Actually, most places in the US, one could live on Social Security of $1,200 a month fairly well — but probably not in the 25 largest cities.
The sweet spot are all those metropolitan areas of around 100-250,000 population that now have everything that the biggest cities have, except the crime and high cost of living.
Anyplace that has a Walmart, Costco, Target, Trader Joe’s, Ross, Grocery Outlet, Dollar Tree, etc. — has a de facto low cost of living yet access to wide choices. Then, if you go to the craigslists, many communities have 1 bedroom apartments for around $400 or less!
That’s not likely to be Honolulu, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Tokyo, London, Paris — but you don’t have to be in those cities for their primary benefits of culture anymore — because it’s as close as your iPad, laptop or cell phone.
Austin, Texas is usually heading the list of best cities to live in regardless of the cost — but up the road a bit (60 miles), is a small town of Killeen, Tx, where you can probably still get a 1 bedroom house! (maybe even a 2 bedroom house or apartment) for $400 — outside of the largest US military base in the country.
There are a lot of communities in the US like that — and even a few fairly large cities like a Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Little Rock, Salem, Oregon, that are very affordable, so that one doesn’t have to be thousands of miles from a leading edge of civilization, as one would be in a foreign country still.
That’s where I think most people ought to be directing their attention — rather than being lulled by those thoughts of exotic, foreign places that themselves, are out of the mainstream of contemporary civilization.
That used to be the dream of a previous generation of retirees — that they’d retire and live an unrealistic life of constant travel and luxury of servants waiting on them. That’s probably the best development from the recent economic crash back to reality — that people realize that retirement is not about traveling around the world, and owning a timeshare in every vacation spot in the world.
One can continue being a productive member of society, in a more intimate and unhurried scale — in the many small town Americas that exist even in the neighborhood organizations of fairly large communities.
Wait for the Socialists here to outlaw the payment of social security funds off of American soil...maybe you can pay a friend to pick it up every month at a U.S. post office box and mail it to you. ‘Know your Customer’ laws for bankers could also be used to keep the serfs at home and subject to further levies, as they come up with them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzPtogDaXw
http://www.businesspanama.com/panamarealestate/panama_real_estate_retiree_benefits.php
http://internationalliving.com/countries/panama/
https://www.web-purchases.com/120SPTOM/E120K4P2/landing.html?o=1668910&u=54866838&l=1607888
A couple of people I know have homes in Uruguay. They love it down there.
http://www.discoveruruguay.com/about_uruguay_demographics.htm
Here is another discussion on FR regarding this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2481992/posts
Bump
.
I live in a small coal-mining patch town here in Western pa. The old mining house next to us is up for sale for $10,000. If someone doesn’t care about appearances, the taxes are REALLY low........
btt
I have heard good things about Guatemala.
You can “own property” and will it to family.
You can own guns and even get a concealed carry if you get dual citizenship.
You can build a modern home for $35 a sq ft
Just another way to redistribute America’s wealth and bolster the third world economies. Retirees who leave the country don’t stay and participate in government, so the paid commie activists will have free reign. This type coming from the Obama corrupted media is no surprise because the ‘old folks’ who remember that Constitutional government can only be had when people actively work to keep it, will be out of the way if they can be engineered into believing they should leave.