What's retirement in Granada, Nicaragua like?
John-Marc Gallagher - GPS Real Estate
What is retirement like in Granada, Nicaragua? Some could say I wouldn't know because I am not actually retired nor plan to be. I plan to work 'til I drop! Like the rest of the "Real World".
But I am one of the few. There are more retirees than expats working businesses and staying busy outside the retirement daily regimen. But I know a lot of retirees and I see, hear, and listen to all that goes on in their lives and it seems...
What is retirement like in Granada, Nicaragua? Some could say I wouldn't know because I am not actually retired nor plan to be. I plan to work 'til I drop! Like the rest of the "Real World".
But I am one of the few. There are more retirees than expats working businesses and staying busy outside the retirement daily regimen. But I know a lot of retirees and I see, hear, and listen to all that goes on in their lives and it seems like they are having a lot fun!
Doing business is a challenging adventure. Never a dull moment and and retirement isn't much different. It's just a matter of scale. You have to deal with the bureaucracy of paying your electric, water, cable, and the idiosyncrasies of dealing with your handyman, maid and gardener. Each of those tasks are often a task onto themselves and often go along with a funny story or anecdote, like this one:
Our maid of 3 years didn't come to work one day. She had taken care of our home, our son and us, to a certain extent. We trained her, we helped her and we loved her.
On the day she didn't come to work... and sent her cousin in her place, a woman we never met. A woman who didn't know how to turn on the washing machine. A woman who hadn't ever stepped foot in a home with glass windows and a tile floor. Our maid thought she was doing us a favor. It was fun!
As retirees and expats, we are constantly comparing notes and, as the line goes in the Christmas song Jingle bells: laughing all the way, Ha Ha Ha!
If one word describes what I see in all the retirees here in Granada it is "leisure." Everything is done at a leisurely pace. And if you try to rush it, North American Style, roadblocks go up and frustration sets in. So enjoy the slower pace and the even slower speed that things get accomplished here in Central America, and Relax!
Posted March 25, 2014
Carlos Roman Gutierrez Solis - Casa Granada Properties
Retirees in Granada have an easy life. I met a guy who is a retiree from the army and he owns two houses. His typical daily activities are going out for drinks, watching baseball games, talking to other people all day long and looking for women because he is single. He has one house in Granada where he lives and another in Managua. He lives in Granada but goes back to the Managua to meet other friends and have some drinks and do other...
Retirees in Granada have an easy life. I met a guy who is a retiree from the army and he owns two houses. His typical daily activities are going out for drinks, watching baseball games, talking to other people all day long and looking for women because he is single. He has one house in Granada where he lives and another in Managua. He lives in Granada but goes back to the Managua to meet other friends and have some drinks and do other things. He goes to the ocean to fish, too. He has a very relaxed kind of life. That is the kind of life expats can have here in Granada.
Then, we have expats like my friend Darrell Bushnell who is very active in community outreach programs. Other expats work with the community by teaching English to locals. For expats, life here depends on what you want to do and how you want to interact with the locals. Everyone has so many different activities. Life could be as easy as they want it to be.
Life is easy because it is affordable. Let us say you have US $1,500 a month from your pension or from Social Security. You can rent an apartment or a house for $400 or $500 a month, and then you pay another $100 for electricity and water. Your budget for food, which is very inexpensive, will depend on how much you consume. The rest of your money can go to any activity you want to do. You can go out with friends, have drinks, and go to the ocean. You can do pretty much anything; the sky is the limit.
Relative to how much it costs to live in North America, it is inexpensive in Granada, including having help like house cleaners, gardeners and everything else. Life is very easy for most Americans that have any income. Even with what is considered in the US as a very low income, you can still live in a very easy, nice, relaxed way in Granada.
One of the reasons I’m getting to this new concept is because I can see that Americans and other foreigners are searching and exploring new countries or lands of opportunities. They are looking for places where they can go and live, feel comfortable and safe because the cost of living in the countries where they are from is no longer affordable or it might be too tight to deal with everyday expenses. Another reason they come here to live may be the climate or the weather. If you live in a cold city and don't like the cold, Granada or Nicaragua in general could be the right place for you.
Posted October 13, 2014