Best Places In The World To Retire

In Puerto Vallarta there is an older expat population; 55 and above. There is also a gay population that lives there. As you go north into the Riviera Nayarit where I live, we have younger population. You will also see bi-racial marriages and younger families who have relocated and who have started businesses here, and you will see some older population who are looking to retire. We’re seeing a lot of the baby boomers, at least in Sayulita. 

 

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In Puerto Vallarta there is an older expat population; 55 and above. There is also a gay population that lives there. As you go north into the Riviera Nayarit where I live, we have younger population. You will also see bi-racial marriages and younger families who have relocated and who have started businesses here, and you will see some older population who are looking to retire. We’re seeing a lot of the baby boomers, at least in Sayulita. 

 

We’re seeing a lot of the baby boomers move out of this area and move back to the States because they have grandchildren they want to be near or they have health concerns that they’re not sure can be met here or they have Medicare that they can get in the States.  This is less the case in Puerto Vallarta, which has really close access to medical care versus Sayulita, which is an hour away.  This hour can be a lot if you’ve got medical treatments or medical care that you need seen to regularly. 

 

Some people have an idea that it’s just going to be really cheap to live here and it’s not. Real estate is expensive and being a foreigner is more expensive than being a local. Overall it can be cheaper but it doesn’t always mean that it’s a lot cheaper. 

 

People move to the Puerto Vallarta area for several reasons.  Some are tired of the US. Canadians come because of the weather.  A lot of younger American families are coming down here because they’re fed up with the things are done in America. They’re tired of the really long workweeks and realize that the money they may be making doesn’t justify them rarely seeing their families and the quality of life that they have. Here in the Puerto Vallarta area there is a really great quality of life because there is something really organic and natural about it. You can go surfing in the morning, come back, have fresh squeezed orange juice, work for a few hours, and then go hang out with your friends. It’s not the high pressure, high performance type of pace at the States. That’s it. It’s a good alternative for that.  

 

(Expats on the beach at Sayulita, Mexico, pictured.)

I don’t know if there is a company or business that offers that kind of service in Panama. What I know for sure is if you have a sick relative, sometimes you look out for a nurse to hire to take care of your relative.

 

What most people do is to hire a nurse who would be a well-trained nurse from a hospital.

 

There are no old age homes here in Panama. We don’t have assisted living or long term insurance here in Panama...

I don’t know if there is a company or business that offers that kind of service in Panama. What I know for sure is if you have a sick relative, sometimes you look out for a nurse to hire to take care of your relative.

 

What most people do is to hire a nurse who would be a well-trained nurse from a hospital.

 

There are no old age homes here in Panama. We don’t have assisted living or long term insurance here in Panama that I’m aware of, so when people get old, they will stay with their family.

 

(Nurse in Panama, pictured.)

There are natural disasters in Algarve but we have not had one for many centuries.  The entire country of Portugal is actually on an earthquake zone. The last major earthquake was in 1755, so it was clearly some time ago.

 

The Algarve gets tens, if not hundreds, of little ground tremors, which are sometimes too weak to be felt by a human being, but they do happen because we are on an earthquake zone. 

 

The Algarve is...

There are natural disasters in Algarve but we have not had one for many centuries.  The entire country of Portugal is actually on an earthquake zone. The last major earthquake was in 1755, so it was clearly some time ago.

 

The Algarve gets tens, if not hundreds, of little ground tremors, which are sometimes too weak to be felt by a human being, but they do happen because we are on an earthquake zone. 

 

The Algarve is not a flooding zone. The biggest risk or the biggest natural disaster, I would say, that the Algarve faces is brush fires. There are a lot of natural areas that are fairly dense with shrubs and bushes. Unfortunately, we have bush fires every 5 to 6 years. The bush fires here are not at the scale of the bush fires that happen in Australia or California but nonetheless, it is probably the biggest natural disaster on a local level. However, very rarely does a home get damaged by bush fires. The last that I remember where a house got burned or damaged by a bush fire happened around 10 years ago when there was a bush fire in the Eastern Algarve. Because the fires mostly happen in the densely foliated areas, the density of homes in these areas is also very low. The loss of property is fortunately low and the loss of life is very rare. There could be a loss of sheep or cattle, which are generally a loss of natural environment rather than a physical, material, or human loss.

