Best Places In The World To Retire

Expats are treated well here in San Miguel de Allende. People would  not be moving here if they were not treated well. The reason why they move here is because they feel welcome and they are absolutely welcome.

 

Mexicans like having a mix of cultures. Having expats here is like having two cultures. In San Miguel de Allende, itself, there is a difference between the amount of money that expats have and the amount of money that typical Mexicans who are...

Expats are treated well here in San Miguel de Allende. People would  not be moving here if they were not treated well. The reason why they move here is because they feel welcome and they are absolutely welcome.

 

Mexicans like having a mix of cultures. Having expats here is like having two cultures. In San Miguel de Allende, itself, there is a difference between the amount of money that expats have and the amount of money that typical Mexicans who are cleaning houses would have. However, there is a lot of middle class and upper class, wealthy and sometimes even very wealthy Mexicans who live in San Miguel as well. The chance for resentment between the haves and the have-nots is less here in San Miguel than in other places where the disparity is more pronounced and where the disparity is due to the expats having more money relative to the local people.

 

Mexico has historically always been divided into classes.. For someone who was unfortunate and was born in a place where they do not have a lot of hope or opportunities to advance in life, that’s what they are used to. They only have resentment if you treat them badly but I have never felt that with anyone. Locals do not think ill of expats coming here to hire cheap labor because we have done that all our lives. Through generations and generations in which there has always been the lower echelon of the stairway going up and then down. That’s in any society, even in the US. 

 

There will be resentment if you are in Mexico City and you have a beautiful car. If you go to a bad area and you park your Mercedes Benz or any nice, shining new car, somebody might scratch it with a key just for the heck of it. It’s just to ruin your day because you have a nice car. However, that has never happened to me and I hope it never does but I have seen friends whose cars have been scratched just because they are nice cars. But in general, in the day-to-day lives of expats here in Mexico, they are accepted.

 

(Doors in Colonial San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, pictured.)

The standard of living in Granada, Nicaragua is subjective.  It’s completely different for the native Nicaraguan, who makes $600 to $1,000 a month, as compared to the standard of living for the expat.

 

Even discussing the standard of living for the typical expat in Granada, Nicaragua is all over the board because there are expats who are living solely on Social Security, all the way to expats who are multi-millionaires who have homes in three...

The standard of living in Granada, Nicaragua is subjective.  It’s completely different for the native Nicaraguan, who makes $600 to $1,000 a month, as compared to the standard of living for the expat.

 

Even discussing the standard of living for the typical expat in Granada, Nicaragua is all over the board because there are expats who are living solely on Social Security, all the way to expats who are multi-millionaires who have homes in three different locations of the world and where their home in Granada is just one of their homes, and they spend a couple months here, a couple months, for example, in Ecuador, some time in Spain, etc.

 

Discussing the standard of living in Granada, Nicaragua is not like discussing the standard of living in the United States, for example, in Miami.  In Granada, there is no average per se because of the interesting diversity of the people living here.

 

Relative to what you could buy in and what standard of living you would be able to attain in Granada as opposed to the United States, your money stretches a lot farther here in Granada, as a Third World country.  In Granada, your basic supplies or basic “basket” (what they call in Spanish, your “canasta”) defines what it costs to live at the sustenance level.  This includes things like eggs, milk, cheese, butter, rice and beans.  The basic basket is much less expensive in Granada than in the US.  But even above that, the cost for items such as rent, movies, dinners, all are much more affordable in Granada than in North America.

 

Here are some examples.  The cost to build a luxury house in the US is about US $150 per square foot.  You can build the same luxury house in Granada for $55 - $60 per square foot.  You go out to dinner and a movie in the US for $125 and here in Granada, the same would cost you $40 - $60.

