Where would you retire?

[PerryChase]

Where would you retire if you had to retire today?

Here is a story from ABC on retiring in Panama City. I think that it makes a lot of sense for Americans to retire in Latin America. You have the warm weather, the food, the dance and the music.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=2624274&page=1

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Me, I’d like to have a small low-maintenance house in Southern California as my base. Then I’d spend 1/2 the year exploring the far reaches of the world — I’m the adventurous type 🙂

[Bugs]

I dunno, I’m a big fan of the rule of law. It’s nice to live in a country where I’m not concerned about the government deciding to nationalize my house or “redistribute” it to the poor. It’s nice to know that if/when the police step out of line here I have recourse.

Healthcare availability is a good thing, too; especially as one gets up there towards their ’80s. I’ve heard a lot of expat retirees only stay gone for 10 years or so before they come back for the healthcare.

[gold_dredger_phd]

I’m going to retire to a trailer in Nevada. It should still be a low tax state and they have a change of seasons.

San Diego will be a resort for the super-wealthy foreigners who have priced out the unemployed locals. Or, California will have been taken over by Mexico de facto or de jure.

[Anonymous]

I would apply a global warming model to my favorite democracies and probably end up in Western Canada/Coastal Northwest USA.

Water will be especially scarce in the coming years.

[JJGittes]

I will retire from SoCal to a state with no state income tax (Wash, Nevada, FL, Tx, AK, a couple other), or at worst a state with no sales tax like Oregon. All have nice homes that cost far less that Calif property. Heck, with global warming, maybe Alaska as my ‘primary’ res, with a ‘vacation’ condo in Hawaii for the winters. Alaska residents not only don’t pay state inc tax, they get money from the permanent fund from oil revenues back every year. Again though, I will be way done with California in 15 tears when I retire, for many more reasons than just the taxes.

[DCRogers]

For JJGittes, who plans to retire to a state with no income taxes: uh, unless you plan on a really active (i.e., working) retirement, why would you leave a high-income-tax (and high-services) state just when you stop having income? You've got it backwards, methinks: work in TX, retire in CA!

[masayako]

Vancouver, Canada.

[JJGittes]

The 9.3% Calif. rate kicks in very low. Regarding high services…….exactly, ah, like what for a middle to upper middle class citizen?

No thanks, I will definitely be an equity locust. Hopefully the RE cycle will cooperate.

[bubble_contagion]

Americans should not retire to Latin America, it is becoming a very dangerous place to live. The situation is getting so dire that most people would leave if they could. A recent Pew Hispanic Center poll revealed the following:

“An estimated 32 million adults in Mexico — about 46 percent of adults — would come to the United States if they had the means and opportunity. And about half of those people said they’d be willing to move to and work in the United States illegally.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4802654

There is no need for Americans to move to Latin America, Latin America is coming to the Americans!

[lindismith]

South of France, South Africa or Australia.

[BuyerWillEPB]

I was in Panama for 4 months. I liked it very much. The locals were really friendly.

[lindismith]

Yeah, Panama is quite different to Mexico. There is a huge ex-pat population down there. I have a friend who’s retired down there now. He loves it. Even more than Costa Rica.

[PerryChase]

I too like Panama better than Costa Rica. Panama City is right on the water and definitely better than San Jose de Costa Rica that’s stuck in the middle of the country. Most American bypass San Jose for the beaches.

The density of development makes Panama more fun that Costa Rica. And the Canal makes the country a wordly destination.

South of France would be a great place to retire but it’s not cheap. Had you bought in the 1990s you would have made 50% gains on currency appreciation alone, not counting the RE bubble. It used to be 80+ cents to a Euro, now it’s $1.30 per Euro! Europeans who get their pensions in Euros and live in America are extremely happy.

http://www.seaview.fr/

[CardiffBaseball]

My wife grew up in Honduras, and during her college years her parents moved to Panama for 4-5 years. Finally they did a tour in Guatemala for a 5 or 6 years before retiring. They were christian missionaries. Strangely I haven’t had a big desire to visit. They also went back to work when that devastating hurricane hit Honduras.

We have looked into beach home rental vacations down on an island, off Honduras, but it’s still awfully expensive.

As far as retiring, I’ll probably head to a no income tax place, but I haven’t planned that far ahead. Texas or Florida?

[sdrealtor]

Maybe a little further west, but as far as I’m concerned I’m already there. The rest of the places sound nice. Perhaps I’ll visit them.

[Author]

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