The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year

The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year

Author: Visit Amazon's Suzan Haskins Page | Language: English | ISBN: 1118758595 | Format: EPUB

The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year Description

From the Inside Flap

Economic turbulence and uncertainty about the future of social programs have, for many of us, turned retirement into a dreaded punishment rather than a long-awaited reward for a lifetime of hard work. Not the case for Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher, who have been living and working abroad for over 12 years. They know that retiring abroad makes it possible to secure a happy, healthy, affordable retirement, and in this book they provide all the details on how to make this dream a reality.

Around the world, expatriates are enjoying low costs of living, free or low-cost health care and a quality of life that matches or surpasses what they would be able to afford at home. In The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget, you’ll read countless true stories about people who have successfully relocated to places where their retirement money goes farther. These expats are saving thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars per year on insurance, medical, and housing expenses.

We work hard our whole lives so that we can enjoy the finer things when we retire, but today more and more people are finding that the finer things simply aren’t in their budgets. The strategies and suggestions in this book are intended to give readers the knowledge and confidence they need to rebuild their lives abroad, ensuring that retirement is what it should be.

Younger families can also benefit from The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget, which contains advice on expatriating with kids, overcoming language barriers, and researching foreign housing markets.

The authors have a neutral, informative writing style that clearly breaks down the pros and cons of retiring to the most desirable corners of Central America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Expatriation is not a decision to be taken lightly. Finding the right place for you, your spouse and family, and your budget is a complex—but, as the authors emphasize, not irreversible—choice. This book contains valuable information that will guide you in the right direction when it comes time to finding a new, more retirement-friendly place to call home.

From the Back Cover

Reinvent your retirement

Imagine retiring 5 or 10 years early to a charming villa with a guest house, an ocean view, a weekly home cleaning service, and fresh milk and flowers delivered every morning. Now imagine living this life on $2,000 a month or less while expanding your horizons and having the grand adventure of a lifetime. This is no fairytale—this is the reality that millions of baby boomers are discovering as they enter or near retirement. In this book, you’ll discover where to find the good life at a price you can afford, and how you can make this dream future your own.

Authors Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher are a married couple who, over 12 years ago, left Omaha, Nebraska in search of a new life. Ever since, they have written about their expatriate experiences for International Living magazine, the only print magazine in the United States that focuses on living better for less overseas. In the pages of this book, their expertise is at your disposal, along with the most current information on purchasing property, securing health care, documentation requirements, banking, and more.

The first step to relocating to paradise is finding the post-career haven that’s right for you. The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget is a practical and inspirational manual for imagining a new life—and then making it happen. With the little-known information, tools, and insights in this book, retirement can be everything you always hoped it would be. Live your adventure!

For more information, see www.InternationalLiving.com.

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Product Details
Table of Contents
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Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 17, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1118758595
ISBN-13: 978-1118758595
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Foreword
Bill Bonner ix

Introduction
What if you could retire better, more affordably, and even earlier than you expected? xi

Part one
Contemplating an Exciting Move . . .1

Chapter 1
Can You Afford to Retire Where You Live? 3

Chapter 2
Can You Really Live (Well) Overseas on ,000 a Year? 15

Chapter 3
What’s Your Deal Breaker? 23

Chapter 4
The Most Common (and Avoidable) Mistakes Expats Make 33

Chapter 5
Health Care: Myth versus Reality 39

Chapter 6
The Challenges of Language and Culture 53

Part TWO
Making the Move: It’s a Big World . . . Where Should YOU Go? 61

Chapter 7
Belize: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem (and It’s All in English!) 63

Chapter 8
Costa Rica:Your Easiest Choice 73

Chapter 9
Ecuador: Something for Everyone 87

Chapter 10
Mexico: The Top Foreign Destination for U.S. and Canadian Retirees 103

Chapter 11
Nicaragua: Ready for Prime Time 117

Chapter 12
Panama: The World’s Best Retirement Program (and Much More) 131

Chapter 13
Uruguay: More First World Than the United States? 145

Chapter 14
Europe: All the Ingredients for the Good Life 157

Chapter 15
Southeast Asia: Exotic and Affordable 175

Chapter 16
Boots on the Ground: Zeroing In on the Community That’s Right for You 189

Chapter 17
You Found Your Paradise. Now What?: Should You Rent or Buy? And How to Know When Halfway Isn’t the Wrong Way 199

Chapter 18
Once You Know Where You’re Going: Put Your Plan in Action 207

Part THREE
Once You Get There: Adjusting to Your New Life 217

Chapter 19
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude: Maintaining the Bridge between Your Past and Present Lives 219

Chapter 20
When the Hammock Gets Boring: What to Do after You Retire and Move Overseas 227

Chapter 21
Moving On: This Is Not a One-Way Highway 239

Epilogue
If We Knew Then What We Know Now 245

Index 251

This book has an excellent overview of living overseas listed by country. The book is probably worth it for the country-by-country section alone. From Central to South America, then Europe, then Asia, you get an overview of life outside the US and budgets for retirees. Healthcare is discussed, along with insurance issues (some places won't issue a policy after age 64) and whether or not the healthcare system is a good one.

There is a also a discussion of lifestyle--I wish there had been more, for some of the countries where the authors have lived. They moved around a lot. They offer advice such as bringing your American appliances as buying them overseas can be terribly expensive and they are not as good--but there is little discussion of the fact you may have to pay duty, in many places on personal items brought in. There are a lot of import tariffs you may not expect. Is is better to hire a laundry service or simply deal with foreign appliances? And what about voltages? Yes, you can use a step-down transformer in countries with 220V, but 50Hz vs 60Hz is tough on motors, so often, it's not practical. But..this is just one aspect of living overseas.

There is also a chapter on working overseas, teaching, volunteering. It's a sketchy discussion but the bottom line is "don't rely on extra income from working."

A bigger issue: What does "good healthcare" actually mean? If you are ill, really ill, you'd possibly need to come to the US for treatment for very serious problems such as cancer or advanced cardiac surgery. That's where the rest of the world comes when the chips are really down. Yes, our system has many problems, but American medicine is outstanding for complicated illness. I am not convinced this is true for other countries necessarily.

‘The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget’ written by Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher discusses a topic that nowadays is very interesting when the offer is never better, and financial capabilities far worse than ten years ago – a detailed guide to retiring abroad.

At the beginning it is important to say that the authors have done an excellent job managing to reduce this interesting and extensive topic to the book of very acceptable size of 270-odd pages that will certainly make an additional reason to be welcomed by the audience. The authors started their book with some numbers, informing us that only in US more than 10 thousand people are turning 65 every year that is 79 million people drawing Social Security benefits being at the mercy of Medicare.

The times are changing and people are not only considering retiring to some house in the countryside or moving from the bustle of the big city into some small peaceful town, but more and more are thinking to spend their life somewhere far away, in another culture, trying at least in the older age to recoup some things missed in their younger days. For this reason, Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher’s book apart from giving a great overview of all the living overseas possibilities in different countries worlwide, gives a handful of information presented in concise special overview lists such as “Five most common questions asked about moving overseas”, “Yes, you can have your social security checks sent to your overseas bank or address” or “Eight factors that have to be considered when choosing your overseas retirement destination”.

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