globalretirementvillage

Ignite Phoenix Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Last night I participated in Ignite Phoenix, an open invite event where presenters get 5 minutes and 20 slides to get their point across.

I made a presentation on “Is living outside the United States right for you?” I tried to boil down everything I had found out in writing this blog into the presentation. I was happy with my presentation even though I would have done it different if I got a second chance.

The main change would have been not trying to cover everything but I would have covered a more narrow topic. Maybe I would just cover culture shock, how to pick a country, reasons people go overseas, countries in a nutshell. or before you go.

Here are the first five slides of the presentation so you can get a flavor.....

Living Abroad in Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Living Abroad in Nicaragua (Moon Handbooks)

by Randall Woodand Joushua Berman

This is the first in the Moon “Living Abroad” series that I read. When it started off with five pages of full color pages singing the praises of Nicaragua without any caveats I thought “This is just a hype machinge.” However, this was immediately followed with the introduction that encourages the reader to think if living overseas is truly right for them. With sentenaces like the following “It would be wrong-and seriously misquided to epect living in Nicaragua to be remotely similar to more tratiotinal warm-weather retreats, like Florida or Costa Rica.” I warmed up to the authors. I liked how they started with a very clear descrption of both the postivie and negatives of adjusting to a life in Nicaragua.

The book is well organized, easy to read and informative. It is divided into 4 major sections. The first section “Welcome to Nicaragua” has all the nuts and bolts of living there and includes subsections on the History, the arts and sample iternaries for exploratory missions.

The second section “Daily Life” includes information on Health, how to manage your finances, housing options, and getting around the country. I liked in their culture shock section they described the inclaination and trap of always thiniking with culture is “Better.”

The third section gives an in-depth look at four areas the authors consider the “Prime Living Locations.” These include; Granda and Environs, San Juan Del Sur and the Southwest, Managua, Leon and the North, and finally the Atlantic Coast. I liked how these sections did not focus on specific reatuanrtants or expat hang out spots but gave a descrptiove account of these places to help you really compare the places.

Costa Rica, Belize, and Mexico may indeed be “played out” and Nicaragua may be one of the few countrys left that are pleasant to live in and not already corrupted with too many expats. I would encourage anyone to start their research by reading Living Abroad in Nicaragua.

Cost of various countries

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:13:00 +0000

On the boots'nall forum, in a post about the cost of Costa Rica a Felix responds by ranking some of the countries from Most Expense to Cheapest. I have not seen this information presented in this way so I found it interesing.

I believe I agree with his list. Do you?

He ranks countries from most expensive to least would be Belize > Costa Rica = Panama = Mexico > El Salvador > Honduras > Guatemala > Nicaragua.

Honduras

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:23:00 +0000

Here are the three most informative sites I found when searching for information on Hounduras.

retireinhonduras.com is run by David Lowry and makes a strong pitch for Honduras. He claims you need $1,500 for "to provide a lifestyle that mirrors or greater than what they are currently enjoying on their pre-retirement income."

Amazon book entitled "Live Well in Honduras: How to Relocate, Retire, and Increase Your Standard of Living"

A blog about living in Honduras. The author posts about once a month.

El Salvador

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:18:00 +0000

If you google "retire el salvador" you get a couple of links but nothing that you can really sink your teeth into. My favorite quote from this goose chase of a search is from a 4 paragraph article entitled "El Salvador: A New Paradise?" that says "The criminality is a big problem when you don't have private bodyguards, but it isn't higher than in the neighboring Honduras."

Well that makes me feel better.

Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:15:00 +0000

www.liveinnicaragua.com is the best site I have found on Retirement in Nicaragua.

Advisors in Guatemala?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:25:00 +0000

No one has locked up Guatemela, like Bill and Claire Gray in Belize or Christopher Howard in Costa Rica, as the go-to advisor. But if someone did would it be one of these guys; Donald T. Lee
or Art?

Forum discussions on Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:31:00 +0000

Bootsnall has a pretty good discussion going. The main take away's being....

Antiqua is cute, colonial, and a little boring" but popular with Americans and British.
Lago Atitlan is a favoite for expats, especially Panajacherl.
It is possible to live off of $700.
It is difficult to import a car.
It can be difficult to get permanent status, even though the offical rule is you have to have $1,200 of income.

Different people way in at Expat Exchange about how to and the hassles of buying land.

