If you’re looking overseas for a low-cost alternative to an uncertain retirement at home, there’s good news. You can find it in places that offer not just “cheap” living, but a whole basketful of benefits, too—places where a mild spring-like climate is yours all year round…beaches are of powder-white sand…snow-capped mountains soar above colonial towns…and your costs could be as low as $600 a month.
At home, prices are rising. It costs more to put gas in the car, buy groceries, and pay for health insurance. At the same time, retirement savings eroded in the market downturn. And with interest rates at near-zero today, it’s difficult to rebuild. More than ever, retirees need to stretch their dollars.
Look at the right places beyond our borders today, and you’ll find you have more good choices than ever for a comfortable—even a pampered—retirement. In any one of our top 19 havens for 2012, a lifestyle well beyond your reach in the States could be yours for pennies on the dollar.
A flourishing expat community has evolved over the years as adventurous spirits from all over the globe set their wandering feet to rest, seduced by the charm and easy living in Antigua, Guatemala.
International Living’s Panama Editor, Jessica Ramesch, interviews the Roussels, a Canadian family living on Gorgona Beach on Panama’s Pacific Coast.
I’ll admit it. I became a bit obsessed with Facebook a few months back. It has turned into a great way for readers interested in Panama or International Living to share tidbits or post questions for the IL community.
My husband and I arrived in Salinas for a lengthy vacation…as well as to scope it out as a potential retirement home for his parents.
Cobblestoned streets lined with gaily-painted buildings…burro-drawn carts ambling through the square… The towns along Lake Chapala’s north shore, in central Mexico, offer loads of Old Mexico’s charm.
For many people, the colonial cities of Mexico, with their beauty and romance, epitomize the country’s eternal appeal.
For many foreigners, the romance of colonial Mexico is what draws them South of the Border. In Mexico’s many colonial cities you can enjoy modern life surrounded by sun-drenched patios and centuries-old churches and homes. Even better, you’ll have a lower cost of living in colonial Mexico than you would in the U.S. or Canada.
“I didn’t move here for the cost of living,” says my friend Drew, “but I’m not complaining!” He is one of just a few expats who’ve discovered what I describe as the cheapest place to live in Panama.
There are lots of reasons to live in Ecuador—the great weather, the amazing scenery, the friendly people. But one of the best reasons in today’s economy is the fact that you can live in Ecuador as cheaply as just about any place on earth and still enjoy a great lifestyle.
There’s something intriguing about Hungary. Take away Budapest, goulash and gypsy violins, and it’s practically unknown to the English-speaking world.
Mercer has just released its annual Cost of Living Index, which focuses specifically on what it will cost for an employee to maintain a similar lifestyle in another country.
One of the hot new words for 2008 was frugalista—someone who lives frugally but still manages to be fashionable and healthy. Expat Cuyler Salyer and his wife Alicia have been frugalistas since before the term was invented.
What’s the best thing about living abroad?
Depends on whom you ask.
Every day, Gretchen and Jon awake to the intense blue of the Pacific Ocean. It glistens outside their massive bayside windows. They take their coffee on the balcony, where they enjoy the cool breeze and soft morning sunlight.
If your goal is to live within your means…and your means aren’t as meaningful as they used to be…I have good news for you. You can live well in Mexico on a small budget.
For many IL readers, Ecuador is the best deal going. It not only offers magnificent colonial cities, jagged Andean scenery, hundreds of miles of beaches, and the Galapagos Islands…but also near-perfect weather and one of the world’s lowest costs of living.
If it weren’t for Gary and Merri Scott I might be in a different place. In fact, I could still be living in Omaha, Nebraska, braving the miserable winters. Still writing annual reports and ad copy and only dreaming about what might be.
Seven years ago I traveled to Panama with my husband and young son. It was a vacation destination that changed our lives…for the better.
Scott Taylor grew up in Carlsbad, California, and lived there his entire life. It’s a great place to live—just outside San Diego, the “city of perfect weather”—the kind of place you just don’t leave. But Scott is leaving this idyllic town in search of an ideal of his own…he is moving to Panama. “I have long dreamt of the quality, inexpensive lifestyle of the tropics. Great food, beautiful beaches, friendly people, and the kind of low-cost living that can no longer be found in California,” Scott tells me.
You can cut your monthly cost of living by 35%, 50%, or even more in Latin America. Find out where you can get the best savings.
