Best Places In The World To Retire

There are a lot of beautiful flowers, plants, and trees in and around Chapala and Ajijic. This season in particular, from the end of March up to the beginning of April, the trees are full of flowers. Beautiful flowers are everywhere! The climate here is very good for plants. 

 

There are some trees right along the "carretera" (highway) that are turning purple called Jacaranda trees. You'll also see Primavera trees that are normally green...

There are a lot of beautiful flowers, plants, and trees in and around Chapala and Ajijic. This season in particular, from the end of March up to the beginning of April, the trees are full of flowers. Beautiful flowers are everywhere! The climate here is very good for plants. 

 

There are some trees right along the "carretera" (highway) that are turning purple called Jacaranda trees. You'll also see Primavera trees that are normally green that will turn just bright yellow and gold. There are also some Árbol de la Orquídea or the Tree of the Orchid. These are trees with flowers that look like beautiful orquídea (orchids). The Ceiba tree, which is an indigenous Mexican tree, is the one with pink and white flowers like cotton and is commonly used for Mexican garden landscaping and architecture. Another tree would be the Tabachin tree, which would have orange flowers.

 

What's nice here about being in Lakeside or the Chapala and Ajijic area is that the climate is so moderate that you could have tropical trees everywhere like palm and coconut trees and you could also have trees that you would normally find in the desert. These desert trees that are called "saguaro" in the United States, are called "cardone" here in Mexico. You also have paddle cactus, but they're right next to beautiful vines and trees that you would normally associate with being down by the beach. The climate is good for all kinds of plants.

 

There are also a lot of berries here in Chapala and Ajijic. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries are all being grown in Jocotepec and in other parts around the lake.  

 

(Jet Metier of Best Places in the World to Retire on flower-lined street in Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)

Mosquitoes aren't really an issue for me here in San Juan Del Sur. When it rains and things are a little more wet, we may have some mosquitoes at dusk, but we just make sure that our doors and windows that don't have screens on them are closed. We apply some insect repellant if we're going out. The main thing to do is to make sure that there's no standing water near your home or in your yard because that will certainly attract mosquitoes. 

 

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Mosquitoes aren't really an issue for me here in San Juan Del Sur. When it rains and things are a little more wet, we may have some mosquitoes at dusk, but we just make sure that our doors and windows that don't have screens on them are closed. We apply some insect repellant if we're going out. The main thing to do is to make sure that there's no standing water near your home or in your yard because that will certainly attract mosquitoes. 

 

With regard to other bugs or insects in San Juan Del Sur, we do have a variety of bugs and insects at various times in the house or outside, including ants. Sometimes it's a battle to keep the ants away. You must be sure to keep all of your sugary food items like cereal, sugar, and sweet drinks in sealed containers or put these in the refrigerator. If you spill something on the counter like a sweet, sticky substance, you need to make sure to wipe it off really quickly or the ants will come in and clean it up for you.

 

Scorpions are something that we see on occasion in our house. They're not poisonous. My husband, Gordon, and I, have not been stung in the five years that we lived here. We have beetles and sow bugs during the rainy season as well. 

 

I notice the bugs more here in San Juan Del Sur than in Canada because generally the homes that people live in, whether you're local or a foreigner in San Juan del Sur, don't seal up like our home in Canada and in San Juan del Sur we have our doors and windows open all the time to allow the air flow to come in and out of the house. There are fewer mosquitoes in San Juan Del Sur though than maybe what I'd be used to in Canada. If there's a breeze, we rarely have mosquitoes. That's another time when the mosquitoes would show up; when the air is dead still.

 

(Praying mantis visiting Elisha MacKay's patio, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua ,pictured.)

In Belize, “residency” grants you the right to reside in the country, but not the right to work in the country. If you have a residency, you can retire here in Belize and spend your money, but you can’t get a job. If you want to work here, you would have to then acquire a work permit.

 

In Belize, there is temporary residency and permanent residency. With a temporary residency, you would have to get your passport stamped every 30 days,...

In Belize, “residency” grants you the right to reside in the country, but not the right to work in the country. If you have a residency, you can retire here in Belize and spend your money, but you can’t get a job. If you want to work here, you would have to then acquire a work permit.

 

In Belize, there is temporary residency and permanent residency. With a temporary residency, you would have to get your passport stamped every 30 days, which costs US $25. After one year of full time temporary residency without leaving the country for fourteen days in a year, you can then apply for permanent residency. I believe you would have to renew that every year. After you become a permanent resident for five years in Belize, then you can apply for your citizenship. So, it would take 6 years in total to get a Belizean citizenship. Once you have your citizenship, just like you would in the US, you can go to the post office and apply for your passport, because you are a Belize citizen.

