Best Places In The World To Retire

Here in (about 215 miles south-west of Tucson, Arizona, on the Sea of Cortez), our groceries cost about 40% less than in the States. Granted, not everything is available, but, for the most part, you can eat well till your tummy is full for a whole lot less than in the States.

 

 

(View from restaurant in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, pictured.)

 

Here in (about 215 miles south-west of Tucson, Arizona, on the Sea of Cortez), our groceries cost about 40% less than in the States. Granted, not everything is available, but, for the most part, you can eat well till your tummy is full for a whole lot less than in the States.

 

 

(View from restaurant in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, pictured.)

 

I love the saying and advice: Make sure that what you have left behind, you have left behind!

 

Question your motives for wanting to leave and move abroad.

 

Your reasons for leaving will have a huge impact on the experience and how you adapt to the new country, so leave for good reasons and not because you are running away from mistakes or for the wrong reasons.

 

I love the saying and advice: Make sure that what you have left behind, you have left behind!

 

Question your motives for wanting to leave and move abroad.

 

Your reasons for leaving will have a huge impact on the experience and how you adapt to the new country, so leave for good reasons and not because you are running away from mistakes or for the wrong reasons.

 

In addition to the suggestions that already have been made, I would add that it is very risky to rent a property sight unseen. You need to be satisfied with the location, and you need to personally check the property's amenities before entering into a rental contract. Once a contract is signed, you are stuck with living there until the terms of the contract are fulfilled. It is well worth the price of a hotel to be on site while you are exploring the rental market.

In addition to the suggestions that already have been made, I would add that it is very risky to rent a property sight unseen. You need to be satisfied with the location, and you need to personally check the property's amenities before entering into a rental contract. Once a contract is signed, you are stuck with living there until the terms of the contract are fulfilled. It is well worth the price of a hotel to be on site while you are exploring the rental market.

I do not know anybody here who has homeowner’s insurance in Nicaragua. From a philosophical point of view, I think North Americans have been made to believe or feel that they have to insure everything – their lives, homes, pets, their airline ticket (in case they get sick and cannot make the flight). They even have reinsurance to insure their insurance. We insure properties in North America for loss or damage of course but I think more importantly, we insure our properties in...

I do not know anybody here who has homeowner’s insurance in Nicaragua. From a philosophical point of view, I think North Americans have been made to believe or feel that they have to insure everything – their lives, homes, pets, their airline ticket (in case they get sick and cannot make the flight). They even have reinsurance to insure their insurance. We insure properties in North America for loss or damage of course but I think more importantly, we insure our properties in North America for personal liabilities.

 

For example, if someone slips in front of your house in the US, they are going to sue you for everything that you own because they slipped and fell on a rock that was on a sidewalk or an acorn from a tree fell on your property and they slipped on the acorn and broke their ankle. Now they want a hundred million dollars from you. That kind of mentality does not exist down here in Nicaragua. Nobody talks like that. If that kind of thing happens to me here in Nicaragua, I am not going to sue the property owner for what happened because there is no damage insurance here. He might pay for the doctor’s fees and for the caste but that is all. There are definitely no charges due to loss of wages or for mental anguish. None of that exists down here.  We do have hurricanes, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions and homes get damaged because of them but even with these events, people do not buy home insurance.

 

As of last year, First American Title no longer offers title insurance in Nicaragua because they cannot keep an office here since homeowner’s insurance is something that people here don’t buy. I built 25 homes in Nicaragua in the last ten years and only one had title insurance. I have sold dozens of real estate and out of those, only two have title insurance. Home insurance is available here through two or three Nicaraguan insurance companies but very few North Americans buy home insurance because we are not suing each other and we are not trying to get compensation above and beyond the simple cost of an accident or damage.

We have the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital La Loma Luz in the Cayo District, Belize, which enables us to get cheaper medical services than in Belize City. Each service here in the Cayo District will have a different price but it’s very affordable.
 
It is difficult to compare the costs of healthcare in the Cayo District with a place like New York because, in New York, you will receive First World service and deal with highly trained people, while in La Loma Luz, but...

We have the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital La Loma Luz in the Cayo District, Belize, which enables us to get cheaper medical services than in Belize City. Each service here in the Cayo District will have a different price but it’s very affordable.
 
It is difficult to compare the costs of healthcare in the Cayo District with a place like New York because, in New York, you will receive First World service and deal with highly trained people, while in La Loma Luz, but you're not going to get the latest technology as compared to New York.   However, just go give you some point of reference, if you had a procedure the could be done in Cayo with the same procedure in the US, and the procedure in Cayo cost a thousand US dollars, it would cost ten times that in the US, with the same medical outcome.

 

(Pictured: La Loma Luz Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital and Clinic in the Cayo District, Belize.)