Best Places In The World To Retire

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Recently Answered Questions

Is there diving, Scuba or snorkeling in Mexico?

Brenda de Groot - AvensaTravel

Mayan Reef, Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

You can dive and snorkel everywhere in Mexico. The best places are Los Cabos in Baja California, the coast of Oaxaca and in Yucatán. Here you can find professional diving schools with certified guides. I think every place has its uniqueness to dive. However, the best place, for me, to dive in Mexico would be Yucatán because it has the thousand-kilometer Maya Reef. The coast of Yucatan to Honduras has one of the most beautiful reefs in the world.

(Coral...

What's the language most often spoken in Ambergris Caye? Can I get by if I just speak English?

Wendy Miller - RE/MAX Property Center South

Belize is the only English speaking country in Central America. This means that all important and official documents are printed in English. Schools, real estate, business transactions etc. are all done in English.

You will hear most locals speaking other languages in their day-to-day life, such as: Belizean Creole, Spanish, "Spanglish" and Mayan, but the majority speak and understand English as well.

So if...

Who are the residents of the Pedasi, Azuero, Panama area? Who lives in Pedasi, Azuero, Panama?

Bill Hamilton - Bill Hamilton

The people in Pedasi are really the same as most Panamanians. They are friendly and easy-going, surviving mostly on agriculture and fishing. They also provide a boat service to Isla Iguana and some are builders, too. The mini markets are run mostly by Chinese. Brush up on your Spanish as you will not find many who speak English.

Is Nicaragua cheap?

Mike Cobb - ECI Development

Living in Nicaragua is inexpensive for almost all things. Electricity and gasoline are the exceptions. We calculated a budget for Nicaragua that comes to US $1,200 for a couple to have a very nice life including a half time maid, a gardener when needed, meals, taxes, bus travel, and even 2-3 rounds of golf per week (with membership).

This budget does not include a mortgage payment nor rental costs. Rent in the city of Managua runs somewhere

What’s the cost to rent a home in Portugal?

Luis Teixeira da Silva - Algarve Senior Living

Rental a Algarve Senior Living, Algarve, Portugal – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The cost of rent a home in Algarve varies based on what kind of home you are renting, how many bedrooms it has, whether it is an apartment or a villa, and so on. It also varies depending on the length of time that you intend to stay.

There are two types of rentals in the Algarve. One is the summer, short-term rentals similar to the ones they have in Florida, California, or anywhere that is a holiday spot. In the summer, a two-bedroom apartment, which is probably the most common type of apartment to rent, would start between €500 (US $550 or £360) a week to about €1,250 (US $1,375 or £900) a week, depending if you have the views and other amenities. A three-bedroom villa would start you at about €750 (US $825 or £540) a week to around €3,000 (US $3,300 or £2,175) a week. The price depends on where the villa is located, the views, and the amenities. The price range is very large because there is a huge range of real estate products here in Algarve.

The second category of rental is the winter, long-term stay or permanent rentals. The average rule for this type of rental is that one week of summer rental would be slightly less than one month of winter rental. That is the rule of thumb that we use all the time and it works very well. A two-bedroom apartment in the winter, per month costs around €500 (US $550 or £360) to €900 (US $990 or £650) and a villa in the winter would cost you €1,200 (US $1320 or £870) to €2,000 (US $2,200 or £1,450). The reason why it is lower than the high end in the summer is because many of the very expensive villas in the summer would not be target market for winter rentals because they would be too large or too expensive for most of the winter lets.

The winter rental is slightly different than the 12-month rental. A winter rental is a rental for people who would be looking to stay in a warmer place like the Algarve during the coldest months in places like Canada, the US, England, Sweden, and Germany. They would typically stay here between October and November and maybe around March to May. Those would be your typical winter months. We are getting an increasing number of people who are looking for these winter months because of recently approved legislation called the non-habitual resident status, which allows pensioners from abroad, newly-arriving and resident pensioners to receive their pension tax free in Portugal. To do so, they have to remain in the country for 183 days or more. Of course, most people do not want to be in the cold countries during winter so they spend their winters abroad with a tax advantage and they come over to Portugal to rent for 6 to 8 months. This way, they get their tax benefit and spend their winters in the sun.

