Best Places In The World To Retire

• Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve
• Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve
• Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche
• Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California
• Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserves
• El Pinacate Y Gran Desierto de Alar Biosphere Reserve
• Archipiélago de Revillagigedo

The surf and surfing in and around Managua is great and a lot of fun.

 

Surfers come to Gran Pacifica, which is located an hour away from the main city of Managua to ride two of the best surf spots in Nicaragua, the Meatgrinder and the Azuchillo Waves.  I'm not a surfer, but WOW it's fun to watch. Some surfers have even bought homes at Gran Pacifica to just enjoy the waves every single day. The best part is that the beach is not crowded at all. 

The surf and surfing in and around Managua is great and a lot of fun.

 

Surfers come to Gran Pacifica, which is located an hour away from the main city of Managua to ride two of the best surf spots in Nicaragua, the Meatgrinder and the Azuchillo Waves.  I'm not a surfer, but WOW it's fun to watch. Some surfers have even bought homes at Gran Pacifica to just enjoy the waves every single day. The best part is that the beach is not crowded at all. 

 

There are other beaches within Gran Pacifica that have small waves, and that are very family and children friendly. Gran Pacifica has a variety of beaches because we own 3.5 miles of beachfront property. We still don’t have a different name for each individual beach.  We call the entire beach area San Diego Beach, and then differentiate the separate beaches by just calling them "the swimming beach" or "the surfing beach". There are lovely beach areas at Gran Pacifica where you just enjoy swimming.

As you are coming to a new country it is recommended that you maintain your current accounts until you have lived here in Panama for a year or so.  You will find that local banks have a lot of fees and hidden charges that you are not paying at home.  This is especially the case with local credit cards which will charge you an annual fee, plus a fee as "fraud insurance", plus a fee called "life insurance" and even a fee if you do not use the card X times...

As you are coming to a new country it is recommended that you maintain your current accounts until you have lived here in Panama for a year or so.  You will find that local banks have a lot of fees and hidden charges that you are not paying at home.  This is especially the case with local credit cards which will charge you an annual fee, plus a fee as "fraud insurance", plus a fee called "life insurance" and even a fee if you do not use the card X times in a billing period.  And Cash Back.....if you get this it will not resemble what you are used to.  Use your foreign credit card anywhere in Panama, Amex is less accepted, but Visa and MasterCard are universally accepted.  However, check your foreign card's fees, many are not applying a 3% surcharge for use outside of your home country.  There ARE cards that do not do this, shop around.

 

ATMs are available all over the country and your foreign bank card and credit card will normally be accepted.  There is a small fee ($3 I believe) for using a foreign card in an ATM and you are limited to $500 per transaction.  Multiple transactions can be processed, up to the limit set by your home bank.  Your home bank, may charge you for using your card outside of the country, check before you come, and perhaps you might want to change banks at home before you leave.

 

One major US brokerage firm reimburses credit card and even ATM charges when you are out of the country, but they offer this service to US residents....open the account before you go and don't bother telling them that you are moving abroad permanently, and of course, keep a US mailing address.  

 

There are several companies in Panama that can rent you a US mailing address (street or PO Box, or both) and who fly your mail to Panama, helping you to keep a "US presence" for you various accounts.
 

The cost of food in restaurants in Portugal varies. I can have lunch for €6 (US $6.50 or £4.32) at my local café for a meal that includes a glass of wine, dessert and coffee. It’s cooked in the morning, served for lunch and you have a choice of two dishes. Grilled fish could cost about €15 to €20 (US $16.27 to $21.70 or £10.81 to £14.42) per person.
 
It’s very important to note that in Portugal, they have set menus. They have what...

The cost of food in restaurants in Portugal varies. I can have lunch for €6 (US $6.50 or £4.32) at my local café for a meal that includes a glass of wine, dessert and coffee. It’s cooked in the morning, served for lunch and you have a choice of two dishes. Grilled fish could cost about €15 to €20 (US $16.27 to $21.70 or £10.81 to £14.42) per person.
 
It’s very important to note that in Portugal, they have set menus. They have what is called “Dish of the Day” that usually varies between €7 and €10 (US $7.59 and $10.85 or £5 and £7.21) and it’s all inclusive of wine, coffee, and dessert. You have two choices, either meat or fish. Portuguese people do not generally eat sandwiches. The have meals which include a knife and fork for lunch and a knife and fork for dinner; they have traditional sit-down dinners.
 
However, we also have fast food chains like Burger King and Pizza Hut but they are not as many as you would see in England. In England, every street has a fast food chain, while here in Portugal, the fast food chains are mostly located in shopping malls. A Big Mac at McDonald’s here in Portugal costs about €5 (US $5.43 or £3.60).  

 

(Lunch with wine in Portugal, pictured.)

No, you don't need a second passport if you retire, work, or live abroad. There is a misconception people have that they need to either give up their US passport or US citizenship but no, you don’t need to. You can have your US passport. 
 
As Americans, we're lucky that we come from a country where we don't really need to apply for even a visa to visit most countries. We can go with our passport. We can usually stay in countries anywhere from 1 to 6 months,...

No, you don't need a second passport if you retire, work, or live abroad. There is a misconception people have that they need to either give up their US passport or US citizenship but no, you don’t need to. You can have your US passport. 
 
As Americans, we're lucky that we come from a country where we don't really need to apply for even a visa to visit most countries. We can go with our passport. We can usually stay in countries anywhere from 1 to 6 months, depending on the regulations of each country. In Mexico, for example, we can stay up to 180 days with a US passport. 
 
A lot of people who move abroad still want to go home once or twice a year and visit their family. You might be living in Nicaragua and stay 90 days before re-entering, because, without a visa, you have to leave and come back in. If you live in Nicaragua, maybe you want to go to Costa Rica or take a flight to Colombia. That’s basically what people do. They leave once or twice a year. They either travel around or go back to the US. You can do that all with your US passport. There's no need to make any changes. Just make sure that your passport is valid for a long time so that you don't have to go get a new one. Even if you lose your passport or you need to get a new passport, you usually can do so at the consulate in that country. It's not a big deal.  Also, if you're planning on traveling a lot, you can order passports now that have extra pages that should last you a long time or you can get pages added to them about $80. 
 
You can choose to continue doing this indefinitely in many countries. What you decide to do depends on the situation and the residency attorney could tell you about that. It could be expensive to get residency. It just depends on the country.  For example, the cost of getting residency in Nicaragua is a fraction of the cost of getting a residency in the UK or in some places in the Caribbean where it can cost over a million dollars. In some countries, it costs a few hundred thousand. In Nicaragua, in Mexico or generally in Latin America, it's always going to be a lot lower, for the most part under $10,000. That might be the route that you take but even if you do that, that doesn’t mean you're going to get a passport from the country that you have residency in. You'll still be traveling on your US passport. 
 
If, for example, you travel to Nicaragua on your US passport and then you want to get a permanent residency or temporary residency in Nicaragua, it could be up to 5 years. You'll still use your US passport to travel. The only time you would need to actually get a second passport would be if you obtain citizenship in that country, which can take 10 to 20 years. You won't really need your second passport under most any circumstances especially if you have a US passport. I can't think of any reason why you would need a second passport.  It would be a luxury to have a second one but it's not a requirement by any means.

 

(Kristen Wilson, relocation export, working on Mexico beach, pictured.)