Best Places In The World To Retire

The cost per square foot to build a house in San Miguel de Allende is all over the place. A rough estimate of the cost would be anywhere from 7,000 pesos per square meter (US $35 per square foot) to double that if you really want to put a lot of handcraft stone into your house. $35 per square foot would be cutting corners such as rather than having stone counter tops, you might have poured cement. You'd be just on the good side of the kind of house where people would say, "Oh...

The cost per square foot to build a house in San Miguel de Allende is all over the place. A rough estimate of the cost would be anywhere from 7,000 pesos per square meter (US $35 per square foot) to double that if you really want to put a lot of handcraft stone into your house. $35 per square foot would be cutting corners such as rather than having stone counter tops, you might have poured cement. You'd be just on the good side of the kind of house where people would say, "Oh this is cool." But you wouldn’t be blowing anybody away with those details. Spending $100 per square foot to build a house in San Miguel de Allende would give a very good level of craftsmanship.

 

The cost to build a house in San Miguel de Allende depends on so many different things, but spending $70-$75 a square foot you’d be able to have a house that’s envied by someone who visits you from the States. They wouldn't believe the level of craftsmanship put in the house because so much of the stuff is difficult to send completed like the boveda ceilings. In the end, it's cost effective to build houses that can stand for couple hundred years because you don't use the timber frame.

 

So for 7,000 pesos per square meter (US $35 per square foot) in San Miguel de Allende, your house would be like a tract home without upgrades. It’s not a house that's so austere that you're not comfortable, but if you put in a little more money building a house in San Miguel de Allende, you're going to have some cooler details. 

 

(Wood rafters in a  stairwell in Ventanas de San Miguel, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, pictured.)

Starting a business in Portugal can be relatively simple because Portugal has an “On The Hour” facility whereby you can walk into a government department and basically set up a company in an hour.

 

Once you get the company running, that’s the only time the problem starts, because the bureaucracy comes in. It’s easy to start a business but it’s the rules after that which makes it a bit frustrating.

 

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Starting a business in Portugal can be relatively simple because Portugal has an “On The Hour” facility whereby you can walk into a government department and basically set up a company in an hour.

 

Once you get the company running, that’s the only time the problem starts, because the bureaucracy comes in. It’s easy to start a business but it’s the rules after that which makes it a bit frustrating.

 

(Mário Centeno Minister of Finance, Portugal, pictured.)

Making a list of the worst places to retire is a different process than listing the best places because the best are all about you. We can think about this by looking at people's jobs, for example.  One guy is an artist, and the other is a lawyer. Each could say that their job is the best job for them. They're not going to be able to interchange jobs very easily, for the most part. That's why picking a country is so intertwined with your personality, your goals, and your...

Making a list of the worst places to retire is a different process than listing the best places because the best are all about you. We can think about this by looking at people's jobs, for example.  One guy is an artist, and the other is a lawyer. Each could say that their job is the best job for them. They're not going to be able to interchange jobs very easily, for the most part. That's why picking a country is so intertwined with your personality, your goals, and your budget.

 

The country I put on my list as one of the worst places to retire is Russia because it's expensive to live there, it's cold, and they a lot of laws and rules. Legislation could change and everybody would have to leave. Lately, there are a lot of Russians who want to leave their country and go somewhere else for a better cost of living and a better climate. 

 

Other worst places to retire would include be anywhere that is prohibitively expensive, really cold or otherwise have a bad climate, a drought like some places in Africa, somewhere where it's going to be uncomfortable and also places that are not safe. There are a few places that are probably obvious that you wouldn't want to go, which would include anywhere where there's a war, or there's terrorist or militants or is politically unstable. Those would not be ideal places to settle down. These would include a lot countries in Africa or the Middle East. For example, I've never been to the UAE but I'm always reading articles about foreigners getting arrested for doing things like posting a photo on Facebook or doing something that we normally classify as nothing to be concerned about. I would personally not want to go to a place where I would be afraid that by living my daily life I would somehow break one of their laws. I wouldn't want to go to a place where there is a lot of oppression of women, for example.

 

I would think like you're pretty good choosing almost anywhere in the Americas, but you're going to want to stay away from the places with the highest crime rate, such as Honduras and Guatemala. I know people love Guatemala. There are so many beautiful things about it but it's not the safest place to go compared to the other options that you have. In Mexico, for example, there's a clear division of cities that are safer to go to than others.

 

You want to consider the cost of living, the climate, and safety. You should probably be more cautious in choosing most of the countries in the Middle East, many of the countries in Africa and probably not countries like Honduras that have a high murder rate.  Try to avoid places like that. For the most part, anywhere else is going to be okay as long as it's set within your criteria for your ideal life and your budget.  

 

(With the Poker Stars on the Isle of Man, Kristen Wilson travels the world, pictured.)