Best Places In The World To Retire

As a resident, you almost have all the rights as a Mexican except the right to vote and run for government office. With citizenship, you get a Mexican passport, while as a visa holder, you only receive a green card.
 
Mexico is one of the easiest countries to come and live legally.  The authorities do not do background checks nor medicals and the whole process takes a very few weeks and minimal cost.

 

As a resident, you almost have all the rights as a Mexican except the right to vote and run for government office. With citizenship, you get a Mexican passport, while as a visa holder, you only receive a green card.
 
Mexico is one of the easiest countries to come and live legally.  The authorities do not do background checks nor medicals and the whole process takes a very few weeks and minimal cost.

 

They have a British-based school system here in Belize so it is based on standards and forms as opposed to grades. They are quite significant here. The kids who graduate from the schools, especially the primary schools, have a very high level of aptitude and comprehension. From what I understand, the primary school system is very good.
 
In Ambergris Caye, you have the option of a public school or a private school.  Even the private schools are absolutely gorgeous. There is...

They have a British-based school system here in Belize so it is based on standards and forms as opposed to grades. They are quite significant here. The kids who graduate from the schools, especially the primary schools, have a very high level of aptitude and comprehension. From what I understand, the primary school system is very good.
 
In Ambergris Caye, you have the option of a public school or a private school.  Even the private schools are absolutely gorgeous. There is a big private school called the Island Academy. The church funds the public schools. There is an Anglican school and a Roman Catholic school, which are free for the kids. The parents do not have to pay for the books or for the food because I believe there's a program at all the schools for breakfasts and lunches. From my understanding, they are all very well run.
 
The high school is quite an issue for people because there is only one high school in Ambergris Caye. It is not particularly great. Without a rival high school, there is no team spirit. The teams do not have anyone to play and no one to compete against. That rivalry is what was so much fun in high school. That bonding experience for the teens attending whichever school does not exist in Belize. From my understanding, many parents send their kids to high school on the mainland.  In Belize City, there are several high schools from which they can choose. Often the local people send their teenagers to go live with their relatives in Belize while their teenagers attend high school there. The expats tend to bring their kids back to North America from what I have seen, or one of the parents will move back to North America with the teenager.
 
The elementary schools in Ambergris Caye here are all church-run. There is an Adventist primary school, there is a Roman Catholic school, and an Anglican school. There is no government-run school. The churches fund the primary schools that are free and the private schools are out of pocket. There is no “San Pedro Primary School” that is government run. There is nothing like that.
 
The schools here in Belize are bursting. There are something like 500 kids, but the schools are meant for only about 350 kids. So the need is there, but they don't refuse children, which something that I really like. Some Guatemalans and Hondurans live here because this is the only place somebody can get any work and the kids are accepted into schools. Even though some of them are here illegally, the children should not be punished, and the children should be educated. 

The Portuguese stew, called Cozido à Portuguesa, is a popular food in Portugal. It has all meat from pork, veal, and cow, and a lot of cabbage, carrots.  It’s a very rich and heavy meal that is a typical meal for winter in Portugal.
 
Not only women make this meal; everyone does. For example, in my house, I do it. People or families will make it slightly differently.
 
Then we have the barbecue fish, which we call Peixe na Grelha, which is basically just...

The Portuguese stew, called Cozido à Portuguesa, is a popular food in Portugal. It has all meat from pork, veal, and cow, and a lot of cabbage, carrots.  It’s a very rich and heavy meal that is a typical meal for winter in Portugal.
 
Not only women make this meal; everyone does. For example, in my house, I do it. People or families will make it slightly differently.
 
Then we have the barbecue fish, which we call Peixe na Grelha, which is basically just fresh fish on the barbecue. We just grill the fish, and it comes with stewed vegetables. We typically use sole fish, sardines, Rodalo. But the most famous is sardines, our grilled sardines.
 
And then we have another one, which is Arroz de Marisco, which is basically rice and seafood. This contains shrimp, lobster, octopus, calamares, and crab all mixed in a big pan and  cooked with wine, tomato, onions, and pepper; a lot of ingredients. And then the rice is cooked with the sauce of that stew. It’s a wonderful, shellfish rice.
 
The food is one of the main features in Portugal. We take it really, really seriously. If you cook something in a microwave in Portugal, people will get offended with you. There are restaurants in Portugal where you have to go by yourself in the kitchen and fetch cutlery and the plate and the cups and put it on the table. 
 
In Portugal we have Gourmet 3 Michelin Star restaurants and you have these restaurants where you feel at home that you walk into the kitchen, talk to the cook, choose fish, you tell him exactly what vegetables you want, you don’t want the ones that are in the menu, you choose them, and you bring your plates and your cups from the cupboard and you put it on top of your table. So we take food very seriously in Portugal. Not only that, we don’t have a meal in half an hour; we have a meal in two and a half hours… with a lot of wine and a lot of conversation.

 

(Salad menu at Blue Hostel and Suites, Cascais, Portugal, pictured.)

There are lots of volcanoes in Nicaragua, 19 to be precise. Of those, eight are active, and some of them are great for hiking and exploring. One of them, Telica has a once a month full moon hike to the top where you can see the lava and a sunrise. Cerro Negro is a cinder cone famous for the bicycle land speed record set in 2002 by the Frenchman Eric Barone. Today you can slide down on a sled of sorts and try to set your own speed record. I hit 68 km / hr. before...

There are lots of volcanoes in Nicaragua, 19 to be precise. Of those, eight are active, and some of them are great for hiking and exploring. One of them, Telica has a once a month full moon hike to the top where you can see the lava and a sunrise. Cerro Negro is a cinder cone famous for the bicycle land speed record set in 2002 by the Frenchman Eric Barone. Today you can slide down on a sled of sorts and try to set your own speed record. I hit 68 km / hr. before flipping over and tumbling a while in the ash and gravel. 3rd fastest that day.

If you are working abroad and are receiving income from the United States, you are allowed a certain amount of income that you can exclude from US income tax. I don’t keep up with the exact number, but I think it’s up to in the range of US $90,000 or more these days; I’m not sure. However, this is for people who are employed overseas or who have earned income overseas, as opposed to income made from a sale of a house or the sale of stock.
 
Earned income can be...

If you are working abroad and are receiving income from the United States, you are allowed a certain amount of income that you can exclude from US income tax. I don’t keep up with the exact number, but I think it’s up to in the range of US $90,000 or more these days; I’m not sure. However, this is for people who are employed overseas or who have earned income overseas, as opposed to income made from a sale of a house or the sale of stock.
 
Earned income can be free of taxation at a state and federal level, but only to a certain limit.   That’s one primary difference relative to US income tax liabilities between living overseas and living in the US. It’s a big difference if you have earned income. It does not affect any taxes that might be due though on the sale of assets or social security if you’re getting it and you need to pay taxes for one reason or another.
 
If you earn money overseas under normal circumstances and you have a record of any taxes paid there, you typically can deduct those taxes paid overseas from the taxes you have to pay in the United States, but you always have to check with a professional as it may be different in some nations. Many countries have treaties with the US on this but it’s a accepted practice that people do not pay taxes twice. Once to another nation and again to the US without recognizing the other tax. They make an allowance for that.