How To Retire Overseas
The Un-tourist Approach To Retiring Overseas
Aug. 28, 2009
New York, New York
PLUS:
- At Home And Happy In San Miguel De Allende...
- "Your Recent Message Will Tip Some Of Those Fence-Sitters...At Least The Ones Who Have Any Sense"...
- Can You Drive To Belize?...
- The "World Cup Phenomenon"...
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The Smart and Experienced Money Is Moving Into International Real Estate...
But how do you begin? Where do you start?
Over three days in October, Lief Simon and 12 other international real estate investing professionals will discuss how and where to position yourself in world property markets for profit.
For instance, hear about a turn-key money-maker in arguably the most sophisticated city in Latin America. In a trendy neighborhood sought out by Hollywood moviemakers and tourists from North America and Europe, you could earn a reliable yield of as much as 18.2% per year, participating in this new 5-star rental investment opportunity.
Plus, you have personal use each year for your own luxury vacations (which could be tax-deductible, as you're visiting your own income-generating property)...
Learn more about this market, as well as over a dozen other unique globe-spanning opportunities, here.
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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,
We lived our first two or three years in Ireland as tourists. Not intentionally, but, looking back now, I see clearly the mistakes we made.
We brought with us from Baltimore to Waterford the U.S. publishing business I'd been running for the previous 13 years Stateside. Our first priority, after we'd found a place to live and enrolled our daughter in school, was to establish the infrastructure required to transfer management of that publishing operation from the States to Ireland. We needed office space, office furniture, and computers. We needed to hire staff, to open a local bank account, and to engage a local attorney, local accountants, and local auditors. We needed to set up payroll, to put employee contracts in place, and to source new vendors. Between renovating our new home, managing our own relocation adjustments, and addressing these start-up business requirements, we had no time to invest in becoming Waterfordians.
When family and friends from the States came to visit, we'd take them to nearly Bantry Bay for the weekend or to Dublin for a day of shopping and museums. We'd do the tourist thing. When they went home, we went back to business. We traveled internationally often. We came and went so regularly during our time in Ireland that the immigration officials at Shannon and Waterford airports came to know and greet us by name.
It's no wonder, then, that we managed to remain tourists in our adopted hometown for years. If not for Kaitlin and Jack (born a year-and-a-half after our move), we might have lived our entire seven years in Ireland as visitors. Jack, though, was born Irish and welcomed at his daycare and preschool as a son of the Auld Sod. Kaitlin, too, made friends, participated in activities at school, and, long before the notion even occurred to Lief and me, began establishing herself as a local. Kaitlin and Jack drew us into their lives. We met their teachers and the parents of their classmates, and we gained a glimpse of real Irish living.
In Paris, we made the same mistakes at first. This time, I recognized from the start that we were depriving ourselves of a true Parisian experience, but we had no choice. Again, we were relocating a business, establishing an office, hiring staff. And, in Paris, we were working 12 hours a day with fellow English-speakers. We were fully insulated from the French-speaking world around us. It was not until our final year as Parisians that we felt we'd begun to penetrate the tourist level of this city. We improved our French, spent more time with local French friends, and joined in neighborhood activities--the annual June street party, for example, when the rue de Verneuil ropes itself off, lays red carpets on the ground, and sets up tables for pot-luck French-style--we hadn't had time for previous years. As my friend Rose explains, it can take a lifetime to penetrate the French culture, but, our final year living in this country, we enjoyed a clearer view beneath the surface.
In Panama, we're working hard not to repeat the errors of our past lives overseas. A year on in this country, we're more fully integrated than we were after seven years in Ireland or four in Paris. Here we arrived as full-time residents with an advantage. We'd been spending time and doing business in this country for more than a decade before we settled in more permanently. Again, we're establishing a business, hiring staff, etc., but we had resources already in place to help with this, local friends and contacts who have made the getting-settled phase easier to navigate.
A year on in Panama City, we dine and drink where the locals do, and, in these places, carefully guarded secrets from the tourists, we're welcomed as regulars. We run into friends at markets and fairs, and we're invited to help them celebrate weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. We still stand out as gringos when we walk down the street, but we're doing our best to blend in otherwise, and we're being rewarded with a chance to experience la vida Panameño.
The key is to make local friends. You want expat friends, too, of course. You want to know fellow English-speakers you can call for a round of golf, a game of bridge, or a drink after a particularly frustrating day in the land of mañanas and fiestas. But try not to give in to the temptation to spend all your time with fellow foreigners. They won't be able to show you what local life is really like. You can live overseas for years, as we have, without gaining that knowledge, but you're doing yourself a disservice. Why go to all the trouble of relocating to another country only to miss out on the chance to get to know what living in that place is really like?
How do you get started penetrating the tourist barrier? You understand and embrace the local customs and etiquette. This is a simple but effective first step. Much of the rest of the world is far more polite and takes manners far more seriously than do we Americans.
