Best Places In The World To Retire
Recently Answered Questions
Is Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico safe? What's the crime rate in general in Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico?
In 2012, we had a very bad situation involving a cartel but since then, I have not heard about anything serious. There was a person who died in the La Floresta neighborhood and they said that some mason people who were working around the development were the suspects for that murder. I believe so because that happens. You could get crazy people anywhere but these kinds of situations do not happen a lot. Of course, because it was so odd, people remember it forever, but overall, the...
In 2012, we had a very bad situation involving a cartel but since then, I have not heard about anything serious. There was a person who died in the La Floresta neighborhood and they said that some mason people who were working around the development were the suspects for that murder. I believe so because that happens. You could get crazy people anywhere but these kinds of situations do not happen a lot. Of course, because it was so odd, people remember it forever, but overall, the probability of that happening again is very rare. How much rain does Placencia, Belize get? When is the Rainy Season and the Dry Season in Placencia, Belize and what is it like?
Belize gets a lot of rain, but Placencia does not get as much as the rest of the country.The weather in Placencia is similar to the weather in Florida. I’ve lived in Florida for 12 years. From November to the middle of May, Placencia is picture perfect. It doesn’t rain a lot. The temperature is probably mid to high 70s, to low 80s and the humidity is not horrible. During the tail end of May, the rainy season starts. It mainly rains at night and it can rain hard for...
Belize gets a lot of rain, but Placencia does not get as much as the rest of the country.The weather in Placencia is similar to the weather in Florida. I’ve lived in Florida for 12 years. From November to the middle of May, Placencia is picture perfect. It doesn’t rain a lot. The temperature is probably mid to high 70s, to low 80s and the humidity is not horrible. During the tail end of May, the rainy season starts. It mainly rains at night and it can rain hard for an hour or so. Then the sun pops up, unless it’s a slow moving storm. The sun will come out right after a heavy rain. The weather is magnificent in Belize nonetheless.
How do I open up a bank account in Panama?
The first step to open a bank account in Panama is to be here in Panama, because you have to meet with the bank manager. If you’re an American, you should know that the banks here are pretty strict when it comes to compliance with FATCA. Apart from that, it should be very easy. As an American, you can open a bank account here in a matter of three weeks. For other nationalities, it only takes about a week to open a bank account. The process is longer for...
The first step to open a bank account in Panama is to be here in Panama, because you have to meet with the bank manager. If you’re an American, you should know that the banks here are pretty strict when it comes to compliance with FATCA. Apart from that, it should be very easy. As an American, you can open a bank account here in a matter of three weeks. For other nationalities, it only takes about a week to open a bank account. The process is longer for Americans because there are compliance issues with the IRS, etc. How much does food cost in Portugal?
Sometimes I don’t have lunch at home but we’ll have dinner and sometimes I have a big lunch and I don’t eat dinner, for the cost for us really varies. Going to the supermarket, I spend an average of about €60 (US$ 65 or £43) a week. Then I’ll go to the fruit and...
Sometimes I don’t have lunch at home but we’ll have dinner and sometimes I have a big lunch and I don’t eat dinner, for the cost for us really varies. Going to the supermarket, I spend an average of about €60 (US$ 65 or £43) a week. Then I’ll go to the fruit and vegetable market, the butcher, the fish market and spend another €50 (US $54 or £36). The cost of food in Portugal is about a quarter less than in England.
To cite some examples, a whole chicken is about €5 (US $5.42 or £3.60). A sliced loaf of white bread costs €70 cents (US $76 or £50). I buy whole wheat bread that is uncut from the bakery that costs me about €1.50 (US $1.62 or £1.08).
The cost of food in the markets in Portugal really varies. I cannot report the exact costs because I am not a supermarket person. I go to the supermarket once a month to buy cleaning product and canned foods. That’s about it. I don’t buy any food from the supermarket. There is a street market close to where I live here in Portugal and every Saturday and Sunday, I go there to buy my vegetables. I buy eggs from free-range chickens from a lady who sells them. I buy all the meat from the butchers and I buy fish from the fish market. The reason why I don’t buy fresh produce from the supermarket is because they don’t taste the same. Most of them come from Spain so they have travelled for days and have been refrigerated. When I put it on the table, it lacks flavor.
It’s like in England. In England, the food is appalling because there is no flavor. When I eat potatoes here in Portugal, they do taste like potatoes. When I go to England, the potatoes don’t taste like anything. Same thing with tomatoes. The tomatoes in Portugal taste and smell like tomatoes but in England don’t taste nor smell like tomatoes. The reason why I like buying from the street market instead of the supermarket is because the food that they sell in the street market comes directly from the producers or farms. That is commonly done in Portugal. The way that I buy is not unusual at all in Portugal. A lot of people buy from the street markets here in Portugal because people like the flavor of food. People who appreciate good flavor in foods go to the street markets. Those people who like processed food or pizzas go to the supermarkets.
Are gays, lesbians and others in the LGBT community accepted in Nicaragua?
What do I need to know about living overseas and retiring abroad?
When you’re moving or relocating to another country, you’re not really an immigrant, but you are going to spend a number of years and possibly, as in my case, expecting to live the rest of your life there.
When you arrive, you’re in a sense an immigrant in the eyes of everybody else who lives there, in that society. Now, many of us come from North America or Europe. Right now, we’ve having a lot of trouble, a lot of discussion, a lot of very strong convictions on the subject of immigration. Let’s put that aside. I don’t want to get involved with that, but I do want to say one thing to you.
Stop and think to yourself: What is it that I expect of an immigrant coming into my society right now, wherever I live? What do I want to see them doing? What sort of actions do I want to hear that they’re taking? How do I want to see them fitting in to my society so I’m happy that they really live here and they’re not just visiting from another nation?
Take those three, four, five basic things you think people should do who are immigrating to your nation, put it on a piece of paper, and carry it with you wherever you go, wherever you relocate. And every month, once a month, twice or more, take a look at that list, and ask yourself: Am I trying to do this? Am I making an effort to do what I expect other people to do when they come to my nation? Am I trying?
You can’t always succeed, you can’t always do everything perfectly, but ask yourself: Am I trying? Am I really, really working to try to meet the basic fundamentals that I expect from others and that they expect from me?
I think that if you can do that, if you can follow that one basic rule when relocating, you’re way ahead of the game, and you’re likely, far more likely I should say, to succeed, to be happy and to have a really interesting and useful life.
Recently Posted Expat Stories
Three simple steps to a life of freedom
In early 2014 my partner Vanessa and I sold almost everything we owned. Vanessa sold her house in the UK, and I sold my small island home in Panama.
NOTE: You can read more about this in my previous "Best Places..." story.
Free at last
We were free. Free to go wherever we wanted, free to live life on our own terms.
Looking back on this decision we now see that it was the first step on a three step journey towards the global freedom we sought.
Our first...
Towers and Bells in Panamá
Since colonial times, Panamá has had a traditional cultural and historical trajectory.
The Torre de Panamá la Vieja (the Old Panama Tower) in San Francisco, Panamá is now a World Heritage site. The importance of this tower goes back to the 16th century when the pirates burned down the city and a new tower was built in the quarter Panamanians now call Casco Viejo.
Other examples of exceptional historical buildings are...
