Dec. 29, 2009
Chicago, Illinois
PLUS:
- The Simple Joys Of Life In Southern France...
- "Kathleen, I Don't Think You Fully Appreciate The Real Cost Of Living In The States"...
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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,
It's getting so I'm afraid to broach the subject.
What would your cost of living be Anywhere In The World? The only honest answer is, I have no idea.
One section of the book I've written for Penguin called
How To Retire Overseas is given over to detailed budgets for living in the world's top 14 retirement havens. According to these budgets I've compiled (with help from contacts living in each place), Ecuador and Thailand are the most affordable of the countries I consider in the book, Argentina (specifically, Buenos Aires) and Belize the most expensive.
My publisher at Penguin may not appreciate my making this point, but, the truth is, these budgets, and any others you might come across for living anywhere in the world, are almost meaningless. At best, they're guidelines, starting points. Don't interpret them literally and don't bet your entire future on any promise they may seem to hold out.
I've covered this ground so many times that, here, I'm going to shortcut to the point: You can spend as much or as little as you want to live almost anywhere in the world you choose. Some places are generally more affordable than others, and a handful of places are absolutely cheap. But globalization means you can enjoy more or less any standard of living you want to more or less anywhere on earth, if you're willing to pay for it.
The exceptions are some absolutely cheap locales such as Ecuador, India, Thailand (outside Bangkok), and the Philippines (outside Manila). In these places, your cost of living is artificially low because, frankly, there isn't much for you to spend your money on. This is not to say that, in these places, you couldn't enjoy a comfortable, interesting, exotic, even fun, exciting, and adventure-filled life. But you'd be living simply, because you'd have no option. The only life in these places is the simple life.
If cost of living is your primary motivation for thinking about moving to another country, I recommend you focus on these choices. If you're not looking to move on a super-fixed income (of, say, US$1,200 a month or less), you have many good options, and here's what I strongly suggest:
Stop obsessing over this cost-of-living question. Yes, of course, you need to know that you'll be able to afford to live in whatever country you decide to try on for size, but here are a few other things to remember, as well:
Most important, as I've pointed out over and over and over and over again, your cost of living almost anywhere is controllable. It will not be the same as my cost of living in that same place or, necessarily, the cost of living in that place for anyone else you might speak with. Most expense items--everything from housing to health care, from travel to entertainment, from your monthly grocery bill to your phone/cable/Internet package--are hugely variable and can be managed. I met a gentleman recently, an American, who is living in downtown Panama City on a budget of US$800 a month. I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't itemized his monthly costs for me. He's renting a small furnished house (without air conditioning), in a local neighborhood, for US$400 a month and controlling his other expenses so effectively that they amount to no more than another US$400 a month.
Lief and I are spending more than five times that amount each month to live in the same city.
Maybe you could live in Panama City on US$800 a month, or maybe that lifestyle would make you miserable. Maybe you'd spend more than Lief and I are spending to enjoy the standard of living you're looking for. We know people who do.
Second, cost of living is a forever-moving target. A reader wrote recently to explain that, between the declining value of the U.S. dollar and the ongoing inflation in Uruguay, his cost of living in that country has increased from US$1,800 to US$2,400 a month over the past year.
Third, none of this is really the point.
Standing in line in Target last weekend, our cart overflowing with super-discounted stuff we'd decided we couldn't live without and had to buy to carry back to Panama with us, Lief asked me the question that we can't help but return to from time to time:
"Why do we choose to continue living overseas? Wouldn't it be easier and maybe even cheaper to move back to the United States?" he wondered.
Some things would be more affordable, yes. Important items in our budget, though, would become dramatically most costly, especially health care and health insurance.
My point, though, is that, after more than a dozen years living outside the States, we've learned not only that we can control our cost of living, within parameters, anywhere we decide we want to live...but also, more important, that cost of living isn't the best reason to think about moving to another country in the first place.
Here in the States where we're spending the holidays this year, the news and the cocktail party conversation is all about outrage over Obamacare and concerns about increased airport security thanks to the lunatic who set himself on fire on an airplane on Christmas Day.
These are big issues, sure, but they don't have to rule your life. This is a great big world bursting with opportunity. I've been making that claim to readers for more than 25 years, but I think I've come to appreciate it fully only recently.
You can see the world as a struggle against increased health insurance expense and fear over what the next nutcase might decide to do from his perch in coach. Or you can shift your perspective. CNN, et al. give you one view of the world, all about down markets, downed planes, and deepening crisis.
