I'm looking for a place to retire - Page 5

And you are right about it being harder and harder to be an ex-pat. It used to be possible in some developing countries to literally live there on a tourist visa, leaving every time the days they gave you on your last entry expired, then coming right back in. Most are limiting that in one way or another. They are also requiring a higher pension income or a bigger investment in the country. At least you have Europe. Americans don't have that, either.

They say the world is getting to be a smaller place, yes and not in the right way sometimes! Yes its only been recently with Europe for us, but the cost of living is quite high in some countries and the language barrier the biggest problem, my sister bought a place in Portugal with her husband, her little girl went an international school, (which cost a fortune!) and also picked up the language quickly but my sis found it very hard. They still have the farm house out there, and go and visit but have come back to England to live. I guess its not always paradise, even if you go out there alot first, still at least they had the chance to try it! In England we get masses coming from the poorer eastern european countries thinking that the pavements are paved with gold, actually they probably are, because they came claim all benfits and free housing ! Which they don't get in their own country. A different world eh? They should have a thing called 'Prove you have enough money to live on' and you can come to X country to live! Job done then, and it should apply all over the world!!! Now there's a thought!!! Radical eh?

That is what a lot of countries have. In places like Mexico and Panama and Ecuador and Thailand and Malaysia, getting a visa requires having a certain amount of assets in the country, or proving a guaranteed income, such as a pension, over a certain limit. Panama, for instance requires $500 or an investment in a house or condominium over $200,000. And you must renew every year and prove you still have the income and the property. I think Mexico requires $1300 per month.

When all the 'free to work anywhere in the EU' came in, it was a good idea. Countries had to meet strict economic criteria to get into the EU in the first place, and there were only a few (Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece) that had poor economies. So it allowed the free flow of people around countries of relatively equal wealth. The economies in the poorer countries picked up, and it worked well. However, taking all those eastern European countries in at one time really upset the balance of labor and social services.

People still flood into the US, and we don't offer much of anything in the way of social services, and make it pretty hard to get in, at least legally.

Hi Synthia,

How are you liking Panama?

We are at the same stage of life as you and for the past few years have been considering different options.
We have been living in Cairo for the past couple of years (hubby's work) and now he is about to stop work we have decided that Egypt will suit us very well. Not necessarily for ever but certainly for a few years. We have chosen to live by the Red Sea in a place called El Gouna near Hurghada.

Compared to the UK, the cost of living is cheap. I feel safer here walking around town than I do at home - apart from the traffic. Crime rates are low. The people are very friendly and helpful. The sun shines all year. It's a 4 hour flight to the UK. But the main reason is that we can afford a life style here that we could never have at home in the UK. Oh I nearly forgot, no taxes to speak of really. All in all we are really looking forward to our move to the Red Sea.

Margaret

Say, Margaret, it sounds as if you've found a good spot to at least start your retirement. But one question that comes up repeatedly on these message boards is that of medical care and insurance for retirees. Within the EU it's not as much a problem as it was, but for some countries (like the US) it can pose considerable difficulty for a retiree.

What is your sense of the medical facilities where you are in Egypt, and have you looked into the issue of insurance once you are retired?
Cheers,
Bev

You don't get anything for nothing here. Egyptians have to pay for all medical care as do expats. There would appear to a tiered system whereby the expats pay a lot more because they can afford it and the locals pay a lot less which is OK by me. I have paid £30 tops to see a consultant and cost of medicine is cheap if you use Egyptian and a bit more expensive for foreign medicine. Cost of dental treatment is approximately half of what you will pay in the UK.

There are good hospitals and bad hospitals, the best being, from what I have heard, very good, but the nursing standards are not quite what they should be. Accidents happen, but then accidents happen in hospitals anywhere in world.

We have had to use the medical facilities in Cairo a number of times in the past 2 years. I have to say though, that this has been via my husbands' company medical centre who refer you to the top specialists. Most of the doctors/surgeons here, that we have seen, have spent considerable time abroad eg. UK and USA during their career and we have had excellent treatment. We have company insurance at the moment so we pay and claim back.

This is obviously going to change for us and one of the reasons we have chosen El Gouna is that it has an excellent hospital in the town. The hospital has it's own medical insurance scheme which we will consider using. I think it costs around £150 - £200 per year, but don't quote me on that. However, the cost of medical care is not expensive (for us) but we would definitely have to think seriously about having insurance cover for serious problems ie. having to be medi-vacced which happened to my husband last year.

Margaret

Hi,
Have you ever checked out Gran Canaria. Lots of expats in south of island. Especially in tourist areas. Check out Mogan. Beautiful fishing port. Only 1-2 hours to get to other side of island. Fantastic weather all year around.
Called the mini continent and not for nothing. Scenery ranges from volcanic mountains to lush tropical forests, similar to the Carabeann. When travelling to the north via the mountains expect to be fascinated. Only 3.1/2 hours from UK. Fantastic Beaches! Friendly people. I am going to live there myself hopefully within 12 months. I am currently in Malta and hate it.
Good luck!

I'm at the poverty-stricken end of retirement funds. What to most people seems really cheap is really expensive by my standards. If I didn't have great friends who put me up and feed me, I probably wouldn't be able to visit the US for more than a couple of weeks a year.

I hung around Panama City for quite a while. I realized fairly soon that it was going to be too expensive for me, but I had hopes that I would find some way to make it work. As is usual, the longer I'm here, the more things I find that are problems, so not being able to afford it doesn't seem too bad.

One thing I am learning is that there seem to be a lot of expats here who actively dislike Panamanians. This seems to be worse than in other countries I've been to. I think maybe it is that the place is touted as being so Americanized that people don't expect to be in a Latin American culture. Most of them have not traveled in other Central American countries, so regard things that are really quite sophisticated for the region as being rather primitive.

I assume I'm going to run into the same thing everywhere. For now I'm giving up on the retirement hunt and considering spending the week in India.

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indeed the place that i can highly suggest is Cagayan de oro City, Philippines. you can google search this nice place. It has good and fine weather all throughout the year with no typhoons. Everything is cheap here. With your $1000 you can have a nice house to rent, a driver, a househelp etc.