Best Places In The World To Retire

Many of the neighborhoods in San Miguel de Allende are multiracial neighborhoods. You may find Canadians, Mexicans, Americans, Australians, Germans and a significant number from South America. There’s a good chance that you will be living beside an expat because most of the colonias have residents from different countries, the majority being Americans.

 

Most of the places here are peaceful and quiet, that is, of course, when there is no church parade...

Many of the neighborhoods in San Miguel de Allende are multiracial neighborhoods. You may find Canadians, Mexicans, Americans, Australians, Germans and a significant number from South America. There’s a good chance that you will be living beside an expat because most of the colonias have residents from different countries, the majority being Americans.

 

Most of the places here are peaceful and quiet, that is, of course, when there is no church parade or celebration going on. During these events, it would be noisy due to the festive atmosphere, of course. For those not familiar with the Mexican culture please know we like to celebrate and enjoy life and in doing so we are not so quiet. J

 

There are no neighborhoods that are even 50% expat; all are mixed to some extent.

 

(Sonia Diaz with tall friend in San Miguel de Allende.)

You can get a decent gardener here in Belize for US $125 per week, which is the standard rate for gardeners here. Most gardeners live on the compound where they work and those who do not live in the compound work from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. 

 

If the gardener is not working for you full time, you can pay them based on when they come.  For example, if they come once a month and you can pay up to $100. The reason it could cost this much is...

You can get a decent gardener here in Belize for US $125 per week, which is the standard rate for gardeners here. Most gardeners live on the compound where they work and those who do not live in the compound work from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. 

 

If the gardener is not working for you full time, you can pay them based on when they come.  For example, if they come once a month and you can pay up to $100. The reason it could cost this much is that, if they come only once a month, they will have a lot of work for one day.  They will trim all the trees, trim the lawn, clean the grass, etc.

 

Sometimes the gardeners get someone to help them do the gardening once a month. Most gardeners come in with their children or some helper.

 

(House and garden in Esperanza Village, Cayo District, Belize,pictured.)

It is typically more expensive to buy a new car in Portugal. It is very difficult to find a new car in Portugal unless it is a small new car that costs under € 10,000 (about US $ 10,800 or £ 7,370). Most new cars when compared to the UK, will be at a premium of about 25% to 30% and when compared to the US, will be at a premium of about 40% to 50%. 

 

The market for second hand cars hardly existed until about 5 years ago and now there are about...

It is typically more expensive to buy a new car in Portugal. It is very difficult to find a new car in Portugal unless it is a small new car that costs under € 10,000 (about US $ 10,800 or £ 7,370). Most new cars when compared to the UK, will be at a premium of about 25% to 30% and when compared to the US, will be at a premium of about 40% to 50%. 

 

The market for second hand cars hardly existed until about 5 years ago and now there are about three or four specialists but it is still more expensive than buying a second hand car in the US, where you could into Daytona Beach and buy a pickup truck for US $500 (€ 460 or £ 340). You can’t do that in Portugal. A fairly nice condition, second hand car would cost about €5,000 (US $ 5,500 or £ 3,700).  Vehicle taxes in Portugal are astronomical; they are the highest in Europe.

 

I am not really certain why we didn’t have a second hand car market in Portugal until recently but I think it is partly cultural and partly as a result of legislation. Culturally, even though Portugal is not a wealthy nation, it hates to buy things that are second hand. If you offer somebody second hand clothes, for example, they will look at you lop-sided because they consider that pretty much an insult. Until recently, any second hand items of any nature were frowned upon, whereas, if you go to England, for example, second hand sales are all the rage. In Portugal, that was frowned upon. I think that extended to vehicles. Vehicles are seen as a status symbol so people do not like to be seen in second hand cars.

 

The other thing was that the taxation process, in terms of imported vehicles is so onerous. There are such high taxes in terms of imported vehicles that it just didn’t pay to import and to buy an imported, nice second hand car because the price would be too close to brand new cars. Only in the course of the last few years has that appeared to change.  

 

(Fiat Cinquecento in Portugal, pictured.)

Going to Ancon Hill (pictured) is the nearest place to go hiking from Casco Viejo. There is a paved path, but it’s pretty steep going uphill through a pretty, pristine jungle environment. It is ten minutes away from Casco Viejo.

 

Parque Soberania is the national metropolitan park in the middle of the city, which is a 15-minute car ride, also great for birding.  Parque Soberanía has wonderful hiking trails and conducts organized...

Going to Ancon Hill (pictured) is the nearest place to go hiking from Casco Viejo. There is a paved path, but it’s pretty steep going uphill through a pretty, pristine jungle environment. It is ten minutes away from Casco Viejo.

 

Parque Soberania is the national metropolitan park in the middle of the city, which is a 15-minute car ride, also great for birding.  Parque Soberanía has wonderful hiking trails and conducts organized tours throughout the year.

If you live in Casco Viejo and you want to go camping, you have to take a trip out to the countryside to the interior. I would suggest looking for a travel agent who can organize everything for you, including gear.

There’s also a place that does “glamping,” which is more of a high-end style of camping, located in Altos del Maria, about two hours from Panama City by car.

 

There are all different levels of camping in Panama, whether you want to really rough it or have something more high end, including having a butler. It depends on what you want.

Making a list of the worst places to retire is a different process than listing the best places because the best are all about you. We can think about this by looking at people's jobs, for example.  One guy is an artist, and the other is a lawyer. Each could say that their job is the best job for them. They're not going to be able to interchange jobs very easily, for the most part. That's why picking a country is so intertwined with your personality, your goals, and your...

Making a list of the worst places to retire is a different process than listing the best places because the best are all about you. We can think about this by looking at people's jobs, for example.  One guy is an artist, and the other is a lawyer. Each could say that their job is the best job for them. They're not going to be able to interchange jobs very easily, for the most part. That's why picking a country is so intertwined with your personality, your goals, and your budget.

 

The country I put on my list as one of the worst places to retire is Russia because it's expensive to live there, it's cold, and they a lot of laws and rules. Legislation could change and everybody would have to leave. Lately, there are a lot of Russians who want to leave their country and go somewhere else for a better cost of living and a better climate. 

 

Other worst places to retire would include be anywhere that is prohibitively expensive, really cold or otherwise have a bad climate, a drought like some places in Africa, somewhere where it's going to be uncomfortable and also places that are not safe. There are a few places that are probably obvious that you wouldn't want to go, which would include anywhere where there's a war, or there's terrorist or militants or is politically unstable. Those would not be ideal places to settle down. These would include a lot countries in Africa or the Middle East. For example, I've never been to the UAE but I'm always reading articles about foreigners getting arrested for doing things like posting a photo on Facebook or doing something that we normally classify as nothing to be concerned about. I would personally not want to go to a place where I would be afraid that by living my daily life I would somehow break one of their laws. I wouldn't want to go to a place where there is a lot of oppression of women, for example.

 

I would think like you're pretty good choosing almost anywhere in the Americas, but you're going to want to stay away from the places with the highest crime rate, such as Honduras and Guatemala. I know people love Guatemala. There are so many beautiful things about it but it's not the safest place to go compared to the other options that you have. In Mexico, for example, there's a clear division of cities that are safer to go to than others.

 

You want to consider the cost of living, the climate, and safety. You should probably be more cautious in choosing most of the countries in the Middle East, many of the countries in Africa and probably not countries like Honduras that have a high murder rate.  Try to avoid places like that. For the most part, anywhere else is going to be okay as long as it's set within your criteria for your ideal life and your budget.  

 

(With the Poker Stars on the Isle of Man, Kristen Wilson travels the world, pictured.)