Best Places In The World To Retire

No, with some rare exceptions, you can’t buy good clothes to buy here in San Juan Del Sur. If you are looking for clothing and you are in San Juan, I recommend going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
Turquesa is a local little boutique whose clothing a local girl named Yaosca Jimenez designs and that has really good clothes. The other company called Auric, which was started by two British fashion designers, who came up with a really cool line of clothing. Those small boutiques sell...

No, with some rare exceptions, you can’t buy good clothes to buy here in San Juan Del Sur. If you are looking for clothing and you are in San Juan, I recommend going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
Turquesa is a local little boutique whose clothing a local girl named Yaosca Jimenez designs and that has really good clothes. The other company called Auric, which was started by two British fashion designers, who came up with a really cool line of clothing. Those small boutiques sell clothes that were designed and custom made here in Nicaragua but these are specialty stores, so you will pay full retail prices for the items.
 
I am a bargain shopper when it comes to clothes so I do my clothing shopping when I go to the States, where I like to find sales. Here in Nicaragua, especially in San Juan Del Sur, most of the little boutiques have poor quality fabric that is made in China that you end up paying full price for even though they are not really that well-made. That is why I don’t do my clothing shopping here except for going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
You could also go to Managua and do your shopping at the malls there, which are similar to some of the malls in the US. You will find a Benetton and a Lacoste store there but there is rarely anything on sale in the malls in Managua. You will pay a little bit more than the retail price in the States. Being a parent and a school director, I am always looking for toys, and I have found it hard to find toys like Melissa and Doug that are of high quality. I pay more than retail price for them and half the time, once I get home and take the toy out of the box, it’s a missing a piece or it’s already broken.  As a result, I came to the realization that because there is no return policy in Nicaragua, these big corporations send their defective items down here. You buy it for full price and you can’t return it when you get home even if it’s already broken. Once you buy it and take it out of the store, it is yours. It’s really frustrating for me and has happened about a dozen times. 

 

(Turquesa Boutique, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)

 

Most of the time when people consider moving abroad to retire, they have a desire for a new and happy life, and probably an adjustment to their budget.  These desires bring about all kinds of changes for which you should be prepared, and do your homework, before you move.
 
You should ask yourself these questions: "Is that what I really want to do?" and "Am I ready for that challenge and change in my life"?  Then, visit the country you are...

Most of the time when people consider moving abroad to retire, they have a desire for a new and happy life, and probably an adjustment to their budget.  These desires bring about all kinds of changes for which you should be prepared, and do your homework, before you move.
 
You should ask yourself these questions: "Is that what I really want to do?" and "Am I ready for that challenge and change in my life"?  Then, visit the country you are considering moving to several times, study their culture, and talk to people, expats as well as locals.   And then, not only after you are absolutely sure those changes will make you happy, then, make your decision.  See if the reason you are considering moving meets your expectations.
 
General things to be concerned about in a new country would be:  Am I ready to learn a new language, adapt to local customary life, enjoy new things and people,  place myself and accommodate  to different weather?  If the answer is YES... GO FOR IT, and enjoy your retirement abroad, without any concerns.

First of all, when buying a house or other real estate in Portugal, you need to know what sort of property you’re looking for. Is it low maintenance? High maintenance? Do you want a garden? Do you want a bit more land? So it depends on the size of the property. If you’re looking to live in the city center or close to the city center, the properties tend to be smaller because there’s no space. There are a lot of people who want to live in the city or close to the city, so...

First of all, when buying a house or other real estate in Portugal, you need to know what sort of property you’re looking for. Is it low maintenance? High maintenance? Do you want a garden? Do you want a bit more land? So it depends on the size of the property. If you’re looking to live in the city center or close to the city center, the properties tend to be smaller because there’s no space. There are a lot of people who want to live in the city or close to the city, so the properties there tend to be smaller.
 
If you move out of the city center like I am, in Cascais, about 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) away from Lisbon, it used to be an old fishing village, so the houses have gardens and pools. If you go inland to the Alentejo area, there are a lot of farms and agricultural land. Do you want a small property in the city center in the middle of the buzz and museums and theaters and shopping centers or you want a taste of the rural life? So we have a bit of everything in Portugal.  
 
