Best Places In The World To Retire

Most people who are willing to pick up stakes and move to a foreign country are people that you probably want to know because if you moved here, you’re one of those people; you’ve pulled up stakes and moved to a foreign country. These types of people are usually outgoing and friendly and interesting and those who aren’t usually don’t stay because they don’t fit in.

 

The reasons that people move away from the Chapala –...

Most people who are willing to pick up stakes and move to a foreign country are people that you probably want to know because if you moved here, you’re one of those people; you’ve pulled up stakes and moved to a foreign country. These types of people are usually outgoing and friendly and interesting and those who aren’t usually don’t stay because they don’t fit in.

 

The reasons that people move away from the Chapala – Ajijic area are age, health, problems with children, and problems with grandchildren, and they feel they need to go home and deal with that situation. That’s why people leave. Or they just fit in socially.

 

(Mexican Cesar Balsa with Walt Disney in Chapala, Mexico, pictured.)

For those interested in obtaining permanent residency in Belize, you may begin the application process after you have been in the country legally for one year. You may leave the country for no more than 14 consecutive days at any one time to qualify.

 

This is a process that requires an application, some medical tests, a recent police record and several more papers. It can be a lengthy process. You can hire an attorney to help or many people do this...

For those interested in obtaining permanent residency in Belize, you may begin the application process after you have been in the country legally for one year. You may leave the country for no more than 14 consecutive days at any one time to qualify.

 

This is a process that requires an application, some medical tests, a recent police record and several more papers. It can be a lengthy process. You can hire an attorney to help or many people do this themselves. Our tours do include a visit from an immigration officer who can explain this in detail, and we provide all of the necessary paperwork for starting the process.

 

Some people find they do not even need to apply for permanent residency though, as it is easy to live in Belize without becoming a permanent resident. There are other options for living in Belize long-term if permanent residency is not for you. It really depends on what you plan to do while you are living there. 

I would say the worst places to retire would be anywhere where my life is endangered all the time, and that could be anywhere; from Jamaica to Brazil to South Africa or any African country at the moment and to the Far East. I know Dubai and a few other places are fine for a while, but we have seen the volatility of the world that may change this. Unfortunately, these places have some attributes that I do not think can be compensated for.

 

Other places...

I would say the worst places to retire would be anywhere where my life is endangered all the time, and that could be anywhere; from Jamaica to Brazil to South Africa or any African country at the moment and to the Far East. I know Dubai and a few other places are fine for a while, but we have seen the volatility of the world that may change this. Unfortunately, these places have some attributes that I do not think can be compensated for.

 

Other places are too expensive unless you have unlimited wealth. We can exist here in Panama at a budget of US $4,000 or $6,000 in a style that would cost us $20,000 per month if we lived in Canada or France. We have horses, gardeners, and people who tend horses, etc. Therefore, lifestyle can be very comfortable and very inexpensive here in Panama and there is the infrastructure to support the lifestyle. We have airports that work. We can fly direct from Panama City to Toronto and we change flights once to fly to Panama straight from New Delhi.

 

I know I would not consider Costa Rica because it is more dangerous over there and it is more expensive. In Costa Rica, it is very expensive to buy homes, cars, or even liquor. Security is an issue. I know people who have left Costa Rica for security reasons, for example a person who had military training but decided to leave because he feels that the place is getting dangerous. I would say the same about Brazil, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and one or two of the other Caribbean islands.

 

A friend of ours here in Panama sold a fabulous million-dollar home in the American Virgin Islands because of the lawlessness of the country, even though it is, I believe, some sort of protectorate of the US. The law is almost non-existent. You can be robbed at gunpoint, and the government is very corrupt. Our friends sold their nice home in the American Virgin Islands and came to live in a lesser place here in Panama.

 

Australia is also another place that is not good to live in, unless you are very wealthy and do not mind traveling a long way to go anywhere. New Zealand is now incredibly socialistic and controlled. You will see New Zealanders who have left there now, talking about how expensive it is and how poor the services are there. They say garbage pickup is done once every two weeks in New Zealand. We get garbage picked up twice a week here in Panama.

 

(Keep New Zealand Beautiful logo, pictured.)

There are natural parks everywhere in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua and you will most definitely see beautiful flowers and trees there. Ometepe, which is the island in Lake Nicaragua, is extremely nice with all the flowers and trees.

 

Just walking around San Juan Del Sur, you will already see a lot of flowers and trees especially now that it is rainy season. Everything is green and it is beautiful.

There are natural parks everywhere in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua and you will most definitely see beautiful flowers and trees there. Ometepe, which is the island in Lake Nicaragua, is extremely nice with all the flowers and trees.

 

Just walking around San Juan Del Sur, you will already see a lot of flowers and trees especially now that it is rainy season. Everything is green and it is beautiful.

Portugal has cut down quite a lot of holidays.  Portugal is a Catholic country that had a tremendous amount of holidays for saints that they’ve had to cut down on.

 

Portugal has Easter, but you don’t have like you do in England, as Easter Monday. You just have Good Friday and Easter Sunday and then at Christmas you don’t have like you do in England with Boxing Day, which is a day after that. It doesn’t exist here in Portugal....

Portugal has cut down quite a lot of holidays.  Portugal is a Catholic country that had a tremendous amount of holidays for saints that they’ve had to cut down on.

 

Portugal has Easter, but you don’t have like you do in England, as Easter Monday. You just have Good Friday and Easter Sunday and then at Christmas you don’t have like you do in England with Boxing Day, which is a day after that. It doesn’t exist here in Portugal. You just have December 24th, which is more celebrated than December 25th here.

 

In June you have quite a few holidays.  The municipality of Lisbon will have a day in June and then the municipality of Cascais will have a day then another municipality will have a day, and so on. June is the month where they have the fairs, which are a bit like carnivals, where they eat all the sardines and they grill the sardines in the streets in Lisbon. June is sort of the holiday season.

 

Then you have days of saints, many of which are in the month of August. In England, the holidays occur on a Mondays, whereas here in Portugal, the holiday could be on a Thursday, so everybody, of course, will take the Friday off. There are quite a few holidays here.

 

(The Feast of Trays, or Feast of the Holy Spirit, Tomar, Portugal, pictured.)