Retire Overseas Success Stories
If These Folks Can Do It, You Can Do It, Too
We receive hundreds of reader e-mails every day. Most readers write in to ask questions. However, some get in touch to share the good news of their own overseas adventures.
For example…
George G. writes:
“This July I retired from the Miami-Dade County government after 33 years of employment. In August, I flew to Panama. I’d been there only once before, but I had done research via your e-mail newsletters.
“On Oct. 2 I moved into a marvelous mountain cabin some 7.5 kilometers up Volcan Baru.
“I plan to be here for at least the next six months and maybe to base myself out of this paradise while I travel the world over the next five or six years, spending six months each year in the cabin and six months elsewhere.
“I also happen to be a 56-year-old totally blind man. I am pursuing this adventure solo (unless, of course, some charming young lady would like to tag along!)…”
Hyta F. writes:
“I am a single (divorced) retired female, 62, from Texas, who is currently living in Belize on Ambergris Caye. I retired here at the beginning of August and plan to live here at least until the end of January. Following your advice, I took out a six-month lease to see if this is ‘where I want to grow up…'”
Gerald L. reports:
“My evolution has been from survival retirement at age 62 to what has become the most fun and rewarding part of my life today, 10 years later.
“In that time, I have developed successful tour and home construction businesses in Costa Rica. I have built a network of expats and Ticos who are working with me to accomplish more than any of us could have dreamed possible…”
Jonathan P. writes:
“My wife and I retired in 2003 at the ages of 54 and 53, respectively. We moved to San Antonio Tlayacapan on Lake Chapala in Mexico in 2005, where we learned quickly that we would have to find a place to escape the cohetes (mortars) that are blasted up to 16 hours a day for up to 15 days at a time during fiestas! We stabbed our fingers at a map and came up with La Manzanilla del Mar on the Tenacatita Bay, north of Manzanillo. It was love at first two-week visit.
“We began spending more and more time in ‘La Manz,’ including house sitting for people who became friends. Two years ago, we bought a house just a three-minute walk from the beach. It is now our primary residence.
“Meantime, we have kept our US$320-per-month, two-bedroom, two-bath rental in Chapala. We sublet the house to an American snowbird for 6 1/2 months a year. The rent covers more than 10 months of our costs each year.
“About the middle of July, the beach at La Manzanilla starts to get oppressively hot and humid. That’s when we head north and lakeside. We then have three or four months of delightful weather during what qualifies in this region as the off season, which is our favorite.
“We think that we are living the ideal life, splitting our time between the ocean and the largest lake in Mexico…”
If George, Hyta, Gerald, and Jonathan can do it, so can you.
Kathleen Peddicord
