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I have a friend who is saving up to retire to Nicaragua...her dream is to open a little beach bar there. Any thoughts on stable, beautiful, cheap countries that would be good to retire to? And how much money would you think you would need to have saved to retire there?
Nicaragua has volcanoes and earthquakes, but it is so beautiful.
Panama is more stable, perhaps, but not as inexpensive. Electric grid is less reliable in most of these countries. I don't know the details, but I know knowledgable people who will be retiring to Ecuador. It surely is beautiful.
If I retired out of the US, it would be to Ireland or Great Britain, where I hold dual citizenship.
Stable inexpensive countries include Spain, Chile, Peru, Thailand, Philippines. Thailand, Peru, and Philippines should cost about half of what you would need n the USA for similar lifestyle, Chile and Spain you could probably do for about 25% less than similar in USA. One thing to keep in mind is that costs and currencies change over time so what may be a great place can become not so great. If i really were crunched for money, I would pick Thailand and if I wanted to live a 1st world lifestyle at a lower cost, I would go with Spain.
I read an article about a couple who retired to Portugal, not Thailand level of cheapo but definitely cheaper than similar digs (block from the beach) in the United States.
Malaysia is also appealing, in many ways has some advantage over Thailand in that English is more widely spoken by locals not in the tourism industry and the visa exemption for US citizens is 90 days instead of 30. Malaysia has some expat communities (granted mainly Brits in Penang, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu), like Singapore is far more culturally/racially diverse than other Asian countries with Chinese, Malay, and Indians making up most of the population.
In my opinion Malaysia also has a much more attractive retirement visa program than Thailand. If you do need to make a visa run just take a bus to Singapore or a $35 Air Asia ticket to Krabi in Thailand for a weekend, neither option has you dealing with visas and fees like border runs from northern Thailand into Cambodia/Laos/Myanmar.
Hmm. Retire to a country where you will always be an outsider. Not so good with the local language and culture. The whole point of which is saving money?
Go for it, but as for me, no thanks. I want to be part of where I live and fit in.
Best country to retire? The one in which you fit culturally. Me the USA, State of CA
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