Posted on 07/30/2005 1:36:02 PM PDT by qam1
These days, some Americans heading for retirement are as concerned with pesos as pensions, and foreign language classes as Medicare. They are part of an emerging population expecting to spend their retirement abroad.
In January, baby boomers will start hitting 60 at a rate of more than four million a year. More mobile, active and adventuresome than prior generations, these 78 million Americans are rethinking retirement. Many will be lured overseas by a more affordable cost of living and temperate weather. Some will want to return to their native countries or to places where they once worked or studied.
Coreen Plewa and her husband, James, plan to move to Mexico in four years. They say they adore their home in Santa Fe, N.M., but will not be able to make ends meet once Mr. Plewa retires from teaching high school math. The Plewas and about 10 like-minded people have been meeting to discuss moves to Latin America.
"This is not like, 'I've got to get out of this hole,' " said Mrs. Plewa, who believes health care costs in the United States could eat up 40 percent of the couple's estimated $4,000 to $5,000 monthly retirement income. "We think our dime will go further."
*snip*
Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama are common retirement havens, but Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and English-speaking Belize are making a push to attract retirees. Various countries in Europe are also viable alternatives, but current exchange rates make them less attractive for those with limited resources......
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Good point. If all the RAT Boomers leave, think of the extra votes for Pubbies from the zillions of the soon-to-be-legalized illegals.
Mexican hospitals and medicos are among the worst we have seen. Dirty, poorly trained staff and spotty services are normal. The smaller the city, the worse they are. Not for me!
I know a guy that instead of retiring at 50(after 30 years), the company offered him a position in SheKou China. He got a work visa somehow and has been there 10 years. He took about a 20% wage cut from the NYC metro area. Now he lives in a mansion and has two full time servants.
SheKou is near Hong Kong and as Modern as any major city here in the US.
I would consider Thailand. It's very inexpensive and the people genuinely like Americans. At 40ish Baht to the dollar, your money goes a long way. Other than the smell, Bangkok isn't so bad, but you could easily move into the country or near one of the resort areas and live very well on just SS alone if nothing else. Of all the Asian countries I've visited, Thailand is my favorite.(and no, not because of any sex business or any such thing).
You would think that HK doctors (British trained?) would be better than their mainland Chinese counterparts...
There is no way that I would go to a hospital in either, lest my kidneys make it back to the states before me.
That isn't surprising about Mexico. While the exchange rate is (and always will be) great against the Peso, I don't think that I'd want to move there.
I was thinking more Pacific Island-y.
They may be better trained that Chinese Doctors, but many of them (especially at the private hospitals) will tell you that you need a procedure you do not need.
Case in point - a friend in Hong Kong was diagnosed with cancer. HK$1,000,000,000 later he was completely cured. He got to talking to another doctor after the episode and that doctor had some tests done for him. He had never had cancer.
Since then he has heard from several other people that have been remarkabley cured. If you are in Hong Kong, go only to one of the government hospitals. Do not go to a private hospital.
In Mainland China, a friend had to have bypass surgery. He got real lucky. A doctor heart specialist from the U.S. happended to be in China for a seminar and the Chinese doctors asked him to look him. He had the surgery done there. The U.S. doctor told him he was very lucky he was there and that it was caught when it was.
Those are some of my direct experiences on the subject other than the times I myself was in a hospital in both Mainland China and Hong Kong.
You'd be amazed at how many people down south can and do speak English. However nowadays Spanish is being heard here more and more.
We moved to Florida to retire but its tooo hot, tooo many bugs, alligators etc. So now we are going in August to Mo. to look around. Its a good idea to check out the area before moving. We had checked out Fl every 2 weeks in Feb for 15 years but vacationing in winter doesn't count. Travel when its the hotest.
South of what? China? France? US ?
South of Thailand where the Muslims play at beheading their neighbors (Buddhist neighbors preferably to the Muslim murderers).
"Plenty of room in Tbilisi."
LOL! Thanks, but I think I'll stick with southern Greece!
Here is the rain on their parade. Very few countries have reasonable laws regarding estate succession. Some really don't have rule of law at all in this regard. Even prior to the question of succession, simple lack of property rights for foreigners can be a really bad deal. The last thing someone may want to have to do when they are 85 years old is to move back to the US with no money.
RE: Nothing's said 'bout security (financial & personal) in those foreign lands.
I searched several continents (over 10 years) &
all things considered, it's the USA !
I've also done the research and agree with you 100%. Even with our Death Tax and even with recent property rights decisions, if you want to see real nightmares with regards property rights and estate planning, check out some foreign countries. Any property you bring with you or buy there may not really be yours! Bad way to find it out is half broke on the retreat to the US.
And you're still leasing. There is no free hold in most countries outside the US.
Don't commit yourself until you've been there in August.
Oops! Never mind! I thought you were talking about the state of Georgia. My bad.
I like how you think!
While many of us here do not care for lawyers, my recommendation to you is to get legal advice regarding the implications of living in Thailand. We did just that - we had both one in the US familiar with Thailand do it and one in Thailand as well. Bottom line is, unless you are willing to forgo major protections of your consumer rights, your property rights (even in New London! LOL), your estate planning, and other things we take for granted here, don't do it! We took a serious hard look at it and concluded NFW when the risk exposure became apparent. All you need to do to see the risk is to play a few scenarios of stuff going wrong. The only people who I would not strongly advise against doing it would be people with no kids, small estates and who really have essentially "nothing to live for" in the US. Seriously ... that was our conclusion.
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