Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Retire Like a King Overseas
http://outsiderclub.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go
By Jimmy Mengel 2013-04-01
I spent the last week in the beautiful colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala. It was founded by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th
century and serves as a living monument to Catholicism. Antigua is
flanked by three massive volcanoes hovering like gods over the city
center. The cobblestone streets snake around dilapidated churches,
monasteries and shrines. The town is alive with blessed charisma and an
almost ghostly charm.
Antigua's Santa Catalina Archway
Needless to say it was a nice respite from the day to day analysis of
chaotic financial news. But alas, even in the warm embrace of an exotic
vacation, I was unable to stray too far from turmoil at home...
After our first day of taking in the earthquake ravaged architecture,
my wife and I slipped into a side street restaurant to outline the
remainder of our trip. We were both enchanted by what we'd seen -- and
feeling a little warm and fuzzy after some Guatemalan rum -- so we began
to imagine what it would be like to move to place like Antigua in our
'golden' years. We could rest, relax and live like kings for a fraction
of the cost of the United States...
We had basically sold ourselves on the move by the time we finished off our fried plantains and pollo en jocón. It was then that I heard a woman shout, in perfect English: “They won't even let us drink large sodas anymore!”
A fired-up lady in her late fifties was talking to a fellow Yank at
the table behind us...and she didn't seem pleased. As our check arrived,
I asked the pair where they were from, she said New York; he answered
Northern Virginia.
“But I live down here ten months of the year,” she continued. “It's
beautiful, it's cheap and frankly...I just couldn't stand it anymore up
there. At least down here you don't have the state breathing down your neck!”
She had plenty of other gripes too, from tax codes to job prospects to
nationalized healthcare -- and a few other colorful remarks not fit for
these pages.
The gentleman told me he was riding his motorcycle across Central and
South America and didn't seem to have a care – political or otherwise –
in the world. Yet he also praised the lifestyle he could afford in
Guatemala and mentioned that he intended to settle in neighboring Belize
after his bike trip was over.
Now, Guatemala’s government is a crooked as a three-legged street
dog. The fact that a place like this is more attractive then the grand
old U S of A is a crying shame. But time and time again, we ran
into Americans that had either settled in Antigua for their retirement
or opened up a business in a place where it was friendly to do so...
In fact over three million Americans are currently planning retire overseas for these exact reasons.
For those in the U.S., Latin American is an obvious starting point
for locational and logistical reasons. These countries are cheap,
gorgeous and ready for visitors. International Living has released their 21st annual index of top retirement spots for erstwhile Americans:
Here they are:
- Ecuador
- Panama
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Costa Rica
- Uruguay
- Colombia
- Spain
- Thailand
- Malta
All of these countries have an attractive combinations of low costs
of living, affordable real estate, decent health care, retirement
infrastructure and copius entertainment options. Bascially everything
you need for a fullfilling retirement -- and likely what you may be
missing by retiring here in the States.
Take Dan Prescher, who moved to a gated community in Cotacachi,
Ecuador. His home has a glorious view of the Andes mountains and it only
set him back $50,000.
"Every now and then, [my wife and I] think it would be nice to have a
place in the states, so we run the numbers," Prescher told the Wharton School of Business.
"But because of the high taxes, medical costs and insurance, we just
can't figure out a way to live as affordably as we do here. The cost of
living is half of what it would be in the U.S."
And he's not kidding, check out some of these cost comparisons from the Wharton School of Business:
Real estate in San Jose, Costa Rica, for instance, is 57% lower than in Philadelphia. Consumer prices in Chiang Mai, Thailand, are 59% lower than in Boston. Groceries in Seville, Spain, are 36% lower than in San Francisco.
If you've found yourself in the position of millions of Americans
whose retirement savings aren't measuring up to the quality of life you
want and deserve, then expatriating may be well worth a good, hard
look. We'll highlight some of the best "escape hatch" destinations in the Outsider Club in weeks to come.
