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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
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
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    • Health Care Abroad
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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
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
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    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

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    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

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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 About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    Learn More About This Event
    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
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THE 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE IN 2025

the 10 best places to retire in 2025

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Home Retirement/Living

Retire Earlier Than You’ve Planned

Retire Well Overseas On Your Social Security Check Alone

by Lee Harrison
Nov 08, 2022
in Retirement/Living
0 0
Aerial View of Benigno Malo High School in Cuenca, Ecuador

Adobe Stock/mindstorm

I retired when I was 49… 13 years before I’d planned.

And it wasn’t because I’d struck it rich; quite the opposite. I had an average income and moderate savings… less than most of my coworkers who stayed behind to continue working.

I was able to retire at that age for two reasons…

I retired abroad… and I chose my country wisely.

Financially, there’s no other way I could have pulled it off.

If you think the retirement that you’ve always dreamed of is slipping away, I can guarantee you there’s a solution.

In the end, I was shocked at how financially easy it was. Let me explain.

For most of my adult life, I thought that retiring overseas was for the very wealthy… not for an average person like me.

I first got the idea to retire abroad while browsing in a bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. I found a book written by a guy who had retired early and was living comfortably abroad—splitting his time between Costa Rica and Mexico—on a very modest income. He was an honest writer… and a regular middle-class guy like me.

His book changed my thinking entirely.

Instead of working until I’d earned a pension large enough to live well in the States, I realized that I could retire years earlier… and still have plenty of money to live well abroad.

Instead of working until 62 as planned, I found that I’d have enough to live overseas comfortably prior to age 50.

Instead of hoping for good health in my old age, I could retire when I was relatively young, fit, and able to enjoy a life of fun and adventure.

But it was critical that I choose the right country.

Few countries offered a cost of living low enough to meet my needs. And of those that did, most were places I didn’t want to live… places that were cheap enough, but didn’t offer the comfortable, convenient, and exciting lifestyle that I was hoping for.

But one country fit the bill perfectly… with benefits to spare.

It was Ecuador.

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In Ecuador, I Found Enriching Lifestyles For Every Income Level

A couple settling in small towns can live on around US$750 per month. In a rural setting, two of my close friends are living on less than US$650 per month.

If you’d be happier in a beautiful, 16th-century colonial city—with its theater, orchestra, art shows, restaurants, and cafés—you can do that starting at US$1,200 per month (under US$1,000 if you own your own house).

To put this in perspective, of the more than 61 million retirees now collecting Social Security in 2022, the average payment is US$1,657 per month.

So who can live in Ecuador on a Social Security check? Almost everyone. The average Social Security recipient can do it with room to spare.

And what’s amazing is that you’ll do more than just live. You’ll live well… a wealthy and enriching lifestyle that just wouldn’t be possible back home.

Best of all, you’ll have the experience and adventure of a lifetime.

You can do it… and we can show you how to do it the easy way.

When I retired to Ecuador, things were different. Making that move was a lot of work for me.

I covered the country from top to bottom in a rental car—with limited Spanish at the time—exploring unknown regions via poorly marked roads.

Working with the Ecuadorian officials, I had to figure out how to get a residency visa from scratch.

I wanted to learn Spanish but had no idea which language schools were any good… among hundreds that were marketing their programs.

After picking my city, I had to find an honest real estate agent and navigate a disorganized market with no multiple listing service. It was every real estate agent for himself, with me at their mercy.

After selecting a home, I didn’t know an English-speaking attorney. I had to go to the U.S. Embassy to try to find one.

Hardest of all, I didn’t know anyone who lived in Ecuador… that is, no one who had already moved here, who I could ask for help.

In other words, I didn’t just drop into a paradise, like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”

But you can.

That is, you can land in Ecuador and hit the ground running with your new life laid out in front of you.

Over the past few years, it may have seemed like the retirement you’ve always dreamed of was slipping away. And for many Americans, it is.

But here’s your chance to grab it back.

Whether you’re 39 or 79, it’s a chance to not only meet but exceed the expectations you’ve always had for a happy, healthy, and secure retirement… for the price of a Social Security check.

For many retirees worried about their retirement—including, perhaps, you—Ecuador is the answer.

Lee Harrison
Senior Correspondent

Tags: 'Ecuador''retire'Cost Of Living In Ecuadorearly retirementExpats In Ecuadorlife in ecuadorMove to EcuadorRetire In Ecuador
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Lee Harrison

Lee Harrison

Lee has been living overseas for nearly two decades, making his first purchase abroad in the colonial city of Cuenca, Ecuador. After that first investment, he traveled extensively across Latin America and Europe looking for the best property deals possible. Lee’s network of property insiders from those travels, along with his understanding of local cultures and languages, has helped him develop insight into local property markets that only the locals usually possess.

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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

  • International Real Estate
  • Banking
  • Employment
  • Investing
Meet Our Experts

Real Estate

Overseas Property Alert 

 

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

VISIT SITE

Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

 

Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

Explore Our Latest Posts

 

Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

EXPLORE

Conferences

Live and Invest In Spain Conference

VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
Learn More About This Event

Offshore Wealth Summit

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER

GREECE WORKSHOP

VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
Learn More About This Event
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

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

  • Overseas Living Letter: Affordable Retirement Guidance
  • The Simon Letter: Wealth Protection Insights
  • Global Property Advisor: Global Investment Opportunitites
VISIT OUR STORE

Free Report

THE 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE IN 2025

FREE REPORT: The 10 Best Places To retire in 2025

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