Tenerife forum

[Treble99]

My survival guide has not been written to “dampen your dreams” or to deter you from doing what so many of us have done before, coming to live the dream. It has been written to make you aware of some of the problems you may face when you do make the move. After all, pre warned is pre armed!

You have to be careful moving here. Take off your rose tinted glasses NOW!!

Should you make it here, you will have a truly great life, be the envy of nearly all of those in the UK, those who just “wish and dream” but never TRY!

I have seen so many people come and go. I have known people that have come with large amounts of money from the sale of their uk properties and return to England with nothing. I have seen people come and return because they can’t find work. I have seen people come due to a "firm" job offer only to find the job does not exist. I also know people that are just “surviving” here because they only get work "here and there", "in bits and bats". I have seen people come and go because they fall into, what I call, The Tenerife Trap. By this I mean the cheap beer and the sunshine. They find themselves drinking all day and have the attitude “I'll find a job tomorrow”. Sometimes tomorrow never comes.

However, I also know a lot of people who have made a good life for themselves and their families here.

My guide to Tenerife survival and building a great new life is this, based on my experiences, cockups and the good decisions I made. I have also drawn experiences from watching others.

#. Join, use and take advantage of this forum. When I arrived on the Island I didn’t know about the forum, I wish I did. No matter what questions you want to ask, however trivial you may feel they are, then ask them. The forum members will do all they can to answer your questions and give all the help and advice they can.

#. Enroll at a Spanish class. Speaking the language will open up more opportunities for you.

#. If you are coming with your partner, you must have a rock solid relationship in order to get through the transitional period of relocating to a new country and the stress the Island can put upon you. I have seen a few couples arrive, and within a few months etc their relationships start to crumble. They say that the most stressful things in life are divorce and moving house. I have never been divorced but have moved house numerous times and believe me, the stress that the Island can put on you is so much greater. If you are coming here because you are having relationship problems in the UK and you feel that the move will bring you closer together, DON’T DO IT. It won’t work.

#. Be prepared to be homesick. This will only hit you after your “honeymoon” period is over and you face your first problems or frustrations. I have seen so many people who “loose their way” when trying to deal with the way the Island works, getting legal etc. They feel “lost” and “alone”. When this happens, to many, The UK can seem the better place. Work through it, think of what you have here and fight for it!. I question anyone I have spoken to who has said “I have never missed the UK since I have been here”. To be honest, I think that every one, in the first few months at least, does feel a tad homesick. I know I did and consider myself to be a very strong character.

#. Discipline yourself. Get here and start “doing” straight away. Don’t take a “3 month break” etc. Its to easy for the 3 month break to turn into a 4,5,6 month break. Take a break when you have established yourself here.

# Don't burn your bridges with the UK. By this I mean, if you own a property in the UK don't at first sell it. Rent it, even if, without the sale, it means you cant buy a property here. The rent will pay your mortgage and should give you a little income on top. Then should you find after however long, that you feel you have made a mistake moving here, or your family cant settle etc, you can always move back without the hassle of having to sell your property here. Even if you sell up in the UK and put the money away until you have made up your mind about living and buying here, you will, I assume, only be bringing the equity your property has made. Lets say, for arguments sake you bring 100k, the equity. Then you find you don't like it here and you move back. Whats 100k going to get you in the UK? You may have a healthy lump sum as a deposit but will you get a mortgage to top it up? You will first have to find jobs and hold them for a few months before, I assume, a mortgage lender will lend.

#. However, If you do come here with a large sum of money with which you intend to buy property, then put it away somewhere safe, somewhere you will not pick at it. Rent a property at first to make sure you like the new lifestyle etc. Give yourself plenty of time to decide about buying here.

#. Get legal as soon as you can. NIE, social etc. This has to be your first priority. You can not legally work without it or get your kids in school etc.

#. Get medical insurance ASAP. It will take a while to get into the social system and should you need medical attention and you are not covered either privately or by the state, you will find that the hospitals may not treat you.

#. Only turn to “creditable” people for advice on legal matters etc (NIE social, tax, car ITV’s etc). I used to ask 10 people the same question and get 10 different answers. I have met on the island so many people that are full of crap; claim they know everything but in fact know nothing. I then employed a fiscal representative to take care of everything. It was such a relief and I knew I was covered properly from every angle.

#. Be who you are and be proud of what you have got. Don’t bull @@@@ people. Like I said the island is full of them. People will be so much more willing to help you if you are genuine. I am always happy to help genuine folk, haven’t got any time for bull @@@@ers though.

