Best Places In The World To Retire

The dress code in Cayo is very casual. You could wear flip-flops and a t-shirt all year round.

 

My friends and I wear a little nicer sandal most of the time. We wear Capri pants and short-sleeved blouses. We have Belizean friends and Chinese friends here who all dress the same way.

 

There are opportunities for dressing up if you are a “fashionista.” The San Ignacio Hotel downtown, which is owned by a Belizean family, holds events where...

The dress code in Cayo is very casual. You could wear flip-flops and a t-shirt all year round.

 

My friends and I wear a little nicer sandal most of the time. We wear Capri pants and short-sleeved blouses. We have Belizean friends and Chinese friends here who all dress the same way.

 

There are opportunities for dressing up if you are a “fashionista.” The San Ignacio Hotel downtown, which is owned by a Belizean family, holds events where you can dress up.  A man might wear a nice shirt or light dress jacket and the ladies really nice dresses and high heels.

 

We have one small casino here and the locals like to go there because it is an inexpensive fun night out. I don’t gamble but a lot of my peers do gamble and when they do, they dress up a little bit more than the usual.

 

Around town the men usually wear cargo shorts and anything from a regular t-shirt to just a slightly nicer short-sleeved shirt. In the banks, you will see the employees wearing suits. When I set up my business here and I had the bank come out to install my credit card machine, the technician showed up in a suit. It was so hot but he wouldn’t take his jacket off.

 

(Volunteers in San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize, pictured.)

I don’t generally go fishing but recently we went to Rio San Juan, which is the river that divides Costa Rica and Nicaragua and there is a big fishing competition there. People from other countries and also the locals join the fishing competitions. There are also nice places in San Juan del Sur where people go fishing on the ocean. 

 

Local people in Granada go fishing in the marina. Some people also have their own boats and that’s where...

I don’t generally go fishing but recently we went to Rio San Juan, which is the river that divides Costa Rica and Nicaragua and there is a big fishing competition there. People from other countries and also the locals join the fishing competitions. There are also nice places in San Juan del Sur where people go fishing on the ocean. 

 

Local people in Granada go fishing in the marina. Some people also have their own boats and that’s where they go fishing. You can also go fishing in Isla Zapatera, which is also on the Lake Nicaragua. You can go fishing on the ocean in San Juan del Sur and in Rio San Juan. You can rent a boat and have a boatman accompany you to tell you what you need. They rent out boating gear and you can bring your food or a couple of beers while you fish.

 

We have Lake Managua but people in general do not go there to fish. Some people do it just out of necessity but it is not a tourist spot and the water is polluted. They’re in the process of cleaning the waters of Lake Managua because it has been polluted by the people over the last several years. The countries of Spain and Germany made contributions to have a treatment center so that the water does not go to Lake Managua so it’s getting cleaner after the treatments.  

 

(Lake Nicaragua, Nicaragua, pictured.)

Panama has laws that protect property. On the other hand, there are people who will usurp properties that appear to be abandoned. This has happened to people who owned properties in Panama and left. A neighbor may come in to cut the grass, and if he does that for 10 years or so, then he can claim the property as his own.

 

If you buy a property in Panama, you may not be able to tell if there is a clear title on that property or not. A native Panamanian who...

Panama has laws that protect property. On the other hand, there are people who will usurp properties that appear to be abandoned. This has happened to people who owned properties in Panama and left. A neighbor may come in to cut the grass, and if he does that for 10 years or so, then he can claim the property as his own.

 

If you buy a property in Panama, you may not be able to tell if there is a clear title on that property or not. A native Panamanian who has been living on the land, using it for farming or other things has right of possession to that land in the eyes of the government and he has first dibs on titling that land.

 

In the recent change made to the property laws, as a foreigner can buy a right of possession from a native Panamanian and then title it, although this is a long process, so it is best not to buy a piece of land that is not titled.

 

Someone can also claim land that belongs to you by means of the right of adverse possession. If they live on that land for 15 years, they can go to court and title the land even though you have a clear title to begin with. The solution to that is to go to the local police magistrate and tell them that some people are on your land and you want them off. The magistrate will then issue them an eviction notice.

 

Your neighbors in the Algarve would be a mix depending on where you live. If you live in a town they would more likely be Portuguese. The bigger the town the more likely it would be to have Portuguese neighbors. Further out it is more likely there would be a mixed bag of people. There are certainly municipalities where six or seven nationalities could surround you, a little bit like Florida.

 

When I lived just north of Miami, I had neighbors from three or...

Your neighbors in the Algarve would be a mix depending on where you live. If you live in a town they would more likely be Portuguese. The bigger the town the more likely it would be to have Portuguese neighbors. Further out it is more likely there would be a mixed bag of people. There are certainly municipalities where six or seven nationalities could surround you, a little bit like Florida.

 

When I lived just north of Miami, I had neighbors from three or four nationalities who were very transient. The Algarve doesn’t have quite the same transient society that I felt in Southern Florida, but certainly from a heterogeneous perspective, there are a variety of nationalities that reside in the Algarve. It’s fairly likely that your neighbors will be Portuguese, English, Dutch, or German because of the number of people from those countries who have settled in the Algarve. 

