10 best foreign retirement havens
If you're considering retiring abroad, these locations in Europe, Asia and South America have excellent weather, living costs and amenities.
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im seriously looking to relocate to costa rica, ecuadore, or panama in the near future
no reason to watch my buying power diminish here in the states driven by soaring health care costs, when i can live in a greener environment for less than half of what it costs in calif.and still have all the things i need and more
see ya
just a couple of other observations:
1. Austria welcomeing to foreigners??? HAHAHAHA... Afraid not. Salzburg is fantastic and very welcoming to TOURISTS, but Austria is not the most open or tolerant society (still a great place...). Vienna is a nice place to look at, but the natives don't like anybody, even other Austrians. The Tirol is nice, but not really a place to live.
2. Southern Spain, in particular Huelva, is fantastic and relatively cheap. It is close to Portuguese border, killer beaches, not far from Sevilla and other great cities, and is easy hop to places like Morrocco. But better get use to the Spanish infrastructure.
3. One big miss from this list is Switzerland. Living in Neuchatel is not particularly expensive compared to Australia or Singapore, and you will be safe and secure, with access to the worlds best everything (except beaches:-). And you can take the high speed train from Geneva to Nice
Immigration issues are totally ignored in this article; it's actually misleading in this respect.
Americans can't simply 'move' to any part of the European Union; that French vineyard is likely not going to happen for 99% of would-be US retirees. Ditto Austria, Spain, Italy, and Belgium.
Laws vary by country, even within the Union, but barriers are significant.
So, before you brush up your French and head off to apartment-hunt in beautiful Brussels, check at the Belgian (or Austrian, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, etc) Embassy nearest you (or online) for practical details - and be aware that the' practical details' may in fact be insurmountable legal obstacles!!!
I lived in Ecuador for 10 years and there are many positive things about this small country:
great people, lovely mountain climate in Quito, and lower expenses than living in the US....but there are still problems: higher crime than is reported, the language barrier, and some political uncertainty. Be aware that living in a developing country poses many challenges. Most Americans love the idea of retirement abroad, but the real day-to-day life is a BIG adjustment.
I have looked at all of these many times. They neglect to tell you that, as an American, in order to secure a retirement visa to Australia, you need $2M in net worth and must invest $600k in property. Oops... did we forget to mention that? I have been to all of these places and if I could retire anywhere in the world, it would be to Western Australia. The stretch between Perth and Freemantle is awesome. But uber expensive (as is most of Oz)
They do a list and not include the Caymans??? Duh? Once you get your residence, there are no taxes of any kind. No sales tax, property tax, federal or state tax, inheritance tax, etc. The banks are some of the best in the world .... so if you decide to get your residence there, move your money to a Caymans bank and you'll never have to deal with Obama and his taxes ever again!!
C'mon down. The weather is great, it's safe and the boating and diving are tremendous!!
I recently visited a cruise ship port called Costa Maya. I inquired about a home there and found a 800 sq ft home, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, kitchen with a patio and parking space (no garage) sells for less than 40k USD.
While getting there is a little tricky, fly to Cancum and travel 2 1/2 hours south the area is quite and not yet developed like most cruise ship ports.
I am checking into it for a winter/retirement area.
I was also told for cash purchases there is a 5 to 8 percent discount. Sound attractive, but need to check it further
Every where is great to visit, but quite differnt to live there. Unless you have a lot of money, you may only get one shot at moving out of the country. These are some nice ideas, bus as you can see by the other posters, not all of them are viable for most. Costa Rica, Belize, and the not mentioned Puerto Rico, are probably the most accessible and affrodable for regular folks. Better look long and hard at medical care and costs. I want to go some where, but if I have health concerns, I may be to afraid.
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