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I have been traveling to various countries to investigate retiring outside the US. I've considered Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Brazil, Chile, Argentina, (Colombia is too dangerous). Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar. I think I ruled out Europe. Is anyone considering retiring outside the US? Where are you investigating and why?
Probably the main consideration is low cost. Perhaps a second motivation is a genuine satisfaction in discovering and experiencing a different cultural way of life.
Latin America, notably Mexico and Costa Rica, seems to be increasingly popular retirement destinations for US residents.
The two main reasons are probably relative low cost and geographic proximity to the US.
Probably a lesser reason is that, though most Anglo-US residents have poor foreign language skills, they are probably more familiar with Spanish, overall, than any other foreign language.
So the basic reason for retiring in Latin America is probably low cost and basic relative familiarity and proximity.
It seems quite exotic to consider most African countries, but mainly because of unfamiliarity.
Why eliminate Europe? Because it is a high-cost region? There are less expensive regions of Europe and the EUR/USD rate could turn around one day. Language barriers in some of the less well-known provinces?
What are your findings in the Asian and African countries?
I'm looking at Australia, not for retirement though. The exchange rate is good for the US$ and you have any living arrangement from middle of nowhere to densely populated world-class cities. An extra advantage is already speaking the language, although that's obviously not a deciding factor for you.
Korea is a great place to teach English when you're young. Not such a great place to retire. There is too much to adjust to when you're 65+, plus you'll get bumped around a lot. Plus, its cold. Fun if you are young foreigner though.
I didn't have any problem getting a retirement visa. What restrictions were you thinking of?
In what country? What kind of public health care do they have, and are you covered?
Generally, every country can smell an American coming for health care, and are getting very leery of letting Americans in so they can take care of you on the public dime when you get old.
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