Dear International Living Reader,
Back in the U.S. another winter storm threatens the east coast, stock prices are diving thanks to high unemployment rates, the painful health care debate continues to make us all sick, and Conan O’Brien is in the news. For joining Twitter.
Who cares…about any of it?
Not me and not the 370+ attendees and 130+ speakers and exhibitors gathered here in Quito, Ecuador, for International Living’s Ultimate Event 2010—where, by the way, people are basking poolside in perfect 77-degree sunshine.
I’m Suzan Haskins, your Conference Insider, reporting to you from this event. As I told you yesterday, it’s an event of historical proportions. International Living’s biggest-ever conference.
Why are so many people here? Is it because nothing works back home any more…from health care to child care, from banks to politics, from cars to bars? OK, the bars still work. But who really wants to pay $8 for a draft beer these days? Not me, and especially not when I can get a 22-ounce bottle of Pilsener, a mighty fine beer, here in Ecuador for $1. (And a full four-course meal for $2. And a three-bedroom condo for less than $50,000.)
Wouldn’t it be nice to fall in love with your life again? To find a place with better views out your windows, better weather, a lower cost of living, and where things really work?
These were the big topics during today’s Ultimate Event sessions.
The Most European Countries in Latin America
Lee Harrison kicked it off with his profile of life in Uruguay. It may not be as inexpensive for daily living as Ecuador, he said, but as a whole, the country is more “progressive,” thanks to its European influence.
“Everything runs like clockwork. All the roads are safe and well-kept, the parks are clean, the hardware stores and grocery stores are well-stocked, trains and buses run on time….”
And the cost of living is low. In Montevideo, Uruguay’s famous colonial city, Lee showed us photos of a two-bedroom apartment in a building offered for $65,000. “This is a nice apartment—I would happily live in it,” he said.
Lee has an apartment in Montevideo, but Punta del Este, where he lives most of the time, is his favorite spot in Uruguay. He says it’s “the jet-setter’s resort of South America. Where Brazilian fashion models, Argentine polo players and Latin rock stars go for vacations—not just for the beautiful beaches but because it’s so safe.”
This also makes Punta del Este an attractive real estate market because there’s an active rental demand here for vacation condos. Lee showed us lots of properties in Uruguay, that you could buy now, in cities like Punta del Este, Montevideo, Colonia, and Mercedes—a place he particularly likes and where you can find nice-sized homes selling for as little as $40,000.
Not to be outdone, Paul Reynolds extolled the virtues of his home country, Argentina. For almost a decade now he’s been helping International Living readers relocate to Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Salta, Cordoba and Mendoza where, Paul says, there are big bargains on vineyard properties.
“In Argentina, you can buy a vineyard for 1/10th what you’ll pay in Napa Valley,” he said. “And don’t worry if you don’t know anything about growing grapes or making wine. Labor costs in Argentina are low and you can hire this kind of expertise very inexpensively. In fact, the workers and experts may very well come with the property you buy.”
Don’t want to do any work at all, but do want to enjoy the setting and the wine? You can buy a shared ownership villa in a co-op vineyard project, with two bedrooms, a swimming pool, and of course, a wine cellar, for just $38,000. And that come with 100 premium bottles of wine per year. My kind of place.
By the way, Argentina and Chile are the only places in Latin America with ski resorts, so if you’re a skier take note: Ski in North America in the winter and head to South America in the summer (which is their winter). Paul can point you to great deals on ski resort properties, too.
What About the Costs of Health Care and Health Insurance?
Glynna Prentice acknowledges that Mexico, where she lives, isn’t the least-expensive country being profiled at the Ultimate Event. But, she says, in Mexico you can get government health insurance for $300 or less a year. And that includes all your prescription medications.
A private insurance plan, she says, is half the cost you pay at home, as are out-of-pocket expenses.
And this isn’t publicized, but Mexico offers a great retirement program for anyone living there as a resident. Lots of discounts on things like restaurants, cultural activities and medical care.
Resident Visas…Which Countries are Easiest?
Glynna says Mexico may be the easiest country for a foreigner to get a resident visa in.
But Lee Harrison says that about Uruguay, where he plans to apply for permanent citizenship. And Dan Prescher says the same about Belize and its famous Qualified Retirement Program, which allows a host of benefits including importing your household goods, vehicle and boat duty-free and tax residency…whether you actually live there or not.
Belize may be the easiest country to relocate to—especially if you’re concerned about the difficulties of learning a foreign language.
Dan says Belize is also the perfect destination for anyone who loves the ocean. Divers, fishermen, snorkelers, and those who just want to sip a rum punch with an eye to the sea at sunset.
And increasingly, inland Belize is becoming more popular. It’s easy to see why, with acres and acres of rolling hills, lush riverland, and pine-ridge mountains. And the farther you get from the coast (which boats the lowest coastal property prices in the Caribbean), the lower the prices get, Dan says.
There’s so much more to tell you! But of course, I can’t type up everything that’s happened here in Quito. In just two days so far, we’ve already spent 13 hours in presentations and workshops. And we have two days yet to go!
