Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2007
Read more about Mexico in International Living Postcards–your daily escape
Here’s the secret to living really well on really little: Go abroad…and go local.
A friend of my father’s lives solely on his monthly Social Security check in Mexico. He chose to rent a one-bedroom cottage in a small mountain town for $50 a month. That’s about 10% of his total monthly budget. In other words, he has $450 to cover all other living expenses.
How in the world is he managing that?
He’s gone local. He’s not eating out in restaurants. He’s washing his own clothes. He doesn’t own a car but travels around Mexico and returns to the States a few times a year by bus.
If you would be comfortable and contented living like a local in Mexico, your retirement funds will stretch a long, long way south of the Rio Grande.
If you want to own a property in retirement, a very modest budget can get you where you want to be. For example, right now you could buy:
A three-bedroom house in a Mayan village in Belize for $15,000. Other houses in better locations are listed on the same website for as little as $68,000.
In Panama City, you could spend a lot of money on one of those brand-spanking-new condo towers along Balboa. But if you’re willing to go local, you can set yourself up in Panama’s capital for well under $100,000.
A one-bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires for less than $65,000. Five years ago, you could have bought an apartment in one of this city’s best neighborhoods for this much. Alas, those days are gone. But there’s no question that you can still get in for this price, albeit in the more local, middle-class neighborhoods. Here is one example.
Even in Europe, you can buy an apartment today for less than $50,000. I found more than a dozen studio apartments in Budapest (the Hungarian capital) for $50,000 or less. Expand your search to 50,000 euro ($73,000), and your choices increase to more than 100 studios and one-bedroom apartments. See the options here.
Lief Simon
For International Living
P.S. Recently, I made the opposite point. That is to say, living among the locals doesn’t work everywhere, and I advised you to think hard before settling into a quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood in, say, India. That kind of local living would not be for everyone. However, a reader wrote to tell me that he is, in fact, doing just that. He’s bought a 7,800-square-foot penthouse in a building in some small town an hour and a half outside Bangalore. For all this space at the top, he says he is paying but $87,500.
The reader sent details on the restrictions on ownership by non-Indians. The rules seem to have changed slightly since I was there about two years ago, but, in short, a foreigner can buy only a residence (that is, a place he intends to live)…and he can’t repatriate the funds if and when he sells.
Related articles:
- 10 Places Your Dollar Buys a Lot of Beach