 

The cost for medical attention is much, much less in Granada as compared with the US.  Let’s consider, for example, elective cosmetic surgery, because its something your insurance wouldn’t pay for.  In the US, it may cost you $2,500 to have your eyelids done.  Here, it will cost you $450.   A colonoscopy in the US would cost you $1,800 to $3,500.  If your insurance covers it, it may cost $2,500, so with a deductible, you may pay $500 out of pocket.  In Nicaragua, a colonoscopy is $350 total, without insurance.  Here in Nicaragua I just pay for items like colonoscopies in cash (no insurance) for the same amount I would have to pay with insurance in the US.  Then, I get to keep whatever my monthly insurance cost in the US would be—many, many thousands of dollars per year.

 

In Granada, we live very well.  If you’re living on $3,000 a month in Granada, you can afford to have a maid and a gardener / driver.  You would pay each of them $200 per month.  So, if you want to go out at night and you don’t want to have to drive, you can have your driver take you.  And, you can have a maid all day for 5 – 6 days a week who also cooks your meals for you.

 

Even though you may not need as much money to live in Granada as compared with the US, your standard of living is higher in Granada.   You can afford the help, either because you need it, or you just want to have a more relaxed lifestyle.

There are a couple of clubs and places in Ambergris Caye where they have live entertainment music. There is a movie theater. There are a couple of nightclubs.  They have karaoke, trivia night, pub-crawls. They bring in bands or musical groups from outside.

 

They have festivals such as Lobster Fest, the Costa Maya Festival, the Independence Day celebrations. There is always a food festival done once every year here in Ambergris Caye.

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There are a couple of clubs and places in Ambergris Caye where they have live entertainment music. There is a movie theater. There are a couple of nightclubs.  They have karaoke, trivia night, pub-crawls. They bring in bands or musical groups from outside.

 

They have festivals such as Lobster Fest, the Costa Maya Festival, the Independence Day celebrations. There is always a food festival done once every year here in Ambergris Caye.

 

There are plenty of activities that you can do here in Ambergris Caye. There is nothing formal about Ambergris Caye so you never have to worry about wearing anything other than shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of flip flops. There is nothing that requires you to dress beyond that other than some special event that you may be invited to. Ambergris Caye has a laidback attitude where you can go to any of the above-mentioned venues wearing flip-flops, shorts, and a t-shirt.

 

(Sunset with wine, Ambergris Caye, Belize, pictured.)

A.      Employment or self-employment (for activities within the official list of high added value activities)

 

Individuals who qualify as non-habitual residents benefit from a special flat tax rate on Portuguese-source employment and business income derived from high added value activities of 20%.

 

High value added activities include a wide range of scientific, artistic or technical character performed...

A.      Employment or self-employment (for activities within the official list of high added value activities)

 

Individuals who qualify as non-habitual residents benefit from a special flat tax rate on Portuguese-source employment and business income derived from high added value activities of 20%.

 

High value added activities include a wide range of scientific, artistic or technical character performed in Portugal as per the list of activities published by the Portuguese Government (which includes architects, engineers and similar technicians; fine artists, actors and musicians; auditors; doctors and dentists; professors; psychologists; sole traders, technicians and similar; Investors, directors and managers), for a ten year period.

 

B.      Other types of income

 

Regarding the other types of income that are received from a Portuguese source (capital investments, dividends, interests, etc.) the tax regime for the non-habitual residents will be the same as for any other Portuguese resident.

 

(Live band at  Stevie Ray’s Blues Jazz Bar in Lagos, Portugal, pictured.)

Here in Panama, there is no bigotry, no racial overtones, no political correctness, no ridiculous taxes and there are less regulations.

 

It is such a delight not to have these things because when we go back to the States, all of these bad things exist.

 

The Panamanian people could not believe that the US is going through such things. 

Here in Panama, there is no bigotry, no racial overtones, no political correctness, no ridiculous taxes and there are less regulations.

 

It is such a delight not to have these things because when we go back to the States, all of these bad things exist.

 

The Panamanian people could not believe that the US is going through such things.