In Ajijic, Mexico, a community near Guadalajara that's home to more than 3,000 expatriate Americans, where you can rent a sprawling three-bedroom, two-bath hacienda for about $700 a month.
In English-speaking Belize, where retirees don't have to pay taxes on the first $75,000 of income and where property taxes on a $500,000 home run about $90 a year.
In Spain, where the weather is good, health care is affordable and the rest of Europe is at your doorstep.
According to Money Central on MSN:
At a minimum, people who consider retirement abroad should be adventuresome, flexible, tolerant and patient, the expats I interviewed agreed.
Here are some other traits that come in handy:
You're willing to make new friends "The people who do well are couples who depend on each other a great deal," Halcomb said, "and who don't have a great sense of community or good friends they're going to miss terribly."
That's not to say you won't make new friends, particularly in areas that attract a lot of other foreign retirees.
"There are enough retired people here who are looking for friends and new acquaintances," said Chuck Svoboda, a former diplomat who retired to Spain's northern coast, "that there's no difficulty in building a fairly large circle of them in a short time."
Improved cell phone networks and Internet access also have made it easier for expats to stay in touch -- so much so, Svoboda grouses, that it sometimes "keeps people from enjoying what this country has to offer."
But you'll still be hundreds if not thousands of miles away from family and friends, who probably won't visit nearly as often as they would if you were still in the States. You may not mind watching a grandchild grow up in photos, but if you want to be there in person, overseas retirement probably isn't for you.
You're open to experiencing a new culture It seems obvious, but the rest of the world really isn't like the United States. Some people never adapt to the strangeness or to the notion that they'll always be foreigners, no matter how many other expats live in their chosen community.
You're not a Type A personality If you're the kind of person who gets impatient waiting in line at the post office, for example, then dealing with bureaucracies in other countries could drive you up a wall.
A simple banking transaction in Mexico can be an afternoon-long affair, while getting a phone installed in many countries can take months. Utilities and other bills often must be paid in person in countries with iffy postal systems -- and that means long periods standing in lines.
You have an exit strategy Regimes can change. Your health can decline. Prices can rise -- particularly if the tropical paradise you found gets discovered by lots of other ex-pats. (Of course, if you bought real estate there, it might be a good thing.)
Where are the Top 10 most desirable places outside of the US for seniors to retire?
So if you're thinking about settling down outside of the United States experts suggest you take care of some housekeeping at home before you check in at the international flights gate:
Get international health insurance.
Discuss with a financial planner the tax consequences of living outside the U.S.
Try out the new locale for three to six months. Experience the change in climate and different cultural events. Maybe it's too buggy in Central America for you or it rains in Ireland too much for your tastes.
Life's an adventure, I hope we can look further into the retiring abroad phenomenon in further posts.
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