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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    LEARN MORE
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    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
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Home Lifestyle

Asia, Europe, And The Americas Face Off

The Pros And Cons Of Life Overseas

by Kathleen Peddicord
Jan 09, 2024
in Lifestyle
0 0
Aerial Drone View of a tropical beach in Costa Rica. Sand and water surrounded by lush rainforest

AdobeStock/Duarte

The world is alive with opportunity.

Specifically, in the context of the conversation we carry on in these dispatches, the world is alive with opportunity for an interesting, rich, full, adventure-filled, and sometimes very affordable retirement in a place that is welcoming, beautiful, friendly, and engaging.

That’s our starting point…

The way of looking at the world that, with the help of hundreds of far-flung correspondents, colleagues, expats, and experts across the globe, I work to share with you.

Of course, in truth, retiring overseas isn’t for everyone…

Who Should Live Overseas?

To make a success of this, you need:

  • An open mind…
  • A spirit of adventure…
  • A good sense of humor…

I’d say that, because you’re reading this right now, you likely boast those attributes and are, indeed, a good candidate for making a success of the kind of move you must be considering… precisely because you’re considering it.

You—like your hundreds of thousands of fellow Live And Invest Overseas readers—are looking for something new, something better, something bigger, something different, something other.

One question to be asking yourself as you’re reading along is… how different?

How outside your comfort zone are you interested in going?

More on this in a minute.

Another critical starting-point question, of course, is to do with budgets. How much does it cost to retire overseas… and can you actually afford to follow through on the dream life you’re imagining?

The short answer to that question is: Yes. You can afford to retire overseas. Even on a very, very modest budget.

The specific answer, though (to state the obvious), is that it depends on the size of your nest egg… and where in the world you’re considering spending it.

The question isn’t really how much does it cost to retire overseas?

The question is how much money do you have to retire?

Once you know the size of your retirement nest egg, then you can figure out where that nest egg will buy you the retirement you want.

Though I’d suggest that’s not the way to approach this… at least that’s not the way to begin to approach this. That’s backwards.

Most importantly, start by thinking through the life you want.

Imagine your ideal lifestyle. Then look at the numbers in that context. Where will the budget you’ve got buy you the lifestyle you’re looking for?

In these dispatches, I give a lot of virtual ink to Latin America. That’s because it’s nearby to North America (where most of our readers currently reside) and because it can be cheap and sunny (two things most would-be expats and retirees abroad actively seek).

But there’s a world beyond these Americas that can also offer good weather and a low cost of living… plus, in some cases, some things you won’t find here.

Asia

Best places to retire in Indonesia. Image of beach with clear blue sea
Image Source: iStock/Nuture

Asia boasts a number of the most cost-friendly places anywhere to call home right now. Pockets of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, for example, can be absurdly cheap.

Living on this side of the planet, you’d also have access to some of the world’s most beautiful beaches…

In short, your life would be full of the exotic, the unexpected, and the adventuresome.

That is to say, the culture shock would be significant. For some, this reality is thrilling and invigorating… for others, intimidating, even terrifying.

Used to be that foreign retirees in Asia didn’t legalize their status.

Historically—in some cases because it seemed easier and in others because formal residency programs weren’t an option—expats in this part of the world have relied on the “border run” approach. They’d leave the country where they were living briefly, then return with a renewed tourist visa.

However, today, more and more countries in the region are cracking down on the practice (which, in fact, can be as or more expensive than obtaining legal residency)… and, as well, more formal legal residency options are available…

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Meaning the border-run lifestyle is no longer necessary in Asia.

Still there’s the practical downside of geography.

Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc., are literally on the other side of the world. You’re not hopping back and forth between your new home in Asia and your old one in North America for grandchildren’s birthdays, for example.

That’s why it can make sense to approach Asia not as a full-time choice but, instead, to create a retire-overseas plan that allows you to enjoy the benefits of Asia (super cheap and super exotic) part-time.

How about a couple months in Da Nang, Vietnam, or Chiang Rai, Thailand, where your retirement budget would stretch far indeed, followed by a few months in the south of France, say, or Tuscany?

Villefranche sur Mer, Cote d Azur, France. Villefranche sur Mer, Cote d Azur, France.
Alamy/travelstock44

Retire Overseas: Europe

Which brings us to Europe. Most would-be retirees abroad dismiss Europe as too expensive, but, as we work hard to show you, this isn’t necessarily the case.

Sure, a retiree on a modest budget probably can’t afford Paris or Florence, but have you considered southwestern France, where life is quintessentially French but, as well, surprisingly affordable, or Pisa, about an hour from Michelangelo’s hometown but dramatically less costly?

One of the big advantages of Europe, compared with other regional retire-overseas options, is the opportunity it affords for what might be referred to as “high culture.”

Every country in the world has culture, no question… but not everywhere has world-class museums, opera, and live theater, for example. If you’re interested in a life that includes cultural offerings of that variety, you should be looking to the Continent.

Which is not to say it’s impossible to enjoy an old-world Continental lifestyle anywhere else.

Retirement In The Americas

Some cities in South America offer a fair imitation—Buenos Aires, for example, and Medellín, Colombia, to name two. Both are cities of open-air cafés, classic-style museums and theaters, art galleries, and antique shops.

And both, you’ll note, are in South America, not Central America. The differences between these two regions, even between Panama and Colombia, next-door neighbors, can be striking.

I’m speaking generally and could name exceptions to every point, but, again, generally speaking, South America offers what I’d call more polished options, a good place to look if what you want is culture on the cheap.

Central America, by contrast, is, everywhere, rough around the edges. These are small, developing countries with non-existent budgets for things like art museums.

Making for a way of life that is, for some, charming. Romantics (like me) in Central America focus on the potential for what could be rather than the reality of what sometimes is.

Others find Central America frustrating, disappointing, even appalling.

On the other hand, this sun-blessed region can be but a quick plane hop away and a user-friendly place to establish foreign residency…

Pluses and minuses… give and take.

Here’s how I’d shorthand the pros and cons of your big-picture options for where to think about reinventing your life and chasing adventure overseas…

The Americas

 

PROS

  • Accessible
  • Affordable
  • Great weather
  • Lack of regulation

CONS

  • Unreliable infrastructure
  • Mañana mentality
  • Lack of regulation

 

Europe

 

PROS

  • Developed infrastructure
  • Culture
  • World’s best health care
  • Overall quality of life
CONS

  • Language
  • Cost of living
  • Weather and length of day
  • Bureaucracy

 

Asia

 

PROS

  • Cost of living
  • Beautiful beaches
  • Exotic lifestyle
CONS

  • Distance from North America
  • Language
  • Exotic lifestyle

Until next time,
Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Argentina''Colombia''France''Italy''retirement''Thailand'AmericaAsiaEuropemove overseasPanamaPortugalretire abroadretire overseas
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
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  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
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  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
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  • The Panama City Beaches
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