 

The cost of restaurants depends on where you are in Panama. I love the restaurants in Panama City because they are delicious but they are basically North American price. They maybe a little bit better but not when you get to the upscale and trendy restaurants. My favorite restaurant has the best steaks and it costs about US $32 for a prime rib.

 

Things are growing rapidly here in western Azuero. Just recently, a new Italian eatery opened up here. It is...

The cost of restaurants depends on where you are in Panama. I love the restaurants in Panama City because they are delicious but they are basically North American price. They maybe a little bit better but not when you get to the upscale and trendy restaurants. My favorite restaurant has the best steaks and it costs about US $32 for a prime rib.

 

Things are growing rapidly here in western Azuero. Just recently, a new Italian eatery opened up here. It is truly authentic Italian and their food is probably between $9 and $16 per plate. Their wine is probably around $4 a glass and I think their most expensive wine there is $30 per bottle.  That is probably the most high-end restaurant now in Western Azuero unless you come to our boutique hotels.

 

There is a Panamanian restaurant here that is run by an American-Panamanian where you get good old fashioned fried fish, rice with lentils, and maybe a soft drink for about $10 to $12. Include the beer in there, too. If it is a smaller fish, you will probably get two beers, a nice fried fish, and that will be $10. This is for lunch or dinner.

 

For lunch, I recently went to Mariato, and I went to Maria’s restaurant on the highway there. She had me pick out the fish I had; which one she was going to fry for us. I was on a budget so I got a decent fish for $4 and that includes rice with chick peas, a drink, and a nice salad. I had the same meal at a more popular restaurant; I had a little bit bigger fish for lunch, two beers, and I paid total of $10 including the two beers. That place was packed with the most beautiful, handsome Latino people in very expensive SUV cars and everybody was having fried fish and drinking beers, and had surf boards on their cars. Some of them didn’t have rooms. And they are asking everybody if there were any more rooms available in our area.

If you are a Portuguese resident, you are taxed on your worldwide income. However, if that income is taxed in the other country, then you can get relief under the double tax agreement, with the refund provided by Portugal.

 

As an example, let’s say you’re from the US, you live in Portugal and you are a legal resident of Portugal.  Portugal will tax you on all of the money that you make worldwide, which includes income in the US, in...

If you are a Portuguese resident, you are taxed on your worldwide income. However, if that income is taxed in the other country, then you can get relief under the double tax agreement, with the refund provided by Portugal.

 

As an example, let’s say you’re from the US, you live in Portugal and you are a legal resident of Portugal.  Portugal will tax you on all of the money that you make worldwide, which includes income in the US, in Portugal, and in any other country; it makes no difference. But if you have paid tax on the same income in a foreign country, you can claim a deduction on your Portuguese tax return of the tax that was paid or withheld in the foreign country. You get a tax credit, which will then lower the amount of tax that you pay in Portugal. 

 

In order to be a tax resident of Portugal, you have to be in the country for 183 days within the year or alternatively, you could rent a home, which is considered to be your permanent residence. If you are not a tax resident in Portugal, you are only taxed on the income that you earn in Portugal and not on your other worldwide income.

 

There is a special regime that was set up about 5 years ago, which institutes a special 10-year tax holiday for people who come to retire to Portugal from another country, called the Non-Habitual Resident Regime. If people who qualify receive foreign income in Portugal, they have to declare that income but they do not have to pay tax on that income for 10 years.  This includes both earned income and retirement income. They will only pay taxes on the income that they earn in Portugal. This tax regime has attracted a lot of Northern Europeans to come to Portugal. It has also attracted a lot of French people who were trying to escape the very high taxes that are now being applied to wealthy people in France. 

 

There has been a big takeover bid by the left wing parties who are now the governing parties in Portugal. They may overturn this particular regime in order to fund the increase in pensions of the local people and increase the salaries of the public servants, which were cut under the previous government. Whether they will overturn it or not, I cannot answer, but I can report that Portugal has a habit of introducing really attractive legislation (for example, doing away with inheritance tax) and then when another government comes in, the legislation may get repealed. When this happens after a lot of people have already made arrangements, it can become an absolute nightmare.

 

(The town of Évora, Portugal shown with its medieval walls, drawn in 1501, pictured.)