When looking towards retirement, many of us dream of travelling the world and spending more time with our loved ones. For Peter and Lorraine, achieving this dream was plain sailing with a little help from “Red Ruth”, a 42-foot yacht they purchased near their home in Scotland on New Year's Eve, 2007. CurrencyFair caught up with Peter on how he spent his retirement aboard before settling down abroad.

“I retired from the National Health Service (NHS) in 2010,” explained Peter, “with the intention of long-distance sailing from the United Kingdom (UK) in the summer of 2011 with my partner Lorraine. As you would expect I needed a safe, reliable and affordable means of accessing money whilst sailing abroad, initially in Europe.

“The banks we used were not able to meet our needs. I found out about CurrencyFair at the time through the internet, it appeared to meet all the criteria. Initially, the process was relatively slow compared to now, but still faster and cheaper than using the banks. Our income is primarily paid into my account in the UK in pounds sterling. For all day to day expenses, mortgage and even quite large exceptional costs we convert pounds to euros exclusively via CurrencyFair.

“We departed from Falmouth in July 2011, six days in a storm to Lisbon and then coastal hopping Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain and onto the Balearics,” reminisced Peter. “After that onto Sardinia, Rome, Sicily and then six months in Malta. From there back to Sicily onto the south coast of Sardinia, Gibraltar and then Madeira. Since then we have sailed and competed in local regattas in Madeira and the Canary Islands. We enjoyed everywhere we went.

“Despite our intentions, after two years of sailing, we settled in Madeira, Portugal. ​Why Madeira? Great environment, friendly and respectful people and affordable.

“I still use the CurrencyFair system whenever I need to convert to euros, usually via the Marketplace trying to achieve the best rate at the time. The system works exceptionally quickly and efficiently now,” says Peter.

“We have also used it to support family members in South Africa (SA rand), and pay for presents in Switzerland (Swiss francs). I have had only once a significant problem, and this was resolved quickly by CurrencyFair to my complete satisfaction. Whenever I have been asked about money exchange I have always recommended CurrencyFair, and of course, I will continue to use the service provided.”

Peter's ​​choice to spend his retirement sailing abroad is one of many inspiring stories we hear every day from our community of customers. If you're planning to retire abroad, CurrencyFair is up to eight times cheaper to transfer your pension abroad than an international money transfer using a traditional bank. Receive your pension on time, every time, wherever you are in the world with same-day transfers on major currencies.

As we have local bank accounts across the globe, most international transfers on our platform are treated as domestic transfers, saving you time which can be better used to enjoy your retirement just like Peter and Lorraine.