#. Get out and about as much as you can. Generate contacts, mingle with folk but beware of everyone! Trust no one. There are many people who will be glad to rip you off. I thought I was shrewd and switched on but I got taken for 500 euros off a so called friend within the first 3 months. It took me 3 years to get it back.

#. Take any work you can at first while you are finding your feet. There IS work out there. Don’t cherry pick work as it will pass you by. Once you are earning, then start to look for your dream job. Remember, when you are working you will be building contacts which may come in useful at a later date.

#. Be prepared to earn a pittance here compared with your UK wages. Employers here pay poor money because, well, they can! and the demand for jobs is so high. Sad I know but its a fact. A recent post on this forum suggests that 1000 to 1250 euros per month is a VERY GOOD Tenerife wage. You will earn approximately 5 euros an hour doing bar work.

#. Fight fight fight for your desire to live here. If times are hard, if people knock you back, let you down and generally mess on you from a great height, then fight back (not literally). Look in the mirror every morning and say “no one is going to get me down today. I am a fighter and I will survive”. You may find that the island at first, draws resources out of you that you didn’t know you had. One can either lie down give up and die, or fight and survive.

#. When you have settled and are enjoying “another day in paradise” purchase a nice bottle of Champagne, walk, with your partner etc to the shore one night as the sun sets, crack the bottle open, look across the sea and scream “we've bloody done it”, let your emotions pour out. Then go home and enjoy the rest of your days on this stunning Island and take advantage of what Tenerife can offer that the UK cant.

The very very best of luck to you.
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Treble99
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[karlb]

Really helpful, informative and thoughtful advice.

Thanks Treble99

(and not a mention of tea towels, I am sure you could have squeezed it in somewhere)


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[sunny]

A brilliant post Treb, this is what I have been trying to say on so many occasions, we have seen to many people's dreams broken and shattered. You have summed it up to a tee.

I know recently I came across negative to one new member but I just worry for these people selling their properties in the UK coming here, no idea what it is like to get work etc etc etc. They way I look at it if you cannot make it in the UK you are never going to make it here.

I would love people to prove me wrong but I have to speak as I find and believe in calling a spade a spade.

[Treble99]

Your spot on Sunny. I to see it all the time....

“I will tell you what we will do love. Lets sell the house, quit our jobs and buy a bar in Tenerife. The Uk is finished. We will get 75 grand in our hand when the sale goes through. We can buy a little bar, get some one in to run it and spend all day on the beach. We will make a few quid out there, relax, spend more time together. Its got tourists all year round. If those we met on our holidays can do it, so can we. Forget about me being a welder and you a receptionist, I bet its easy running a bar!!”

The reality, and I have seen it, is,

They end up working 18 hours a day, her in the kitchen knocking out full english breakies for €3 to compete with their neighbours and him, reducing his bottles of Dorada by 10 cents because the bar next door is under cutting him. The bar becomes a liability, they work all day to SURVIVE and not live and thats if the Guardia don't go in and shut them down because their lawyer failed to notice the kitchen in the bar never had a project, hence illegal.

I will give you an example of the mind sets of some people here and how they dont research, research and research again and thats just before they start to plan there move.

I am well known here (in fact I probably know a few of you but dont know it yet) and I get asked often to help with business ideas and problems.

A chap I know well came to me and said, “I bought a bar a year ago and its not working, we are not making any money. (This chap and his wife had no experience at running a bar or being in business what so ever) What can I do, any ideas?” We sat down and the first thing I told him was (and its not rocket science), if your biz is not working you either have to increase your trade or more importantly, reduce your overheads or the perfect solution is do both. Simple!. I asked him what his overheads - costs were. He replied “er, about €800 per month”. I said right, lets list them (the costs) and at the end of it were going to add €400 per month for the ones that we forget to list or the costs that always have a nasty habit of sneaking up, unexpectidly at you every month.

How much is your rent? 650 he replied. How much social do you have to pay. Er I forgot about that, its €240 per month. We were already over his guess at €800. Whats your electric bill, gas, water, how much do you spend on cleaning material for the toilets etc, how many tabs never get paid, how many bottles of vodka do you smash, how many glasses, how much beer goes down your drip tray, how much food is returned on plates because your portion control is to big etc etc. They are ALL COSTS. He was even buying his stock, apart from his barrels, from a super market so he could not even claim the tax back on it.

We ended up with a figure of round about €1400 euros per month and thats without a wage. I then said to him, how much do you make on a bottle of Dorada. The reply was 80 cents per bottle. How much on a breakfast. Not sure came the reply, never worked it out. I told him he has to sell 1750 bottles of beer a month to break even. His face went white!

