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 ...
No Hurry !
The article's an oversimplification.
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 !
There's a great view, plenty of privacy (after I shut down those tours) and I like the indoor pool.
provided you have a big enough budget?
I don't.
You'd live much better in a third world nation I think. Especially if you sell your home when prices are very high in many areas. Then live off of that huge payout. You could probably buy the equivilant home in Mexico for 100,000 as a 700,000 dollar home here. Then put that 600,000 dollars in dividend funds. Then add in the pensions you get and life is good.
"Somebody needs to do some math..and her hubby's a math teacher?"...........UNION and DEMOCRAT explains it...LOL..
Crap.
Not in mild climate area - you'll be spending $250K++ (plus bribes-mordida)
I posted before I saw your post. I know a married couple retired in Arizona. $7000.00 + is the number. That is hardly 40% of the low end of their income estimate.
My wife was born in Thailand and is a naturalized USA citizen so our land ownership problems are miner. Non-Thais must either rent or live in a condo which they can own. That said, a nice condo can cost about $50,000 US. Our three bedroom, new home cost $30,500 including the furnishings. Autos cost about the same as in USA. Good medical care is very cheap -- anyone interested can go to http://www.bumrungrad.com/ for expenses at the best hospital in Bangkok. If you buy your food at the local markets (in Chiang Mai, we shop at Warorot) fresh food is very cheap.
The language is tonal and, for me, was difficult even with a live in instructor.
We live in an area without Americans or other non Thai. The biggest plus for me is the character of the people -- they are socially conservative, very friendly and warm and crime is virtually unheard of except in the tourist areas.
23 hours total travel time back to the West Coast is a real negative.
Needless to say, I wouldn't want to live in the South.
Yes,not too bad there-but Alabama is another thing entirely!
Good riddance. One more card carrying member of the NEA headed out.
These two better take a closer look at Mexico. At the rate it is going, it's gonna look like Lebanon in the 1980s soon.
This boomer was born in the USA and will die here. I would sooner have a sex change operation than leave the land of the free and the home of the brave, even if perhaps the land is not so free or brave as it once was.
I have faith that America will rediscover its great values, culture and character now that the Progressive tsunami of the past 130 years is spent and is at last reaching the end of its morally, intellectually and financially bankrupt tether.
No way I will abandon my country in the final years of my life.
That may sound good in peacetime, but we're at war now.
What happens when muslim terrorists find a bunch of aging baby boomers living abroad in "retirement havens" without the protections America affords? Will the economic aspect of foreign soil still seem attractive when body-bags are shipped back to the states?
Chiang Mai is a wonderful place. I spent a couple of weeks there, and would like to go back and spend a couple of years.
That sounds pretty good, but what do you do about medical care? Hospital trips seem like they might be worse than any disease you might normally get. Isn't the HIV rate in Thailand incredibly high? Hepatitus? I think being at least one day's travel from an American ER would be too damned scary to contemplate. What has your experience been like?
save for later
You could probably find one. My blue cross ppo for my wife and son takes 800 big ones a month out of my pension and the company is capped out at contributing 440 a month. So I have a plan that is costing over 20%. And I am not including co-pays or deductibles.
BTW I am a pre boomer retired to an RV and winter in the south. In the Rio Grande one can slip over the border for inexpensive drugs and med care, but its not as safe down there as it used to be. If I were to consider a foreign country, I would go all the way south to Costa Rica.
I'll sell it to you right now!
I've also got a bridge in Brooklyn on special this week....
Throw in a drunken senator to drive me across it and you've got a deal.
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