Godspeed,
Jimmy Mengel for the Outsider Club
Related Articles
The Scores and How Our 2013 Retirement Index Works
The results are in for IL's 2013 Retirement Index! © Kikkerdirk; Fotolia.com
Our
editors, correspondents and in-country experts were busy collecting the
details for this latest edition of the Index months ago. Our in-house
number crunchers have been analyzing the results for weeks.
Here we focus on the top 22 retirement destinations in the world,
considering them across eight crucial categories: real estate, special
retirement benefits, cost of living, ease of integration, entertainment
and amenities, health care, retirement infrastructure and climate.
We’ve looked at everything from Internet penetration to the price of a
beer. We’ve paid attention to the discounts and benefits you receive as
a retiree. And we’ve asked important questions like: How easy is it to
stay in touch with the folks back home? Is it easy to make friends? What
is there to do? Is a car necessary?
This is a qualitative assessment exploring what matters most to you
when you consider an overseas retirement spot. We don’t just look at
hard numbers. We talk to the expats living there and ask for the
details. What are the roads like? Is there a local health-care system?
Would they—or do they—use it? How much does it cost?
When it comes to costs we looked at everything from the price of
utilities, groceries, cable TV and a maid to real estate and rentals. In
fact, when it comes to property, not only have we asked “how much?”
We’ve also asked our real estate experts if that represents good value.
The results in this table tell the story.| Country | Real Estate | Special Benefits | Cost of Living | Integration | E&A | Health | Ret. Infra | Climate | FINAL SCORES |
| Ecuador | 99 | 99 | 90 | 90 | 95 | 83 | 79 | 100 | 91.9 |
| Panama | 83 | 100 | 86 | 93 | 95 | 85 | 81 | 88 | 89.0 |
| Malaysia | 89 | 77 | 92 | 90 | 100 | 93 | 85 | 75 | 87.6 |
| Mexico | 92 | 71 | 82 | 100 | 100 | 84 | 74 | 78 | 85.1 |
| Costa Rica | 89 | 85 | 87 | 90 | 94 | 86 | 73 | 71 | 84.4 |
| Uruguay | 87 | 72 | 69 | 83 | 94 | 91 | 82 | 92 | 83.7 |
| Colombia | 94 | 75 | 70 | 90 | 82 | 84 | 83 | 86 | 83.0 |
| Spain | 87 | 57 | 80 | 83 | 96 | 80 | 93 | 83 | 82.5 |
| Thailand | 82 | 57 | 97 | 87 | 96 | 81 | 77 | 81 | 82.3 |
| Malta | 87 | 82 | 71 | 100 | 68 | 82 | 77 | 75 | 80.1 |
| Portugal | 75 | 69 | 86 | 67 | 81 | 82 | 95 | 85 | 80.1 |
| Nicaragua | 94 | 63 | 89 | 90 | 77 | 83 | 68 | 73 | 79.7 |
| Ireland | 78 | 79 | 67 | 97 | 84 | 73 | 85 | 73 | 79.5 |
| France | 72 | 82 | 57 | 64 | 100 | 89 | 87 | 85 | 79.5 |
| Philippines | 78 | 57 | 100 | 87 | 79 | 83 | 84 | 69 | 79.5 |
| New Zealand | 82 | 74 | 57 | 90 | 88 | 71 | 86 | 87 | 79.3 |
| Italy | 76 | 77 | 66 | 74 | 98 | 70 | 89 | 83 | 79.0 |
| Brazil | 80 | 70 | 80 | 60 | 76 | 84 | 69 | 85 | 75.5 |
| Chile | 85 | 69 | 81 | 57 | 88 | 78 | 83 | 57 | 74.8 |
| Honduras | 76 | 85 | 80 | 87 | 64 | 76 | 67 | 62 | 74.6 |
| Belize | 78 | 72 | 85 | 83 | 57 | 79 | 66 | 64 | 73.2 |
| Dom. Rep | 91 | 63 | 70 | 64 | 74 | 68 | 75 | 64 | 71.0 |
*E&A = Entertainment and Amenities;
Ret. Infra. = Retirement Infrastructure
See the 2013 Retirement Index article here.
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