Part One
Contemplating an Exciting Move . . .
FOR YEARS, WEâD KNOWN IT WAS COMING: More than 10,000 of usâin the United States aloneâare turning 65 every day. Thatâs 79 million people drawing Social Security benefits and at the mercy of Medicare. And, by the way, weâre now living longer than ever.
We have a lot of time left . . . but not so much that we donât want to enjoy every minute of it. So just like we did way back when, in the 1960s and 1970s, some members of our generation are challenging conventional ideas and seeking alternatives. Weâre taking matters into our own hands and carving out a revolutionary retirement experience.
If you think about it, people have long sought greener pastures for their retirement years. Our grandparents retired from the farm to town. Our parents retired to Florida and Arizona. And us . . . well, weâre rebels at heart. Dreamers. Adventurers. Inclined to march to the beat of a different drummerâno matter how exotic or offbeat.
As the late John Lennon said about our generation in the 1960s, âWe were all on this ship . . . going to discover a New World.â While itâs not the â60s any longer, the journey never ended. Now, with so many of us in our fifties, sixties, and seventies, we look a little different, for sure, but weâre still all about seeking new experiences and exploring New Worlds.
And why should retirement be any different?
Chapter 1
Can You Afford to Retire Where You Live?
WE EXITED THE TERMINAL with our 90-pound chocolate Lab trotting at our side. He was delighted to have been liberated from his travel crate after the short four-hour flight from Miami. A smiling porter followed along, carting our two large suitcases and four huge cardboard boxes. (This was back when airlines allowed three pieces of luggage eachâand a dogâat no extra charge.)
It was November 1, 2001, and we had jettisoned our previous lives to begin anew in Quito, Ecuador. Just as the thick fog that wrapped its arms around us that night, the future felt fresh and full of possibility.
The Ecuadorian friends we had met on a previous visit greeted us with cheers and hugs and loaded us up for the short ride to the home weâd rented for the coming year. Located in one of the cityâs most charming neighborhoods, it had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a guesthouse, and a gorgeous walled garden. The rent was just $600 a month.
As we walked into the house, the fireplace was roaring . . . more for ambience than anything else. November evenings in Quito are warm compared to our home state of Nebraska. The comforting fire and the kindness of new friends melted any hesitations weâd had about reversing the course of our lives in our mid-forties.
Why had we sold everything and run away from our lucrative marketing business? We were tired of the rat race. Tired of chasing the almighty dollar. Plain and simple, we were tired. And this was âour time.â With kids grown and parents still in great health, this was our chance to strike out on our much-anticipated adventure.
Why Ecuador? If youâve ever been there, you know the answer to that. It has miles of unspoiled beaches. Rich rainforest. The amazing GalĂĄpagos Islands. Historic colonial cities, and clean and healthy rural villages. . .
For us, the mountains beckoned. Thereâs something about the Andes that steadies the soul. Llamas grazing the green slopes of snow-capped volcanoes . . . open-air markets overflowing with the biggest, brightest fruits and vegetables youâve ever seen . . . the quick smiles and gentle nature of the people. . .
It doesnât hurt that Ecuador boasts extraordinary weather. No down parkas or snow shovels needed here. In its cities, youâll find great restaurants and shoppingâa truly first-class infrastructure (and yes, high-speed Internet and excellent hospitals).
And then, of course, thereâs Ecuadorâs famous affordability. Although some prices have risen since our initial touchdown in 2001, you can still take a taxi just about anywhere in Quito for $1 to $5 and find a menu del dĂaâusually a full-course meal of soup, salad, meat/rice/vegetables, dessert, and beverageâfor $3 or less.
But back to our story. We left Ecuador at the end of 2002 because we wanted to experience more of Latin America. And since then, weâve certainly done that. Weâve lived in seven different towns and cities in four countriesâEcuador, Mexico, Panama, and Nicaraguaâresearching and reporting about each of them as well as traveling extensively elsewhere in the world on behalf of International Living, which was founded in 1979 expressly to provide information to retirees looking for more satisfying and more affordable overseas lifestyles.
The Five Most Common Questions Asked about Moving Overseas
- Q. Must I give up my citizenship if I move overseas?
- A. No way! You can if you want, of course, but most expats donât. Instead, they get a residence visa in the country they move to. In some countries you can even live indefinitely on a tourist visa.
- Q. Can I still collect my Social Security if I move overseas?
- A. Yes, absolutely! In most cases, you can even have it direct-deposited into your new foreign bank account.
- Q. What about Medicare? Will it cover me overseas?
- A. Unfortunately not. But in many countries, youâll find better, lower-cost options for health care. We know expats paying as little as $50 a month for a full-coverage health plan.
- Q. Must I still pay U.S. or Canadian income taxes if I move overseas?
- A. Maybe and maybe not. You certainly have to continue to file your annual tax return, but moving overseas can reduce your tax burden to the point where you may not owe much.
- Q. Is it safe to live overseas?
- A. We wouldnât suggest countries that arenât politically stable or donât have good public safety records. That said, you should exercise caution everywhere these days . . . including in the United States and Canada.
Weâve uprooted and moved so often that we joke that weâve become âserial relocators.â Thereâs something about the romance of exploring new places and the honeymoon of making them your home. You could say that âLove the One Youâre Withâ has become our motto.
Four years ago, though, we came back to the Andes for a visit and now here we are, living in Ecuador once againâthis time in the small mountain village of Cotacachi in the northern province of Imbabura. That doesnât mean, of course, that weâll be here forever. But when we add up all that Ecuador has to offer, right now and at this point in time for us, no other place matches up.
From the terrace of our condo (which we bought for $52,000 in 2010) we can watch the sun and clouds play across the mountains, the cows and horses grazing in the fields below. We can walk to the local mercado and purchase a tote bag full of fresh-from-the-farm fruits and veggies for $10 or less that will last us the entire week. (If the bag is too heavy, a taxi home costs just $1.)
For $5 we can select four dozen long-stemmed roses so fresh they last the entire month. For $10, we can hire someone to clean our home once a week. We donât pay rent or have a mortgage. We can easily live in Ecuador on a budget of $1,500 a month.
So how did we get so lucky? How did we manage to get out from under the plague of bad weather, bad debt, and rampant consumerism that so many Americans succumb to?
It was actually pretty easy. We thought about the direction our lives would go if we didnât take this opportunity. We had a lot of tedious âwork yearsâ ahead of us. A lot of snowstorms to dig out from. We did the math and figured that, on our savings (and weâre not by any means wealthy), we could live very well on very little money. Anything we could earn to supplement that would be icing on the cake.
More and more of our fellow baby boomers, it appears, are calculating similar equations and looking for a way to rescue their retirement dreams. Today, interest in retiring overseas is growing by leaps and bounds. Every week we get more and more requests for interviews from the mainstream media and more inquiries from people who are in the same shoes we were in more than a decade ago.
Fortunately, the baby boomer generation is one that has always embraced change and new experiences. Typically, theyâre not afraid to take chances and they understa...