I’ve been covering the live and invest overseas beat for more than 40 years…
And I’ve myself been living overseas for nearly three decades.
All that experience has taught me that you can’t spreadsheet a new life in paradise.
Yes, as you consider your options, you should review detailed budgets for the countries that interest you, as we do for you on our website.
You want to understand things like the local tax rates, the residency visa options, and the average temperatures by season… all things I deep dive into in my just-released book, Where To Retire Overseas.
Etc.
The research is important. But once you’ve carried it out, set it aside.
And let your heart take over.
A longtime friend, Jeff, a Brit living now in Nicaragua, says that people ask him all the time why he chose that country over Costa Rica.
“There are quantifiable explanations, of course,” Jeff says. “The cost of living in Nicaragua is lower than that in Costa Rica, for example. And Nicaragua has a program of special benefits, tax breaks, etc. for foreign retirees that’s very competitive.
“But those aren’t the reasons I recommend Nicaragua over its neighbor to the south to anyone who asks or why I chose to focus my time and attention in Nicaragua years ago, when I could as easily have based myself in Costa Rica.
“Nicaragua simply appealed to me more,” Jeff explains, “for reasons that I have trouble explaining.”
I understand.
I visited Costa Rica for the first time in the mid-1980s. I’ve returned dozens of times since. The country’s Pacific coast is beautiful, as is its mountainous interior. Great surfing, great bird-watching, great boating, great fishing… Costa Rica has all those things.
When I began spending time in this country, it was also very affordable and boasted the world’s premier foreign retiree program.
Still, I didn’t get it. I could list the advantages and appeals of living in Costa Rica, but I couldn’t make myself want to live there.
Then, a year later, I traveled to Nicaragua. I knew within a few hours of wandering around colonial Granada that this was a place I wanted to return to. This was a place I could call home, for visiting it for the first time felt like coming home.
The two countries have many things in common, and Nicaragua has the specter of its troubled history. Still, it was Nicaragua, not Costa Rica, that captured my heart. I was completely infatuated by this little country, its complicated politics, past and present, notwithstanding, and I remain so.
Every visit, I’m won over again.
You can’t plug your romantic response to a place into a spreadsheet. But it’s those kinds of unquantifiable responses that matter most.
The French speak of the coup de coeur, the blow to your heart you feel at certain times in your life—when, say, shopping for a new house or meeting the love of your life. It’s the sudden certainty that this is it, this is right.
I’m a big believer in the importance of the coup de coeur when shopping for a new country.
So, while we must approach this “how to live overseas” question scientifically, making lists and drawing comparisons, in the end, the decision of where to launch your new life overseas is at least as emotional as it is intellectual or financial, for a place can make perfect sense on paper but appeal not at all in person.
That’s why at some point in your research process you’ve got to get on a plane.
Do the soul-searching to understand what you’re looking for in your new life overseas. List out the pluses and the minuses of the world’s most appealing places to spend time. Identify the two or three or four countries that could be the overseas Shangri-la you seek…
Then go to visit.
Plan an extended stay in each country you think might work for you, if possible through the least-agreeable time of year—the hurricane season, the rainy season, the peak tourist season, or the off-season, after all the tourists have gone home and nearly every shop, café, and restaurant in town has shut its doors until they return.
No amount of AI research, reading, or planning can substitute for traveling around a place yourself.
You’ve got to walk the streets, watch the sunsets, and meet the people.
And when you do, listen to your gut. Sometimes you’ll know within 24 hours of arriving in a country. If you walk out on the street in a new place and feel safe, welcome, and comfortable, then that could be the place for you. If you don’t, don’t hesitate to move on. It’s a big wonderful world full of tempting options for a life filled with adventure and fun.
I know many people who’ve been thinking for years about living or retiring overseas.
They’ve chased down every AI rabbit hole.
They can tell you how to get a visa, where to open a bank account, how much to budget for rent, and the per-square-foot price of buying a home in a dozen different countries.
Still, they’re deliberating, weighing the options, not sure the time is right.
To these folks, every one—and, indeed, to you, too—I say now, just do it. Pack your bags and go for it.
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
Years ago at a conference in the Dominican Republic I spoke with an American from Tennessee who explained that he had been researching opportunities in that country for two years.
“I’m convinced the Dominican Republic is a place I want to be,” he told me, “but I’m just not sure the timing is right.”
“Have you considered other options?” I asked.
“Well, before I started looking closely at the Dominican Republic, I researched Costa Rica for four years.”
“What did you end up doing there?”
“Oh, I never did anything. After four years of looking, prices had risen so high that I figured it no longer made sense and I decided to keep looking.”
“Ah, well, that happens,” I said.
Because, alas, it does… way too often.
You can plan to retire overseas . . . or you can retire overseas and then make some plans.
Carry out your due diligence, but realize that, all the while you’re researching, your life is passing.
That gentleman from Tennessee was so worried that another, better option might come along that he could never bring himself to carry through with any one particular choice. He was a smart guy, but he continually second-guessed himself, his thinking, the timing, the options…
He kept researching and investigating and scouting, trying to identify the “right” time to move and the “best” place to go.
At another conference, this one in Panama, I met another would-be overseas retiree, Anya, who approached me to ask my thoughts on Portugal.
“It’s a safe, welcoming, affordable country,” I told her. “Is that where you’re thinking of moving?” Anya wasn’t sure. She and her husband were deliberating, debating, considering options.
I had an email from Anya recently.
“When we spoke at the conference,” she wrote, “you asked that I follow up with you to let you know what my husband and I finally decided to do. After more consideration, we agreed that Portugal wasn’t for us.
“I am happy to report, though, that we’ve made another plan. In fact, we’ve already begun following through on it. We’ve purchased 5 acres of beautiful land in Panama, including a house for renovation.
“We made the trip to see it, and it was love at first sight. We knew right away that this was the right thing for us. Not only is this place beautiful, but here, in Panama, we feel secure. We truly will be able to afford to live on my husband’s Social Security and be comfortable indefinitely.”
There is no right time, and there is no best place.
But there is a place that’s just right for you right now. You need to get off your derriere and go find it.
Sometimes life takes you by the collar and pulls you along. Other times it waits for you to create your own momentum.
So here’s what I want you to do—two simple things that will take but five minutes.
First, answer this question:
Where in the world do you imagine first when you think about starting a new life overseas?
Second, take a look at the options for traveling to that personal paradise-in-waiting this year… the sooner the better.
No, I’m not working for any airline.
And, yes, I understand that airfares have spiked this year.
Still, in my experience, getting on a plane that will deliver you to the place you’re thinking might be the place for you to launch your new life overseas…
Well, that’s the single smartest thing you could do in the interest of making your life everything you’re dreaming it could be.
If your life’s circumstances aren’t conspiring to pull you in the direction of the new horizons you seek, get yourself up and start chasing them.
I’d say that the best possible first step in that direction would be to buy a plane ticket.
Until next time,