I did manage to turn his business around, (just in the nick of time) and it is now generating a wage for him at least, albeit a small one, but it just goes to show that if you fail to plan, you are in fact planning to fail. He came with just shy of 100k, bought the bar and has now nothing left and believe me he didnt pay anywhere near 100k for the bar.

Some one told me when I was going through the same process with another business a few weeks ago, “the only way to leave Tenerife with a small fortune is to come with a bigger one” It certainly made me think!

I was lucky when we moved here. I have businesses in the UK and draw my money from, but it does concern me that people believe Tenerife is an easy option. Dont get me wrong here, I love the place and cant even contemplate living anywhere else. I would even encourage any one to have a crack at doing it (living the dream) but it is not easy to establish yourself here and you have to do things right.

Like I said at the top of the survival guide post, if it makes some people stop and think, then, they will have more of a chance moving here and more importantly, staying.
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Treble99
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[karlb]

[rob]

I completely agree Treble, I've been accused of 'ruining our dream' more than once and I'm sure that it will be said again.

Many prospective bar/cafe owners wouldn't dream of doing it in the UK yet in a foreign country with different laws using a foreign language that they probably don't speak, they will do it.
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[Treble99]

Yip Rob, Im always getting the same but hey, there are more important things in life to worry about. I could live in Iraq.

When some one asks me, I, like you and Jenny tell it how it is. Why beat around the bush so to speak. If the person then takes on board a few points then great, if not, then well that's up to them.

We are living proof that the dream can be achieved and thousands of others will, in the future realise it as well.

Just be carefull, thats all Im saying!
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Treble99
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[sunny]

my thoughts entirely

[jenny]

Well said Treble. And as it's not a reply ot anyone's post, hopefully it won't offend anyone

Has anyone nominated this for the champers? We need more people like you on here Treble. Glad you have decided to join us!

PS Do I know you?
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Who am I? Find out more here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=17

I will make this day a happy one for I alone can determine what kind of day it will be.

[Treble99]

I dont know if we do know each other Jenny. I have looked at your my space and tbh I dont recognise you, but then again you have a scarf round your face

Are you in the Silencio area?
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Treble99
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[andyfowles]

I've read the exact same article somewhere before <---confused

Is this a repost or have I seen it on another forum?
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[margaretbl]

Nice one Treble very informative,
I think some people need to have their rose tinted specks knocked off,

yes it would be nice to move out there and lie by the pool/beach all day every day, but unles you have colaterall, or a damn good job it is not possible
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Failures don't plan to fail, they fail to plan
(Harvey Mackay)

[strippersrus]

[jenny]

[synchronicity]

To your post Treble, I'd like to add the following "Social Readjustment Rating Scale" (SRRS). Major Life Events Linked to Stress.

The following instrument is based on the premise that good and bad events in one’s life can increase stress levels and make one more susceptible to illness and mental health problems (Holmes & Rahe, 1967).

1. Death of a spouse 100
2. Divorce 73
3. Marital Separation 65
4. Jail term 63
5. Death of a close family member 63
6. Personal injury or illness 53
7. Marriage 50
8. Fired at work 47
9. Marital reconciliation 45
10. Retirement 45
11. Change in health of family member 44
12. Pregnancy 40
13. Sex difficulties 39
14. Gain of a new family member 39
15. Business readjustments 39
16. Change in financial state 38
17. Death of a close friend 37
18. Change to different line of work 36
19. Change in no. of arguments with spouse 35
20. Mortgage over $ 50,000 31
21. Foreclosure of mortgage 30
22. Change in responsibilities at work 29
23. Son or daughter leaving home 29
24. Trouble with in-laws 29
25. Outstanding Personal achievements 28
26. Wife begins or stops work 26
27. Begin or end school 26
28. Change in living conditions 25
29. Revision of personal habits 24
30. Trouble with boss 23
31. Change in work hours or conditions 20
32. Change in residence 20
33. Change in school 20
34. Change in recreation 19
35. Change in religious activities 19
36. Change in social activities 18
37. Loan less than 50,000 17
38. Change in sleeping habits 16
39. Change in no. of family get- together 15
40. Change in eating habits 15
41. Vacation 13
42. Holidays 12
43. Minor violation of laws 11

SCORING:

Each event should be considered if it has taken place in the last 12 months. Add values to the right of each item to obtain the total score. Your susceptibility to illness and mental health problems:

Low < 149
Mild = 150-200
Moderate = 200-299
Major>300

Note that essentially each of these events results in a change to some part of your life.