Best Places In The World To Retire

As an American, I am treated equally here, as everybody is given a fair shake. If you don’t flaunt yourself as a millionaire and you are just a normal person on the street, you will not be treated differently. The service industry, of course, loves the foreigners. I get upset sometimes when I go to an expensive restaurant in Cabo San Lucas and the prices are all in dollars instead of pesos.
 
 In La Paz, they have a music school and they have a Grammy Award winning...

As an American, I am treated equally here, as everybody is given a fair shake. If you don’t flaunt yourself as a millionaire and you are just a normal person on the street, you will not be treated differently. The service industry, of course, loves the foreigners. I get upset sometimes when I go to an expensive restaurant in Cabo San Lucas and the prices are all in dollars instead of pesos.
 
 In La Paz, they have a music school and they have a Grammy Award winning trumpet player here and he is now starting a big band. He gets concerts and plays, too. In Cabo, they have rappers, stars, etc. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders come and do their annual calendar photo-shoot in Cabo San Lucas and of course the golf also brings in a lot of very wealthy people but everybody is given a fair shake. I don’t see any discrimination here.
 
However, I have seen more discrimination in some of the places on the Pacific coast of the mainland in Mexico such as Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, etc. than I see in La Paz or in Los Cabos.  Maybe that is because those areas are an extension of the state of California in a way.

 

( The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders 2015 Swimsuit Calendar photographed in Mexico, pictured.)

The worst reason to retire to Belize is if you are used to and demand immediate gratification.  Living in Belize is simple and easy, but if you need to get your hair done each week or you need super high speed internet, perhaps this isn't the place for you.

 

Other bad reasons might be if you have serious health issues, if you cannot support yourself, if you are not adventurous or if you cannot accept all sorts of people and personalities.

 

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The worst reason to retire to Belize is if you are used to and demand immediate gratification.  Living in Belize is simple and easy, but if you need to get your hair done each week or you need super high speed internet, perhaps this isn't the place for you.

 

Other bad reasons might be if you have serious health issues, if you cannot support yourself, if you are not adventurous or if you cannot accept all sorts of people and personalities.

 

Retiring in Belize is certainly an adjustment.  Even living in Arizona, I had to get used to the humidity here and it made me pretty cranky at first.  But, I got used to it fairly quickly and satisfied my need for "dry heat" with fans and the occasional air conditioning 

 

Belize is worth it to me to deal with the "now and then" inconveniences we encounter here.  No, I cannot go to the store to buy brussel sprouts or strawberries whenever I like.  But, the mangos (pictured) and bananas taste like nothing you can find in the States.  I've had to re-learn how to cook with what I do find here and that's been fun for me.

 

Take your time and know that it does make a difference if you are happy in Belize or not!

The restaurants in Managua are excellent.  There is a wide selection. I personally recommend Le Casserole Restaurant for sushi.  This restaurant is located in a beautiful tropical environment away from the city of Managua. For French cuisine, there is La Marseillaise Restaurant. I ordered the peppered chicken, which is exquisite. For meat-lovers there is nothing better than Los Ranchos, which serves you a delicious churrasco with white rice and vegetables or potatoes....

The restaurants in Managua are excellent.  There is a wide selection. I personally recommend Le Casserole Restaurant for sushi.  This restaurant is located in a beautiful tropical environment away from the city of Managua. For French cuisine, there is La Marseillaise Restaurant. I ordered the peppered chicken, which is exquisite. For meat-lovers there is nothing better than Los Ranchos, which serves you a delicious churrasco with white rice and vegetables or potatoes. For organic, Ola Verde is the place to go. Bon appetit! 

You should absolutely keep your US bank, brokerage, investment, IRA, or retirement account when you move overseas. 
 
Opening financial accounts abroad exposes you to additional risks and a lot of reporting. This is paperwork not only for your tax return, but you may need to complete the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report). The FBAR is not exclusive to just bank accounts, but also applies to life insurance policies with a savings component, mutual funds, brokerage accounts,...

You should absolutely keep your US bank, brokerage, investment, IRA, or retirement account when you move overseas. 
 
Opening financial accounts abroad exposes you to additional risks and a lot of reporting. This is paperwork not only for your tax return, but you may need to complete the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report). The FBAR is not exclusive to just bank accounts, but also applies to life insurance policies with a savings component, mutual funds, brokerage accounts, etc. 
 
Assuming you're not a retiree, your tax return will be much more subject to scrutiny if you have a lot of assets abroad. With FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), the US government will have access to foreign bank account balance and income information of US citizens living abroad. 
 
Therefore, working expats are now much more on the radar screen than they were before. There are also reporting requirements. Given the fact that the Treasury Department and the IRS now have more access and could get greater information on a foreign bank account than they do a US bank account, in some respects, expats need to file their tax returns even more accurately.
 
For example, I have a client who stayed in Mexico who forgot about US $15 worth of interest income on a bank. He got a letter from the US government saying that he forgot to report that $15, which is amazing. Gone are the days when people actually had to look at papers. Now, the computers are doing all the reconciliation. 
 
Foreign banks and foreign financial institutions are sending account information to the US Treasury Department. They are now able to reconcile that with the tax return and the FBAR. Expats filing their income tax returns must be much more accurate. 
 
There are all kinds of risks of investing abroad such as country risks, political risks, and "know-how" risks. You may be subjected to scams. You can easily invest in foreign markets through US accounts. I would do this. 
 
Leave accounts in the local country for liquidity purposes. For example, I would need funds in a bank account to keep a small amount in the money market or a CD (certificate of deposit) because I need an account to earn interest while I spend the money down. 
 
For the most part, I would maintain most of my assets in the US. 
 
I have a client who has been living in Guatemala for a long time. She has let go of all connections in the US, including her US bank accounts. The US has the PATRIOT Act. She has severed her ties to the US completely, not just for residence purposes, but also for financial account purposes. Now that she wanted to open a US bank account for another reason, she is having a ton of difficulty even though she is a US citizen because there is no recent record of her.  

 

(Map data 2016 copyright Google INEGI)