The year-long resident with a12-month contract would typically pay more than the winter let rate because the rate would include the very expensive summer months, and so the monthly rental price would be higher than the monthly price for winter let. Using the same example as above, on a year round basis, a two-bedroom apartment would cost between €1,000 (US $1,100 or £725) and €1,500 ($1,650 or £1,088). For a two-bedroom villa, it would cost around easily €1,500 (US $1,650 or £1,088) to €3,000 ($3,300 or £2,175) a month. These rentals are located in the nicer areas of Algarve with the top end being in the nicest areas. There is enough nice quality stock of rentals in the Algarve so that no one needs to feel as though they were living in a very basic, bare bones location. Even our cheapest stock, which is a one-bedroom apartment and costs around €350 (US $385 or £254) a month in the winter, are fully furnished and within walking distance to shops, restaurants, and sometimes even to the beach. Not all rentals are like that but there is no lack of quality, fortunately, in the Algarve.

(Rental a Algarve Senior Living, Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)

What are the worst reasons to retire overseas?

Holly CarterHolly

In my opinion, the worst reason to retire abroad is if you think your moving to "Paradise". Many people listen to the hype of certain publications that just want to sell you things and tout "Paradise". Any place you live will have it's problems and no place is perfect. Especially when moving to a different country which will have a different culture, different foods, possibly a different language that you will have to adjust to and learn...

Recently Posted Expat Stories

Ben White of the Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic Reveals How LCS Has been Successfully Serving Expats and Locals Alike for 61 Years, and Their Exciting Plans for the Future

Chuck Bolotin: It’s mid-February 2017 and we have the privilege of chatting with Ben White, President of the Board of Ben White at Lake Chapala Society LCS and Chuck Bolotin

Ben White at Lake Chapala Society LCS and Chuck Bolotin

Directors of Lake Chapala Society (LCS), in Ajijic, Mexico, right here on their beautiful grounds. One of the reasons why we’re so honored to talk with Ben is that in all our travels on our road trip throughout Mexico and from what we know after reviewing thousands of answers on our site from expats about living in Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, and Portugal,...

Our big white van for our trip to Mexico

The Mexican border agent took a quick look at our over-sized van and motioned me to pull over to a special inspection area. Then, he asked me to open the rear doors. What he saw next was a cargo area so fully stuffed that you would have a difficult time adding a tennis ball.

“I’m sorry, senor,” he said, “you either have to unpack the van to let us see what you have in all those boxes, or go to another point of entry where they have an x-ray machine.” Given...

Panama and The Theory of Relativity / "Panama East"

Reprinted with permission from Bob Adams of Retirement Wave

A Voyage to Another Galaxy

I am very fortunate. A few months ago, I had the chance to visit a planet in a galaxy a thousand light-years from ours. The planet I visited was a little like Earth, but it was also a little like Mars, what Earthlings often call "the Red Planet", only the red was much stronger.

Panama City Panama at sunset – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

Panama City Panama at sunset – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

I stood on a balcony of a building on the top of a hill, looking down on the alien...

Best Places In The World To Retire

Recently Answered Questions

Is there diving, Scuba or snorkeling in Mexico?

What's the language most often spoken in Ambergris Caye? Can I get by if I just speak English?

Who are the residents of the Pedasi, Azuero, Panama area? Who lives in Pedasi, Azuero, Panama?

Is Nicaragua cheap?

What’s the cost to rent a home in Portugal?

What are the worst reasons to retire overseas?

Recently Posted Expat Stories

Ben White of the Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic Reveals How LCS Has been Successfully Serving Expats and Locals Alike for 61 Years, and Their Exciting Plans for the Future

Why We Will Be Driving Through Mexico for the Next Year: A Road Trip Series

Panama and The Theory of Relativity / "Panama East"

Best Places In The World To Retire