globalretirementvillage

Ignite Phoenix Presentation

2008-08-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T09:09:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

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

Advisors in Guatemala?

2008-01-17T15:25:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-01-15T14:37:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-26T10:55:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-06-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Panama All in One

2007-06-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

Panama All in one has an extremely slow-loading home page. I would expect many back click out of there because it takes so much time to load. My guess it takes so long to load because they have a video embedded on the home page. Maybe you would want to start with their services page instead.

They host a bunch of different types of tours including an eight day investment tour

Biggest Concern?

2007-06-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

I was talking with a friend about this website. He was stating that I should think what would be the biggest obstacle for someone thinking about going overseas during retirement. He felt it is at 65 you are not able to ‘bounce back” like you could at 35 or 45. So if you went overseas, bought a house, and then either got ripped off or realized it was not your cup of tea and pulled out it could be much more devastating at 65 than at 35. In short retirees are going to want to know that moving overseas is safe. Or to put it another way, they are going to want to know that they are not “making a mistake.”

For How long?

2007-06-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

I wonder if retirees plan to move overseas for their rest of their life or just for a while. Years ago retirees would retire and then be dead in five years. That is not the case anymore. A retiree today could easily live 20 plus years after retirement.

My guess is retirees are going to move overseas for 6 to 7 years and then want to return to the United States. My thinking is they are going to want the adventure (and willing to deal with the hassle) in the early years of their retirement (60 being the new 40.) And as the advance in years and it is a little tougher to get around they will want to be near their family. Another reason would be for healthcare reasons. The problem with medicine overseas is while there are good doctors and hospitals; it is basically good 1980’s medicine. I am sure some would debate this but based on my experiences in Mexico City, this is the way I perceived it. This might be o.k. when you are in your 60’s but maybe not when you are in your eighty’s.

Panama

2007-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Panama is sometimes called a “second Miami” because it has most of the amenities of a Flordia retirement community for a lot less cost. If you are motivated more by finding an afforabable condo rather than experiencing another culture start researching at panamainfo.com.

Another well run site is retireinpanama.info

Panama Gets good press

2007-06-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Panama has gotten a good bit of press as a good place for retirees. Panamainfo.com has collected a bunch of quotes including from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The site also has a good selection of articles to help you start figuring out Panama.

Mexico Links

2007-06-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

Mexico may have been the first country within Central America to start attracting U.S. Retires in large droves. A web search turns up a bunch of different tour operators and websites.

Focus on Mexico has the best looking web page (for whatever that is worth.) They focous on the Lake Chapala, Ajijic region.

RetiroMx.com also offers tours in the same area.

Mexico adventure has a Mexico Info Pack for around $13.95.

The People's Guide to Mexico is an online guide to Mexico. I especaily liked this the article, "A realistic Budget" because it allows you to get a real understanding of what it costs to live in Mexico without the normal hype.

Expat Focus Forum

2007-06-15T14:19:00.001-07:00

Expat Focus runs a very active forum. I was a little surprised that there is not more activity for Central America. For example, only Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama have their own folders for Central America. Note their focus is on all expats and not just retirees.

What is interesting to see is what are some of the most active folders. Using the number of "topics" and "posts" you end up with this as your "hot list:"

Bulgaria
France
Greece and the Greek Islands
Portugal
Spain
Canada

I think this list might reflect how there are more U.K. expats than U.S. expats at this point.

Their site also has a large collection of Country Guides. While these do not go in great depth then can be a good introduction to many countries around the world.

Should I do a conference?

2007-06-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am debating on organizing a trade show/conference around March 2008 or March 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona. Arizona is packed with “snowbirds,” retirees who live part of the year in Arizona. The conference would provide retirees information on how to retire overseas. This conference would bring together the people who offer related services with those who are thinking about relocating to outside the United States.

I do not plan on making any of the presentations myself but concentrating on running the conference. Some of the subjects that should be covered would be:
How to select a country.
Specific Country Presentations
Management Companies for US based properties
Buying real estate overseas
Medical Concerns
Medical Insurance Overseas
Language Skills
Preparing Yourself for Culture Shock
How to ship overseas
How to ship back to the United States
International Banking
Tax Considerations
Estate Concerns
What if I die over overseas?
What about the family pet?
How to stay in touch with US friends and relatives.

