Posted on 08/13/2010 4:26:50 PM PDT by cll
Jason and Elizabeth Pearce moved from Canada to Belize three years ago. They bought a piece of property on the sea. A year later, they built a house. Today, they live in a beautiful Santa Fe adobe-style home with gardens all around.
The pair lives very comfortably, without wants or financial worries. They've had no trouble making friends in their new community because the folks in Belize speak English. They eat out three or four times a week. They barbecue lobster and filet mignon at home. They have reliable Internet to keep them connected to the outside world.
By choice, they do not have a television. "I used to think that the news was important," Jason explains. "But not anymore." The retired couple has a maid and a gardener, each of whom visit once a week. And here's the best part. Jason and his wife are living on their Social Security income alone.
In fact, they're living on Jason's Social Security income alone. Elizabeth's Social Security check goes into savings each month. Everyone's spending habits are different, but here's a sample monthly budget for a couple living a comfortable expatriate lifestyle in Belize:
--Rent: $300
--Utilities, telephone, and Internet: $500 (Your biggest expense in this country.)
--Groceries: $150
--Health insurance: $50
--Entertainment: $100
--Car expenses: $300
One of the most appealing things about Belize as an overseas retirement choice is that it can make sense even if you're nowhere near conventional retirement age. Through Belize's Qualified Retired Persons program you can establish foreign residency as young as age 40. Belize is a beautiful little country. It's a peaceful, eco-tourist retreat home to more than 540 species of birds, 4,000 species of flowering plants, and 700 kinds of trees.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I found Vietnam to be one of the most capitalistic places I’ve ever been, every home has some business below it. Been all over the place, its wonderful, no one takes communism seriously there, its in name only. Great beaches at Nha Trang or in Hoi An or Da’nang. Wonderful people, great food, real culture. I found Philippines to be completely lacking in culture and the food was so bland. But the people were really nice.
Luckily, my telephone and PC are my job. Doesn’t matter where I live.
... and Olongapo is known among the cognoscenti as “’Po City.”
“The entire population of the country is 300,000. This is about the size of the suburban area where I live. To say a country this small has not developed a local art community is not fair.”
Forget an “art community” ... zero works of art in the national museum!
Last year I visited the Newark Museum, in much, maligned Newark, New Jersey, a city of 281,000 people. Some of the best works on display are by natives of Newark. And that is just one gallery of many in poor despised Newark!
http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/visitors/places_to_go.php
San Pedro is on Ambergris Caye, an island. Duh! It's a major departure point for the barrier reef.
Had some relatives (who lived in Florida for a number of years) visit Belize in the summer. They said it made Florida summers seem lovely.
Newark is part of the NYC metropolitan area - one of the most sophisticated art and cultural centers of the world.
Belize is a rural country whose main product for several centuries has been lumber. It is the opposite of sophisticated, hence it’s attraction for nature lovers.
You’re right, patrons of the arts will have to keep searching.
Queue the guitar line from Deliverance.........DaDa Da Da Da Da Da Da Dahhhh.
You have a good thing going there for you my friend.
You got it all. Family, church, good people everywhere (well, most everywhere), sports, access to getting out of there once in awhile, USA TV stations, decent radio, decent transportation, decent weather. Let us not forget, you have a good job.
What can I say, your the winner.
Actually, healthcare for my wife and I cost less than $40.00 per month, Tricare Prime.
And Dixie beer
Houses on stilts obviously occupied, laundry on the porch, leaning 15 degrees.”
We spent a couple of days there about 25 years ago on our way to Ambergris Caye. I wanted some black coral jewelry. Taxi driver (who spent summers in NYC) drove us to a house-on stilts with tons of kids running around-had $15,000 worth of Craftsman saws, drills and all the tools in one corner of their living room. Hole in floor of kitchen to push garbage to the street level for dogs. Reminded me some of Mexico. Lots of people hanging around doing nothing. Ambergris was still rather undeveloped and electricity at night only if you had a generator-lots of thick jungle. Beautiful island, awesome lobsters and great coral reef. Understand it is totally developed now - too bad.
My brother and his wife own an island in the Phillipines. She is from the Phillipines, they live in So Calif now, but planning to go their island.
We have our eye on some waterfront property in Belize.
“My brother and his wife own an island in the Phillipines. She is from the Phillipines, they live in So Calif now, but planning to go their island.
We have our eye on some waterfront property in Belize.”
My Wife is a filipina, we are looking at property in Baguio and have a place in the Provence as well.
Belize is a rural country whose main product for several centuries has been lumber. It is the opposite of sophisticated, hence it’s attraction for nature lovers.
gee... Newark or Belize... It's like trying to decide whether to eat sh#t or vomit....
How are they about GUNS?
“All of the nicer houses have bars on the windows and/or barbed wire fences around them.”
In Costa Rica it seems ALL the houses & businesses have bars on the windows, doors, & carports. Most homes are surrounded by high walls topped with broken glass and/or barbed wire.
Even in the smallest, most remote villages, every house & business is protected this way. I saw shacks with thousands of dollars of wrought iron bars around them.
Retiring to a fortress surrounded by thieves in a foreign country doesn’t appeal to me.
Honduras?
LOL!
I will check it out myself, I am going to visit Belize next Febuary. I was suprised last year by the cost of living in Costa Rica.
If Obama destroys the value of the dollar, boomers won't have the money to retire to third world countries...
“Which islands are you talking about? My family goes back to the old country every few years and they don’t have to worry about crime”
Sorry, I was not talking about crime. I was referring to the “no rules” part.
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