Can Moving to Spain Help You Achieve Financial Stability?

Maria,

If you’re thinking about moving to Spain to improve your financial situation, this post is for you. Before I dive in, I want to be transparent about my perspective. This post may not resonate with everyone, and I understand my situation isn’t typical. Here’s my vantage point: I’m over 40, living in Barcelona, working remotely for companies abroad, and I’m in a civil partnership with no kids. My situation might be different from yours—maybe you have a family, or you’re planning to work locally, or you’re at a different life stage. And that’s okay. I’m sharing my experience because I wish someone had given me this reality check before I made my move.

Now, let me tell you why financial stability is so controversial—because the definition varies a lot depending on who you ask. Personally, being financially stable means having the resources and income to fund my lifestyle without relying on debt, to have money for emergencies, and to save regularly.

So, can moving to Spain help you achieve financial stability? My answer is yes and no.

I know, I know—my answer is vague and not really helpful. But stay with me and I’ll explain why. Disclaimer though: I’m not a finance expert. What I’m going to share is purely based on my experience.

Before we begin, let me tell you a story. Last December, I took a flight to Amsterdam to meet my sister for a 2-week holiday. On our first night, I woke up with a sharp pain in my tooth. I have high pain tolerance, but this one I really couldn’t ignore. I had to take paracetamol just to go back to sleep. The next day, I went to the dentist and was told I needed a root canal. Right then and there, I decided to have the treatment done because I wasn’t about to let a toothache ruin my holiday. Fortunately, the dentist could do it same-day and it only took an hour. The treatment cost €500, plus €100 for medicines—€600 total out of pocket while on holiday. Did I stress about it? No. Simply because I was in a position where I could pay for it without reducing my holiday budget and without going into debt. And that is what I call financial stability.

I reached financial stability when I was 37, and COVID played a big part. The pandemic grounded me—borders were closed, so I couldn’t travel. This forced me to focus on work, and I got a second remote job because I had the time. The income I was getting was more than enough to sustain my low-maintenance lifestyle, which allowed me to continuously build my savings. I paid off all my debts and still had more than enough to make a smooth transition to my new life in Spain. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again—I didn’t come from a rich family. Whatever I have now came from years of hard work and perseverance.

Going back to the question (can moving to Spain help you achieve financial stability?), let me start with why the answer is NO. You can’t achieve financial stability while living in Spain if you’re relying on the local job market. Here’s why: the average salary is relatively low compared to other EU countries, income taxes are high, and depending on which city you live in—like Barcelona, where I am—the cost of living is high. Your lifestyle also plays a big part. If you like shopping, clubbing, or dining out often, financial stability becomes even more difficult to achieve.

If your main goal in moving to Spain is to improve your financial situation, you may be disappointed. The reality is Spain isn’t the best country for career-driven financial growth. Depending on where you’re coming from, the move could even add financial stress.

Now let’s look at the other side—why the answer is YES. Moving to Spain can help you achieve financial stability if you obtain residency through a highly skilled visa (translation: high salary), the digital nomad visa (where the income requirement is higher than the average salary), or the non-lucrative visa (which suggests you already have substantial savings).

Take my situation, for instance. I work remotely for companies in the UK and US, so my salary is based on those markets, not the Spanish market. This means I earn considerably more than local workers here in Spain. The best part? I live in Spain where the cost of living is lower than in the US and UK, which means I get more value for my money. Someone who works in the US or UK also pays for the cost of living in those countries. Ergo, I was able to create a gap between my income and expenses, which had a significant impact on my savings. And the peace of mind that comes with financial stability—it’s something I didn’t know I was missing until I had it.

Ngl, I wasn’t always like this. When I started working, I went into serious credit card debt, had no savings, asked my family for money when traveling, and came home totally broke after backpacking in South America for 14 months. I was actually bad with money when I was younger and truly thought I would always struggle financially. The financial stress was intense and real—something I do not miss.

But COVID changed everything. It made me work double-time and subconsciously forced me to save because I couldn’t spend money on travel. Once I paid off all my debts and saw my savings increasing month after month, I didn’t want to stop. This financial safety net enabled me to start a life in Europe and transition smoothly without stressing about money, especially when the cost of living adjustment from the Philippines to Barcelona was steep. It gave me breathing room—if I wanted to quit my job, I could. It enabled me to turn down lowball job offers because I had options.

What I’m saying is—if you’re considering moving to Spain, be smart about it. Don’t come here hoping to get a job and leaving it all to chance, and you should know that finding a job here in Spain as a non-Spanish speaker and non-EU citizen is really hard. Securing a remote job before you move is actually smarter because you are not restricted in finding a job in just one city and knowing English is enough, and this means there are a lot of opportunities to explore.

Another thing: if you have a spending problem, how much you earn doesn’t matter. Fix your spending problem first then go from there.

The not-so-secret formula is to increase your income while maintaining your expenses, to continuously create a big gap between your income and expenses. This is how you transition from survival mode—aka living paycheck to paycheck—to wealth-building mode. And this is how you achieve financial stability.

Anyway, since achieving financial stability, my goal now is financial freedom. I want working to become optional, to earn enough passive income to sustain my lifestyle and travels, to do whatever I want, whenever. And my strategy? Spend money to make more money. Invest in businesses and income-generating opportunities with 3x return on investment minimum, then rinse and repeat. Of course, I have to make calculated risks and strategic decisions to achieve this; and I know it’s going to be challeging but it’s a challenge I welcome wholeheartedly.

So here’s the bottom line: Spain won’t make you financially stable on its own. Your income source matters more than your location. If you’re serious about building financial stability, start where you are right now. Get your finances in order, secure remote work with competitive pay, and then consider the move. Spain can be an incredible place to live, and comes with exclusive privileges, but it works best when you’re already in control of your financial situation—not when you’re hoping it will solve your money problems.

Thank you for watching and I hope you get something worthwhile from this post. ¡Hasta luego!

Life in Spain Remote Work