Warren Buffet said: “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” When it comes to retirement overseas today, you can get good value, indeed—and at prices so low, you’ll think you misunderstood when you hear them.
Even in the most popular and long-established retirement havens—places like San Miguel de Allende, Mexico or Costa Rica’s Central Valley—though hardly the cheapest places on our beat, you’ll find it easy to enjoy a top-notch life, for a lot less than you’d pay in the U.S.
But it’s in up-and-coming locales—the ones not yet overrun by expats—that you’ll find your dollars really stretch. And it’s those places we point you to in this issue.
For starters, we sent our correspondents on the hunt for low-cost, great-value real estate in Latin America’s up-and-coming, under-the-radar towns, and they delivered. Pacific Ocean-view condos for $169,950…a five-bedroom colonial home for $83,000…a three-bedroom condo for $118,000 in one of the world’s most famous coffee regions. These are all in spots worthy of becoming the next big expat haven, but which haven’t hit the mainstream—yet.
Farther afield, in English-speaking Sri Lanka is slowly being discovered by expats, and IL Roving Correspondent Sharyn Nilsen explains why. “Sri Lanka offers clean, sandy beaches, and clear blue water. Plus costs are very low,” she says. A couple can live well here on under $1,400 a month and “that includes eating out every day with enough left over for exploring.” Read her full report here.
Over in Europe, Gene and Jan McCall fell in love with the Le Marche region of Italy (a place The New York Times called “Italy’s best kept secret”) and have made it their part-time retirement home. Living in their town house that’s part of a 14-century castle, they enjoy the fresh, local food (“mains at a good restaurant cost around $10”), the good quality healthcare, and the ease of travel—and all of it on a modest budget.
No matter how much money you have to spend in your retirement, you’ll get much better value for it overseas. From his home just outside Medellin, Colombia, Robert Venhuizen sums it up: “I’m living a lifestyle I couldn’t come close to in the U.S. I have enough money to do what I want.”
John Pasnau releases the stern line on his 36-foot cabin cruiser, Fish Trap, and settles into one of the deck chairs. Chatting with his friends while his captain expertly motors the craft out of the harbor and into the warm, turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, John is serving as host and guide for the upcoming day on the water.
There’s lots to love about Thailand— its beauty and budget-friendliness are just two of its many benefits. Social life is easy, with friendly locals and expats at every turn. But what about healthcare? I’m still a practicing emergency physician in New York State. So when I needed medical care in Thailand, I was able to evaluate its quality both as a patient and as a medical professional.
After working for 18 years as a tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C., I realized that my wife Rebecca and I could live a better life in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
A spectacular sunset over the clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean ends another perfect day on the magnificent Sri Lankan coast. The waiter delivers an icy cold Lion beer, the country’s most famous lager. My husband Tim and I settle in to watch the colors change from golden orange to vibrant pink, as we reflect on a day spent discovering one of the friendliest places we’ve ever had the pleasure to visit.
I call us “experimental,” because we’ve taken the part-time approach to retirement: We take trips of up to 90 days at a time in Italy. We selected Italy as the best choice for this, since we had spent a lot of time here on vacation. We weren’t necessarily searching for a place that is less expensive than the U. S. But we didn’t want to exceed our income, either. We are both in our 70s, and medical care was an issue, too. Spending three months here lets us immerse ourselves, without needing to get residence visas or file complicated paperwork.
“Tulum is my perfect place. The beach is amazing and, once or twice a week, a bunch of women get together for a game night. And my days are as full as I want them to be. I never planned for this to happen, but I’m accidentally living the dream that many people want,” Margo says. “Now it’s my dream, and I’m keeping it!”
Perhaps you imagine your ideal retirement as one spent with a view of the ocean, the hot sun overhead. Or maybe you see yourself in a highland village set among rolling green hills, in a temperate zone. Then again, big-city living may be more your style—with all the invigorating offerings of a cosmopolitan life—with lots of museums, theaters, and restaurants to enjoy.
The capital city, Lima, sits midway along the 1,500-mile parched desert coastline of Peru. Head 300 miles north and you reach the seaside town of Huanchaco and its nearby neighbor, the bustling city of Trujillo (population 800,000). With negligible rainfall and year-round average temperatures of lows in the 60s F to highs in the 70s F, Trujillo is one of several cities known as the “City of Eternal Spring.”
As you sink your toes in the warm, soft sand, you close your eyes for a second. You hear children laughing and splashing in the distance, and the swell and crashing of waves. High in the cloudless, never-ending expanse of blue sky, the sun shines warm and bright.
If you’re looking for a real estate investment you can parlay into a residence visa at the lowest possible cost, Ecuador wins by a landslide. For a minimum real estate purchase of $30,880, you can acquire an investor visa that gives you the right to reside in Ecuador. For a slightly higher minimum investment, you can include your spouse and dependent children in your application.