Best Places In The World To Retire

Yes. You must file US tax returns and perhaps owe US taxes no matter where you live in world.

 

So long as your income exceeds the minimum amount required to file a US tax return, you must file each year no matter where you live in the world. You will not be double taxed since if you do pay any foreign income taxes in Mexico, you can claim them as a credit against your US income taxes and if you earn income you can also claim the foreign earned income...

Yes. You must file US tax returns and perhaps owe US taxes no matter where you live in world.

 

So long as your income exceeds the minimum amount required to file a US tax return, you must file each year no matter where you live in the world. You will not be double taxed since if you do pay any foreign income taxes in Mexico, you can claim them as a credit against your US income taxes and if you earn income you can also claim the foreign earned income exclusion, which is over $100,000 per year.

 

 

As far as the history of Ambergris Caye, we go by what our grandfathers, our uncles, and aunts tell us. According to them, there were four families that came here and settled because of the fish and the reef. At that time, they didn’t have the marine reserve so they used to fish around the reef. So the fishermen came and settled here. It wasn’t until Belize gained its independence that people started building families here and saw...

As far as the history of Ambergris Caye, we go by what our grandfathers, our uncles, and aunts tell us. According to them, there were four families that came here and settled because of the fish and the reef. At that time, they didn’t have the marine reserve so they used to fish around the reef. So the fishermen came and settled here. It wasn’t until Belize gained its independence that people started building families here and saw Ambergris Caye more as a home. There were some Mexicans that settled here as well.  

 

If you are going to trace back our family trees, they are all related. That is how small the island is. Almost all of us are related. Some San Pedranos (the local name of the people who are from San Pedro, the main town of Ambergris Caye) went to the mainland and got their wives and some people came here and settled. People started coming here to build hotels then people started coming here for the diving. That’s how we became known, I guess. We don’t really study about this in school. Instead, we go by the stories that our grandparents tell us, so it may not be 100% historically accurate. 

 

Ambergris Caye was inhabited by some people before the fishermen came, but the history that we hear doesn’t really mention that. They say there was one family who came first.  Then they had friends and these friends came and they settled here, too. For example, my mom is not from here. She is from Corozal and her grandmother and her sister were traders so what they would do is go and get goods from Mexico and then bring them over to Ambergris Caye. They went to the Mexican side and buy pots, pans, and silverware because they couldn’t get these goods here.  

 

I know people who didn’t even attend high school here here because there wasn’t even a primary school, preschool, or a high school.  There was nothing here so they had to go to Belize City. Some people lived in Belize City until Ambergris Caye started to become a village. That was about 60 years ago. So before 60 years ago, there was almost nobody in Ambergris Caye.  

 

There is a book that a local wrote about 25 years ago. It’s by Anghel Nunez. He was one of the first graduates of San Pedro High and he was one of the first people who did high school here.  He was also the principal of the school here 6 years ago. 

 

(The picture is of Ambergris Caye as viewed from the air.)

For me, San Juan del Sur is the best option for retirement because there’s a variety of things to do and an increasing variety by going outside of San Juan del Sur.  I have a number of clients who moved from Granada. They had originally decided to settle in Granada and subsequently moved to San Juan del Sur because here you’re closer to golf courses and ocean activities—sailing, boating, fishing—and yet at the same time we’re close to everything,...

For me, San Juan del Sur is the best option for retirement because there’s a variety of things to do and an increasing variety by going outside of San Juan del Sur.  I have a number of clients who moved from Granada. They had originally decided to settle in Granada and subsequently moved to San Juan del Sur because here you’re closer to golf courses and ocean activities—sailing, boating, fishing—and yet at the same time we’re close to everything, like volcanoes and lakes. There’s a lot more variety here in San Juan del Sur that keeps retirees interested rather than being stuck in the city or in a resort where you feel trapped in the resort.  There are people for example in Rancho Santana or in other areas in Tola where they’re 2 or 3 hours from doing anything. They’re in the resort and there’s one shop and one or two restaurants and that’s it. In contrast, retirement in San Juan is lively and varied with lots of different activities to engage you in, whatever you fancy. There’s trivia nights, Saturday gringo market where you can buy food prepared by other gringos that you wouldn’t typically get in Nicaraguan stores, etc.  

The only airport in Algarve is the one in Faro. Faro is probably the busiest airport in Portugal after Lisbon. It serves flights from many destinations. They have all year round flights into Portugal from many European destinations, including the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, and the list goes on. There are also seasonal flights from as far away as Canada. There are times when there are direct flights into Faro from Toronto, Canada. It’s quite interesting to see that there...

The only airport in Algarve is the one in Faro. Faro is probably the busiest airport in Portugal after Lisbon. It serves flights from many destinations. They have all year round flights into Portugal from many European destinations, including the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, and the list goes on. There are also seasonal flights from as far away as Canada. There are times when there are direct flights into Faro from Toronto, Canada. It’s quite interesting to see that there are already some companies in North America that have identified the opportunity of the Algarve for the North American market and they are putting up flights to address those opportunities. 

 

The population of the Algarve is about 300,000 and there are between 5 and 6 million arrivals at Faro Airport per year. It is a fairly substantial airport, which has undergone a number of renovations and expansions.

 

There are a couple of small airstrips in the Algarve as well, which are used for private planes, parachuting activities, and helicopters. The next closest airport is in Beja, which is the province above the Algarve and in Baixo Alentejo.

 

Many people drive in order to catch a flight to Lisbon and then rent a car and drive down to the Algarve or catch a bus going to the Algarve. Lisbon is 300 kilometers, or 180 miles more or less from the Algarve. There are many flights from the US into Lisbon and to Faro. The East Coast of the US is fairly well connected to Lisbon. We have flights from New York, JFK, Miami, etc. On the other hand, we don’t have flights coming from the West Coast. If you are going to Lisbon from the West Coast, you have to go to the East Coast first then take a flight from there into Lisbon.

 

(Airport terminal in Faro, Portugal, pictured.)