We’ve learned about the best countries for second citizenship, the best countries to obtain residency easily and at little cost, and which provide free or very low-cost health care to residents.
That definitely helps us know where to look to find the location of our dreams. And thanks to our speakers, we now have a very good idea of how much it will cost us to live in these countries, including the costs to buy a home, apartment, or acreage.
Must-Know Info About Buying Property Overseas
One important note here: Ronan McMahon, director of Pathfinder Real Estate and International Living’s expert real estate editor, made some very timely comments today about how to assess a real estate market or opportunity. Certain markets are absolutely better if you’re looking to make money on your real estate purchase overseas. Ronan offered his strategies for success and named his top moneymaking destinations.
This is must-know information for anyone considering an international real estate purchase.
How to Earn an Income From Anywhere in the World
So let’s say you find that perfect place to live. No matter how inexpensive it may be to live there, you’ll want to keep busy. And wouldn’t it be nice if the “busy” brought in some extra income?
Seriously, if you can live well…very well…in Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and elsewhere on $1,700/month…think how well you can live on $2,000 a month or $2,500 a month.
Today’s last speaker, Winton Churchill, has more than a few ideas about how to earn an income from anywhere in the world. All you need is a computer.
He’s developed a program that can help you figure out how to take your current skill sets and interests and transform them into new businesses you can operate from anywhere via the Internet.
“One woman told me all she wanted was to make $200 extra every month for her M&M money. That’s a lot of M&Ms, I said. It was only later I found she meant massages and margaritas.”
Winton provided a list of dozens of resources and marketing sources where you can get started. And you can easily get your hands on them…
Would you like to learn more about all the countries and opportunities we’re discovering here at the Ultimate Event? Let me tell you how you can…
We’re putting together a complete package of nearly everything that’s happening at this event, with audio recordings of all 76 of the presentations.
We’re also making copies of all the speaker handouts, PowerPoint and visual presentations. And, of course, the complete dossier we give to each attendee when they showed up here at the Swissotel in Quito.
It’s the Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit—and it covers every aspect of the 2010 Ultimate Event.
This package will help you fast track your plans of moving to or investing in your own corner of paradise…wherever that might be…
Review the Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit and you’ll catch up with those of us in the audience here in Quito…but at your leisure. In fact, you’ll have one distinct advantage over those of us here at the conference: You can listen to all of the presentations whenever you want, from the comfort of your home or office…and with as many breaks as you need.
Watch the PowerPoint presentations, read through the handouts, listen to the audio recordings, copy them to your iPod and listen to them any time, any place. Skip around to the presentations that interest you most… More importantly, you can listen to them as many times as you like, so you don’t miss a thing.
Reserve Your Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit for the Lowest Conference Discount Available…
Seminar attendees paid up to $1,295 each to get this information firsthand. And being here in person is more than worth that amount, of course. But we understand that not everyone can be here. Still, if you’re interested in any aspect of retiring, relocating, investing, or sheltering your assets overseas we want you to have all the information being shared here this week.
Reserve your Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit today and you’ll save $200 off the regular price. Instead of paying the regular price of $399, it’ll only cost you $199. That’s a major discount—and this is the only time it will be offered.
We’ll offer the Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit for this low price until we have the recordings ready to deliver to you. At that point… we’ll charge the full price of $399.
Point is: there won’t be a more affordable time to order your Kit.
Reserve your Kit today and save $200… We’ll send the information about how to obtain your conference package as soon as we’re finished making copies of the recordings, the handouts, the PowerPoint presentations.
Of course, some day we hope you’ll join us in person at one of our events. So we’ll also throw in a $100 voucher toward any upcoming International Living event. You can use it to attend any of the future events and seminars you may be interested in and on top of any other discounts you may be eligible for.
(This year we’ll be hosting events in Panama, Toronto, Costa Rica, Las Vegas, and Mexico…at least one of these is sure to be a perfect fit for your personal needs.)
If This Information Doesn’t Help You, You Pay Nothing
The 30+ experts at this event cover every possible aspect of living and investing around the world. After you’ve heard their briefings, there’ll be nothing to stop you from acting on the information they share.
Because of that, we’ll return every penny you paid for this information if it doesn’t help make your overseas dreams come true.
In other words: You can call us at any time in the future—next month… next year… or next decade—and tell us the information didn’t help you. (Or don’t tell us anything. Just ask for your money back.) We’ll give you back your $199.
So if you’re serious about reducing your expenses, safeguarding your hard-earned assets, and living a more relaxed, genteel life, I urge you to take advantage of this offer and reserve your Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit now.
Suzan Haskins
Your Conference Insider, International Living
P.S. Remember, you get $200 off the regular price and pay just $199 for the Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit. AND, you get a $100 voucher toward any of our next events or conferences. But this special conference discount is only available until we’re ready to deliver the recordings—after that the price goes up.
Please don’t wait. Because if you do, you’ll pay more. Reserve your Ultimate Event 2010 Conference-at-Home Kit now.