 

Most of the people who move to the Algarve would tend to be wealthy by Portuguese standards and comfortably middle class or wealthy by international standards. Most people who have made the decision to come here so they do so because they are financially able to afford to do so. This is a pensioner’s paradise.  These are people who have their pensions intact and can afford a good living in the Algarve, where you could easily live on a lot less than you would if you were living in London, New York, Stockholm, Helsinki or Paris. And so, what we find is that people here who come from abroad and in particular the pensioners have a much higher quality of life and spending power, than the average across Portugal and from whence they came.  

 

(Jose Mourinho, Portuguese football manager, pictured.)

People are different. Some like it hot, some like it cold. Some like orderly societies, others enjoy a bit of chaos. Some are obsessed with good food and wine, others don't much care what ends up in their stomachs. Some like to be surrounded by fellow  expats like themselves in gated communities, others prefer to blend into the local culture.

 

There is no one-size-fits-all best place in the world for everyone to retire. (And if there were, it would...

People are different. Some like it hot, some like it cold. Some like orderly societies, others enjoy a bit of chaos. Some are obsessed with good food and wine, others don't much care what ends up in their stomachs. Some like to be surrounded by fellow  expats like themselves in gated communities, others prefer to blend into the local culture.

 

There is no one-size-fits-all best place in the world for everyone to retire. (And if there were, it would get crowded very quickly).

 

The real questions is: where is the best place in the world for you to retire?

 

And that depends on many factors, such as what you enjoy doing (e.g. surfing, snow skiing) and don't enjoy doing (e.g. drowning, getting frostbite). It also depends on what you can afford, your ability to learn new languages, and what you want to do in your new home.

 

Retirement is not death, or at least it shouldn't be.  When you move to your retirement paradise, you will quickly discover that a 24 hour day is exceedingly long if you have nothing to do. You will need to fill up up those hours with activities you enjoy, and that will influence where the best place is for you.

 

So, what have we got now? We have several criteria to be applied in choosing your retirement home: Ask yourself:

 

 

1) What are my likes and dislikes? What is important to me?

 

Make a list of the things that are important to you -- warm sunny weather, friendly natives, bird-watching. Then make another list of countries that fit with those likes and dislikes. If you hate seeing graffiti on walls and chewing gum on sidewalks, your list should include Singapore, because in Singapore you can be whipped with a cane for vandalism and thrown in jail for leaving gum on sidewalks. On the other hand, if you are big on personal liberty, Singapore is probably not the place for you. Similarly, if you are a Mormon missionary, you should probably not consider Saudi Arabia; and if you are a nudist, France is a better option than Iran.

 

 

2)  What do I want to do when I retire? How am I going to spend my time?

 

Golf? Hiking? Cross-country skiing?  Reading your Kindle? Surfing the internet? Sitting on a beach? Make a list of countries that excel in the activities you want to pursue when you retire. If you are a sport fisherman and live to catch yellowfin tuna, then Panama would be a good bet.  If you are an avid cross-country skier, then Canada and Norway should be on your list.

 

 

3)  Where can I afford to live when I retire?

 

There are lots of fabulous places to live on this planet -- Lake Como or Florence (Italy), Paris or Nice (France), NYC or The Adirondacks (New York), Laguna Beach or Marin County (California),  Barcelona or Ibiza (Spain) . These are all great places -- if you can afford them. If not, you will need to start thinking about other wonderful places with lower costs of living. This is the point at which places like Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Thailand come into view. These countries all have areas where English speaking expats live and thrive in substantial numbers, and they are all relatively inexpensive.

 

 

4) Can I learn the local language?

 

Understanding the local language is important for two reasons. First is the practical one that you will need to get around and do stuff in your new country, which is hard to do if you cannot talk to people (waving and pointing has distinct limits). Second, you will never really understand the local culture if you cannot speak the language.

 

Some languages are harder to learn that others. Spanish is relatively easy. Mandarin, Thai and other Asian languages are very hard for most westerners. This is one of the main reasons I moved to Panama instead of Thailand, Cambodia or China, which I also love.

 

 

You are now at the end of my short rant, but you are only starting the work you need to do if you want to retire overseas. You will need to consider a host of other factors that depend on your personal circumstances.

 

Are you healthy or do you have medical issues? If you do, then you may want to consider Panama, which has excellent health care, but not Cambodia, where you can die on the street and no one will notice.

 

If you worry about crime, Honduras is not the place for you (highest murder rate in the world) but Thailand would do nicely, as would Canada, England or Japan, which all have very low rates of violent crime.

 

Now is the time to start thinking and making your lists.  Do your homework. Do not rely for all your information on businesses that make money pitching one destination or another, or organizing retirement tours. If you are interested in a particular country or region, read everything you can on the internet. There is an enormous amount of information available on the internet. Use it. Make yourself the master of your own destiny. Start figuring out which retirement location is best for you!