Best Places In The World To Retire

A lot of investment, both national and international, left Nicaragua during the 1980s, because the country spent so many years at war.  This really destroyed the economy.  So, you have to bear in mind that up to 1990 or so (just over 20 years ago), the economy of Nicaragua was in bad shape. After that, we established a new democratic system in Nicaragua, having presidential elections every five years.  One of the first and most difficult tasks starting at that time was to...

A lot of investment, both national and international, left Nicaragua during the 1980s, because the country spent so many years at war.  This really destroyed the economy.  So, you have to bear in mind that up to 1990 or so (just over 20 years ago), the economy of Nicaragua was in bad shape. After that, we established a new democratic system in Nicaragua, having presidential elections every five years.  One of the first and most difficult tasks starting at that time was to rebuild the economy, so the government started promoting and providing incentives to bring investment into Nicaragua.
 
So far, we have managed to do that very well.  The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have praised the Nicaraguan economy for how we have managed to keep a very healthy economy during the most recent worldwide financial crises.  And also, Nicaragua is one of the top destinations in all of Latin America for foreign investment now.
 
In Nicaragua, we had to rebuild everything and start from scratch.  As a result, there are plenty of opportunities in all fields for investment.  There are many, many opportunities.  Here are just three of them: 

There are a lot of opportunities to invest in Nicaragua now, and the law and the government promotes it as well.

The major cities in Belize, if you are going by population, are Belmopan, which is the capital of Belize, Belize City, San Ignacio, San Pedro, Placencia, Corozal, and Hopkins. These are the major cities, and also the ones that people frequent the most.

• Belize City used to be the capital of Belize, which they moved to Belmopan for weather reasons. Belize City is pretty much at sea level and there are a lot of historic buildings there. It has a live and vibrant cultural...

The major cities in Belize, if you are going by population, are Belmopan, which is the capital of Belize, Belize City, San Ignacio, San Pedro, Placencia, Corozal, and Hopkins. These are the major cities, and also the ones that people frequent the most.

• Belize City used to be the capital of Belize, which they moved to Belmopan for weather reasons. Belize City is pretty much at sea level and there are a lot of historic buildings there. It has a live and vibrant cultural center and the Image Factory Art Foundation, with art shows. There is a lot of stuff going on in Belize City as far as people coming for tourism generally, and cruise ships specifically, which currently dock in Belize City. The days the cruise ships dock are really, really busy. There are also museums in Belize City, and of course, schools. There is a small community of expats in Belize City, too but mostly, it is locals who live in Belize City.

• San Ignacio is in the western part of the country of Belize. It is a melting pot of locals and expats alike. It has a lot of fine dining restaurants, but I don’t mean "five star restaurants." You don’t need to be in a suit and tie to get in, but the food is that good. There are a lot of community events here and a lot of expats. There are expat groups that get together for country line dancing. They get together for a weekly pot lock. They get together for spiritual groups of all different faiths. The get together and do different things together. There is an expat group that meets for darts. There is a "community mindedness" and volunteerism is a common thread of a lot of people who live in the San Ignacio area, locals and expats alike.

• San Pedro (on the island of Ambergris Caye) is where a lot of people go if they are interested in diving or snorkeling. It is a hot tourist destination and it is the number one tourist destination in all of Belize. San Pedro frequently wins the best place to visit as far as the islands. There are a lot of restaurants around San Pedro and it is fun to drive there because it is on the island of Ambergris Caye. You can just drive around in golf carts. Most people who live there own golf carts and run around in them all day. There are no cars in San Pedro except for the taxi cabs. (Barrier Reef Drive in San Pedro, pictured.)

• Placencia Village is n the Placencia Peninsula. When you start at the very top of it and you make your way down, you can do the whole drive down in 20 to 30 minutes from top to tip. What’s interesting about Placencia is that when you are driving there, you are literally looking at the ocean on one side and the lagoon on the other side, so you are always looking at water. On the lagoon side, there are these beautiful mountains, too, so it is a very unique place in the country of Belize. Many people have high end homes in Placencia and there are people who look to having a second home there. There is a community of expats, too.

• Corozal is up north, on the Mexican border. In Corozal, there are some ruins nearby. There are people who do the river tours. Many people sop through Corozal on their way to Mexico because when you cross the border, there is Sam’s Club, pizza chains, shopping malls, casinos, and other places that people like to go to for recreation. People go to Mexico a lot and because Corozal is just right there.  A lot of times, they just spend their night, though.

• Hopkins is a small village on the ocean side. A lot of people miss Hopkins when they come to Belize but it is one of my favorite places to go to because I like the drumming. I like the local culture that’s there. There is fishing and a lot of people go there to go diving, also. There is a hotel and there are a lot of dive shops. There is a five star restaurant called Parrot’s Cove where you are in this little village and yet you have this incredibly exquisite food.  You say to yourself, “My goodness, I just feel like I got transported to another place.” (Hopkins Lodge, Hopkins, pictured.)

• Belmopan is the capital of Belize and it is where the US has their embassy. There are a lot of expats that live there and there are a lot of people who work at the US embassy, which has about 400 employees. It is basically the embassy for a lot of the Central American region. Belmopan is predominantly flat and yet you can see mountains around it. It is located off of the Hummingbird Highway, which is one of the most beautiful roads to travel in all of the country of Belize.

We went around starting in 2009 and talked to the builders and the architects in Panama.  Here's what we found after a good amount of investigation:

We went around starting in 2009 and talked to the builders and the architects in Panama.  Here's what we found after a good amount of investigation:

This was not true of all developers, but it was true of some of them.  If you want to buy a home in a new housing development in Panama, you should talk to a trusted realtor. There are only three developers that we trust here in Panama, each of which has a very good reputation. They stand behind their workmanship.

 

So the bottom line is that you have to find out the developers who can be trusted.

The best places in the world to live are those in which you can seamlessly adapt to the culture, weather, people, can ultimately feel happy and can as quickly as possible call it home sweet home. Panama is a great exploratory ground and I highly recommend viewing as much of the country as possible. 

The best places in the world to live are those in which you can seamlessly adapt to the culture, weather, people, can ultimately feel happy and can as quickly as possible call it home sweet home. Panama is a great exploratory ground and I highly recommend viewing as much of the country as possible.