Imagining your life with fewer bills, more money, hired help, and warmer weather should be straightforward.
As you read International Living the numbers often do the work…a trout dinner in the Ecuadorian Andes for $3.50…$1,800 a month for the good life in a secret corner of Europe…
But it’s not so easy to picture the rich and full social life that an overseas retirement offers you. Well here it is folks: The best friendships are the ones you never saw coming, and they will come thick and fast in retirement havens around the world, as this issue shows.
Paul and Linda Kurtzweil dine out almost daily with their new friends in the Mexican beach town of Akumal. They lost 67% of their income by retiring early. “Yet our quality of life is better,” says Paul.
In a small city on the edge of Costa Rica’s Central Valley, John and Caryl Buford used their love of music and theater to make a whole new circle of friends. “We immediately bonded with people of similar interests,” says John.
And it’s not just couples who find it easy to make friends overseas. In highland Panama, David Van Harn says “I live a fulfilling life, and have more real friends than I’ve ever had.” And Susan Burnett has had no problem making friends in her new home of Cuenca, Ecuador: “Everyone has been super friendly, even though my Spanish isn’t very good. I have made some tremendous friends.”
The Cayo is Belize’s best-value region and “something is on almost every night,” says Ginny Ophof. “On Wednesday it’s lady’s darts at Remo’s, on Thursdays it’s line dancing, and on Friday head for the wine house for a tasting night,” she explains.
A steady stream of folks just like you are moving to the world’s best retirement havens. They will welcome you with open arms. “When I want new friends I just go on the expat Facebook pages and ask if someone wants to meet up for dinner on the beach. That’s how I have made a lot of friends,” says Ron Piltzer, a 70-year-old Californian living in Bali’s best beach town for retirees.
—Eoin Basset, International Executive Editor
My local dentist in Penang, Malaysia, completed his post-graduate training in Dallas, Texas. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. With credentials like this, you know you’re dealing with a professional.
“When we decided to leave our jobs and move to Mexico, we lost 67% of our annual income,” says Paul Kurtzweil. “The amazing thing is that our standard of living is better than it was in the States.
John Pearce knew he wanted to live in Dalat, in Vietnam’s central highlands, from the very first time he visited the town. “It’s the closest place that I’ve found in Vietnam to the Pacific Northwest. It’s why I moved here,” he says.
The breeze carries the scent of flowers from the frangipani trees. A wisp of incense floats your way from the little canang sari offering baskets that your housekeeper has placed to invite balance and harmony into your home. Kites fly lazily in the brilliant blue sky, while the ocean in front of you is calm and inviting.
Each morning in the Cayo begins with a symphony of birdsong. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve spent the night in a remote eco-lodge or in San Ignacio, the region’s largest town. Inevitably, you’ll awake to the tune of an avian ensemble: cooing doves… drumming woodpeckers…or a pandemonium of parrots.
I want to share a secret with you. If you long for a life in Europe—be it a few months a year or a full-time escape—but you assumed you couldn’t afford it... I have good news. You can live better than you imagine for less than it costs you to stay home.
I want to share a secret with you. If you long for a life in Europe—be it a few months a year or a full-time escape—but you assumed you couldn’t afford it... I have good news. You can live better than you imagine for less than it costs you to stay home.
The SUV trundles into the mountains along forested roads lined with pine, oak, and walnut. As we climb higher, I turn off the air conditioning and roll down the window to get a blast of highland air.
If history has taught us one thing, it’s not to trust paper money. This was a lesson that Weimar Germany learned all too well in the early 1920s. Flooding the economy with money (and no gold to back it up) led to hyperinflation on a massive scale.
“As a teenager, I occasionally thought about retirement, which would be many years in the future,” says David Van Harn. “I came to the conclusion that I wanted to live somewhere where there would be things happening in the area nearly every day of the week, and I wouldn’t be isolated with only other seniors.