Real estate has been booming in Portugal.  We came with a new law a couple of years ago called the Golden Visa Law. Under this law, if you purchase a property over €500,000 (US $558,300) in Portugal, you get the right to have a Golden Visa so you can enter in and out of Europe as many times as you like. For instance, Asians, Indians, and Russians are dying for these visas, which has created a lot of interest in the real estate market in Portugal. So when there’s a lot of interest in the real estate market, there’s a lot of competition between real estate companies, and real estate companies have to improve their service.
 
There is a study survey for every single region of Portugal which will tell you how much is the selling price per square meter of construction and how much it costs the price of square meter of land.  With this information, you know exactly how much a particular property is worth in the market. And then you just have to compare it with the purchase price or the price that the person is asking for, so there’s not this difference and potentially overpaying.  A seller can try to price their property above market, but if a buyer is interested, he or she can just Google the area and search for price per square meter of that region and it tells you exactly not to pay between this amount and that amount, not over, not under; this is the right price to pay. And then you just have to confront the seller and try to get the right deal.  

 

(Alentejo, Portugal, pictured.)

There are medical clinics all over Panama City. I used to go to a clinic in the Amador Causeway when we were still residing there. One time I needed prescription and we went there. It cost me only US $11 to see the doctor. Then we went to the pharmacy next door to buy the medicines. It did not take me over an hour to do all that.

Medical clinics and hospitals are pretty close by, and they are very, very good.

There are medical clinics all over Panama City. I used to go to a clinic in the Amador Causeway when we were still residing there. One time I needed prescription and we went there. It cost me only US $11 to see the doctor. Then we went to the pharmacy next door to buy the medicines. It did not take me over an hour to do all that.

Medical clinics and hospitals are pretty close by, and they are very, very good.

My perspective on the economy of Placencia is that it is quite healthy in terms of being a safe economy. Granted the cost of living in Placencia is pretty high considering the income of the local Belize residents, but at the same time it is an economy that seems to be very stable at this stage. I certainly have had that experience while working with the banks here. The economy in Placencia seems very good and very healthy. The tourism industry in Placencia is very healthy and driving the...

My perspective on the economy of Placencia is that it is quite healthy in terms of being a safe economy. Granted the cost of living in Placencia is pretty high considering the income of the local Belize residents, but at the same time it is an economy that seems to be very stable at this stage. I certainly have had that experience while working with the banks here. The economy in Placencia seems very good and very healthy. The tourism industry in Placencia is very healthy and driving the economy in a very positive way.
 
I would definitely say that tourism is the number one industry in Placencia.   Second would probably be construction. There is a fair amount of construction going on in the country that has increased a lot since I became familiar with Placencia nine years ago.  The reason is that Placencia is becoming more and more known as a great destination in Belize.
 
Placencia is not a very large tourism destination as far as Belize goes. Placencia is a village of approximately 1,500 people and there's only a certain amount of tourism that can be sustained in a village that small. The Placencia Village itself is the big population center along a peninsula by the same name, Placencia, which is about 18 miles long.
 
Compared to Placencia, Ambergris Caye is much more tourism-oriented. I have been to Ambergris Caye on half dozen occasions, and based on that experience, I believe that there are probably more tourists there than there are locals because of the number of beds they have available for tourists. In Placencia, what you get is a very realistic feel for what the Belizean culture is like and what it is like to live in Belize because there is only one street on account of Placencia being a peninsula. So along the street, there is a schoolhouse, the fishermen, and the people going about their day-to-day lives are right there in front of you. There are children playing in the streets, on bicycles, and out on the beach during the day. You really do feel that you are getting a Belizean cultural experience. Anybody going to the restaurants or to maybe a beach bar would have locals sitting right down next to you. They're very friendly and love to talk to tourists. I do things like play horseshoe on Saturdays when I'm down there. They just have an open horseshoe tournament for whoever who wants to sign up, which is just day-to -day life there.

 

(At the turn of the century, Mayan fisherwomen, when Belize was called British Honduras, pictured.)