Long gone are the days of the gold watch, goodbye party, and well-funded retirement years. Baby Boomers don’t get the same perks their parents did. All across the U.S. they put in longer hours, check their work email over the weekends, and fail to take their vacation days. Yet the average retirement age has crept up and up. But you know this. the need to rethink retirement is mainstream now.
But IL is not the mainstream. Most baby boomers don’t want their parents’ retirement, anyway. Boomers are looking for more meaning and purpose. They want to continue to grow and learn…to thrive, not just survive. They want to have some fun. This issue is all about that retirement.
It was during a 10-hour shift that shuttle bus driver Kathy Hall got the idea. The 63-year-old figured out that there were a host of countries she could explore on her social security alone. So she quit, packed her bags, and set off on the greatest adventure of her life through Southeast Asia.
Comparing their spiraling costs in Southern California to the comfortable life they could afford on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, Sue Ellery and her husband William made their move in 2016. “We are both in our 60s and now we’re free to pursue our interests without having to worry about the escalating costs of retiring in the U.S.”
IL Ecuador Coastal Correspondent, Jim Santos, tailor-made a retirement full of fun and adventure for himself and his wife Rita. from their base in Salinas they take trips all over Ecuador for the heck of it, discovering some serious sweet spots as they go. In this issue, Jim reports on a good-sized city close to the beach and mountains that he says is perfect for the trailblazer. (And a couple will live very well there on $1,200 to $1,500 a month.)
Lisa Condie is another who felt the need for something more. It all happened for her after the age of 56 with her own boutique tour business in Florence. And if you prefer white-sand Caribbean, IL Belize correspondent, Ann Kuffner reports on an opportunity in a place perfect for kicking off your shoes and sticking your toes in the sand…
—Eoin Bassett, Editorial Director
For Lisa Condie, Florence is where her soul feels most complete. “I adore the Oltrarno area of the city, as well as my new neighborhood around Borgo Pinti,” she says. “Here, I love the sandwich shop Borgo alle Fate, or meeting a close friend for a lovely long lunch at Natalino."
Five decades after locking itself away from the world, Burma has opened up to tourism in a big way. And Yangon, its capital formerly known as Rangoon, is becoming a major destination for people who want to see the renaissance of what was, a century ago, one of the region’s most beautiful and cosmopolitan cities.
Costa Rica is great any time of year. After all, there’s a reason it sees 2.6 million people visit annually. But possibly the best time to explore Costa Rica is a secret season—the first two weeks of December.
“Welcome to Paradise.” That’s the sign outside the door to Mitzi and Bill Martain’s home near the little village of Santa Fe, in the mountains of Panama’s Veraguas province.
Gray skies...frigid temperatures...ice on the road...shoveling the drive after a snowstorm...sodden boots...bundling up against the cold... North American winters can be brutal. So why not follow the example of our winged friends and head south?
It’s like being inside an aquarium,” my grandchildren kept saying, as we made our way back to shore from their first diving trip in the Caribbean. I had been ecstatic about introducing them to my favorite activity since we moved to Belize.
Did you know you can download and read your entire December issue as a PDF? Simply click on the link below and discover the secrets to retiring and investing overseas.