Location, Location, Location

Sept. 4, 2008
Washington, D.C.

PLUS:

n The World’s Top Five Retirement Havens…And How To Choose Among Them…
n US$10 A Day For A Maid In Ecuador…US$20 A Day For A Gardener…
n The Smoothest International Shipping Experience Ever…
n Duty-free, Thanks To Our Reforestation Visa Status…

AND:

n Why I Don’t Always Believe What I Hear In The Mainstream Press”…

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Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,

I made a strong parting recommendation yesterday:

“Get on a plane,” I said. Stop dreaming about your new life in Paradise. Start living it.

“But…but…but”…you may be thinking…

“But where should I go?”

Right…you need a destination.

I can’t tell you where your flight should be headed, specifically. There’s no one-size-fits-all overseas retirement haven. You need to find the Shangri-la that works for you.

But here are good places to focus your search…collectively, the world’s top retirement havens right now:

1. Ecuador

Best choice if budget is your primary concern. Invest in a home of your own, and you could retire well in Cuenca, for example, or in Quito or Otavalo, for as little as $660 per month. I met a couple at dinner last night who are doing just that. They’re counting down the days to the launch of their mid-November retirement to Quito. Cost of living is their main motivation for making the move from Miami.

“About a half-hour outside Quito, we’re building a home to our specifications,” they explained, “everything as we want it, completely custom. We could never afford to do that in this country. Everything costs at least two-thirds less in Ecuador than it does in the States. We’ll be able to increase our standard of living and to really enjoy ourselves.”

Ecuador also boasts an unbeatably pleasant climate.

2. Thailand

The other best choice if cost of living is key. Correspondents Paul and Vicki Terhorst, who currently call Thailand home, have been tempting you with details of the exotic charms of this beautiful and super-affordable haven.

And, yes, it’s still safe. See below.

3. Panama

Best choice if reliable infrastructure (Internet, e-mail, telephone, etc.) is important and if you want the support and services of a “real-world” city. In Panama City, you can shop for any brand of American breakfast cereal you could name, high-count Egyptian cotton sheets (I bought some the other day), a super-sized flat-screen television, and antiques imported from England, France, and Spain…

You could live more cost-effectively in other places today, but Panama remains a bargain in many ways. Dry cleaning, a trip to the barber shop, fresh flowers, those Egyptian cotton sheets, and the services of a maid and handyman around the house…these things are so cheap, you’ll be able to afford to make them regular indulgences.

The real plus of Panama right now is its thriving economy. This is the place to bring your entrepreneurial inclinations.

4. Uruguay

Best half-year choice. Uruguay’s seasons are the reverse of those above the equator, so if you’re thinking you’d like a place to retreat to, say, six months a year, when the temperatures drop back home, look to Uruguay.

Uruguay is safe, stable, peaceful, and orderly, well apart from the troubles of the rest of the world, a true escape.

And, yes, it’s in the Americas, but it feels, in many ways, more European than Latino. Your standard of living in this country could be elevated, even Continental, on a retirement budget of as little as $1,038 per month.

5. Italy

Our top pick on the Continent. Look to the beautiful, undiscovered, and surprisingly affordable region of Abruzzo.

Kathleen Peddicord

P.S. This is our short list for the world’s top retirement havens. A longer one would also include: Nicaragua, Belize, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and France.

P.P.S. How do you choose among these options, each of which is appealing for different reasons? Know thyself. What’s important to you? Consider:

n Cost of Living
n Infrastructure
n Stability and Safety
n Taxes
n Language
n Accessibility to Your “Home” Country
n Health Care
n Recreation and Entertainment
n Climate
n Education Options (if you have children)

n Business Options
n Residency and Visa Requirements

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TODAY:

Roving Latin America correspondent Christian MacDonald checked in today to say:

“I’ve just realized that I neglected to include the cost of household help in my Ecuador budget. It costs about US$10 for a full day of cleaning and US$20 for a day with a gardener.

“For the US$20, the gardener would do all the edging with a shovel, trim trees and shrubs, mow the lawn, clean up, etc. If he were just moving the lawn, the cost would be more like US$5, but few people do it that way.”

***

While I’m in D.C. for the AARP event, Lief is minding the fort back in Panama. His update this morning:

“The painter has finished his work, and he’s cleaning up behind himself now. The place looks great. And the shipping company phoned earlier. Our furniture is due to arrive this afternoon, on schedule.”

This international shipping experience has been the smoothest yet. Our things were packed and collected in Ireland without incident; stored for four weeks in Dublin at no cost (we negotiated one-month free storage as part of the contract); and put on a ship headed to Panama within 48 hours of my giving the go-ahead. The ship arrived in Panama on time, and the goods are being delivered precisely as projected.

Meantime, we haven’t lifted a finger, filed a document, or made a phone call.

There was minor confusion over what import duty might be payable when the goods entered Panama. One e-mail to our trusty local legal eagle Rainelda Mata-Kelly put that question to bed. Rainelda’s quick response:

“No duty is due…thanks to your reforestation visa. That residency status allows you to import your household goods duty-free.”

FROM THE MAILBAG:

“The letter in the Mailbag yesterday about the reported instability in Thailand reminded me of an experience I had living overseas in the early 1990s in the Comoros, a collection of islands between Madagascar and Mozambique. It’s what taught me to take everything I hear in the mainstream press with a grain of salt.

“I had a shortwave radio, and I could get the BBC. The local government was in constant upheaval in the Comoros. In the two years I was there as a Peace Corps volunteer, we had three coups d’etat. It was not unusual to have unrest in the capital at those times. By that I mean untrained young ‘military’ or maybe ‘rebel’ men piled into the backs of bush taxis with Kalashnikovs in hand careening around the handful of streets for a day or so. A few burning tires. Some tear gas. But such disturbances only rarely went beyond the capital or lasted more than a few days.

“Yet I remember hearing on the BBC one day that the capital was a disaster zone and that even my village on the northern tip of one island had been taken over by rebels. Tires burning. Road impassable. Only I’d been to teach that morning. I’d traveled by the main road, and it was business as usual.

“In fact, the only way I ever knew a coup had taken place was because I heard military music on the local radio station, which was always blasting from the homes along my route to school. The first thing the coup-stagers always did was to take over the radio station in the capital and blast military music. It was an easy way, in those pre-cell-phone days, to alert the masses that something was up.

“Anyway, that’s the story I tell to explain why I don’t always believe what I hear in the news…”

-- Jen S., United States