What are the worst reasons to retire to Belize?
Boris Mannsfeld - Boris Mannsfeld & Associates
Probably the worst reason to retire in Belize is if you want to go shopping. This is not the Vegas Strip, this is not Paris, and this is not Cancun. If you want to come here and your plan is to get your hair done every day and sit around and go shopping, then Belize is not for you that would be numero uno.If you want to go somewhere where it's all really high-end rich, Belize would not be for you. Or if you want something like the French club scene where everybody's all...
Probably the worst reason to retire in Belize is if you want to go shopping. This is not the Vegas Strip, this is not Paris, and this is not Cancun. If you want to come here and your plan is to get your hair done every day and sit around and go shopping, then Belize is not for you that would be numero uno.If you want to go somewhere where it's all really high-end rich, Belize would not be for you. Or if you want something like the French club scene where everybody's all decked out in the latest threads and showing off in the nicest cars, Belize is not for that either.
People down here, the locals, as well as those who move down here are very unpretentious. Even the rich people are in t-shirts and even when you have a meeting with the prime minister, you wear just a pair of khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, that is as far as it will get. Belize is definitely not a place for people who want to be pampered by people in freshly pressed white serving shirts.
Posted December 1, 2014
Christian Burn
The worst reason to retire in Belize is if you are on the run. If you are on the run or if you are trying to escape from something, do not come here. Belize is completely on the radar and we regularly deport people back to the US with US Marshals, so this is not the kind of place where you can escape and hide. John McAfee (an anti-virus software pioneer), tried to escape here and then he tried to escape back to the US. So, this isn't a place that you can run to. This is a place where...
The worst reason to retire in Belize is if you are on the run. If you are on the run or if you are trying to escape from something, do not come here. Belize is completely on the radar and we regularly deport people back to the US with US Marshals, so this is not the kind of place where you can escape and hide. John McAfee (an anti-virus software pioneer), tried to escape here and then he tried to escape back to the US. So, this isn't a place that you can run to. This is a place where you can come to, not run to.
The other worst reason to move to Belize is if you really think that you can get an entirely different culture here in Belize. The North American culture is here, too. We might not have the big box stores, we might not have the brand names or kind of locations that we have in North America, but that undertone is here in Belize, because of the American TV that we get. With marketing efforts coming down here, when people are making choices such as which kind of chips to import, do we do plantain chips or banana chips, or do we get Doritos? Everybody has been watching the Doritos ads from the Super Bowl, so they bring in Doritos here. You are not escaping the things that you know by escaping here. You are still accessing them.
It is not a complete change of lifestyle and culture. If that is what people are looking for, then they might need to look farther away in the world in order to get a complete culture shift. The culture of Belize is very similar to the culture that we live in at home in North America. It is very westernized here, so if you are looking for something that's not westernized, then this is not the place.
The other worst reason to move to Belize is if you really think that you can get an entirely different culture here in Belize. The North American culture is here, too. We might not have the big box stores, we might not have the brand names or kind of locations that we have in North America, but that undertone is here in Belize, because of the American TV that we get. With marketing efforts coming down here, when people are making choices such as which kind of chips to import, do we do plantain chips or banana chips, or do we get Doritos? Everybody has been watching the Doritos ads from the Super Bowl, so they bring in Doritos here. You are not escaping the things that you know by escaping here. You are still accessing them.
It is not a complete change of lifestyle and culture. If that is what people are looking for, then they might need to look farther away in the world in order to get a complete culture shift. The culture of Belize is very similar to the culture that we live in at home in North America. It is very westernized here, so if you are looking for something that's not westernized, then this is not the place.
Posted December 2, 2014
Macarena Rose - Rainforerst Realty
If people are looking to move to Belize because they are running away from something, such as if they are in trouble with the law, if they are trying to hide money, or hiding something else, Belize is not the place to be. Belize is a small country and everybody knows everybody. Belize does not want people who are like that because Belize takes care of the people that live here. If you are a person who comes to Belize for the right reasons, have the right...
If people are looking to move to Belize because they are running away from something, such as if they are in trouble with the law, if they are trying to hide money, or hiding something else, Belize is not the place to be. Belize is a small country and everybody knows everybody. Belize does not want people who are like that because Belize takes care of the people that live here. If you are a person who comes to Belize for the right reasons, have the right ethics, and you didn’t come here to take advantage of people, or to run drugs, then Belize would be a fit for you.
Posted January 30, 2015
Jacqelyn Pekar
The worst reason to retire to Belize is if you are used to and demand immediate gratification. Living in Belize is simple and easy, but if you need to get your hair done each week or you need super high speed internet, perhaps this isn't the place for you. Other bad reasons might be if you have serious health issues, if you cannot support yourself, if you are not adventurous or if you cannot accept all sorts of people and personalities.
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The worst reason to retire to Belize is if you are used to and demand immediate gratification. Living in Belize is simple and easy, but if you need to get your hair done each week or you need super high speed internet, perhaps this isn't the place for you. Other bad reasons might be if you have serious health issues, if you cannot support yourself, if you are not adventurous or if you cannot accept all sorts of people and personalities.
Retiring in Belize is certainly an adjustment. Even living in Arizona, I had to get used to the humidity here and it made me pretty cranky at first. But, I got used to it fairly quickly and satisfied my need for "dry heat" with fans and the occasional air conditioning
Belize is worth it to me to deal with the "now and then" inconveniences we encounter here. No, I cannot go to the store to buy brussel sprouts or strawberries whenever I like. But, the mangos (pictured) and bananas taste like nothing you can find in the States. I've had to re-learn how to cook with what I do find here and that's been fun for me.