Interestingly, Guatemala does not get its own thread from the list of countries at International Living

Preliminary research on Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:14:00 +0000

It looks like I am going to visit some friends in Guatemala in May. So I am starting some internet reserach about the country. A preliminary internet search does not pull up a lot of info, mostly just links to the various discussion groups out there.

If you search for Panama or Costa Rica, you find links to one Real Estate agent after another. Not so with Guatemala. After searching "Retire in Guatemala"Of the first 10 links, only one went to a real esate company, Terr-X Real Estate

According to Terr-X Real Estate "The cost of living in Guatemala is a fraction of what it costs in North America or Europe. Retiring in Guatemala is at least a third less expensive than even Mexico..... If you own your own house you can live comfortably with less then $1000 per month for a couple."

The are pitching Lake Atitlan as the place to live.

They also have a nice simple map. Man, that country has a ton of ruins!

So now lets see what the discussion groups have to say!

Montezuma’s revenge is rude?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:37:00 +0000

I have been flipping through Roger E. Axtell’s book “Do and Taboos around the world.”

The chapter on Mexico mentions that “the visitor may suffer diarrhea, commonly called Montezuma’s revenge.” It was my experience, that Mexicans did not like the term Montezuma’s revenge because it crudely pokes fun at the horrors of the conquest. So I found it odd that a book about cultural sensitivity would use that term.

Am I wrong? Is the term Montezuma’s revenge considered slightly offense in Mexico?

Uruguay

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Yesterday when I was going through International Living's Forum pages I came across a site about buying land in Coastal Uruguay. I have never been to Uruguay (but have always wanted to go!) My general perception is that Uruguay is a "poor man's Argentina." Which sounds good to me! As this is the first site that has to do with Uruguay that I have stumbled across I thought I would share.

Property rules around the world

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:33:00 +0000

A discussion on International Living’s forum is trying to generate a list of places where foreigners can buy property “straight up.”

As of this writing the replies have stated that you can buy “straight up” in the Philippines, Jamaica, Canada, Spain, Panama, Uruguay, and Turkey.

You can buy with some additional paperwork or restrictions (like registering a company) in Bulgaria, Mexico, Costa Rica.

One of International Living’s free reports is “To Have or to Lease: A Global Guide to Property Ownership Rules and Restrictions” Here is a link to all of their free reports.

According to the report you can buy straight up in Argentina, Estonia, Fiji, France, Italy, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain, and Tahiti.

You can buy with some restrictions or additional paperwork in Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ecuador, Honduras, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, Thailand.

The Report does a nice job of outlining a simple explanation of what thee additional paperwork or restrictions are.

Here are some countries that I am wondering about that no one has mentioned. Does anyone know the answer for the following countries?

Colombia, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India.

Ease of doing business

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:13:00 +0000

The World Bank does a yearly report on how difficult or easy it is too open a business in various countries.

I went through the list with an eye out for the Countries that have crossed my radar at one point or another during my research. I was surprised at how Thailand ranked and how low Panama came out.

3 U.S.
15 Thailand
44 Mexico
59 Belize
65 Panama
66 Colombia
69 El Salvador
97 Croatia
99 Dominican Republic
114 Guatemala
115 Costa Rica
120 India
121 Honduras
128 Ecuador

Mail options

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:36:00 +0000

When I lived overseas I had my mom send me mail that "looked important." But maybe you wouldn't have someone doing that for you. If not, mail forwarding services like USglobalmail.com or Myus.com can do it for you. I have never used either one these companies services so I can't vouch for them.

Book review Survival Kit for Overseas Living

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:55:00 +0000

I never had much of a problem with culture shock. Maybe it was because I went to Haiti when I was in 8th grade. Maybe I never really struggled with culture shock because I love it when the unexpected happens.

However, I have seen many people who really struggled with culture shock. I remember an English Lit teacher my first year in Mexico City who said at a school-sponsored pizza party “Every morning I wake up I wonder if I am going to die.”

I remember seeing people crying because they were just plain frazzled. I saw people depressed the moment the walked off the airplane at the end of Christmas break. Culture Shock can be a real heartache for some.

I just finished L.Robert Kohl’s Survival Kit for Overseas living – For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad and highly recommend it for someone about to go through their first or second living abroad experience. The book is filled with not just abstract “People are different” explanations but practical exercises to help the reader deal with the overwhelming transition to another country.

