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He meant out of all the territories. If you're thinking of leaving behind the US, leaving to a territory is not the best option. Cost of living isn't exactly much less cheaper than in the US. And when you factor in high energy prices, gasoline, among other things, not exactly better.
Several "Best Places To Retire" websites are recommending Costa Rica, Equador, etc...as places to consider...I have been looking into Puerto Rico and have found that it is a good alternative to moving international..unless of course they vote for statehood..for with statehood comes all the B.S. Federal Mandate's...
According to several former residents of Puerto Rico that I work with...you do not have to learn Spanish to live there...they even have "Gringo" area's as they put it...where resident's from the upper 48 have migrated to..
Several "Best Places To Retire" websites are recommending Costa Rica, Equador, etc...as places to consider...I have been looking into Puerto Rico and have found that it is a good alternative to moving international..unless of course they vote for statehood..for with statehood comes all the B.S. Federal Mandate's...
According to several former residents of Puerto Rico that I work with...you do not have to learn Spanish to live there...they even have "Gringo" area's as they put it...where resident's from the upper 48 have migrated to..
For most of my life, I've contemplated moving back to Puerto Rico in my soon to come retirement years. It's been a pipe dream of sorts and by the looks of it, that's all it will ever be. I say this for the following reason:
In 2007, my best friend decided it was time to leave Florida and move back to Puerto Rico with his wife and children. He and I spent the next year dealing with the issues everyone faces when moving. We sold his house at almost asking price right when real estate prices started to tank; he bought a descent under-priced house in our hometown for almost nothing. By the 4th quarter of 2008, my friend and his family were living their dream, i.e., they had returned home as early pensioners where they'd spend the rest of their lives.
I visited my friend in January of this year. As we conversed, he told me that, aside from being bored, he's not happy with the ever escalating crime rate. Medical services are - in his opinion - so bad that he flies to Florida a few times a year for physical checkups and other health related issues. At the end of the conversation my friend stated that he's considering moving back to Florida in a few years.
To the previous laundry list of "reasons not to move back" I will add the waste management dilemma which I've covered in another thread in this forum. Puerto Rico is rapidly running out of landfill space and has yet to come up with a solution. By 2020, the 24 remaining landfills will have reached capacity and will forcibly have to shut down (please see the following link, http://cohemis.uprm.edu/forods/pdf/pres_ads.pdf).
It's not a very rosy picture to imagine what Puerto Rico will look like when there is nowhere to dispose of its 11,000 tons of garbage generated each day.
Medical services are - in his opinion - so bad that he flies to Florida a few times a year for physical checkups and other health related issues. At the end of the conversation my friend stated that he's considering moving back to Florida in a few years.
Well, I'd be careful relaying such a questionable opinion. He probably couldn't transfer his medical insurance to PR and finds it is more convenient to go to Florida. Either that or he has no private insurance and he isn't poor enough to qualify for public hospitals. PR has equal medical facilities as the mainland, I just find the stupid private insurance system sucks.
Do you want me to post photos of all the hospitals, public and private in PR, to let the readers of this forum judge for themselves, seeing as how your friend has a preference to hospitals in Florida?
And no offense, but that thing about him flying to Florida sounds like utter bull. Who would pay to fly multiple times a year just for checkups? It's obvious there is more to this story you're leaving out. If not, then your friend probably shouldn't consider moving anywhere outside Perfectsprawlville, Florida.
Well, I'd be careful relaying such a questionable opinion. He probably couldn't transfer his medical insurance to PR and finds it is more convenient to go to Florida. Either that or he has no private insurance and he isn't poor enough to qualify for public hospitals. PR has equal medical facilities as the mainland, I just find the stupid private insurance system sucks.
Do you want me to post photos of all the hospitals, public and private in PR, to let the readers of this forum judge for themselves, seeing as how your friend has a preference to hospitals in Florida?
And no offense, but that thing about him flying to Florida sounds like utter bull. Who would pay to fly multiple times a year just for checkups? It's obvious there is more to this story you're leaving out. If not, then your friend probably shouldn't consider moving anywhere outside Perfectsprawlville, Florida.
It's not that expensive to fly from Puerto Rico to Florida. As he himself has told me, he prefers to get his physicals done in Florida because he trusts the doctor he sees there. Recently, he started suffering from high blood pressure. The medicine prescribed by a local doctor dropped his pressure way too far. As a result, he is in Florida today Saturday awaiting to see his doctor this week.
Medical coverage...choice of doctors...hospitals...etc...are one of the many things to consider on where to retire...but even here in the states you can suffer from lack of doctors/hospitals/etc...which occured earlier this year when I was visiting a friend in upstate NY...his neighbor was having a heart attack and since there was no hospital close enough...they air lifted him to one...
As far as your friend traveling back to Florida to see his doctor...my parent's refuse to sell their home and move...simply because they like their doctors...so there's no explaining who you feel more comfortable with...either way...Puerto Rico is still a place to consider retiring to...but like anything else...do your home work first...
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