Aelos

07/31/2026

"Where in France should we retire?"

Only you can really answer that, because it depends on how you want to spend an ordinary week. But there's a way to decide it well.

The trap is choosing a town the way you'd choose a vacation. A place that's magic for five days in June can be a long, quiet, car-dependent winter the rest of the year. The right place is the one that still works on a gray Tuesday in February.

We put together a full framework for American retirees: how to figure out the life you're actually after, tell your genuine must-haves from the postcard fantasies, check the things that matter (healthcare, getting around, year-round life, real airport connections), and visit a place like someone who lives there. And why, for most people, renting before buying is the smart move.

If a move to France is on your mind, this one's worth a read:

https://www.aelos.net/blog/where-to-live-in-france-american-retirees

07/27/2026

On the France-Visas portal, the long-stay visitor visa looks like a form you could finish in an afternoon.

Filling the boxes is the quick part. What takes weeks is everything behind them: bank and pension records assembled just so, an insurance certificate with the exact right wording, and proof of accommodation that changes depending on how you're housed. Renting an apartment, booking short-term, or staying with family each call for a different set of documents, and one inconsistency sends you back to the start of a queue you waited weeks to reach.

And the paperwork is only the first layer. The visa is wired to four other decisions, and getting the order wrong in one can undo work in the others:
- Validate the visa within 3 months of landing, or you put your legal status at risk.
- That same validation quietly starts your one-year driver's-license exchange clock, which most people don't discover until month eleven.
- French tax residency attaches based on when you actually move, so the move date is a tax event, not a travel detail.
- Your French public healthcare doesn't start on arrival, so the private insurance the visa requires has to bridge a gap of months.

None of these is hard on its own. The difficulty is that they happen at once, in a second language, in an order where each depends on the others.

We wrote the whole thing up for American retirees:

The French long-stay visa for American retirees: the paperwork that has to be exact, the deadlines that don't forgive, and the order it all has to happen in.

07/22/2026

Do I keep paying for Medicare once I'm living in France?"

It's one of the most common questions we get, and one of the easiest to get expensively wrong.

Medicare doesn't cover you in France, so paying for Part B while you're in the French system can feel pointless. But dropping it carries a penalty that follows you for life if you ever move back, and keeping it is what protects your ability to get supplemental coverage later without being turned away for your health.

So we wrote a plain-English guide: what each part of Medicare does when you move, the penalty math, the trap most people miss, and who should actually keep paying versus drop it. Every figure is checked against CMS and Social Security.

If you're planning a move, or already made one and have quietly wondered whether those premiums are worth it, this is for you:

Medicare doesn't cover you in France. Whether to keep paying for Part B is the real decision: the 10% lifetime penalty, the Medigap risk, and who should keep it.

07/13/2026

Two Americans move to France on the same day. A few months later, one swaps their US license for a French one with some paperwork and a form. The other is in a driving school, studying for a written exam in French and booking lessons, starting over from scratch.

The difference isn't how well they drive. It's which US state issued their license.

France recognizes licenses from only about 18 states. If yours is one of them, you can exchange it. If it isn't (California and New York aren't), you take the French tests, in French. And there's a one-year window after you arrive to sort it out, which is easy to miss when you're buried in visas, housing, and healthcare.

We wrote a full guide: which states qualify, when your clock actually starts, and the road rules that catch Americans off guard (priorité à droite being the big one).

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Can you drive in France on a US license? Whether you can exchange it depends heavily on your state. A chronological guide to licenses, the one-year window, and the road rules that surprise Americans.

07/08/2026

Everyone who moves to France hits the same wall first: which town?
We heard it in interview after interview. People can name the life they want (winter light, a real hospital nearby, a market on Saturday, maybe an English-speaking circle to land in), but they can't name the place. Guidebooks describe towns. They don't match them to you.

So we built Find your France. Nine questions, about three minutes. Your answers get scored against 55 French towns and cities we researched in depth, using official French data: Météo-France sunshine hours, notarized sale prices, real drive times to hospitals, doctor density per resident.

Two things we did on purpose. Every match shows its reasoning, including the tradeoffs. Pau gives you the Pyrenees out the window and property around €2,150 per square meter, and it also gives you 127 rain days a year. We tell you both. And there's no email gate. You see your full results without giving us anything.

If you're planning a move, or just daydreaming about one, it's here: aelos.net/find-your-france

Tell us what you matched with. We've been surprised more than once.

Answer nine questions and see which of 55 French towns and cities fit the retirement you want — matched from official French data, with honest tradeoffs.

07/06/2026

Most Americans retiring somewhere warm never think to put France on the list next to Florida. It sounds like the expensive option.

Then you run the actual numbers. Florida has the most expensive home insurance in the country, often two to three times the national average, with a separate hurricane deductible on top.

Medicare plus a supplement runs a couple thousand dollars a year in premiums before a single doctor visit. France is cheaper on both, and on housing.

France isn't cheaper on everything, and there are real costs Florida doesn't have: the flights home, a new language, distance from the grandkids. We lay all of it out honestly, the wins and the tradeoffs, so you can decide for yourself.

The full comparison, with real figures on healthcare, insurance, housing, and taxes:

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A straight cost comparison of retiring in Florida versus France: everyday living, healthcare, home insurance, and taxes, with a look at what France costs you that Florida doesn't.

06/24/2026

Most Americans moving to France want to buy a home right away. It feels like doing it properly.

For most retirees, it's the wrong first move. Not because buying is a mistake, but because your first year is a discovery year. The village that's perfect in July empties out by November. The dream apartment is four flights up with no elevator. You learn these things by living somewhere, not by visiting.

Rent first, buy later. The cost of renting for a year is far lower than the cost of buying the wrong house in the wrong place and paying to undo it.

Our new guide, written with the team at Ibanista, walks through the whole decision: the costs, the financing, what to do with your US home, and the rare cases where buying sooner does make sense.

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Most Americans should rent before they buy in France. A joint Aelos and Ibanista guide to the rent-vs-buy decision: costs, financing, liquidity, and when each one makes sense.

06/23/2026

One thing that surprises Americans moving to France: you are not covered by the French health system the day you arrive. There is a gap before you are enrolled, and it is where people most often get caught out.

The system itself is excellent, and far more affordable than the US. The key is knowing the sequence, and keeping your private cover until you are fully in.

Our new guide walks through the whole picture, calmly and without the jargon: when you qualify, what it actually covers, and what happens to your Medicare.

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How French healthcare really works for American retirees: when you qualify for PUMa, the Carte Vitale, what the public system covers and why you'll want a mutuelle, what it costs, and why Medicare won't help.