- Andrew Ibrahim moved from Florida to Portugal for a better life for himself and his family.
- The cost of living wasn't adding up for Ibrahim, so he got more bang for his buck in Portugal.
- The inviting culture and beautiful weather are reasons why he's enjoying his decision so far.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Ibrahim, 31, who moved from Gainesville, Florida, to the most southern region of Portugal, the Algarve, in November 2023. Ibrahim still owns a business consultancy firm for property owners in Florida and also sells luxury real estate in Portugal. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Moving to Portugal was a decision that was basically like an early midlife crisis.
At the time, I was 30, and I said, "Thankfully, I've accomplished what I've wanted to do before I was 30, but I'm not necessarily happy day-to-day with the direction that I see that the country's going."
I wanted to be able to find a place where it would be perfect for me to raise my children — and that decision came fairly easy.
I was tired of the personalities in Florida. There are a lot of social issues that I'm not in line with, and the cost of living has just skyrocketed.
And over time, and I'd say after the pandemic, it just became worse.
When I rented in South Florida, I rented a one-bedroom apartment that cost me about $2,600 a month. When I moved to Gainesville, I was able to purchase a four-bedroom property of my own, and mortgage, insurance, and taxes cost close to $3,000 a month — which was a little bit expensive for a normal middle class.
Then I moved to a much bigger, 5,900-square-foot, five-bedroom house. It was on 1.2 acres of land, which was very nice, but that was costing me close to $4,500 a month.
Thankfully, I lived a very good life, but I could have lived a 10 times better life for 50% of the cost of living in Portugal.
I can have a similar quality of life to Florida for a fraction of the price
Originally, I was born and raised in Montreal, and I moved to Florida when I was 17 years old, but I have Portuguese citizenship through my mother, who is Portuguese. So, it was fairly easy for me to get paperwork to be able to move and become a citizen.
Portugal checks the box for safety, for the potential of new businesses, and it also checks the box for me being able to provide the best future for my children and, in turn, myself.
My family has had real estate here for a few years — and it's fully paid off — so it was a little bit easy for us, but we've looked at purchasing a property for ourselves.
For groceries, if I'm spending 200 euros (or about $213) here, I'm able to eat for close to two weeks. But if I were to spend $200 or $250 in Florida for groceries, I'd be eating for a week at best.
If I want to go to a very nice restaurant in Portugal with top quality steaks or top quality meat or fish for my wife and me, I'm spending maybe $70 with a glass of wine.
In the United States, that's not really possible.
The food options in Portugal are not as abundant as in the US. In South Florida, you have so many different options for different cultures of food. Here, you do have options, but it's not like having a Southern restaurant on every corner. Or if you want to go and eat Peruvian food or ceviche, you're going to get something similar to it, but it's not going to be as authentic as if you were in South Florida.
Public education here is free. My daughter, luckily, doesn't have to pack her own lunch — the school provides lunch. That's a cost savings for us over time.
Health insurance is also very, very economical here. We pay about 50 euros a month; in the United States, I was paying close to $300 a month and not really getting the best healthcare that I thought the United States touts. In Portugal, the doctors are incredible. It's cheap and it's top quality service.
I'm enjoying the culture and values in Southern Portugal
The south of Portugal is, I'd say, 350 days a year of sunshine. That was a big factor because it's absolutely beautiful here. Christmas feels a little bit different because there's no snow around — and maybe I miss a little bit of hockey — but other than that, I don't miss the freezing rain, and I also don't miss having to shovel my driveway every day.
Also, it's one of the golfing capitals of Europe, so just from a demographic standpoint, there are a lot of good people that live here, and it has an incredible culture.
Southern Portugal is kind of like island living because you have so many beaches around you, so it's very similar to living in South Florida. However, there's a completely different culture that's been preserved over so many years.
The Portuguese culture is just incredible, and you're by beautiful beaches, beautiful real estate, beautiful golf courses, and it's not densely populated. It's different than living in a big city because it's quiet.
There's also the family aspect. When you go out to a park, you see families playing together. When you go to a restaurant, you see families eating together. You go to church on Sunday, and families are all together. That's something that I think has been lost over time from my experience living in Florida.
The Algarve has always been very popular amongst tourists. They've been, for many years now, really accustomed to foreigners and tourists coming to visit and purchasing property. A lot of people come from other European countries to retire here.
Generally, I'd say the Algarve is more of a melting pot of cultures. It preserves the Portuguese culture but is much more welcoming to foreign culture than the north or Lisbon.
I see a lot of Americans visiting. If you're going to a golf course in the Algarve, I'd say 90% of the people are American. You have a lot of English as well, so it's a nice mix here, but it's growing.
As much as people have said the area cooling down, I don't see it cooling down.
And based on what's happening with elections coming up in the States next year, we are seeing in the last few months that people are calling and making decisions to move. I think it is starting to pick up again.