Would you be interested in making a presentation at the conference?
Would you be interested in attending the conference?
If so, contact me at globalretirementvillage@gmail.com and I will put you on the list to contact if I decide to go through with this idea.

The next big thing?

2007-06-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica, Belize and Panama have already well beaten gringo paths. This can be seen by how many different sites come up after goggling "Retire in Costa Rica." But Ecuador does not seem to have the path as well beaten. A Google search shows no one offering tours of Ecuador like how Christopher Howard does in Costa Rica or Bill and Claire Gray do in Belize.

Yet both International Living as well as Escape Artist rank it as one of the great places to retire. In fact Escape Artist, ranks it as "the best" place to retire in the world.

EFS Private Wealth Managers

2007-06-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

EFS Private Wealth Managers states that they provide "independent comprehensive, ongoing, flexible financial services and global tax planning to Expatriates throughout the world." Their first office was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and while they claim to cover the world it looks like they focus on helping expats in Asia.

By reading the offsore investing artlices they have up on thier site it also looks like they focus on UK expats and not US ones.

For the Candians among us

2007-06-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

Canadians Resident Abroad is on online magazine for Candians living abroad. It has a nice mix of "pratical" articles that focus on tax issues for Candians as well as more general articles about other countries.

Online Tax Center

2007-06-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Expat Exchange has a tax center. This is worth exploring more.

It includes a couple of articles writen by Marc J. Strohl CPA such as
whether or not you should sell or rent out your us home or tax laws in 2007 that expats should know.

2007-06-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

article about changes to the tax laws that would impact expats.
>

Online Forums

2007-06-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

The main driving force behind Expat Exchange is its forum. I like how this site seems to be a real straight shooter. However, it is not the only forum site for folks thinking about living overseas.

Expat Focuses forum looks to be the most visited of the forums I have found.

International Living's forum is also well visited.

Other forums I have found include.....Expat Forum seems to have a UK bent.

Plans for upcoming trip

2007-06-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks I am going for a two week vacation to Colombia. As I will be in Cartagena, maybe I'll be able to do some research for this site. You might say, "Colombia?!? Yikes!" But according to this article on escapeartist.com it is a nice place to be.

International Health Insurance

2007-06-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

The article Choosing International Health Insurance by David Tompkins does not go into any great detail but it links to the authors homepage. I have no idea how good or bad his service is, but as it the first thing I have stumbled on that really goes into health insurance I thought I would post it.

Tony & Patricia Hamrick will cruise through some the International Living's forums to discuss health related issues. They are Health Insurance brokers.

www.liveabroad

2007-06-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

www.liveabroad is a site that provides a series of . I like how it compares to some other sites because it is easier to figure out and has far less "Buy a house on the beach for only $90,000!" spin.

About Schmidt

2007-06-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched About Schmidt, the Jack Nicholson movie where he plays a man having a difficult adjustment of just sitting around in retirement. I was reminded of how many of the retire overseas marketing shticks go with the “Do you want to sip Margaritas on the beach for the rest of your life? Then click here!” angle. I wonder is that really what people want, or is it just what they think they want?

With that thought in mind here is a quick list of productive ways you could spend your time overseas.

Teach English
Be a travel writer
Work for an international non-profit

It seems like a pretty obvious and pretty short list. What am I missing?

2007-05-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Bankrate.com has an introduction article about the foreign income exculsion rule.

IRS Publication 901

2007-05-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

IRS Publication 901: Tax Treaties is a 50 page tough read. It lists off all of the tax treaties that we have with various countries around the world. I wouldn't imagine most would want to read it cover to cover but it might be worth looking at what countries you are interested in.

Site to get the feel of living in Mexico.

2007-05-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

www.newbeginningsmexico.comis one couples musings on their movement to Ajijic, Mexico. If you are looking for a round about feel to what it would be like to live in Mexico, it is a good site to wander through.

Their site includes.......
-A blog about their day to day life of living there. Including Harry’s recent surgery.
-A Sample form they use when hiring a maid
-Musings about the Cost of living there

Lonely Planet

2007-05-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Lonely Planet’s discussion board has an interesting discussion called early retirement at 40? Lonely Planet, for those not in the know, is the major guide book for the adventurous backpacker traveler.

early retirement at 40? is a meandering tread that covers the motivation behind retiring overseas, what to do with the home back home, and how much is "enough" to retire overseas.

