Best Places In The World To Retire

In Mexico, there aren’t many homeowners who insure their homes because there are really no fires. I guess we could have earthquakes in Mexico, but people typically self-insure.  Home insurance is an American and Canadian thing. A typical Mexican would say, "Why do I need insurance? My house probably won't burn down, and if somebody comes and steals my TV, I'll just buy a new one- there’s the cost of the insurance.” 

 

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In Mexico, there aren’t many homeowners who insure their homes because there are really no fires. I guess we could have earthquakes in Mexico, but people typically self-insure.  Home insurance is an American and Canadian thing. A typical Mexican would say, "Why do I need insurance? My house probably won't burn down, and if somebody comes and steals my TV, I'll just buy a new one- there’s the cost of the insurance.” 

 

Earthquakes can turn your home to rubble, but I tell you, I have lived through several earthquakes here in Chapala. The odds of anything happening, I just find very minimal. Yes, how unfortunate it would be if after just investing US $300,000 – US $400,000 in my home, and it turns to rubble. That would be a terrible, terrible thing. But the odds of that happening are very low. 

 

There are landslides in Mexico, too, and that would be an issue. As an example, in the Raquet Club (a sub-division in San Juan Cosala), there was a massive amount of rain and the mountainside came down and filled their pool and their house completely with rocks & dirt. They were lucky to have gotten out safely. They couldn't even drive their car, it happened so fast. It took them a year to clean everything out, after that, there was no damage to the structure of the house, and once they emptied the pool of the rocks, they repainted and filled it with water. Everything went back to normal. 

 

In Chapala, we also have waterspouts that can make their way up the mountainside. It happened to my house years ago.  The water spout picked up the water from the lake, and started up the hillside and let go.  It dropped a lot of water, washing the dirt and the rocks down the hillside, knocking down our back wall. The gardener happened to be there, so he opened the front door of the house so the mud and water went down through the living room, down the stairs, down on the terrace and it just kept flowing out and bringing some of the furniture with it.  It was cleaned it up, and no problem. 

 

I've lived in Chapala long enough that my attitude is taking on the Mexicans’ “life still goes on" attitude. When someone comes in and they steal your furniture and your jewelry, your life is still the same. You don't have those diamond earrings anymore, but your life doesn't really change, so why would I pay insurance to protect those things? Mexicans are not very materialistic, so they really don't care about that stuff. That's their attitude.

 

For Mexicans, you have to take responsibility for what you did. It's hard to sue people here for tripping or falling on their property because they take responsibility here. You put your face through a box window, well, you should've been careful. That's the attitude of the Mexicans.

 

If there were ever a lawsuit, the judge may say something like, “Prove to me why it was his fault that you fell down and tripped on his porch.”

 

“Well, he didn't clean the ice.”

 

“You should've walked around the ice.”

 

 In Mexico, liability issues are extremely rare.

 

(House in the hills of the Raquet Club, near Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)

You don’t’ need to have a car in Ambergris Caye. If you live in the heart of San Pedro (the only real town on the island) and if you live a little bit north or south of San Pedro, you could just get along by walking.

 

If you don’t want to walk, you can get a golf cart or you can bike around. There are not a lot of taxis and the taxis are really cheap so many people prefer taking taxis than to own a golf cart.

 

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You don’t’ need to have a car in Ambergris Caye. If you live in the heart of San Pedro (the only real town on the island) and if you live a little bit north or south of San Pedro, you could just get along by walking.

 

If you don’t want to walk, you can get a golf cart or you can bike around. There are not a lot of taxis and the taxis are really cheap so many people prefer taking taxis than to own a golf cart.

 

(Pictured: Monday morning rush hour in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.)  

The answer to whether Medicare will cover you in Panama is no. I get that question many times from my clients, many of whom are US expats. The hospitals here in Panama will be more than happy to assist people that have Medicare, but the US government will not pay for the services.

 

There are many hospitals in Panama that will be very happy to accept you, but they cannot accept payment from Medicare because Medicare will not make a payment to a hospital in...

The answer to whether Medicare will cover you in Panama is no. I get that question many times from my clients, many of whom are US expats. The hospitals here in Panama will be more than happy to assist people that have Medicare, but the US government will not pay for the services.

 

There are many hospitals in Panama that will be very happy to accept you, but they cannot accept payment from Medicare because Medicare will not make a payment to a hospital in Panama.

 

It is a policy of the US government. I don’t know why, but Medicare only works for Americans who get healthcare services in the US. 

 

(Samle Medicaid card which cannot be used in Panama, pictured.)

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.)