 

Relevant to flooding, about two months ago, Algarve had probably one of the worst floods that occurred in Albufeira in living memory. Generally, flooding is not common here in the Algarve because we are in an area where there is very little rain. We are always praying for rain. What happens in some coastal towns, because they built their buildings very close to the water, is that they get flooded when it is a high tide and it is a full moon. This is what happened in Albufeira a few months ago. There are other villages that are prone to flooding such as Ferragudo, and the downtown area of Tavira. So, overall, there are one or two towns or villages that can be flooded but flooding is not a common thing.

 

Relative to hurricanes, they don’t happen here in Portugal. We send them towards the US; we don’t receive them. The hurricanes start typically in an area near the Cape Verde Islands, then tend to go towards the West Coast of Africa, and then towards the East Coast of the US. We have high winds and we sometimes have windy days but gale force winds are very rare.

 

( Tile mural of Lisbon before the Portuguese earthquake in 1755, pictured.)

The best reason to retire overseas is to have an adventure – to broaden your experience base, to try something new, and to be open to change, new cultures, etc. The most important reason is to feel like you need something different in your life. You want to change the quality of your life.  That is without saying that the quality of your life may not have been good in the States or wherever you came from, but just to say that you want a different quality of life. A life...

The best reason to retire overseas is to have an adventure – to broaden your experience base, to try something new, and to be open to change, new cultures, etc. The most important reason is to feel like you need something different in your life. You want to change the quality of your life.  That is without saying that the quality of your life may not have been good in the States or wherever you came from, but just to say that you want a different quality of life. A life that gives you another purpose and something that gives you a little more enthusiasm about life. You have to really want to retire overseas in order to try something different because you feel like it is going to enhance your life.

 

(David Truly in Manzanillo, Mexico, pictured.)

Over the years, it has become easier to move your things to Belize. If you are from Canada or from North America, you can get your things shipped to a port. It could be the port in Galveston, Texas or in Miami, Florida. The same things goes if you are going to have your things transported by land. It could either be to Houston, Texas, which is the prime hub, because that is where everything gets packed and ready, and driven through Mexico. In some cases, major shipping companies pick...

Over the years, it has become easier to move your things to Belize. If you are from Canada or from North America, you can get your things shipped to a port. It could be the port in Galveston, Texas or in Miami, Florida. The same things goes if you are going to have your things transported by land. It could either be to Houston, Texas, which is the prime hub, because that is where everything gets packed and ready, and driven through Mexico. In some cases, major shipping companies pick up your things if you are in a major city such as New York, Los Angeles, Houston, or Miami. They will drive your things to Houston, pack it up in a container and drive it down through Mexico. I hear that it is now cheaper to ship by water and in some cases, a lot more secure because sometimes, when you ship by land, it could be delayed, it could be damaged or stolen, or it might get in an accident. So shipping your things by water tends to be cheaper, more reliable, and more secure.

 

Once your things are at the port in Belize, if it was shipped by water, or, if it hits the border in Belize, if it was transported by land, all you need to do is hire a customs broker and he will clear your things for you. When you are packing your things, it is very important that you provide a detailed list of your belongings. All items need to be counted and properly documented so when the customs authorities review it, it will be easy for them to understand.

 

You should also declare the value of your things. For example, if you are bringing several chairs, you have to declare how many chairs you are bringing, a description of the chairs, and the value of the chairs. It is also important to never say that any item is new when it is not because the word “new” sparks the attention of the customs agents and they’ll ask you what’s in the box. Even if it’s new some people say that they had it for a few years or it is just simply not new. For example, you could have something in your garage that you have not opened and have not used, anyway. When you declare something as new, they might ask you to open the box.

 

Customs agencies do not open every single box because if they did they would be working 24 hours a day. In some cases, if you say that it is a Black and Decker, it’s fine, but then if you say it’s new, they’ll ask you to open the box and they’ll examine the item. They might say that it is new and the value that you declared does not match, which then creates a discrepancy, but you can genuinely say it is not new because what you paid for the Black and Decker blower five years ago, is not the same amount that you would have paid today. So it is better to say, if possible, that item is not new, since the value of that product has now depreciated and it is probably not even the same model as the ones that are out in the market now. This is important because if you do declare that something is new, you would wind up paying an import duty based on the current day value of it.  If it is new they are going to assign a higher value to your items and you will pay more.

 

There is a program called the QRP (Qualified Retirement Program).  The people who enroll in that program do get all their things brought into the country duty free, including furniture, household effects, car, boat, and a plane.