Best Places In The World To Retire

If you are buying a home in a new housing development in Mexico, we recommend that you try to investigate who is selling the property to you. These are things that you would also do if you are buying a property in the US. I have known many people who have heard of how things are done in Mexico and they decide to do the same thing. You are going to be safe if you would do the same thing you would do if you are buying a property in the US.
 
You have to make sure that the person...

If you are buying a home in a new housing development in Mexico, we recommend that you try to investigate who is selling the property to you. These are things that you would also do if you are buying a property in the US. I have known many people who have heard of how things are done in Mexico and they decide to do the same thing. You are going to be safe if you would do the same thing you would do if you are buying a property in the US.
 
You have to make sure that the person selling the property to you is authorized to do so. You could go to the public registry and ask for any record and specifics on any specific developer. Go on the Internet and do as much research as you can until you feel comfortable about making the purchase. You could also hire someone to do the research for you; for example, you could also hire a company like Stewart Title. We offer title insurance so we do a title investigation over the property to trace how the property was transferred from one owner to another and how the transactions were done. In this way, you are sure that the title is good.  It is more important to do that here in Mexico, especially if you are a foreigner buying a home here, because you are in a foreign country and there could be more issues here regarding title compared to buying a property in the US.  

 

(Logo for Stewart Title, pictured.)

I pay my gardener $20 a day plus lunch. He has worked for me two days a week for 4 years.  I also give him extra money for school clothes for his 7 children and doctor visits when needed.

 

At least once a year I buy him new boots, socks and a hat.  His takes care of a large property (and coffee) and does a great job without much instruction.  Over the years he has helped me learn more Spanish and I have helped him learn more English. 

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I pay my gardener $20 a day plus lunch. He has worked for me two days a week for 4 years.  I also give him extra money for school clothes for his 7 children and doctor visits when needed.

 

At least once a year I buy him new boots, socks and a hat.  His takes care of a large property (and coffee) and does a great job without much instruction.  Over the years he has helped me learn more Spanish and I have helped him learn more English. 

 

(House and garden, Boquete, Panama, pictured.)

The amount you will spend on food here in Portugal would depend on for how many people you are buying. The cost for a couple with one son would average about $100 to $300 a week.
 
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...

The amount you will spend on food here in Portugal would depend on for how many people you are buying. The cost for a couple with one son would average about $100 to $300 a week.
 
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.  

Belize is a very diverse country, and while we are small (about 330,000 people in the entire country), our people not only belong to, but respect all different religions. Catholics, Evangelicals, Baptists, Jehovah’s Witness and Muslims live side by side in peace in Belize.
 
We respect the right of others to hold different religious beliefs.

 

(Frederick C. Hopkins, Catholic bishop in British Honduras [later Belize] at the turn of the 20th century,...

Belize is a very diverse country, and while we are small (about 330,000 people in the entire country), our people not only belong to, but respect all different religions. Catholics, Evangelicals, Baptists, Jehovah’s Witness and Muslims live side by side in peace in Belize.
 
We respect the right of others to hold different religious beliefs.

 

(Frederick C. Hopkins, Catholic bishop in British Honduras [later Belize] at the turn of the 20th century, who wrote The Catholic Church in British Honduras, pictured.)

A full-time gardener in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua typically costs around US $250 per month after accounting for their regular salary as well as their vacation, holiday and severance pays.

 

This monthly cost can be further reduced by working with a property management company that provides this service, as it may not be necessary to have a full-time gardener for your property.

 

A gardener is also typically in...

A full-time gardener in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua typically costs around US $250 per month after accounting for their regular salary as well as their vacation, holiday and severance pays.

 

This monthly cost can be further reduced by working with a property management company that provides this service, as it may not be necessary to have a full-time gardener for your property.

 

A gardener is also typically in charge of pool maintenance for homes with a pool.

The FBAR form is now Form 114 and can no longer be filed on paper. You must file it on line at a special US Treasury Site.  It is due for each calendar year on the following June 30th. That due date cannot be extended.  You can incur a $10,000 or more penalty for failing to file the form for any year it applies or for filing the form late.  There are ways around this penalty though and you should consult with an experienced CPA / Attorney to enter into one of these...

The FBAR form is now Form 114 and can no longer be filed on paper. You must file it on line at a special US Treasury Site.  It is due for each calendar year on the following June 30th. That due date cannot be extended.  You can incur a $10,000 or more penalty for failing to file the form for any year it applies or for filing the form late.  There are ways around this penalty though and you should consult with an experienced CPA / Attorney to enter into one of these programs.