Best Places In The World To Retire

The cost of living in Mexico is much lower than the cost of living in the United States and Canada.

 

Data for January 2016 shows the cost of living in Mexico as 56% lower than that in the United States (not including rent). Meanwhile, the rent in Mexico is 76% lower than the rents in the United States. This figure is from the cost of living in Mexico index published by NUMBEO. The information is based on submissions from 1,252 different contributors.

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The cost of living in Mexico is much lower than the cost of living in the United States and Canada.

 

Data for January 2016 shows the cost of living in Mexico as 56% lower than that in the United States (not including rent). Meanwhile, the rent in Mexico is 76% lower than the rents in the United States. This figure is from the cost of living in Mexico index published by NUMBEO. The information is based on submissions from 1,252 different contributors.

 

 

Another interesting way to compare prices in Mexico with those in Canada and the USA is a big Mac index. The big Macs index is published by the economist magazine as an informal measure of the purchasing power in different countries The average price for a big Mac in July of 2015 was the equivalent of US$3.11 in Mexico, US$4.54 in Canada and $4.79 in the United States.

I'm a Canadian living in Panama, which in my opinion is the BEST place to retire. I've had diverse experiences having lived in Mexico and Southeast Asia before settling in Panama. For me, the main reasons are: weather, cost of living, vibrant expat community, friendly locals, great hub for travel (Copa flies direct almost everywhere that I want to visit in Central and South America as well as US), incredible and affordable health care and the language. I loved Thailand, but decided...

I'm a Canadian living in Panama, which in my opinion is the BEST place to retire. I've had diverse experiences having lived in Mexico and Southeast Asia before settling in Panama. For me, the main reasons are: weather, cost of living, vibrant expat community, friendly locals, great hub for travel (Copa flies direct almost everywhere that I want to visit in Central and South America as well as US), incredible and affordable health care and the language. I loved Thailand, but decided that I really wanted to learn the language of the country I live in. By comparison to Thai, Spanish is not that difficult to learn (Latin based), and can be practiced in all the Americas and Spain (whereas Thai..only in Thailand obviously). The economy in Panama is excellent, in fact.. I am not the only person who came here to retire and ended up starting a business and consulting for another. Possibilities are endless here!

The Medical centers, hospitals and health clinics are generally quite good.  There are some exceptions.  A good general rule is the more remote the health clinic or hospital, the less well equipped, experienced and knowledgeable they are.  In and around Panama city there are some excellent private hospitals, such as Hospital Nacional, Paitilla and Punta Pacifica are all great. Most of the doctors speak English and many were educated in the US, Europe or abroad. ...

The Medical centers, hospitals and health clinics are generally quite good.  There are some exceptions.  A good general rule is the more remote the health clinic or hospital, the less well equipped, experienced and knowledgeable they are.  In and around Panama city there are some excellent private hospitals, such as Hospital Nacional, Paitilla and Punta Pacifica are all great. Most of the doctors speak English and many were educated in the US, Europe or abroad.  Note:  the majority of nurses, therapists, technicians and receptionists do not speak English.   The cost in these hospitals is generally 1/3 to 1/2 of what you will pay in the US.   

 

I personally, had the misfortune to become very ill and in a coma and went to Hospital Nacional and they were excellent.  In fact my sister, who is a Dr. in the US told me that the doctors in Panama did everything exactly the same that would have been done in the US.  The huge difference is the level of genuine care from the doctors, nurses and therapists.  My doctor was in my room 4-5 times a day for 15-30 minutes at a time 7 days a week!  I have found the medical staff genuinely care about you as a patient here.  It is not uncommon for your doctor to give you his personal cell phone number!

 

There are also many private clinics that are quite good and quite inexpensive.  A routine check on something can cost as low as $15-20!

 

There is a socialized medical system here in Panama that mainly the poor population uses and it is not as good and often very long waits to be seen.  Not because of less qualified staff, but because of not enough staff to handle the numbers of patients.  In fact, all new doctors in Panama are required to work for the public health care system for a few years before they may enter private practice.

There are some very good clinics and hospitals outside of the city, such as the clinic in Coronado and the hospital in David.
 

One of the nice things about the San Ignacio and the Cayo area in Belize is that it has a very diverse population. We do not have a predominant ethnic group. It is very, very diverse and there are a lot of expats here, too. It is very easy to come here to Belize, fit in, make friends, and locals generally welcome expats and visitors.
 
There may be some resentment between the haves and the have-nots but it is nothing that is out of the norm. There is a mixing of people here. When...

One of the nice things about the San Ignacio and the Cayo area in Belize is that it has a very diverse population. We do not have a predominant ethnic group. It is very, very diverse and there are a lot of expats here, too. It is very easy to come here to Belize, fit in, make friends, and locals generally welcome expats and visitors.
 
There may be some resentment between the haves and the have-nots but it is nothing that is out of the norm. There is a mixing of people here. When I was growing up, there weren’t very many expats here and so being that I am light-skinned it was a little bit difficult because I stood out. Nowadays, there are a lot of expats here so light-skinned people do not stand out that much anymore and they are accepted.
 
I had no problems growing up. I was accepted but it feels different that I was the only one who stood out. It’s not like that anymore. The expats here in San Ignacio, generally, fit in very well. They have friends and most of them have businesses like restaurants, coffee shops, and some of them do construction, real estate, and a lot of them are retirees.
 
Generally speaking, it is easy to get a work permit here in Belize. If you want to start a business, they won’t mind giving you a work permit because the Belizean government wants you to hire people once you get a permit. But if you are getting into something that they feel is going to compete with the locals, it is not as easy to get a work permit because they don’t encourage people to come and compete for the scarce jobs. They want people to come and create jobs.
 
Cayo is not an extremely wealthy area, so you will not see a lot of wealthy expats here. Cayo is one of the more affordable places to come so people who come here are the ones who are on a budget or the ones who are looking for a second home. That distinguishes the expats here from the expats in the more touristy areas such as Placencia. Out there in Placencia, the cost to get a condo is around US $500,000 while here in San Ignacio, you could get a cabin-style house for $200,000.
 
The type of expats that we have here are the ones who often are looking for a more affordable lifestyle than what they have in the US. San Ignacio is known to be one of the more affordable places to live in Belize. A lot of the people here are looking for a cheaper and more affordable lifestyle. 

 

(one acre of land starting at $15,000, outside of downtown San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize, pictured.)