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 ...
This is not as new as one might think. The elite of this country have done this for generations.
It reflects the increasing access to travel more than anything else. It's also infulenced by the phenominal cost of real estate and medical services.
Maybe I'd better move up my plans before all the boomers catch on.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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read later
Hey, my son wasn't even out of junior high, and he was talking about retiring in Greece when we spent a couple of weeks there a few years back.
(Me, I'm hoping for a real estate bust in the SF Bay area. I love wine country, fog, the connections with film noir, and all the great Asian restaraunts. Besides the leftists there will be a perpetual source of amusement.)
Either way, mediterranean climate is the way to go in old age.
I'm hoping for a really HUGE real estate bust in the Monterrey area. I'd like to purchase the Hearst Castle dirt cheap.
The only problem with living overseas is the obscene US tax code that follows you. There is some irony that virtually no other countries feel the need to be this heavy-handed, even ones with aggressive socialist tax structures.
Exactly why we are looking into real estate in Georgia right now, having been there in May and fallen madly in love with the country.
Plenty of room in Tbilisi.
Monterrey is in Mexico. Monterey I think is what you were referring to. I was born there, and I would love to retire in Carmel.
Before you move, go house-hunting for a few weeks in August.
Somebody needs to do some math..and her hubby's a math teacher?
Ain't NO health plan that's gonna cost 'em 20 to 25,000 zops a year, copays included.
Now if I only knew how to speak Georgian...
I got carrried away, I guess. :-)
Monterey I think is what you were referring to. I was born there, and I would love to retire in Carmel.
Big Sur would also do nicely for me.
I was in Georgia visiting my brother last may. Most people there kinda talk english which is nice. Especially in Atlanta where my brother lives, I met quite a few Americans who spoke English.
But then lefties who hate their country don't need to do the math.
That, or have me a little vineyard in Sonoma County
There are plenty of nice places I'd like to go to when I retire in about 10-15 years, but I prefer to be around my children and grandchildren. That's what's important to me.
I might vacation up north in the summers, though.
EEEWWWW! The Heart Castle, which proves that kitsch can be excecuted in imported tile and florentine marble just as easily as in plastic, provided you have a big enough budget?
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