Best Places In The World To Retire

You do not need a four-wheel drive to get around in San Ignacio, Belize. Most of the roads are paved or cemented and they're getting better.  As I speak, they are paving more roads in San Ignacio and Santa Elena (the “twin towns”; the largest towns in the Cayo District).
 
It would be better to have an SUV or a pickup truck than it would be to have a sedan, but it doesn't need to be a four-wheel drive. The reason I recommend these is to get the higher...

You do not need a four-wheel drive to get around in San Ignacio, Belize. Most of the roads are paved or cemented and they're getting better.  As I speak, they are paving more roads in San Ignacio and Santa Elena (the “twin towns”; the largest towns in the Cayo District).
 
It would be better to have an SUV or a pickup truck than it would be to have a sedan, but it doesn't need to be a four-wheel drive. The reason I recommend these is to get the higher clearance, but not necessarily because you will get stuck.  Sometimes there are bumps or maybe rocks in the road that if you don't have enough clearance the tummy of your car will rattle. 

 

(Collared peccary, also known as a javelina, crossing the road in Belize, pictured.)

The worst reason for retiring overseas would be moving to another place and wanting it to be like home, because sometimes things do not work the same way as they do back home.

 

For example, the work ethic here in Panama is different from the work ethic back home, where I'm from, in the US. Here in Panama, if you want to have internet connection in your house, you would not get it by just asking for it. You have to make an extra effort. After I...

The worst reason for retiring overseas would be moving to another place and wanting it to be like home, because sometimes things do not work the same way as they do back home.

 

For example, the work ethic here in Panama is different from the work ethic back home, where I'm from, in the US. Here in Panama, if you want to have internet connection in your house, you would not get it by just asking for it. You have to make an extra effort. After I applied for an internet connection, I waited for a month, but they had not done anything. So when I got the opportunity, I parked my car in a way that one of their company vehicles could not escape and asked them to give me the internet connection I applied for a month ago. I am not a bad guy; I just need the internet. So if you decide to live overseas, you have to be ready to do things differently because sometimes if you do things the proper way, it just doesn’t work.

The amount you will spend on food here in Portugal would depend on for how many people you are buying. The cost for a couple with one son would average about $100 to $300 a week.
 
Sometimes I don’t have lunch at home but we’ll have dinner and sometimes I have a big lunch and I don’t eat dinner, for the cost for us really varies. Going to the supermarket, I spend an average of about €60 (US$ 65 or £43) a week. Then I’ll go to the fruit and...

The amount you will spend on food here in Portugal would depend on for how many people you are buying. The cost for a couple with one son would average about $100 to $300 a week.
 
Sometimes I don’t have lunch at home but we’ll have dinner and sometimes I have a big lunch and I don’t eat dinner, for the cost for us really varies. Going to the supermarket, I spend an average of about €60 (US$ 65 or £43) a week. Then I’ll go to the fruit and vegetable market, the butcher, the fish market and spend another €50 (US $54 or £36). The cost of food in Portugal is about a quarter less than in England. 
 
To cite some examples, a whole chicken is about €5 (US $5.42 or £3.60). A sliced loaf of white bread costs €70 cents (US $76 or £50). I buy whole wheat bread that is uncut from the bakery that costs me about €1.50 (US $1.62 or £1.08).
 
The cost of food in the markets in Portugal really varies. I cannot report the exact costs because I am not a supermarket person. I go to the supermarket once a month to buy cleaning product and canned foods. That’s about it. I don’t buy any food from the supermarket. There is a street market close to where I live here in Portugal and every Saturday and Sunday, I go there to buy my vegetables. I buy eggs from free-range chickens from a lady who sells them. I buy all the meat from the butchers and I buy fish from the fish market. The reason why I don’t buy fresh produce from the supermarket is because they don’t taste the same. Most of them come from Spain so they have travelled for days and have been refrigerated. When I put it on the table, it lacks flavor.
 
It’s like in England. In England, the food is appalling because there is no flavor. When I eat potatoes here in Portugal, they do taste like potatoes. When I go to England, the potatoes don’t taste like anything. Same thing with tomatoes. The tomatoes in Portugal taste and smell like tomatoes but in England don’t taste nor smell like tomatoes. The reason why I like buying from the street market instead of the supermarket is because the food that they sell in the street market comes directly from the producers or farms. That is commonly done in Portugal. The way that I buy is not unusual at all in Portugal. A lot of people buy from the street markets here in Portugal because people like the flavor of food. People who appreciate good flavor in foods go to the street markets. Those people who like processed food or pizzas go to the supermarkets.  

To explain the cost of health insurance in Panama, I can give you an example for me.  I'm a young adult and healthy.   My medical insurance is about $40 per month for Blue Cross for a single policy.  If I go to a specialist without pre-authorization, for example, a gastroenterologist will charge about $40 for an office visit in the best hospital here in Panama City-- Punta Pacifica (the one associated with Johns Hopkins in the US).  In most cases, my insurance...

To explain the cost of health insurance in Panama, I can give you an example for me.  I'm a young adult and healthy.   My medical insurance is about $40 per month for Blue Cross for a single policy.  If I go to a specialist without pre-authorization, for example, a gastroenterologist will charge about $40 for an office visit in the best hospital here in Panama City-- Punta Pacifica (the one associated with Johns Hopkins in the US).  In most cases, my insurance covers me fully.  If I do obtain authorization, the cost to visit the same gastroenterologist is zero.  My deductible is about 10% to 15%.  My coverage is for anywhere in Panama that accepts medical insurance.
 
If you go to a doctor without health insurance in Panama City and just pay directly, it will cost you, in general, about 50% less than what it would cost you in the US.