For example Chapter 13 “Know thy Host Country” lists out 9 “information gathering areas” to help you figure out what drives the culture you are in. Chapter 14 lists out 47 questions for you to revisit and fill in as you learn.

I have seen how culture shock can turn nasty and ruin someone’s experience overseas. If your going abroad then why risk it? Read L.Robert Kohl’s Survival Kit for Overseas living – For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad and read it slowly.

Top 10 India

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:38:00 +0000

Nigel, the writer of the blog retiretoindia.com has posted a well written and thought out list of the 10 Best Places to retire in India.

Book review The World’s Top Retirement Havens –How to Relocate, Retire and Increase your Standards of Living

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:24:00 +0000

The World’s Top Retirement Havens –How to Relocate, Retire and Increase your Standards of Living edited by Margaret J. Goldstein approaches the question of how to retire overseas on a country by country basis. The book examines 15 different countries with each country getting its own chapter.

Each country’s chapter has subsections that include: recommended living areas, renting and buying real estate, cost of living, taxes, making the move, and medical care. This book would be good for the person who is already given serious consideration to moving internationally but is now in the process of narrowing down their options. Each chapter alone is probably not enough to be the “ultimate” resource for any one country but gives enough of an overview that the reader can start narrowing down their choices of possible countries.

The Countries covered in 1999 edition are Argentina, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy Mexico, Portugal, Spain, and Thailand. A more recent edition was not found on amazon.com. If a more recent edition was made perhaps they would include Croatia, Guatemela, Nicargua, Panama, and the Phillipines.

Book review for The 4-Hour Workweek

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:21:00 +0000

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Originally when I started researching retiring overseas I was focused on the Baby Boomers who would want make their pensions or investment income go further. As I goggled around the web I realize there is another large group of people who are interested in “retiring” overseas. Ferriss calls this group of people the “New Rich” and defines them as those who have “abandoned the ‘deferred-life plan.’”

This book is his “How to” guide on how he did it. Even though his path might not be right for everyone, it is filled with good insights, resources, case studies and exercises if you are trying to figure out how to escape the rat race.

India?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:40:00 +0000

Recently I got an email from Nigel, the writer of the blog retiretoindia.com. Nigel is a first generation Indian immigrant (as well as a naturalized citizen.)

Looking over his blog reminded me that not just older folks trying to get their social security check to go further are retiring overseas but also younger folks who want to "get out early" are also interested in retiring overseas.

The purpose of his blog is to help him figure out how he will retire early (at 45) to India. He does not go into great details on why someone might retire in India, but rather describes his own personal reasons, namely it is the country of his birth.

However, he has many posts about how to go about saving enough for an early retirement, such as the one about figuring out your net worth or or this one about the challenges of living off of ones Interest.

Colombia

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:33:00 +0000

I just returned from a two week vacation to Colombia. I went down to visit a friend of mine that I used to teach in Mexico City with. He has been living in Cartagena for the last three years.

We spent the first week hiking through the Jungle hiking to "Lost City (Ciudad Perdida) and the second week hanging out in Cartagena. As it was just a two week vacation I did not spend much (really any) time researching the retirement options there. However, what I did see there certainly intrigued me.

There is an old saying to “Buy when there is blood in the streets.” Maybe this is the case with Colombia? Articles, like this one in The Economist magazine argue that current Colombian President Luis Uribe has done much to improve the situation even though the FARC is far from defeated.

Apparently the Uribe govt. has concentrated on making the local tourist hotspot of Cartagena safe. While in the Jungle and in Cartagena I felt completely safe.

Cartagena is a beautiful Spanish City. Here is my favorite shot I took of the city.

Click here for some more shots.

Yet there is still affordable housing in Cartagena. Of course, maybe its affordable for a reason!

I guess my whole point is Cartagena is worth more research.

Books on amazon.com

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:42:00 +0000

There are many books on amazon.com about retiring overseas. Having explored a lot around the web, I think it is about time I start seeing what the book world has to offer. Here are the books on amazon.com I have found so far that sound interesting.

Retiring Abroad (Cadogan Guides Retiring Abroad) by Ben West has only one review but several quotes from newspapers give the Cardogan series good reviews.

