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    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
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  • 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
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    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
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    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
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    Oct. 15-17, 2025

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  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
  • 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
    DISCOUNT
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
 Moving Out Of The U.S?

THE 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE IN 2025

the 10 best places to retire in 2025

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Home Lifestyle

White Sands, Limestone Cliffs, And Warm Waters

by Kathleen Peddicord
Feb 08, 2024
in Lifestyle
0 0
Kata and Karon beaches, Phuket, Thailand

AdobeStock/PerfectLazybones

The lure of island life is hard to resist…

Be it Treasure Island, Fantasy Island, or Gilligan’s Island, for generations of North Americans images of near-deserted, sun-soaked shores and the promise of overseas adventure left an indelible impression.

But not all islands are created equal… especially for those considering making the dream of living on a palm-fringed outpost a reality.

There are many factors to consider such as visas, health care, infrastructure, cost of living, expat community, and more. Which is exactly what my team here at Live And Invest Overseas and I do each year when we produce our annual Overseas Retirement Index.

This year we’ve identified 10 expat havens which our findings show offer the best opportunities for North Americans considering a move outside home borders this 2024—and two of them are islands…

So, if you’re looking to escape the 9-to-5 grind and cast away to a picture-perfect island escape but still enjoy the conveniences and comforts of the modern world, here are my top two recommendations for 2024.

Crete, Greece

Birthplace of Zeus, home of Europe’s first advanced civilization, the Minoans, and the crossroads of the three continents of the Old World: Africa, Europe, and Asia Minor, Crete is steeped in rich history and culture.

It’s also a dream destination for sun-seekers, offering the highest number of sunshine hours per year in all of Greece, and outdoor enthusiasts, with miles of sandy beaches, snow-capped mountains, and untouched wilderness to explore.

Here, a couple can enjoy a comfortable life on a modest budget. An average monthly spend of $1,865 is a good guide.

You won’t be short of company should you choose to seek it out. The island is home to around 18,000 expats—including a large contingent of Americans stationed at the Souda Bay naval base—and the locals are a welcoming bunch.

Though the official language is Greek, you can get by in English as just about everyone, from real estate agents to market stall holders, has some level of English.

The health care is of a good standard, the crime rate is low, and the Mediterranean climate means hot summers and gentle winters with no snowshoveling to worry about.

There’s also plenty of year-round entertainment options to stave off island fever, including museums, galleries, shopping, architecture, historical attractions, restaurants and cafés, and cultural events.

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Add to that, on Crete the infrastructure is solid, the lifestyle is laidback, and you’re never far from glistening blue waters…

To qualify for Greece’s Financially Independent Person Permit, you need to show that you receive €2,000 per month in income. This residency permit is available for two years and is renewable.

Greece also offers a golden visa program, Europe’s most popular, as well as a digital nomad visa.

If you’re looking for a Mediterranean island escape, I suggest you put Crete at the top of your list.

For those happy to travel farther from home shores, consider my number one choice in Southeast Asia…

Phuket, Thailand

Ringed by pearly white sands, hemmed in by limestone cliffs, and lapped by the warm waters of the Andaman Sea, Thailand’s biggest island, Phuket, is blessed with undeniable natural beauty but its charms don’t end there…

The tropical monsoon climate means you’ll enjoy warm weather year-round. English is widely-spoken, there’s a large expat community of over 100,000, good infrastructure, and a wide range of entertainment options.

It’s an easy place to make new friends, too. Social groups organize around diverse interests from sports leagues to volunteer opportunities, get-togethers at bars, trivia nights, charity fundraisers, networking events, and more.

Health care on Phuket is excellent, with a range of public and private facilities, many with English speaking staff. Medical fees vary, but you can expect to pay about $30 for a regular visit at a private hospital or $10 for the same visit at a public hospital.

Thailand’s retirement visa is called the Non-Immigrant O-A Visa and its basic requirement is that you are at least 50 years old and receive an income of about $2,000 per month. This visa is valid for one year at a time, and can be renewed indefinitely.

Overall, Phuket offers the opportunity to enjoy an enhanced standard of living on the same monthly budget (indeed, possibly much less) than the average expat had back in the States or Canada. A monthly budget of $1,702 will see a couple living comfortably here.

Until next time,

Kathleen Peddicord signature

Kathleen Peddicord

Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Expats Overseas''Thailand'Greecelife abroadOverseas Retirement Index
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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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HOME

Top Countries

  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Panama
  • Belize
  • Colombia
  • Cyprus
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Montenegro

Best For:

  • Health Care Abroad
  • Retirement Living
  • Cost Of Living
  • Investing in Real Estate
  • Establishing Residency
  • Gun Ownership
  • English Speakers
  • Safety
BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live 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

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Meet Our Experts

Real Estate

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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

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EXPLORE

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LEARN MORE
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VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
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MORE EVENTS

Contact Our Events Team:

Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
1 (888) 627 8834

From Outside North America:
1 (443) 599 1221

Working Hours
Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

Overseas Havens Reports

  • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

Conference Kits

  • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

Services

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  • The Simon Letter: Wealth Protection Insights
  • Global Property Advisor: Global Investment Opportunitites
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THE 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE IN 2025

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