Beyond the media view of our world is another one, where every turn brings not worry and fear but discovery and adventure. That's the world Lief and I have chosen to become part of. Sure, we're tempted by cheap sundries and discounted bed linens every now and then and do, from time to time, reconsider life "back home." But, the truth is, we have no plan to return to the States.
We've learned that there's a world beyond the financial meltdown and the War on Terror. And this other world is way more fun.
Kathleen Peddicord
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"Our local firewood man, Monsieur Carrerot, has just delivered a truck load of firewood onto our drive," writes
France Correspondent Lucy Culpepper. "With temperatures down below minus zero degrees Celsius here in the Pyrenees Atlantic region of France, we have been burning through our firewood at quite a pace.
"M. Carrerot is an elderly man born and raised in the next village. This is the second time he has delivered; the first time he bought pumpkin for me from his own garden and this time lovely eggs from his hens. I paid him 2 euro for his eggs, and he paid my 7-year-old 1 euro for helping him get through our gate ('a small gift from the Little Father Christmas').
"M. Carrerot speaks with a strong Béarnaise accent. It sounds a little like a Spanish person speaking French, not a big surprise as we are so close to Spain, but it never ceases to amaze me how varied this land can be."
"Kathleen, I don't think you fully appreciate the real
cost of living in the United States. It is not as affordable as you seem to think. Consider the costs of medications. You are very fortunate that your family is healthy. Unfortunately, for millions of Americans who are ill, not even life threateningly ill, the cost of medications can be bankrupting, often even if they have health insurance.
"Health insurance is another issue. My health insurance this past year cost me more than US$800 a month. Lest you think it's because I live in New York City, it's not. When I was in Panama in 2006, I met people from the middle of the country, places I believed would be less expensive, paying several thousand dollars a month for their insurance because of pre-existing conditions. I'm not an expert in health insurance, but I believe it may be worse notwithstanding our upcoming health insurance reform package. I don't have much faith that the new health insurance program, whatever it turns out to be, will lower the cost of health care for most of us. I have an acquaintance living in India. He and his partner left for India when the costs of their combined medications and health insurance exceeded US$20,000 a year. That was three years ago.
"Yes, running into the big-box stores, as
you suggested yesterday, and buying sale items after a particularly disastrous holiday shopping season (despite the media's protestations to the contrary) might make it seem like you can buy up a storm here and live comfortably on less money than in Panama. However, have you tried buying food to feed your family?
"Then there's the cost of electricity, gas, and heating oil (we pay a supplement to the landlord for that now). The cost of our cable, Internet, and telephone package was just increased and is now US$161 per month. Of course, these things are not absolute necessities, but I couldn't work online or send e-mails all over the world as I continue my search for a new home country.
"I don't have a car, but, if I did, I suspect I'd be complaining about the cost of gas, oil, and, especially, labor for maintenance. Labor is expensive in this country, and that's a big difference between living in the United States and living in the lovely country of Panama and other countries in Latin America and Asia.
"There's a lot of other stuff in this country that I believe is overpriced and that is going up and up in price as I write this, but I think you get the point. I live in NYC. We pay three income taxes here--federal, state, and city. Our public transportation system is one thing that is not high priced, but it's going to go up or we'll face reduced service. However, when I take a taxi for a trip of about 2 miles, it costs about US$9 plus tip. Yesterday I took a taxi from Brooklyn. It was a trip of around 7 miles that cost US$19 plus tip. I'm sure it would be higher in LA or Miami.
"Okay, so you get my point. I think you're not thinking clearly when you think it's not as expensive to live here as many think. Gary Scott makes me laugh when he talks about how affordable small town America is. Does he not realize that health care costs are health care costs everywhere in America? Plus, in most small towns, one needs a car.
"I'm seriously considering moving to India, like my acquaintance did. I'm especially interested in Goa. The weather is excellent there for five months a year, the Portuguese background makes the culture shock less challenging, and there are many European expats living there already. On the other hand, the weather is not good for seven months a year...
"I think the biggest thing in favor of India is the wide availability of excellent health care for people who can afford to pay for it. The prices are much lower than here in the United States and Canada, and the doctors are considered some of the best in the world. That's a big plus. Plus, the cost of labor is very appealing. I could get truly affordable help for my mother and me in this country. The trouble is, India doesn't sing to me the way Latin America does."
-- Ellen S., United States