Best Places In The World To Retire

Yes, you can get by with English here in Yucatan. The great thing about the people here in Yucatan is that everybody wants to help you communicate. Even if you cannot quite figure out what you want to say, they will find a way to help you by letting you point at it or tell them what it sounds like. Does it “oink like a pig or does it “quack like a duck?” If you are trying to tell them something about your car, you could point and tell them the noise that your car is...

Yes, you can get by with English here in Yucatan. The great thing about the people here in Yucatan is that everybody wants to help you communicate. Even if you cannot quite figure out what you want to say, they will find a way to help you by letting you point at it or tell them what it sounds like. Does it “oink like a pig or does it “quack like a duck?” If you are trying to tell them something about your car, you could point and tell them the noise that your car is making. Point to a part of your body or to the food that you want and they will help you communicate.
 
Overall, the language that is most spoken in the Yucatan Peninsula is Maya. Maya is the predominant language of Yucatan. The entire peninsula is populated with little Mayan pueblos so they are everywhere. In fact, we have an employee who just started with us. I went to his pueblo last weekend to get some documents that he needed and his family was there. They all conversed in Maya; everybody in the pueblo converse in Maya. When they talk on the phone, his mom talks in Maya, and doesn’t even understand any Spanish, even though his dad did.
 
Spanish is the second most spoken language in Yucatan. The third would be English because everybody who goes to any kind of school learns how to speak some English. Here in Merida, where you have all the colleges and tech schools, there is an enormous young population of people who speak at least some English.
 
Dealing with day-to-day life here Yucatan, you are going to need to learn some Spanish words. I found that it is really important to know how to say “baño,” which means “restroom” because when you got to go, you got to go and you need to know where the baño is! It also helpful to know how to say some food items and household items especially if you have a maid or a gardener who doesn’t speak any English, which is usually the case maids or gardeners. They are not well-educated, so they do not know how to speak English so in order for you to communicate, you have to know how to say some household items in Spanish. You can also point to the thing that you are talking about.
 
Overall, once you are able to start communicating with the people here, you would be able to build a relationship with them as well and relationships are important. These are a relationship-type of people, so learning some Spanish is a good idea and maybe you could also learn so speak a little Maya, too.

 

(Pictured: Mayan women laughing and talking in Yucatan, Mexico.)

The dress code in most areas of Nicaragua is to wear cool clothing because it is warm here. However, if you go to the northern areas of Nicaragua like in Estelí, which is in the mountains, where the coffee grows, there are times when you have to wear gloves because it gets chilly up there.
 
In most parts of the country of Nicaragua, we get “Bahamas Beach weather”; hot and humid. You can wear whatever you feel comfortable with, such as slacks, t-shirts, or...

The dress code in most areas of Nicaragua is to wear cool clothing because it is warm here. However, if you go to the northern areas of Nicaragua like in Estelí, which is in the mountains, where the coffee grows, there are times when you have to wear gloves because it gets chilly up there.
 
In most parts of the country of Nicaragua, we get “Bahamas Beach weather”; hot and humid. You can wear whatever you feel comfortable with, such as slacks, t-shirts, or whatever you would wear if you were on the streets of Miami or in Los Angeles.
 
Leon is one of the hotter departments in the country of Nicaragua. The humidity here is also very high so it is probably best to wear more cotton clothes.
 
If it is very festive here in Nicaragua. There are parties everywhere you go so there is always an opportunity to dress up.  

 

(Celebrating in Leon, Nicaragua, pictured.)

Keep your US bank accounts and don't worry so much about the IRS getting you anywhere in the world. If you want to come to Panama to retire, the chances that you make more money than $190,000 per year as a couple or $95,000 as an individual (the sums that are free of US taxes when you are a resident of Panama) is quite small.

 

As Panama uses the dollar, you could consider investing in Panama as well, especially in land, which in most cases will give you a...

Keep your US bank accounts and don't worry so much about the IRS getting you anywhere in the world. If you want to come to Panama to retire, the chances that you make more money than $190,000 per year as a couple or $95,000 as an individual (the sums that are free of US taxes when you are a resident of Panama) is quite small.

 

As Panama uses the dollar, you could consider investing in Panama as well, especially in land, which in most cases will give you a better ROI than investments in the US. Nevertheless don't sell out your IRA or retirement account. And with the help of a Panamanian lawyer, you can get a bank account fast and easy in Panama, too. You need it to be able to get a visa, because you need to show you have at least $5,000 in the bank.

 

Transferring money from the US to Panama is easy, but it takes mostly a week before you can use it. It is also costly, because your US bank charges you and your Panama bank charges you, too. In general the costs in Panama are $30.00. The interest you can get in Panama is a little higher than most US banks as well, as money for the US banks is interest free, in Panama it isn't.
 

No, if you move or visit Portugal, you do not have to worry about diseases that are typical in tropical countries, which is not the case in Portugal. Although the climate is hotter than in most European countries, Portugal has a temperate climate (it has the same latitude as Virginia or Maryland), which does not allow such diseases to exist. There are no medical restrictions or warnings for travel to Portugal.

 

(Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal, pictured.)

No, if you move or visit Portugal, you do not have to worry about diseases that are typical in tropical countries, which is not the case in Portugal. Although the climate is hotter than in most European countries, Portugal has a temperate climate (it has the same latitude as Virginia or Maryland), which does not allow such diseases to exist. There are no medical restrictions or warnings for travel to Portugal.

 

(Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal, pictured.)

We have the same power voltage here in Belize as you do in North America; 110 volts. The only downside is that we get a lot of power outages. We had a national power outage recently for about 45 minutes, so the whole country went offline for that time. The cause was a huge thunderstorm.

We have the same power voltage here in Belize as you do in North America; 110 volts. The only downside is that we get a lot of power outages. We had a national power outage recently for about 45 minutes, so the whole country went offline for that time. The cause was a huge thunderstorm.