Best Places In The World To Retire

According to the U.S. Department of State Travel website:
 

Obtaining medical treatment and hospital care abroad can be expensive, and medical evacuation to the U.S. can cost more than $50,000. Note that U.S. medical insurance is generally not accepted outside the United States, nor do the Social Security Medicare and Medicaid programs provide coverage for hospital or medical costs outside the United States. 

 

There are health insurance policies...

According to the U.S. Department of State Travel website:
 

Obtaining medical treatment and hospital care abroad can be expensive, and medical evacuation to the U.S. can cost more than $50,000. Note that U.S. medical insurance is generally not accepted outside the United States, nor do the Social Security Medicare and Medicaid programs provide coverage for hospital or medical costs outside the United States. 

 

There are health insurance policies both for short term trips and longer stays abroad that you can purchase which will provide full coverage outside the US. 

Politics in Belize mirrors that in the United Kingdom. Belize, a former colony of England, inherited the Westminster system with the head of state being the governor general and the head of government being the prime minister. The prime minister is the leader of the political party that is able to win the most seats in a general election.

 

There are two dominant parties in Belizer, the People's United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP). There is no...

Politics in Belize mirrors that in the United Kingdom. Belize, a former colony of England, inherited the Westminster system with the head of state being the governor general and the head of government being the prime minister. The prime minister is the leader of the political party that is able to win the most seats in a general election.

 

There are two dominant parties in Belizer, the People's United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP). There is no real distinction in political philosophy between the two, as in the US where the Democrats are seen as more liberal and the Republicans as conservative in their policy positions. In Belize, parties compete on a single point of who can best reduce poverty and push a development agenda that would result in lower cost of living, better physical infrastructure and social facilities. There isn't much debate or consideration for items such as abortion, gay rights, finance laws or other sophisticated policy issues, which feature highly in politics of more advance economies.

 

(Prime Minister of Belize since 2008, Dean Barrow, pictured.)

 

 

If you live in Nicaragua, you still have to pay US income tax but, as per the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, you only owe on the amount over the threshold. Once you’ve gone over the threshold of roughly $100,800 for 2015 (this amount is indexed, so it rises very year), then you owe income tax.
 
In order to qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, there are certain things that you have to be compliant with. For example, you have to make sure your tax home is...

If you live in Nicaragua, you still have to pay US income tax but, as per the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, you only owe on the amount over the threshold. Once you’ve gone over the threshold of roughly $100,800 for 2015 (this amount is indexed, so it rises very year), then you owe income tax.
 
In order to qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, there are certain things that you have to be compliant with. For example, you have to make sure your tax home is Nicaragua. So if you come to Nicaragua once a month or if you come here to Nicaragua and just spend a month that doesn’t mean you could file your taxes as if you’re living in Nicaragua under the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, so that’s very important to keep in mind. In order to qualify, you actually have to make your tax home Nicaragua.  

 

(Marina Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua, pictured.)

This is a difficult question to answer in a generic way because some requirements (for example, visa) will vary depending on your nationality.  The answer to this question will necessarily need to be analyzed on a case-by-case matter.
 
In the example of an American couple without children that want to retire and move to Portugal for one year in a leased apartment the costs would not be very high.  Basically the costs they would incur are the official costs of obtaining...

This is a difficult question to answer in a generic way because some requirements (for example, visa) will vary depending on your nationality.  The answer to this question will necessarily need to be analyzed on a case-by-case matter.
 
In the example of an American couple without children that want to retire and move to Portugal for one year in a leased apartment the costs would not be very high.  Basically the costs they would incur are the official costs of obtaining the visas (we are assuming the couple in the example does not have a European passport, which may avoid the need for a visa) which are around 500 euros (about US $560) per person and the costs of hiring a lawyer to assist in the procedure of obtaining a visa, which should not exceed 1,500 euros per person (about US $1,670).

We would recommend people with little knowledge about Portugal to make a test try for 6 to 12 months in a leased apartment in order to reduce the costs and limit your exposure in a first phase.

 

(Apartment in the Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)

In El Valle de Anton, we have a large community of Americans and Canadians. There’s a Chinese community and Latin American communities from South America or Mexico. There’s a good variety of Spanish- speaking people here. We have Russians, French, Italians, and South Africans. You name it, we probably have it.

Most of the people in the North American communities in El Valle are retired, age 50 and above. We have a few that are younger. The younger ones are the Internet...

In El Valle de Anton, we have a large community of Americans and Canadians. There’s a Chinese community and Latin American communities from South America or Mexico. There’s a good variety of Spanish- speaking people here. We have Russians, French, Italians, and South Africans. You name it, we probably have it.

Most of the people in the North American communities in El Valle are retired, age 50 and above. We have a few that are younger. The younger ones are the Internet people who can work from wherever they want, as long as they have their computers. The Chinese community has a good store and restaurant environment that they have set up. They’ve been here for a long time, before the year 2000. We have an interesting Italian couple who have been here for a couple of years. The husband opened up a nice Italian restaurant, really Italian style, and his wife has become a realtor.

There are lots of people who come here and want to get involved in the community. We have the recycling community that started probably about 8 years ago. They work with the locals to collect plastics, cans, and glasses, and then they give the people who bring in the recycled products points towards future patio sales. The patio sales are basically furniture, electronics, anything that people don’t want anymore and would just like to donate for a good cause. The natives bring in their recyclables and they get these points, which they can use at the patio sales.

There are also expats who work with a spay and neuter community here, to try to get all the pets their injections and get them operated on, so they’re not constantly giving birth. The expats like to be involved in these activities.

(Entrance trail to El Chorro Macho Falls, Valle de Anton, Panama, pictured.)