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Sure, I day dream about living the good life in Italy or the south of France, but speaking neither Italian or French, I think I'd be frustrated...but? Who knows, it would be fun to try, yes?
There are some amazing apps for teaching languages now. Some are free, some are just $2-3. We're traveling to Italy, so I've been trying to learn as much Italian as I can, and I'm impressed with how much you can learn though these apps.
After retirement, we moved to another country, not for the low cost of living but for the high quality of life. We chose Italy after a lot of considerations (my first choice was France, husband's was Ireland.) Husband was 54 and I was 47, so we were young retirees then. We bought a 12th century stone house inside the walls of a medieval town, brought it up to modern comfort, and lived there for seven years. We would still live there indefinitely if not for the birth of our first grandchild and my husband's desire to be closer to the (now two) grandchildren.
In Italy, our home was paid for and exempted from property tax, our health insurance premium was 7.5% of our US taxable income, and once we paid that on Jan 2, we had no other out-of-pocket medical expense for the rest of the year (even in a catastrophe.) We travelled all over the Continent with little cost, quality of life was better than we expected, medical care was excellent, and we loved our life and the friendships we had there. Language ceased to be a struggle after the first year (especially with free language classes) and since I was an active member of the local community and formed many connections, bureaucracy became a game instead of a headache. Food was fresh, arts and culture were abundant, free/very low cost concerts every evening in the summer and often in the autumn and winter. We were able to see so many great musicians while living in Italy, a whole lot more than we ever could in our entire life in the States -- Simon and Garfunkel, B.B. King, Charlie Haden, George Benson, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Chick Corea, João Gilberto, Elton John, Carmen McRae, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Sonny Rollins, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, etc. The only gripe I had was the limited availability of English books.
Now living in the States, our insurance is astronomical (we are yet to qualify for medicare) and international travel is expensive. We now see one of our daughters every month and talk to the other daughter and grandchildren every day. We also have millions of books at our fingertips, but our budget is tighter than ever. We traded something for another, and although I miss Italy, I do not look back on our decision.
It's more difficult for us to retire here in the States, so will we ever move again to another country? Not for economical reason. Never for economical reason. I lived in Asia for 22 years, and I'll never return to live there again, not for any amount of money. We've seen Central and South America up close and personal for months at a time, and we've no desire to live there. Money be darned, if we cannot find happiness, contentment, and fulfillment in a country, there is absolutely no reason for us to live there.
I understand everything you wrote but keep on mind you are a married US lady. A single US man might see things very differently, as even a single US woman. And you have grand kids. A retired US single man with no children who is self made and self supportive might find life much better in Italy than the US. All depends on where you came from, if kids are involved and if you are married or single. But money seems to be the #1 factor. When retiring early, in US or abroad.
I understand everything you wrote but keep on mind you are a married US lady. A single US man might see things very differently, as even a single US woman. And you have grand kids. A retired US single man with no children who is self made and self supportive might find life much better in Italy than the US. All depends on where you came from, if kids are involved and if you are married or single.
I think you perhaps misunderstand my post. I did, and still do, find that life is much better in Italy than in the States. I loved and still love everything about Italy, and the only thing I did not love was the bureaucracy, but since I found a way to deal with it effectively, it was no longer an issue to me.
Perhaps my comment that I do not look back on the decision to leave Italy was the cause for the misunderstanding. If so, let me make myself clear: I don't regret leaving Italy not because I became disenchanted with the country, but simply because I don't waste time on regretting something I cannot change.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 05-01-2013 at 04:47 AM..
A co-worker who wants to retire to another country... he has 20 yrs to go found this and we read through a lot together. I have to hand it to this woman... she never visited the country let alone the town/city. She seems to be doing fine.
The tendancy to generalize from our own personal situations is near universal and is certainly on display in this thread. Here in California, my property taxes increase by 2% per year. The increase is limited to that by law. In the last four years (since becoming a Medicare enrollee at age 65), my health care expenses have not increased at all.
So should I conclude that no one is experiencing difficulties with increases in property taxes or health care expenses? Not at all. So should the people experiencing those difficulties conclude that their difficulties represent a general situation in the United States? Not at all. There are always outlier situations and the future remains full of uncertainty - it always was and always will be full of uncertainty.
As an expat the two things I worry about least are Taxes and Health Insurance. I will sign up for Medicare part A when I turn 65 but will also keep my Health insurance policy here. Rates are reasonable and prices are capped for life once you hit 71. City taxes on my Ocean view 1700 sq ft condo are only a few hundred dollars a year and the services are nothing short of spectacular. Garbage pick up twice a night 7 days a week, private security force in addition to the national police,traffic cops and separate tourist police. Free wi-fi in all the parks (Miles of well maintained oceanfront parks outside my front door). We even have hundreds of street cleaners (24/7) who pick up every leaf that falls on the sidewalks, you are embarrassed to drop your cigarette butt as they will follow you around just to pick it up.
On the other hand I do worry about what the cook will prepare for lunch and will it be ready on time!
And NOOOO recycling! There are people here that make a living sorting through household garbage for recyclables, not having to sort your garbage is like a charitable donation!
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