1 in 4

2006-12-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

According to the Article "Many baby boomers face retirement shortfalls" in the 12-13-2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal, "one in four U.S. baby boomers probably won't have enough money to retire on time" This number was generated by the The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Q& A from Belize by Bill and Claire Gray

2006-12-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Bill and Claire Gray have written a series of articles and reports of how to retire to Belize. In addition to this, they offer "How to" tours of the country. If you are thinking about moving to Belize then check out their site http://www.belizeretire.com/

I am on thier email list and recently they sent out this Q&A to their email subscribers. I found the health section a worthwhile read so I am posting the parts newsletter here. They know I am doing this!

October 29, 2006

Greetings from Belize!

We've had such an overwhelming response to the last newsletter, that we felt compelled to respond right away. Thanks for all your messages.

We are going to answer at least some of the questions you sent us here in a Q & A format.

Q- "I am considering retirement in Belize, but I am concerned about the medical facilities in the country. I have Type 2 Diabetes requiring the use of insulin and other medications, as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol."

A-You shouldn't have any problem dealing with the medical conditions you mention while living in Belize. Virtually all medications available in the US are available in Belize or nearby Chetumal, Mexico, without a prescription and probably at a lower cost.

Lots of expats find that many chronic health conditions, including the ones you mention and also arthritis improve when they move to Belize. They can get much more exercise painlessly with year-round sunshine. Walking and bicycle riding are a way of life in Belize and ocean swimming is accessible 12 months a year. Eating the simpler, healthier foods that are abundant in Belize, fresh fish and tropical fruits, for example, help many people lose weight without even trying when they move to Belize.

Many health conditions improve in Belize just by virtue of a healthier lifestyle.

Having said that, we personally have dealt with medical conditions ranging from skin rashes to broken bones to life threatening illnesses requiring emergency surgery while living in Belize. We've always gotten excellent care, we'll go so far as to say, better care than we would have back home. We choose our doctors and medical facilities carefully, always trying to get a personal reference. When we find a good doctor we ask him or her for referrals to other doctors.

We noticed that the doctors in this part of the world seem to be practicing medicine because they actually want to help people, and that goes a long way. For example, after major surgery at a small hospital in Chetumal, Mexico my surgeon would be at my bedside when I woke up in the morning; would check me a couple of times during the day, and be back to tuck me in at night. He did this for 5 days until I was discharged.

I had 2 laparoscopic surgical procedures, 5 days in a private hospital room, a lot of intravenous medication and my bill for absolutely everything including the anesthesiologist was $1,200. After I went home, I looked up what it all would have cost me in the United States, and the total was over $55,000.

We had no idea how interested people were in affordable medical and dental care outside the US until we started doing our tours in the mid 1990's. We thought we would include a stop at our dental clinic, we were afraid it would seem a bit quirky to some, but it quickly became the most popular part of the tour! We were amazed at the number of people who extended their stay or came back to have extensive dental work done. We have since added a tour of a medical clinic and hospital and have heard some making plans to come back for surgery.

We don't want to sound like "Pollyannas," not all doctors are great down here, we quickly take note of others' negative experiences and when we run across a bad doctor ourselves, we tell others about it, naming names. And of course there are more complicated medical conditions that may require more "high tech" solutions that may not be available in this part of the world. Although I must add that we know an American woman, a long time resident of Belize who had brain surgery in Merida, Mexico, about a 5 hour drive from Belize. We've also heard of kidney transplants being done in the same city.

While we always recommend an abundance of caution and research, as we mentioned, our experiences with medical care in this area over a period of almost 20 years have been overwhelmingly positive.

Links for financial advisor help

2006-11-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was looking around for financial advisors to help with the tax and insurance issues overseas. It is hard to gage from a website how legit these folks are, but her is what I have found so far.....

Reilly Financial Advisors claim they specialize in international tax help. The link is to article about how to go about it.

Wells Fargo's international service offers intenational banking and wiring.

http://www.expatriates.com/directory/ps/insurance/'s list of links of international insurance providers.

I have posted about this before but as a reminder International Living's website has an excellent article that looks at Tax Considerations from all over the world.

