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For pretty crime (which impacts far more people) both Central America and SE Asia have plenty of it, one finds bars on the windows in good neighborhoods either way.
SE Asia is generally cheaper, but there are some advantages to Central America as well... three hour flight from Houston and Spanish is a lot easier to get a grip on than Thai/Khmer/Lao/etc.
While crime would be everywhere and certainly being foreigners with better income than the general population could make you a target. I think if you are careful you can reduce those odds. You could be robbed just as easily in our own country.
To me these are things I look for.
1. Health care- affordable and good
2. Good infrastructure. Now I don't expect it to be just like US, but I don't want to retire in a country with very poor one.
3. Stability- govt and crime wise, how are foreigners treated.
So I guess I'm not just looking at the best bottom line economically best deal, as one that best meets my parameters and I would enjoy retiring in.
Back to the OP, Belize in my book didn't meet those parameters, now it may meet others and that's why you can only decide that by yourself. Go live a month there or 90 days and rent where you think you want to live in. Not the resort by the beach, go do groceries where you would normally go and not eat out every day, check the hospitals, clinics etc. oh and don't just visit on the good weather months.
I'll throw one out here that one doesn't see mentioned much, I had just written a bit about it on another forum.
Albania. We track our day-to-day travel expenses quite closely and Albania is as cheap as SE Asia or Central America. It is much cheaper than Portugal the current darling of European cheaper retirment destinations. The weather is mild for Europe, the capital Tirana has a reasonable spread of restaurants you can get Thai, Chinese, Mexican, and a ton of Italian places. There are movie theaters, public transportation, infrastructure in Tirana is better than many options in Asia and Central America hey you can actually walk on nice big sidewalks that aren't obstructed.
It is already a popular retirement spot for Italians since short ferry ride across the Adriatic, much cheaper than Italy, and similar culture and weather. One big bonus for USA that you rarely see = United States citizens can stay for up to one year visa free. That solves a lot of hassles.
Negatives = not much expats from US and not really as connected to the rest of Europe, you've got to hop through Serbia or Italy to start being able to take advantage of European rail system.
Not long ago saw a slick "too good to be true" infomercial called Buy Belize. So naturally I Googled Buy Belize Scam.
I very much agree with the poster who says it takes a special kind of person to successfully move to a foreign country. Hell, I tried living in Hawaii and ultimately couldn't adjust to it. And that's a US State!
I'll throw one out here that one doesn't see mentioned much, I had just written a bit about it on another forum.
Albania. We track our day-to-day travel expenses quite closely and Albania is as cheap as SE Asia or Central America. It is much cheaper than Portugal the current darling of European cheaper retirment destinations. The weather is mild for Europe, the capital Tirana has a reasonable spread of restaurants you can get Thai, Chinese, Mexican, and a ton of Italian places. There are movie theaters, public transportation, infrastructure in Tirana is better than many options in Asia and Central America hey you can actually walk on nice big sidewalks that aren't obstructed.
It is already a popular retirement spot for Italians since short ferry ride across the Adriatic, much cheaper than Italy, and similar culture and weather. One big bonus for USA that you rarely see = United States citizens can stay for up to one year visa free. That solves a lot of hassles.
Negatives = not much expats from US and not really as connected to the rest of Europe, you've got to hop through Serbia or Italy to start being able to take advantage of European rail system.
(Sorry for slighlty OT)
I never thought about Albania but that's quite interesting. I'm going to show my bias here, but I'd be rather fearful retiring in a country where most of the population is Muslim even in Europe. Too much can go wrong and that part of Europe is famous for having religious wars.
I agree that learning Thai or Vietnamese would be difficult if you retired to one of those countries, but what about Luzon, Philippines? Almost everyone speaks English, it is inexpensive, beautiful and mountainous, and from what I've read they are friendly to Westerners. Plus, Filipinos are almost all Christian.
I agree that learning Thai or Vietnamese would be difficult if you retired to one of those countries, but what about Luzon, Philippines? Almost everyone speaks English, it is inexpensive, beautiful and mountainous, and from what I've read they are friendly to Westerners. Plus, Filipinos are almost all Christian.
The Philippines can be dangerous. Mafia-type gangs. People end up murdered in the jungle from what I hear.
The Philippines can be dangerous. Mafia-type gangs. People end up murdered in the jungle from what I hear.
I read an article about a Korean couple who retired in Philippines and her husband was kidnapped and killed, yet they still demand ransom. They maybe all Christians but there is a small problem with Muslim group there now.
I read an article about a Korean couple who retired in Philippines and her husband was kidnapped and killed, yet they still demand ransom. They maybe all Christians but there is a small problem with Muslim group there now.
The Muslims are in the southern islands such as Mindanao and Sulu, so you can easily avoid those areas. Most of the travel warnings are related to that region.
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