Looking at retiring in Early Spring 2027. Retirement income looks to be about 2400 a month short for staying in Florida. We could live on it in East Texas no problem, but why? Our children are in the upper mid west and we really don’t want to live in top of them.
So, we are watching videos about leaving the country and are looking for places to explore. The usual suspects came up first. Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. All except Costa Rica would be budget friendly, but we kept looking. Albania came up in Europe and Peru and Argentina. Funny thing about Argentina, as messed up as it is, there were no homeless in the parks, like every major American city.
It seems Albania isn’t too shabby either.
Also, it was mentioned that with no insurance one could walk into a specialist office and be seen same day for 20 dollars are so.
Am I reading that right? Your income is nearly $29,000/year short? I thought the phone company had good benefits?
They are either Commies, or it’s because people who would be homeless in the US, are living in the vast shantytowns, that some South American cities are notorious for.
Many of these videos make it look easy. It’s not easy. Especially if you aren’t fluent in the language. Plenty of people watch the videos, do the research, and make the move. Then, after wasting a whole bunch of money moving/etc, they end up coming back to their familiar place, where they speak the language, where they know the social norms, where they have friends, where they “fit in”. And those people rarely make videos about it.
Panama I hear has a great Non-Pat community. Portugal seems like a nice country with access to every other country. I think if I was going to do what you are thinking of I would go to Portugal first. We had a friends brother that moved there. At first they were depressed because of what Mark said, you know no family, can’t speak the language. But now they have been there about a year and are really enjoying it. So it takes time to become acclimated. Plus a year gets you through all the seasons.
At retirement we will
break up house keeping.This is a given. We are considering taking a repositioning cruise to Rome then spend 5 months or so in Europe. (You can only spend 90 days in the Eurozone out of 180, but Albania and Montenegro are not in the Eurozone so a few months there would be OK. Them the repositioning cruise back to the U.S. from Rome.
We have been learning Spanish for a couple of years now and Trip to Guatemala for immersion language school is somewhere in the cards.
It is fairly easy to obtain a non-lucrative visa in Spain. There are a few hoops, but basically you have to show proof of health insurance and proof of income. The latter is a pretty low bar, like €30,000/year or something. Then you have to swear you won’t have gainful employment (Don’t throw me in that briar patch).
The NLV is good for one year, and is renewable. You do have to live in Spain for six months in order to renew, however.
Just on the face of it, I’m not sure I would want to go to a country, that a significant number of people sneaking across the US boarder are leaving. :^)
I thought I was the only one who lived that cheaply.
Just on the face of it, I’m not sure I would want to go to a country, that a significant number of people sneaking across the US boarder are leaving. :^)
The one’s who are leaving don’t have any money. If they had money they’d probably stay.
My condo fee is about $360/month. Annual property tax is about $1600. Insurance on contents is $320/year. Of course, casa del Steve will never appear in an issue of “house beautiful”, but then, it doesn’t need as much cleaning as a McMansion five times it’s size either.
In the early 1990s, I visited Xela hot springs.
The facility was quite rustic with hot and cold water running through native stone lined canals, and smaller canals distributing the water into rustic “cabins” with 2 person tub/pools.
This place “looks” like the place I visited.
Xela is the “old” name for Quetzaltenango Guatemala.
When you do the immersion school, make a point of NOT hanging with all the “expats n world travelers” where they all sit around sipping coffee n speaking English … Find a hangout in which you are forced to speak Spanish.
If necessary, hire a guide to show you the sites and explain in Spanish.
Depending on the money I may buy a home in Ireland. To avoid their taxes I wont spend more than 140 days per year in Ireland. It might be a bit less because there is a two year rule.
There are no property taxes in Dublin.
If money is better than that expectation alone, I would either plan a second home in Boston or another country in the EU, possibly Spain. One of my cousins might do Spain in the winters. Again I’d follow the residency tax laws to avoid taxation in Spain. I could end up traveling the EU and UK for almost half the year. Depends on the US tax laws and residency laws in a given state of MA or CT.
I broached the topic with Ispouse based on my concerns over recent events. She made it clear that she will never leave her children and grandchildren behind. If we had no children or grandchildren in the U.S., she said she would consider Ireland.
My sisters are considering Ireland. Their kids have Irish citizenship. At least one BIL is open to getting citizenship but it will take three years of residency. He would have to be retired to have a smaller income than he has now.
I am happily settled in and becoming a patriotic citizen of Mexico, but I am also a fervent USAian patriot ready to fight for the dreams my ancestors held dear and some died for. That is a complex emotional and economic balancing act I have learned from having dear friends who are (in order of their ages) Iranian, Hong Kong Chinese, Palestinian, Israeli, Russian, Armenian, Syrian, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Georgian.
I expect we will live in a very very different world in twenty years as the current systems of the world are mostly showing signs of great distress.
I’ve been wanting to spend some time in San Miguel de Allende.
I hear it’s nice there. I really like the ‘high plateau’ region: Guanajuato, Patzcuaro, Celaya, Queretero, Zacatecas.
Happy trails!