so uh let's go now
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Portugal has definitely become a hot spot in
recent years for foreign residents for digital
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Nomads other people looking to improve their
quality of life and enjoy everything that this
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country Portugal has to offer is it the beaches is
it the relaxed lifestyle is it the rich Portuguese
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culture whatever the reason Portugal is
still on many people's Radars including
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my own and I'm going to be honest every
time I come to this country I seriously
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think about moving here permanently and
as I said these are going to be some of
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the pros and cons in my opinion of doing
just that so uh let's get straight into
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them now for many people Portugal is all about the
lifestyle the laidback Portuguese lifestyle well
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I'm going to tell you that for a lot of people
the lifestyle here is not all that laidback but
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if you're coming to live here perhaps as a retiree
or somebody who has a flexible job you're earning
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your money outside Portugal you can get a very
laid-back lifestyle here that's a pro but it
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also has some cons and one of the cons for some
people could be that the lifestyle here is just
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too laidback if that makes sense and what I mean
by that is that if you're not in a big city here
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in Portugal let's say you're you're not living in
Lisbon or you're not living in Porto the lifestyle
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can be a little bit too laidback for some people
things happen slowly here that's what locals like
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everything is about slow living slow eating slow
cooking everything can be a little bit too slow
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for some people so keep that in mind but for
me it's a pro because even coming from the city
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that I live in Madrid Spain things here move at
a whole different pace and for some people as I
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said it can be a little bit frustrating having to
wait longer to order things in restaurants and in
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bars having to wait longer to get bureaucratic
things done and that's something that I'll speak
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about a little bit more later on in the video
bureaucracy here in Portugal some of the pros
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and cons when it comes to that but uh in general
that lifestyle something that I like might not be
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for everyone and as I said that's something that
you need to take into consideration before moving
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to a country like this but if you are looking
for that laid-back Portuguese lifestyle don't
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worry you will find it in a hurry when you come
to this country now one of the big draw cards for
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me of moving to Portugal and let's say 2025 would
be the weather aspect now I know what some people
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are going to say Portugal has Atlantic weather
one day it's good the next day it is terrible
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that is true but today is the 30th of December
2024 and look at the sunny day that we have today
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absolutely fantastic now the weather here can
vary north to south west to east the interior
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parts of the country are going to be very very
hot in the summer milder on the coastal areas
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milder in these coastal areas I should say doesn't
get as hot but the humidity levels here are very
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very high so take that into consideration then of
course you've got the south of the country the AL
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gve part of the country where the weather is
decent not as good as the cadel Sal I don't
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think but decent nonetheless but the big problem
here when those Storms Come Through the levels
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of humidity the dampness and a lot of homes
surprisingly especially some of the older
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homes don't have central heating so you're going
to have to take that into consideration as well
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but from my experience here having an apartment
I only need to put the heating on we just have
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electric heaters only need to put them on uh in
the afternoon when it starts to get a little bit
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cooler maybe in the morning as well so there's not
a huge heating expense but on days like today when
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the sun is shining there's virtually no wind
at all the winter temperatures here very very
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attractive imagine being able to sit outside have
a coffee have a beer on the 30th of December in
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many parts of Europe that is impossible but uh
here not the case and this is what I'm talking
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about not sure if you can see it there but
it's 12:30 it is the 30th of December outside
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the day enjoying a nice cold beer doesn't get
much better than this I'm going to be honest
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cheers and just being able to do this in the
middle of winter is all the quality of life
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some people need myself included now I was going
to talk about cost of living here in Portugal in
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this video but nowadays with information that is
readily available on the internet no need to talk
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about cost of living because you can easily check
all of the data that you need when it comes to
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cost of living for example this site here numo you
can easily get an idea for the cost of living in
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a country like Portugal or any other country for
that matter with websites like this one here so
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if we take a look at some of the basic information
a family of four estimated monthly costs are 2,39
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6.3 without rent in Portugal a single
person estimated monthly costs are 667.95
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6.4% lower than in the United States and
all of the other information that you need
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restaurant prices market prices Transportation
prices utilities Sports and Leisure Child Care
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clothing rent per month apartment prices the
buy salaries and financing and general prices
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in Portugal are here on websites like this
one and if you want to compare the cost of
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living let's say between Spain's capital city
