“Retirement”: a mid 16th century French word that roughly translates to ‘withdraw to a place of safety or seclusion’: from the French word retirer, from re- ‘back’ + tirer ‘draw’.
These days, it has taken on a different interpretation - it no longer means withdrawing from life and taking a passive attitude to this new "Third Chapter". With children grown and work commitments no longer a consideration, for many retirement today means a chance to fill their days doing what they love and to ensure their retirement will be an active one.
We spoke to a Fabienne Derry, a French national, whose plans for retiring show how planning ahead is a great way to fulfil your dreams and to make sure you enjoy life even more.
In recent years the French economy has suffered with lacklustre growth and increasing unemployment, thus placing a strain on public finances. September 2017 saw protests by French retirees against a rise in tax on pensions proposed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government. For many French people nearing retirement age, the prospect of retiring overseas has become increasingly appealing.
Faced with these issues, CurrencyFair customer Fabienne Derry, began to imagine what her retirement would look like. To her, retirement should be without pressure or stress and give her the time to spend making memories with loved ones in a beautiful part of the world. For Fabienne, with friends and family already living there, the place to enjoy her dream retirement was in Israel.
And with CurrencyFair, she was able to start planning for this.
Fabienne has a clear plan for her retirement in Israel. Over the next few years, she will take holidays in various locations in the country, with a view to finding her dream place to retire and buy a home in the future. To do this Fabienne calculated how much money she would need to cover car, accommodation and general living expenses incurred while holidaying in Israel over the coming years. With her budget estimated, Fabienne would need to exchange a portion of her savings from Euro to Israeli New Shekel twice a year.
However, when it came to transferring her savings, she was shocked by the unreasonable bank charges she would have to pay to move her money to Israel. Previously Fabienne had used Caisse D’Epargne to exchange her EUR to ILS, but found their fees of “up to €25” too costly for her.
To add insult to injury, she was also being hit by a monthly fee charged by most Israeli banks. She decided she wasn't going to put up with excessive fees any more and started looking for an alternative solution.
Fabienne was looking at alternative exchange providers when a friend recommended CurrencyFair for our security and speed. Coupled with our transfer fee of just €3, she decided to use CurrencyFair to avoid paying these excessive charges.
It wasn’t just the great rates and low fees that were impressive about CurrencyFair:
"Being able to have that one-to-one call with someone on the phone, in French, to answer any questions I have, that is just amazing for me."
Looking to the future, Fabienne plans to use CurrencyFair to keep providing her with peace of mind: knowing her money is secure at all times and that she isn’t paying hidden bank fees on every transaction makes her time in Israel even more stress-free: “Now I will just leave my money in my CurrencyFair account. I know it’s safe and I know I can transfer out to my bank when I need it over there.”
As with all important matters, Fabienne also trusts CurrencyFair to help her send money safely to her loved ones this holiday season, “to get themselves something nice, buy presents for the grandchildren and just enjoy the holidays together.”
We wish Fabienne all the best in her retirement plans and bon voyage on her next adventure in Israel.
This customer did not receive a gratuity in return for this interview.