Also found was a the home page of Richard Leonard who presents himself as an International Tax Consultant. The site has some well writen articles, but some dead links as well. http://www.richard-l-leonard.com/

Bootsnall

2006-11-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

Bootsnall is a website that is more foucused on travel writing and travel blogs. I also get thier normal particpants are folks in thier 20's and 30's. Having said that, it is worth noteing that they have an extremely active forum section. It covers topics as diverse as TEFL issues to writing travel blogs.

Secure Online Banking

2006-11-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

Bootsnall's website has an interesting article on how to securly and safely do your online banking at email cafes around the world.

What should be on my radar screen?

2006-11-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I found International Living's list of countries that the are on "their radar screen." The list includes Argentina, Croatia, Ecuador, France, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, Spain, Thailand.

Looking over the list I was surprised that Belize, Costa Rica, Czech Republic were not on there.

I had expected Belize, Czech Republic, and Costa Rica to be on there. I also started thinking of what countries had I not expected to be on the list that might be worth exploring, such as Africa, Morocco, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, India, or Vietnam.

A great resource

2006-11-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

International Living is a major “one stop shops” websites that offer a large amount of articles about leaving the United States.

International Living does a good job of organizing their site around specific countries as well as themed “big picture” articles.

I particularly found the following articles useful.

Click here for thier summary of the basic property laws in various countries.

Click here for a summary of the tax laws in various countries.

Gives general guidelines around buying property overseas. Buying property overseas is definitely different than buying in the United States, so this is worth reading!

I also found their list of countries they are keeping a careful eye on to be interesting.

Currently they are concentrating on Argentina, Croatia, Ecuador, France, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, Spain, Thailand.

MSN Money on Ecuador

2006-11-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

MSN Money's article on retiring in Ecuador makes the follwoing statements.

"It's not difficult to live on less than $17,000 per year here; you don't have to live a restrictive lifestyle to do it. Many foreign residents have a main home in the city but also have a country home, a beach property, or even property in another country."

"In Ecuador, you'll have access to excellent medical care. You'll find hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment in the bigger cities, as well as specialists in all fields and physicians with private clinics. The average visit to the doctor's office runs just $15, with a specialist costing about $17 to $20."

The article was writen by Kathleen Peddicor, the publisher of Internatioanl Living.

Bank Loans for buying land in Mexico

2006-11-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

Currently it is difficult to get a loan to purchase property in Mexico. The major reason for this is there is no clear no law that clearly defines the foreclosure process.

Bank loans are difficult for Mexicans to acquire. Lenders ask for interest rates of 18%.

According to Doug Jones, who specializes in Mortgages for Mexican Property, currently loans can be obtained with 12% interest for US Citizens.

More Info on getting Mortgages in Mexico can be found at
His contact: 800-677-1134 (within USA)
doug@MortgagesInMexico.com

Advisors for Help for buying land in Mexico

2006-11-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here are two seperate websites for those looking for help as they decide to buy land in Mexico.

Peyton & Associatesis a Mexican law firm specialized in Mexican real estate and business transactions.

Stewart Title de Mexico is a leading title insure in Mexico. They have guaranteed over 2 billion of assets in Mexico.
Their website has links to more than a dozen articles by Mitch Creekmore. These articles were originally published in the Arizona Journal of Real Estate and Business.

Creekmore recommends the following Real Estate Agents:
Snell, fair & Barnes in Los Cabos
Coldwell Banker La Costa Realty in Puerto Vallarta
Twin Dolphins Real Estate in Puerto Penasco

Graphic Model of Considerations

2006-10-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a way to organize the questions or subjects a potential retiree should be thinking about before they decide to retire overseas. I am not really happy with the two graphical models I have created below but it is a start. Any suggestions are welcome!

Slide 1: Questions to ask yourself

Slide 2: To do before you go

Slide 3: The big picture

TEFL resource and Thailand Resource

2006-10-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

An active poster on www.lonelyplanet.com‘s forum pages is “TedKarma”

It appears he runs three different websites and would be a good resource on retiring in Thailand, teaching English overseas.

His websites are……
PhuketDelight.com which discusses Phuket, Thailand.

TEFLBootCamp.com which offeres free online TEFL classes.

