Best Places In The World To Retire

The Mexican physicians here speak perfect English and are well- educated. 

 

That’s the beauty of living in the Ajijic area. The retirees may outnumber the Mexicans many of whom are maids, gardeners, service workers, business owners and mechanics.  Most of them speak at least enough rudimentary English to communicate with you.  Almost every Mexican who lives in Ajijic speaks or understands some English, because if they don’t,...

The Mexican physicians here speak perfect English and are well- educated. 

 

That’s the beauty of living in the Ajijic area. The retirees may outnumber the Mexicans many of whom are maids, gardeners, service workers, business owners and mechanics.  Most of them speak at least enough rudimentary English to communicate with you.  Almost every Mexican who lives in Ajijic speaks or understands some English, because if they don’t, they’re not going to be able to make the kind of money the English speakers make.  As a result, you don’t need to speak Spanish to live here, which is both a plus and a minus.

 

(Logo for Quality Care Medical Specialist,  Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)

Yes, you can buy a business in Belize.  You cannot work in that business if you are in Belize on a retirement program, but you can buy the business if you have a manager to take care of the business.  But if you want to manage that business, you can buy it and you would have to apply for a work permit. 

 

Anybody can buy a business in Belize. The only thing we would caution you about is that you will need to have a contract and make sure...

Yes, you can buy a business in Belize.  You cannot work in that business if you are in Belize on a retirement program, but you can buy the business if you have a manager to take care of the business.  But if you want to manage that business, you can buy it and you would have to apply for a work permit. 

 

Anybody can buy a business in Belize. The only thing we would caution you about is that you will need to have a contract and make sure that you have an attorney or a paralegal to take care of it.

 

There are no restrictions on foreigners buying businesses in Belize.  Actually, the government encourages this. The government is actively encouraging foreigners to start tourism businesses. 

 

(Pictured: restaurant in Belize.)

 

Retiring overseas may definitely sometimes be a difficult decision but once you have found the right place, its totally worth it.

 

Retiring overseas may definitely sometimes be a difficult decision but once you have found the right place, its totally worth it.

 

It is typically more expensive to buy a new car in Portugal. It is very difficult to find a new car in Portugal unless it is a small new car that costs under € 10,000 (about US $ 10,800 or £ 7,370). Most new cars when compared to the UK, will be at a premium of about 25% to 30% and when compared to the US, will be at a premium of about 40% to 50%. 

 

The market for second hand cars hardly existed until about 5 years ago and now there are about...

It is typically more expensive to buy a new car in Portugal. It is very difficult to find a new car in Portugal unless it is a small new car that costs under € 10,000 (about US $ 10,800 or £ 7,370). Most new cars when compared to the UK, will be at a premium of about 25% to 30% and when compared to the US, will be at a premium of about 40% to 50%. 

 

The market for second hand cars hardly existed until about 5 years ago and now there are about three or four specialists but it is still more expensive than buying a second hand car in the US, where you could into Daytona Beach and buy a pickup truck for US $500 (€ 460 or £ 340). You can’t do that in Portugal. A fairly nice condition, second hand car would cost about €5,000 (US $ 5,500 or £ 3,700).  Vehicle taxes in Portugal are astronomical; they are the highest in Europe.

 

I am not really certain why we didn’t have a second hand car market in Portugal until recently but I think it is partly cultural and partly as a result of legislation. Culturally, even though Portugal is not a wealthy nation, it hates to buy things that are second hand. If you offer somebody second hand clothes, for example, they will look at you lop-sided because they consider that pretty much an insult. Until recently, any second hand items of any nature were frowned upon, whereas, if you go to England, for example, second hand sales are all the rage. In Portugal, that was frowned upon. I think that extended to vehicles. Vehicles are seen as a status symbol so people do not like to be seen in second hand cars.

 

The other thing was that the taxation process, in terms of imported vehicles is so onerous. There are such high taxes in terms of imported vehicles that it just didn’t pay to import and to buy an imported, nice second hand car because the price would be too close to brand new cars. Only in the course of the last few years has that appeared to change.  

 

(Fiat Cinquecento in Portugal, pictured.)