By Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher, InternationalLiving.com
Everyone who retires overseas does it for a different reason. Most do it because they’re looking for novelty and adventure…they love to travel and they want to spend their retirement years immersed in part of the world that intrigues them.
Boquete, Panama
Some want to escape cold winter climates. Others have health considerations they feel may be better served in a more welcoming climate.
Many have financial motivations. They simply can’t get by on a retirement income in the States these days…at least not the way they want to “get by.”
Fortunately, there are many places in the world where a couple can live happily and comfortably on a monthly budget of $2,000 or less. This amount can include your rent, a healthcare plan, and provide for a good lifestyle.
By that, we mean you can hire someone to clean your house once a week or tend to your lawn or garden, dine out often and enjoy all the social activities you can fit into your schedule, maybe even do a bit of traveling…
Think about it…when you live in a place where a doctor’s visit costs just $20, or a prescription that cost you $80 in the U.S. now costs $10…where your annual property tax is less than $100…and a meal for two at a fine-dining restaurant, with a bottle of wine and dessert…can be had for $35 (including taxes and tip)…it’s not hard to see how good your retirement can be.
Guanajuato, Mexico
This pretty much describes our life and the lives of many of our friends who have retired overseas. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. And it surely doesn’t mean this is an “all or nothing” proposition.
Let’s face it. Our motivations change. Life happens. We know people who have retired overseas and decided, after a time, that it just wasn’t for them. Usually, it’s because they’re just plain homesick. They miss their friends, family, and particularly if they have them, grandkids. Sometimes a family emergency draws them homeward.
And sometimes they just can’t adapt to the new culture. It can be challenging to live in a place where you don’t speak the local language, for instance.
As a friend of ours who recently returned to the States from Mexico says, “My husband and I always knew we would move to Mexico. We had traveled and vacationed in Mexico for 30+ years. Moving to a country where, particularly, the language is different, can be difficult.”
She readily admits this was a more daunting challenge for her husband than it was for her.
Lake Chapala in Jalisco, Mexico
“For me, learning the language was a joy. For my husband, a struggle. After 11 years, his joy in living in Mexico was diminished.”
Fortunately, she says, “We have many Mexican friends that speak English. However, day-to-day tasks require Spanish.”
(NOTE: This is one reason we always recommend you at least try to learn to speak the language. Besides, studies have shown that learning a new language can be good for your brain and help keep you young. Here are a few articles to check out on this topic.)
It wasn’t just the language issue that caused them to return home, says our friend.
“As we age, so do our parents and siblings,” she reminds us. “My mother developed Alzheimer’s and my brother—her caretaker—developed cancer and was struggling to care for her and himself. We felt the need to return to help. But we continue to visit Mexico and our friends there regularly.”
The issue of aging parents is one many of us are dealing with these days. We have a few friends who have opted to bring elderly parents with them. This is particularly true in the community where we live now, the Lake Chapala area. Your parents can “age in place” with an excellent quality of life here. And when the time comes that they need more care than you can provide, you can hire a caretaker.
Much has been written about the affordability of in-home care in Mexico and throughout Latin America. In the Lake Chapala area, for instance, you’ll find several assisted living centers that cater to the sizeable “gringo” population with English-speaking doctors, nurses, and support staff.
As PBS reported recently, the average cost of assisted living care in the U.S. these days ranges from about $3,800 to $7,000 a month. And for the same type of care in Mexico…a private room, meals, cleaning, laundry, and more, you’re likely to spend $1,400 to $2,000 a month.
Of course, not everyone who retires overseas returns to their home country. Like us, some have become “serial relocators” just for the adventure of it. During the past 16 years, we’ve relocated eight times and lived in seven different communities in four different foreign countries.
Cotacachi, Ecuador
Our latest move has brought us back to Mexico, particularly to be closer to our young granddaughter in Phoenix.
Several couples we know have relocated from elsewhere around the world to Mexico because of its proximity to the States. It’s close but not too close, as some like to say…
As our friends Vickie and John say, “After spending three years living in northern Ecuador, we decided it was time for a new adventure. We have always loved Mexico and decided to give that a try. The weather suits us better and it’s great to be closer to the U.S."
And one couple we know, who originally chose to put down retirement roots in Panama have been bitten hard by the travel bug.
“After taking our first ever trip to Europe, we fell in love with the idea of travel,” they say, “we decided it was now or never, but we couldn’t figure out how to afford to do it until someone suggested housesitting. Since we bought our home cheap in Panama and remodeled the house we were able to make a nice profit when we sold the house.”
Panama was a wonderful way to test the waters, they say.
“We enjoyed our time in Panama, and didn’t leave because we were unhappy, but just that we wanted to see more of the world. Someday we’ll settle down again, but where…who knows?”
And so it goes. Retiring overseas is a moving target. Once you get a taste of the opportunities available to you, you never know where you might end up. And that’s part of the fun of it all.
This article comes to us courtesy of InternationalLiving.com, the world’s leading authority on how to live, work, invest, travel, and retire better overseas.
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