TEFLDaddy.com which declars it is "Your TEFL advisor."

www.lonelyplanet.com forum page on retirement

2006-10-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

On www.lonelyplanet.com‘s forum page is a many post deep discussion entitled “Early retirement at 40?” In this forum the discussion touches on….
-the role of real estate in the U.S. supplying the needed income overseas
- some of the reasons or thinking behind why people retire overseas
-How much money you’ll need overseaswww.lonelyplanet.com

www.escapeartist.com

2006-10-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

www.escapeartist.com is an extensive series of articles about “escaping from America.” While it does not target the person who cares to retire overseas it does have many articles. I do find it a little too overwhelming and helter skelter. It is a little tough differentiating between ads, useful articles, etc.

It also is filled with hype statements like “Are there bargains out there? You bet! Editor Roger Gallo recently found beach front condos in Rio de Janeiro for $21,000….” I feel the constant stream of these detract from the site because I am already thinking about going overseas, that is the reason I am at the site. So I find the used car salesman writing style to be a little distracting.

They publish a “Quarterly Real Estate and investment Quarterly.” I usually find at least two or three interesting articles about specific countries in them.

Nicaragua Land

2006-10-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Nicaragua: Dramatic Like Big Sur......
By Michelle Sedita Mostly hype. The jist of the article in that Nicaragua is the next Costa Rica and very affordable.

Land in the Dominican Republic

2006-10-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

"Dominican Republic Real Estate Questions and Answers"

By Licda. Carolina Maldonado is an insightful "frequently asked questions" style article about buying land in the Dmonican Republic

In it Mrs. Carolina Maldonado covers how foreigneers can purchase land in the Dominican Republic. She also covers some tax considerations and as well as popular places for foreigners to live.

Mrs.Carolina Maldonado is associated with Ascot Advisory services a group that helps people throught the paperwork of immigrating into the Domincan Republic.

However, this thread in International Living's forum section paints a very dangerous and more negative picture.

About the Global Retirement Village

2006-09-28T14:11:00.001-07:00

After reading The Number by Lee Eisenberg I realized many in my parents generation had clearly not saved enough for retirement. This got me thinking. They could either (a) keep working or (b) find some other way to make their under-funded retirement savings go a little further.

My first job after graduating college was teaching at the American School in Mexico City. During my school breaks I would sometimes bump into American Retirees who were stretching their Social Security Checks by living in Mexico. So after reading The Number, I started thinking about those folks again. I started looking out of curiosity into what on-line resources were out there for folks who wanted to retire to Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, or wherever.

This blog is just a documentation of what I have been finding.

Links for Belize

2006-09-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

www.belizeretirement.org is the Belize government’s website. It outlines who can apply to be a “Qualified Retired Person,” the incentives, and the application process.

www.belizeretire.com sells a Belize Retirement Guide, and a 7 day tour of Belize’s hotspots for retirees.

The authors of this site, Bill and Claire Gray, also wrote a book "Belize Retirement Guide: How to Live in a Tropical Paradise on $450 a Month" which is availbile on thier site.

The iternary of thier tour is worth reading over because it lists off what some of the hotspots of belize are.

Link for Costa Rica

2006-09-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Good to Know:
Probably the best place to start on your research for living Costa Rica is Christopher Howard’s book “The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living In Costa Rica.”

How much?
According to Mr. Howard “ A couple can live well on $1500 per month, and live in luxury for $2000.” (2002)

Host Government’s Role
Costa Rica makes it easy. ” Retires that can prove $600 a month in income from a pension/retirement plan or evidence of income that generates at least 1,000 a month can apply for the “rentista” program.

Other Useful Links

http://www.ticotimes.net/ Tico Times is the English_speaking Paper published in San Jose

www.arcr.net Association of Residents of Costa Rica aims to help those who move to Costa Rica. This site will be of extreme value once the decision to move has been made.

www.liveincostarica.com Live in CostaRica.com is the child of Christopher Howard, the author of The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica. He offers tours to introduce someone to Costa Rica.

www.estatescostarica.com is the best website I have found which outlines how to buy property in Costa Rica. It also lists properties for sale. I would assume these are “gringo” prices and the facts on the ground might be a different ballgame.

Candians might want to check out the Casa Canda group. The Casa Canda group also runs The Association of Residents of Costa Rica.