Survival Kit for Overseas Living, Fourth Edition: For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad by Robert L. Kohls gets 4 stars from 7 reviews. A hold was placed at Burton Barr Library

Expert Expatriate: Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad--Moving, Living, Thriving

And for good measure some on culture shock, The Art of Crossing Cultures by Craig Storti. I believe the more you know about your upcoming culture shock the better.

Comparison of Cost

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:48:00 +0000

Below is my attempt to get a “bird eyes view” of how much it costs to live overseas for the various retirement hotspots. The monthly cost of living includes rent.

However, because the goal might also be to buy a home I have included the “average” price for a comfortable but not extravagant house in the area where US retires tend to concentrate. I realize this location makes houses much more expensive.

Would you agree with the numbers I have listed off below? If not, what would you think is a better number? Is even such a “birds eye” view even possible? What countries should I include on the list?

Sometimes I could find a monthly expense number without rent, and sometimes I could only find a number for rent. In these cases I just doubled the number to include the missing half. I am not sure if this is the best way to do it but I wanted to start somewhere!

This is meant to be a working list. The blanks are numbers I have not yet found.

The Links behind each number go to where I have found the info.
Please feel free to critize the list, my methods, or whatever. I welcome all input.

All dollar amounts are in US dollars.

Country
Monthly Expense including expense for a couple, given in US dollars.
"Comfortable" but not extravagant House
How many North Americans already live there?

Belize
Monthly Expense: $800*
Comfortable House:
How many:

Costa Rica
Monthly Expense: $1500 to 2000
Comfortable House: $100,000
How many: 30,000 to 40,000 North Americans

Ecuador
Monthly Expense:$400 *
Comfortable House:
How many:

Guatemela
Monthly Expense: $400
Comfortable House:
How many:

Mexico
Monthly Expense: $700 to $1000
Comfortable House:
How many:

Nicargua
Monthly Expense:$800
Comfortable House:
How many: 10,0000

Panama
Monthly Expense:1000 to 2000
Comfortable House:
How many:

Portugal
Monthly Expense:
Comfortable House:
How many:

Spain
Monthly Expense$3000 to $4000 *
Comfortable House:
How many:

Thailand
Monthly Expense: $2000
Comfortable House: $50,000 to $150,000
How many:

Explanation of Asterixes
*Belize - Bill and Claire Gray say $450 a month, I inlcude rent I doubled this.

*Ecuador - Rent is 200 dollars. I doubled for monthly expense.

*Spain - On the post the married couple says is takes about $1500 to $2000 to live. But they mention they bought two houses, so I am assuming this does not include rent or mortgage.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have also cross posted this to in order to get more input. Cross posted to International Living's Forum, , Lonely Planet's Forum, and Expat Focus's Forum.

How many international retirees are there?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:30:00 +0000

No one seems to know how many North Americans have retired overseas. Here are some of the different estimates I have found. The links are to where I found each estimate.

The Casa Canada group thinks there are 100,000 North American retires worldwide.

According to this article on MSN Money, "The U.S. State Department estimates some 4 million Americans live abroad, not counting military and embassy folks. About a quarter of those are estimated to be retirees. "

Intro to Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:52:00 +0000

With memories from the 1980’s still lingering in many peoples heads. Nicaragua has a reputation for being a violent and unsafe place. However, for those willing to go of the beaten path Nicaragua is worth a second look. The country can offer the same benefits beautiful beaches and luscious mountains that its better known neighbor of Costa Rica offers. Yet its bad rep helps keep it undervalued (for now.)

The Real Estate company Water’s edge has a good summary of the positive changes in Nicaragua in the last 10 years.

Nicaragua recently passed some Law 306 with makes it very easier to open a tourism related business. Even though you might not want to open a tourism related business Law 306 is worth mentioning because is helps illustrate how Nicaragua Government is willing to work with expats.

Liveinnicargua.com offers a 7 day tour. What is especially interesting about this tour is that they are led by Christopher Howard, whom is better know for being the “go to person” for Costa Rica. The fact he is getting involved in Nicaragua certanely peaked my interest!

MSNBC segment

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin P) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:42:00 +0000

Here is a MSNBC video about Americans retiring overseas. The article mentions how 20,000 Retirees are estimated to be in Costa Rica, and also how the "deals" are not as great in Costa Rica anymore and the "more adventurorous" are going to Nicaragua.