Take your time and know that it does make a difference if you are happy in Belize or not!
Posted February 4, 2015
Chris Leonard - Paradise Found Belize Real Estate and Development
The worst reason to retire to Belize is to go there and expect to be the head honcho and push people around. Some expats flex their wallets while everybody else is really relaxed and laid back. The people in Belize do their things at their own pace, so flexing your wallet would probably be a bad thing to do. The expats that did this thought they could be king of the world, so Belize is probably not the best place for them.Another bad reason to move to Belize is to do so...
The worst reason to retire to Belize is to go there and expect to be the head honcho and push people around. Some expats flex their wallets while everybody else is really relaxed and laid back. The people in Belize do their things at their own pace, so flexing your wallet would probably be a bad thing to do. The expats that did this thought they could be king of the world, so Belize is probably not the best place for them.Another bad reason to move to Belize is to do so in order to hide. For those who are thinking of retiring to Belize to hide, they can only hide for so long. The US government is very present. When I was down there, a US citizen was arrested, not for crimes committed in the United States, but for crimes in Belize. The United States actually sent an investigator to handle it from the embassy. I met the man arrested, who was a former Navy Seal, but there was no preferential treatment given to him. There are always stories of people believing that any country in Central America is a good place to hide out. This doesn’t work. These are poor countries, so with the right incentives (like a bounty for your arrest), somebody will take that money, and you'll get caught.
(Pictured: Street, park, and clock tower in Orange Walk, Belize)
Posted February 28, 2015
Bentley Wildman - Consejo Shores
I don't know what the worse reasons are to retire to Belize because I think that eventually everything works out. Maybe one of the things about Belize that some people don’t like is that a lot of people that retire still want to be able to go to their local Wal-Mart and big grocery stores, which we don’t have. Belize City has a couple of them, but the towns away from the city don't really have these massive stores where you can have...
I don't know what the worse reasons are to retire to Belize because I think that eventually everything works out. Maybe one of the things about Belize that some people don’t like is that a lot of people that retire still want to be able to go to their local Wal-Mart and big grocery stores, which we don’t have. Belize City has a couple of them, but the towns away from the city don't really have these massive stores where you can have everything and anything you want. I suspect that that is a downfall mostly for the women, not for the men. I think the men don't really care. But for the women, it's a real negative.
Now where we live, in Consejo Shores, in Corozal, we're kind of lucky because we live close to the city of Chetumal, Mexico, which does have Wal-Mart and a Home Depot. But you still have to get what you bought across the border and you've got to pay duties on it. And there are a lot of things that are restricted because you can buy them in Belize. For one example, you can't bring beer from certain countries into Belize, because Belize makes its own beer. You can't bring Mexican beer in to Belize and you can't bring Guatemalan beer into Belize because they are border countries. However, you can buy European beer in Belize and you can buy American beer in Belize because they’re not bordering areas, but you have to pay a lot of money for it because the duties here are very high.
(Made in Belize, Lighthouse Lager, pictured. )
Posted July 21, 2015
Matthew Hoy - Pelican Properties
If you are running from problems or if you are running from situations that you feel is not working out for you, there is a very good chance that you are going to bring that very same problem with you to Belize and you may find troubles. If you are the type of person who likes to adapt your way to the people who are living around them, you will do a lot better than the people who come here and say, “It has to be like this…” or “I only do things this...If you are running from problems or if you are running from situations that you feel is not working out for you, there is a very good chance that you are going to bring that very same problem with you to Belize and you may find troubles. If you are the type of person who likes to adapt your way to the people who are living around them, you will do a lot better than the people who come here and say, “It has to be like this…” or “I only do things this way…” If you are not very flexible then it is going to be a lot more difficult for you to be here in Belize than somebody who is more flexible and accommodating. In addition, if you don’t like sunshine and if you don’t like sea air, Belize might not be a good place for you.
(Enjoying sun and sea air in Ambergris Caye, Belize, pictured.)
Posted December 16, 2015
David Berger - Tradewinds Hospitality at Orchid Bay
People should not go to Belize to try and make money. That is a hard thing to do. You can do it but it shouldn’t be your goal. You shouldn’t worry about coming here and finding work to make money. It takes time and energy to make money here in Belize. In general, there are not a lot of bad reasons to retire in Belize. Some people do not like the fact that you can’t get what you want in an instant here in Belize. If you like Walmart,...
People should not go to Belize to try and make money. That is a hard thing to do. You can do it but it shouldn’t be your goal. You shouldn’t worry about coming here and finding work to make money. It takes time and energy to make money here in Belize. In general, there are not a lot of bad reasons to retire in Belize. Some people do not like the fact that you can’t get what you want in an instant here in Belize. If you like Walmart, then you might not like Belize. If you are worried about having high speed internet 24 hours a day, you might go crazy here because we don’t always have it. We do have high speed Internet but there are times that we don’t and we just do not worry about it. When the Internet is down, we go swimming! Some people just cannot handle that. I see people down here who are on vacation and they just freak out about not having Internet connection for an hour but the internet could be down even for a day.
If you are planning to retire to Belize, my suggestion is to come and rent here for a little while and see if you like it. At least spend a couple of months here first before you make the move. The people who I met here, love it here.
I used to live in Central Oregon. I loved where I lived but a lot of people cannot handle the cold and it’s just not for everyone. That is the cool thing about it. Some people cannot handle the roads here because the roads are pretty bad in some places. Some people are used to the style of life in the US, which is not like the rest of the world and it is certainly not like Belize.
(Pictured: Residents of Orchid Bay exploring the Mayan ruins near Corozal, Belize.)
Posted April 5, 2017