A recent survey has ranked the best countries to retire in, countries where you’ll be comfortable on as little as $1,500 a month!
Arizona and Florida are a thing of the past – when it comes to dreams of low cost living and sunny weather, older Americans have been looking further afield when it comes to ideal locations to retire.
Over 500,000 Americans are now living overseas while receiving their Social Security benefits, an increase of almost 100,000 since 2000 according to the Social Security Administration.
According to the Annual Global Retirement Index 2018, published in International Living, Costa Rica finds itself in the top position for the first time, while Bali makes its first appearance in the index. For the first time, Peru has also ended up in the Top 10.
International Living’s Latin America editor Jason Holland says that North Americans have been heading to Costa Rica for over 30 years, with the low cost of living, tropical climate, affordable first-class healthcare, inexpensive real estate and overflowing natural beauty being the main causes of attraction.
Whether it’s relaxing on white-sand beaches, hiking through mountain forests or lowland jungles, or taking in the volcanic thermal springs, there’s much to love about Costa Rica he states. For a mere $500 a month you can rent a two-bedroom home, fully furnished, or instead opt for an ocean-view property for less than $200,000. For an additional $25, pop down to the local farmer’s market and you have a week’s groceries for a couple.
When talking about Mexico (now second in the rankings) retirees are able to purchase movie or concert tickets for about $4, go to a GP for roughly $40, or enjoy a complete night out (dinner, drinks, the symphony, and a lift back home) and have change from a $20, according to International Living.
Twelve categories are considered in the 2018 index when ranking retirement locations outside of Canada and the United States: Health care, Healthy lifestyle, Climate, Entertainment & Amenities, Cost of Living, Development, Benefits/Discounts, Renting, Visa/Residence, Fitting In, Governance, and Buying/Investing.
Release annually for the past 27 years, the main goal of the index is to assist retirees in choosing the ideal location to live comfortably (as a couple) for as little as $1,500 a month.
The Top 10 countries are as follows:
- Costa Rica
- Mexico
- Panama
- Ecuador
- Malaysia
- Colombia
- Portugal
- Nicaragua
- Spain
- Peru
When discussing places to retire, there are of course a wide variety of opinions. As an indicator, Algarve in Portugal was chosen as the best place to retire in 2017 by the Live and Invest Overseas publication, due to its weather, affordable housing, and spectacular natural beauty.
Looking more locally, personal finance website GOBankingRates conducted a survey to find the cheapest places to retire within the United States. Published in September, the survey found Birmingham, Alabama, topped the list, with Detroit, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; and Toledo, Ohio were the rest of the Top 5.