In much of the world, it's impolite not to greet everyone and anyone you encounter throughout the day. In France or Panama, for example, walking in and out of a shop, getting on and off an elevator, entering and exiting a movie theater, an art gallery, or a café, you'll be thought very rude if you don't offer the appropriate greetings and farewells.
Before you arrive in your new country, therefore, make an effort to know these phrases. Bonjour, salut, au revoir, a bientot, and bonne nuit...Buenos dias, Buenos tardes, hola, hasta luego, and ciao...know a handful of polite phrases and understand how and when to use them. Panamanians, for example, switch from Buenos dias to Buenos tardes around noon and to Buenos noches when the sun goes down.
The French will think you mal-eleve if you do not offer a merci and an au revoir to every person you encounter when making your way out from a shop. Every single person, at least once. As you walk out the door, you might offer a final, general, "merci, au revoir" to the entire place. My friend John tells of an experience he had early on during his time living in Paris, when he offered but a single "merci, au revoir" to the cashier in the bakery where he stopped to buy baguette on his way home. He said thank you, good-bye, then walked out the door. The proprietress of the shop was so appalled by my friend's obvious lack of acceptable manners that she followed him out in to the street lecturing him on proper social conduct. In France, when in doubt, it never hurts to offer one more "merci" for the road.
The point is to make an effort to show your respect for the local customs. This small thing will ingratiate and open doors for you. It's the start of penetrating the tourist barrier and becoming part of the local scene.
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. The "World Cup Phenomenon." It amounts to a serious front-run-the-infrastructure opportunity, and it's shaping up right now along the sandy shores of Brazil's northeast coast. About US$5 billion is being invested in infrastructure in preparation for the 2013 World Cup event in the Fortaleza region alone. Airport capacity is being expanded by 360%, road networks along the coast are being overhauled, the harbor is being expanded, new hospitals are being built, and communications networks are being upgraded.
This is precisely the time to position yourself in this market. Pre-construction buy-to-let is the play. We alerted you recently to a particularly appealing opportunity, where, we've learned, the window for getting in is closing. More next week from our man on the ground Anthony Archer...
P.P.S. Anthony will be joining Lief Simon in Panama City Oct. 15-17 for Lief's Third Annual Global Real Estate Profits Summit, at which time he intends to present at least one in-the-room-only special offer for conference participants to position themselves in this important market.
Note that the Early Bird Discount for registration for the Global Real Estate Profits Summit expires Midnight Aug. 31. Other important discounts are also available if you register now. Details here.
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101 Things You Should Know Before You Even Think About Living, Retiring, Or Investing Overseas
Shipping your belongings across international borders...moving with your children...or a pet...obtaining residency...getting a visa...opening a bank account...getting the best international phone rates...learning a new language...using VOIP...obtaining an international driver's license...working with an overseas real estate agent...shopping for international health insurance...
This is everything we wish someone had told us before we set off on our own live and invest overseas adventures. And it's available to you right now Free. Details here.
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"Kathleen, I really appreciate your honesty and frankness about your own life. It's so much more valuable than just prose about a place. Your writing is much closer to the bone than other writing I read on these subjects, and I applaud you.
"We met 3 1/2 years ago in Puerto Vallarta at a conference, and I have been happily living, painting, writing, and doing photography in San Miguel de Allende for nearly all the time since then.
"Thanks for your work."
-- Judith J., Mexico
"Best advice you've given so far! Bravo.
"I'm in the Wounded Warrior program with the U.S. Army right now from a couple of boo-boos from Iraq. As soon as I heal up and get my marching orders out of the Army, I'm going on a little tour.
"I've narrowed my focus to Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Panama sounds great, but I don't know if my dollars can stretch that far.
"Having read your postings for some time now, I know I belong somewhere in this part of the world. It's been calling my name, and I am looking forward to heeding the call.
"Just want you to know that your recent message will tip some of those fence-sitters--at least the ones who have any sense left in them.
"Best wishes on your book with the Penguin folks."
-- SFC Diana C., United States
"Is it possible and practical to drive a car to Belize? What is the best mode of transportation living in Belize?"
Belize Correspondent Ann Kuffner replies:
"It is possible to drive a car to Belize, through Mexico. It is not an easy trip, but I've known people who have bought a car in the States, driven it down, and then sold the car once in this country.
"You wouldn't be able to bring a car on to Ambergris Caye or the other cayes. Here in San Pedro, on Ambergris, people get around on golf carts, scooters, bikes, and their own two feet. There are now a few cars on the island, but I don't expect that trend to continue. The town tries to control the number of vehicle permits issued. We have one golf cart for my husband and I, two bikes, and four feet! We can walk to town and use our golf cart for business and grocery shopping. Many of our friends walk to town for shopping and then grab a cab back. Cabs are quite cheap." |