Madrid and Portugal's Capital City Lisbon you
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can easily do that too and here we go we can
see cost of living comparison between those
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two cities and basically cost of living
in Madrid 6.1% higher than in Lisbon with
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without rent but an interesting statistic for
me at least is this one here that rent prices
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in Madrid are 7.6% lower than in Lisbon
nowadays so cost of living comparison easy
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with websites like the one I've just shown you
there and this video is not sponsored by that
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website now another thing that we need to talk
about is language and yes if you are planning a
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move to Port pug you will need to learn the
Portuguese language however people here do
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speak English you can find people speaking
English virtually everywhere you go young
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people especially more so in the big cities
but in general the Portuguese population have
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English language skills but you need to learn
the local language if you want to integrate
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and enjoy your time in this country because
you can't depend on finding people everywhere
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you go that speak English so keep that in
mind mind in my opinion it's a pro because
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you get to learn another language you get to
learn about another culture and those things
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are very enriching as I said in my opinion but I
understand that for some people learning another
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language especially at an advanced age can be an
issue so I keep it in mind possible con but for
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me as I said a pro learning the Portuguese
language and uh that's what I'm currently
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doing now I could probably say that sun here in
Portugal another reason to move to the country
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because the sunsets here are unbelievable but I
want to talk about housing because it has become
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an issue and it could put a lot of people off
moving to this country now fortunately I purchased
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property here around 15 years ago I mentioned
this in the video the other day so uh as far as
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housing goes I don't really have an issue but
if I want to upgrade the apartment that I have
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that is move into a bigger apartment it's going to
cost me a lot more money than it would have done
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10 or 15 years ago and cities like Lisbon now are
almost prohibitive as far as housing is concerned
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locals have been complaining for a number of years
that there's too many foreigners coming into the
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country creating a housing crisis over tourism as
well and that is a real issue currently for locals
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and also people that are looking to move to this
country affordable housing decent housing so uh
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keep that in mind so my advice to people that are
considering moving to Portugal in 2025 is look for
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a part of the country away from the crowds that
is don't go to the capito city Lisbon don't go
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to the second biggest city Porto move Inland move
away from the coast and you should be able to find
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decent quality housing for a decent price still
that would be my advice now on to the next part
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now another potential con of moving to a country
like Portugal as with Spain is bureaucracy but I'm
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going to be honest my experience with Portuguese
bureaucracy hasn't been all that bad especially
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when it comes to paying housing tax and things
like that getting things done it's a little bit
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slower than some people would be used to but
it does work another story could be getting
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a visa to live here permanently I haven't gone
through that process yet but from all reports
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it can be a little bit time time consuming but
there's plenty of people willing to help you out
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nowadays help you with that process so dealing
with bureaucracy should not be an issue when
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it comes to dealing with other services here for
example Banks again hit miss my experience with
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the bank that I use has been positive I know
the manager we're in contact send him an email
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if I need something done so in that regard I
haven't got any complaints but other people
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I understand when it comes to dealing with these
big companies here in Portugal whether it's Banks
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telecommunications companies they're
all the same not easy to get things
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done but uh it can be done and as I said the
question is making relationships if that is
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possible now the next thing I want to talk
about is tourism here in Portugal which can
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be a pro and also a con a pro because of all
of the tourist dollars or tourist Euros that
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come into Portugal millions and millions and
millions of Euros coming into the country as
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as a result of a booming tourism Market but if
you're planning on coming and living here in
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Portugal tourism could also be a con especially
if you're not in the tourism sector working that
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is because sleepy Villages sleepy coastal towns
that seem idilic in the winter months can turn
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into a nightmare come the summer come July come
August when literally millions of people flock
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to this country to enjoy everything that it has to
offer so as I said a pro as far as the economy is
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concern but a con if you're thinking of living
in this country and uh tourists might spoil your
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lifestyle keep that in mind so there we go some
of my pros and cons of moving to Portugal in 2025
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questions and comments please leave them in the
section below if you have moved to Portugal in
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recent years let me know your experience in that
comment section and if you're planning on moving
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to this country please let me know your thoughts
in the comment section give the video a thumbs up
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if you liked it thumbs down if if you didn't I'll
see you on the next one até logo from Portugal
