5 reasons not to retire in the U.S.: Number of retirees overseas has more than doubled in 10 years

More than half a million retirees receive their Social Security benefits abroad, according to International Living , a monthly newsletter focusing on retiring overseas.

The Social Security Administration currently sends 613,650 retirement-benefit payments outside the U.S., more than double the 242,128 benefit payments sent abroad in 2002. And even that data likely under-represents the actual number of Americans retired overseas, says Dan Prescher, 60, special projects editor of the newsletter. (International Living gets much of its financial support from advertisers who sell overseas real estate to retirees, and other services for those wishing to relocate.)

“San Diego has some of the best weather in the world but most people can’t afford to live there,” Prescher says. He and his wife, Suzan Haskins, live in Cotacachi, Ecuador, and say most ex-pats there have monthly expenses (including rent) of $1,500 to $1,800. “We don’t need heat, we don’t need air conditioning and our electricity bill is $24 a month,” Haskins, 58, says.

They live on the equator at 8,000 feet above sea level, so the sun rises at 6 a.m. and goes down at 6 p.m. every day, so it rarely gets too warm or too cold. Haskins adds that they live in a small town where crime isn’t a major concern for them. Their Internet costs about $28 a month and that includes a landline phone.

Of course, boomers abroad who want to work part-time or operate a business still have to pay income taxes — even if they live in the Cayman Islands or St. Kitts and Nevis, which have no personal income taxes. “The U.S. is one of the few countries on the planet that taxes its citizens on income no matter where in the world it’s earned,

Better still, Internet is included in my rent, as are water and electricity.

Panama City is one of the best 'wired' cities in the Western hemisphere, completely 4G+. I'm 2 hours away fr/Panama City, but even here, 3G @ 4Mb works very well. We get some interruption when there is a big rainstorm, but that's about it.

Varela has done one stupid thing. As a popular (cough) move, he has slapped price controls on 25 staple foods. As we know, from experience in my case, these always backfire. Even so, at the moment, ground beef (all grass-fed) is $2.00/lb, rice is $0.40/lb, and sardines (which I love) are $1.70/lb. Chicken is relatively cheap and eggs, if you buy direct from a farm, are between 8 and 10 cents apiece and the 'medium' (mediano) eggs are easily equal in size to 'extra large' in the US.

And then there is the jubilado discount. By LAW, seniors receive a 15-35% discount on movies, concerts, domestic travel, restaurants and hotels, and a bunch of other stuff. Even w/o the discount, it's easy to buy, say, a tipico (traditional Panameno) lunch for 4 or 5 dollars, complete.

Not planning on returning to the US ANYtime soon, except to visit my sister occasionally.

Never understood the American obsession with "retirement".

Retirement from what, exactly?

You mean retirement from going to a climate-controlled office building 8 or so hours a day where you get to meet people and play around with the latest and greatest technology gadgets? Retirement from the after-work drinks or the before or during work coffee breaks at the Starbucks?

Or maybe you are a blue-collar worker and you get to spend most of your days outdoors in the fresh air building and repairing things and jawing with your co-workers during the numerous coffee breaks, travel between service calls, and such. So you want retirement from that too?

Or maybe you are an airline pilot, a truck driver or a cab driver and you get paid for driving people and goods around? You really need to retire from doing that?

I can go on and on with the hundreds of other professions and jobs out there, all of which are pleasurable to do and well paid, with plenty of leisure time in which to spend all that money.

Why are people in such a damn rush to retire when they have all this going for them?

Don't they know that the next stop after retirement is death? Why are they in such a hurry to get there?

Retirement is so overrated. Now you are on a fixed income and since you don't know how long you will live (so your money will last), you end up going to Dennys instead of a nice steak house, Wal-Mart to buy your clothing instead of Macys, Piggly Wiggly to get your groceries instead of Whole Foods. Instead of vacationing in Hawaii or the Mediterranean, you end up going to Dollywood in Tennessee or worse, Atlantic City on a rattling bus with a bunch of other snoring old folks to throw a few dollars into penny slots in a run-down about-to-be-closed casino with the other derelicts and bums.

Retirement sucks. Other people find you boring because you don't do anything all day but watch daytime TV and work crossword puzzles. Everybody in your family thinks you have all the time in the world so they dump their children, pets and other things on you for you to "watch" while they go to work or on a real vacation.

Can anybody explain to me why they "look forward" to retirement? What's so bad about working and having the money to do all the things you want to do? If I want my grass cut, I pay somebody to do it. If I want my house painted, I pay somebody to do it. If I didn't have a job and relied on a fixed income, I wouldn't have the money to pay other people to do it and I'd either have to do it myself or rely on the goodwill of my grandkids who will snicker behind my back about their "mentally deranged grandfather who listens to 1970s music and can't even wipe his own butt."

That's retirement. You still want it?

I'm with you. I love getting up each day and DOING something that earns me money. Don't get me wrong, I like my weekends and holidays too but it's the money from my work that allows me to actually do things on those days I'm not working.

Maybe I won't do the job I'm currently doing when I'm 70, but I'll be doing something. Cab driving seems fun. I'm sure you meet many interesting people and see a lot of interesting things.

There was a retired executive from my company who I ran into about a year ago. Now this guy was making over $200K a year and definitely didn't need to worry about money too much in his retirement. But he was bored within six months and now he drives a limo for about $30 an hour. Again, money he doesn't need. But it gets him out of the house and he had all kinds of hilarious stories to tell about weddings, prom nights gone wrong, etc. This guy was a high-powered executive but he loves living life and being part of the working world again.

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