Top Countries Where You Can Retire on $150,000

vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
https://moneywise.com/a/ch-b/the-top-countries-retire-on-150000

Most of these are not places any American would want to live - Vietnam? Uh, no. Bolivia? That would be a double no.

BUT! Note that in none of these countries can you just decide to go live there. You must show some form of income and means to support yourself, and most have a strict process for temporary or permanent residency. You can pretty much forget becoming a legal citizen (not that you'd want to do that anyway).

So honestly, I don't want to hear about the US immigration policy being so horrible. We are disgustingly lax in enforcing our immigration laws. We don't even require immigrants to be able to read our traffic signs before we give them a driver's license.
 
Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Foxhound is going to live on the Appalachian trail. Misfit might join him. They will change their forum names to Cast & Blast.
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
Oh wait. 150k total......


Out of the options given, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Croatia aren't half bad. All of the south American countries stink unless you have real money, and 150k total is not 'real money' in that context.
 
black dog

black dog

Free America
Hijinx said:
I could live damned good right here on 150 k a year.
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One set of my parents have been retired for better than 15 years now, They run homes in Annapolis and Breckenridge for under 125 a year. And live a darn good life.

I have looked at Costa Rica as a place i might spend a few of my retirement years at. It can be done there easily with a decent Social Security check and nothing more.
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
Where all this falls down is the great lie that you can get 'great healthcare' in these places without incurring the '$13,000' out of pocket cost you supposedly have in the US. Sure, if you consider standing in line at a bolivian government clinic is your idea of 'great healthcare', then that may be true. If like most expats you are on the first plane home if you need more than a tooth filled, then the story about the 'great healthcare' is a lie.

Belize, Panama, Mexico all work as temporary locations for expats for one reason: daily flights to Miami or TX.

Unless you have no family ties stateside, most of the expat retirees are back after two or three years. Family grows tired of $3000 airfares for a thanksgiving weekend in a hurry and the first health-scare that requires a medevac flight blows the financial justification to hell.
 
littlelady

littlelady

God bless the USA
officeguy said:
Where all this falls down is the great lie that you can get 'great healthcare' in these places without incurring the '$13,000' out of pocket cost you supposedly have in the US. Sure, if you consider standing in line at a bolivian government clinic is your idea of 'great healthcare', then that may be true. If like most expats you are on the first plane home if you need more than a tooth filled, then the story about the 'great healthcare' is a lie.

Belize, Panama, Mexico all work as temporary locations for expats for one reason: daily flights to Miami or TX.

Unless you have no family ties stateside, most of the expat retirees are back after two or three years. Family grows tired of $3000 airfares for a thanksgiving weekend in a hurry and the first health-scare that requires a medevac flight blows the financial justification to hell.
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Socialism/communism doesn’t work. Never has, never will. Period.
 
littlelady

littlelady

God bless the USA
black dog said:
Its worked a few places for almost 100 years, It might not be paradise living there, but its worked.
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One hundred years are a blip in history. What places are you referring to? The ones that say they are capitalists, but implement socialized medicine? Which doesn’t work,very well, btw, for the hard working people. Just sayin.
 
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Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
For under $150K, you can get some awesome campgrounds here in the US. Bonus is MOST people speak English.
 
black dog

black dog

Free America
Monello said:
For under $150K, you can get some awesome campgrounds here in the US. Bonus is MOST people speak English.
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It sounds great like living on a boat, But how long can you do that in life when you get older?
I don't want to sail around the islands when i'm in my late 70's or 80's. Do you want or think you will be able to move your around and set it up your RV in 10-15 more years?

But you do have a good point about speaking english..
 
black dog

black dog

Free America
I didnt mean it to be derogatory, I wonder how long I will be able to continue to sail when I do retire. Just the thought of having others on board to move the boat does not enthuse me at all. I love solo sailing, I like how,when and where I go or leave a place.
I question some things now at 60 when I sail that I would never have blinked at 20 years ago.
In my seventys I could see a 30' RV in my life, but not a diesel pusher.
 
littlelady

littlelady

God bless the USA
black dog said:
I didnt mean it to be derogatory, I wonder how long I will be able to continue to sail when I do retire. Just the thought of having others on board to move the boat does not enthuse me at all. I love solo sailing, I like how,when and where I go or leave a place.
I question some things now at 60 when I sail that I would never have blinked at 20 years ago.
In my seventys I could see a 30' RV in my life, but not a diesel pusher.
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Why enter age into it? What does that have do with it? My grandfather died at 90 when he was mowing his yard.

Oorah!
 
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SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
vraiblonde said:
https://moneywise.com/a/ch-b/the-top-countries-retire-on-150000

Most of these are not places any American would want to live - Vietnam? Uh, no. Bolivia?
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As retirement options are arriving sooner and sooner in life - I've looked at so many of these.
And every time I keep coming back to the States, but for a ton of other reasons.

One is - I have family, friends and other reasons to want to come back here, even if only to visit,
and I have been barely able to afford most of that travel during the REST of my life.

Another is, daily conveniences I am used to - even abroad in "modern" countries - like China -
I was disappointed at how many things I couldn't have - like Facebook. Unless I lived in a big
city - something I don't think I want to do, abroad - I would miss far too many things, far too
much freedom and so forth.

I met an engineer on a plane to Ethiopia - who was Ethiopian of course, but spent most of his life
out of the country - planning to build a large self-sustaining complex on an island in a lake in
Ethiopia. He showed me his plans - for solar, wind, water and so on. Even if he lived in the U.S.,
he'd be wealthy - but he planned to live his life with his family in the land of his birth. I envied
his contentment - I loved the Ethiopian people, but not the country.

Every time I look at some places - like an island in the Caribbean - I realize - expensive.
Really expensive. And when you know you'll need something in a pinch - heck, something as simple
as a good reliable plumber - you will pay. You get robbed - um - cops aren't well known for
doing anything without a bribe.

Nope - I like it here, just fine.

But I might go on a LOT of cruises.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
SamSpade said:
Every time I look at some places - like an island in the Caribbean - I realize - expensive.
Really expensive.
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You can get something comparable and affordable right here in the good ol' US of A. I'm not sure why anyone would ever leave this country because there's nothing those other places have that we don't. AND you can be sure our toilets will work. I don't even want to go to Hawaii. Take an 8 hour plane ride...for what? To spend beaucoup $$$ to lay on a beach I can get on the Gulf coast of FL?

In our travels, I love to see tourists doing something other than going to New York and LA. The US shows well, but you're not going to see that in some #### hole crime infested metropolis. When Monello and I were at Mount Rushmore we met a family from Italy; the woman could not stop marveling at how awesome our country is, and how different it was from what she expected. That's because the TV doesn't show places like Rapid City or Cody or Panama City Beach or Gatlinburg or Bastrop, TX or any of the other amazing places we've been in the last two years. They show the crappy big cities with their crime and drugs and cranky people who hate their lives.

If there's anything that will make you proud to be an American, it's traveling through this wonderful country and seeing all it has to offer.
 
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