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    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
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    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

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

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
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    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
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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

      Join our Weekly Newsletter
      Overseas Property Alert

      Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive expert insights on the best international real estate investment opportunities.






        We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.

        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
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        Home Retirement/Living

        The Most Important Part Of Planning A New Life Abroad

        What Makes You Miserable? It’s The Key To Realizing Your Dream Retirement Overseas

        by Kathleen Peddicord
        Apr 02, 2024
        in How to, Retirement/Living
        0 0
        Beautiful tropical beach at exotic island in Pacific

        AdobeStock/BlueOrange Studio

        This will be a piece of cake, I told myself as we prepared for our move from Baltimore to Waterford what now seems like a lifetime ago…

        How different can Ireland be from the United States? My husband, my daughter, and I, we’ll slide right into Irish life.

        I discovered quickly, though, that I’d been overly optimistic. The Irish speak English (sort of), but they operate differently from Americans. 

        In truth, adjusting to life in Ireland was more difficult than we ever could have predicted. We discovered that launching a new life on the Emerald Isle was in some ways more challenging than it would have been in Ajijic, Mexico, say, or Boquete, Panama.

        Ajijic and Boquete are established expat communities, home to thousands of foreign retirees who speak the same language, share the same interests, and approach life in the same way. There are no expat communities in Ireland. In Waterford, we settled in among the locals and embraced Irish country living. We had no choice.

        Our Irish neighbors were friendly and welcoming, but sometimes we longed for American company. For fellow Yanks who’d appreciate our offhanded cultural references, understand our slang, and laugh at our jokes.

        In Paris, we had a different experience. While you won’t find established expatriate neighborhoods in the French capital, you will find lots of expats. Living in Paris, we made new friends who were Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Argentine, and yes, to our relief, American. We made many French friends in Paris as well, but we had no trouble finding American company when we wanted it.

        In Panama City, where we’ve called home for the past decade plus, again, we’ve been living among the locals. We’re not the only gringos on the block, as we were in Waterford (our next-door neighbor hails from Arizona), but we’re not living in a gated community of fellow foreigners either.

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        A Key Factor When Deciding Where To Move

        One of the fundamental choices you must make as you survey the world map in search of the overseas retirement haven with your name on it is this: 

        Would you be more comfortable retiring to an established expatriate community, a place where you’ll have no trouble slipping into the local social scene and finding English speakers who share your interests? 

        Or do you want to go local, immersing yourself in a new culture completely?

        This important early decision may never have occurred to you. But I encourage you to consider the question directly and as early as possible in your “where and how should I reinvent my life overseas?” thinking, for the answer sets you on one track or another, and they lead to very different places.

        It can be easier, frankly, to seek out a place like Ajijic, where your neighbors would be fellow North Americans, where you’d hear more English on the street than Spanish, and where you’d have like-minded compatriots to commiserate with over the trials and tribulations of daily life in a foreign country.

        Ajijic, for example, could as easily sit north of the Rio Grande as south. It can seem like a transplanted U.S. suburb.

        This can make it a terrific first step for some, a chance to dip your toe in the overseas retirement waters rather than diving in headfirst. In Ajijic, you’d be living abroad and enjoying many of the benefits (great weather, affordable cost of living), but the surroundings and the neighbors would feel familiar in many ways. You could shop at Walmart, meet up with fellow Americanos for bridge on Thursday evenings, and never have to travel far to find English-language conversation.

        On the other hand, life in Mexico would be a very different experience if you were residing in a little fishing village or a small colonial city in the mountains where you were the only foreigner in town. Settling among the locals means you must learn to live like a local… and to speak at least a little of their language.

        Is that thought appealing, exciting, and invigorating? Or is it terrifying? Be honest with yourself as you consider your response.

        In addition to that fundamental question, in my experience 14 other factors are important to take into account when you’re shopping for a new country to call home. The key is to consider each of these things within the context of your personal circumstances.

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        Things To Consider As You Plan Your Overseas Move

        I list these considerations below according to a general order of priority. Your personal priorities may be very different. You must determine for yourself what’s most and least important to you. On which points are you happy to be flexible… and on which of these points would you be miserable if you compromised?

        • Cost of living
        • Cost of housing (renting or buying)
        • Climate
        • Health care, both the quality and the cost
        • Infrastructure
        • Accessibility to the United States
        • Language
        • Culture, recreation, and entertainment
        • Residency (if you want to be able to stay in the country you choose indefinitely)
        • Environment (things like pollution levels)
        • Taxes
        • Special benefits for foreign retirees
        • Education and schools (if you’re making the move with children, in which case this becomes one of your top priorities)
        • Safety

        -Safety

        I include safety last on the list not because it’s the least important but because you can take for granted that every place I introduce in these dispatches (and otherwise) is safe.

        In some places we recommend, you won’t even have to worry about locking your doors at night. Everything else on the list of factors to consider is a matter of priorities and perspective, but unsafe is unacceptable.

        -Cost Of Living

        One of the most important issues for anyone considering a move to another country is cost of living. In some cases, a reduced cost of living is the primary and driving agenda. It’s also the issue most affected by your answer to the “go local/don’t go local” question. Living among the locals can decrease your cost of living significantly, certainly compared with the cost of trying to export your U.S. lifestyle to another country.

        -Climate

        Climate is probably the next most common reason (after cost of living and cost of real estate) for thinking about moving to another country and could be your main motivation for considering the idea. Some places around the world boast springlike temperatures year-round. For many, this is reason enough to relocate at least part of the year.

        -Taxes

        Issues such as taxation and special benefits for retirees, on the other hand, are important but probably not key factors. You don’t want to organize your life around tax codes or senior discounts. These are secondary factors that may help later when you have narrowed down your choices and are torn between two or three destinations.

        -Health Care

        If you have an ongoing health concern or if you’re moving with children, your priorities are set for you. If health care is your key issue, then your Dream Havens list can include only places with first-class and First World health facilities.

        -Schools

        If you’re moving with children, the determining factor is the availability of international (preferably bilingual) schools.

        -Business Incentives

        If you’re considering starting a business to help support your adventures overseas, then tax and other government incentives targeting entrepreneurs and foreign investors can tip the scales for you.

        -Entertainment

        Culture, recreation, and entertainment are not key but important considerations. How do you like to spend your time? What diversions would you miss most if they disappeared from your life?

        Considering the issues on this list is perhaps the most important part of planning a new life abroad. Every decision should be made based on your preferences and circumstances. 

        I encourage you to get out a pen and pad of paper now and focus on these questions. 

        I’m not kidding. Go on… you can afford to take 10 minutes to begin this important process. Take this first step now… and you’re on your way.

        The first step, as they say, is the toughest.

        Then keep reading. I’ll continue to help you connect the dots between your priorities and preferences and the pluses and minuses of each destination on our radar.

        That’s the fun part.

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

        Tags: 'best places to retire overseas''how to retire overseas''Ireland'Ajijichow to decide where to go overseasinternational living bookkathleen peddicord’s retire overseas bookLive abroadMexico'Move abroadPanamaParisretire 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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              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
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              Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

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              EXPLORE

              Conferences

              Live and Invest In Spain Conference

              VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
              LEARN MORE
              DISCOUNT

              Offshore Wealth Summit

              PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
              LEARN MORE
              PRE-REGISTER

              GREECE WORKSHOP

              VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
              LEARN MORE
              PRE-REGISTER
              MORE EVENTS

              Contact Our Events Team:

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              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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