5 Places to Retire On Social Security Alone

yahoo ^ | Friday, June 18, 2010 | Kathleen Peddicord

[BenLurkin]

The average Social Security check is about $1,200. You can receive that payment while living anywhere in the world. In some countries, you can even have your Social Security check direct-deposited into your local bank account. Here are five places where you could retire on your Social Security income alone.

Boquete, Panama. Panama offers super user-friendly options for foreign residency. Resident retirees receive a long list of benefits including discounts on everything from prescription medicines and in-country air travel to closing costs on the purchase of real estate.

Granada, Nicaragua. Granada is ... home to a welcoming community of expat retirees enjoying new lives in this land of lakes and volcanoes. You could live well in Granada on about $900 per month.

Hangzou, China. About $1,000 a month could buy you a comfortable and super-exotic new life in Hangzou.

Morelia, Mexico. You could retire on a budget of about $1,100 per month in this colonial city full of charm and history.

Cuenca, Ecuador. The average monthly Social Security check ($1,200) could also buy you a pleasant new life in Cuenca. The city has an established community of expats who will welcome you and help with your transition.

[mojitojoe]

That’s chicken feed compared to what is going in here. Panama is great.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Panama is great.

Are you saying Panama is a great place to live?

[mojitojoe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzPtogDaXw

http://www.businesspanama.com/panamarealestate/panama_real_estate_retiree_benefits.php

http://www.panamarealtor.com/

http://internationalliving.com/countries/panama/

https://www.web-purchases.com/120SPTOM/E120K4P2/landing.html?o=1668910&u=54866838&l=1607888

A couple of people I know have homes in Uruguay. They love it down there.

http://www.discoveruruguay.com/about_uruguay_demographics.htm

[mojitojoe]

Yes, I think so. See the links I posted. The health care is great, downtown looks much like downtown Miami. Pay stinks but the low cost of living offsets it. You can have a full time made that will do anything you want them to do, cook, clean, go run errands, work in the garden, for around 50.00 a week.

[mojitojoe]

Another advantage is that it’s close to the US. By air or sea it’s not a long trip. Plus the US is always going to protect the Panama Canal. Government is a constitutional Democracy and you can own firearms. Tons of discounts if you more there and no property taxes for 25 years if you buy a home.

[mojitojoe]

If the SHTF, your family will come to where you are. Also places like Costa Rico, Panama, Uruguay, Bahamas, other Caribbean Islands etc. are not that far from home.

[mojitojoe]

Here is another discussion on FR regarding this.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2481992/posts

[calex59]

It’s not right. I live on SS and two small pensions, all three total 2047 per month and I live quite well on that. I could live on less and I am in CA, granted a small, conservative county but still I am in CA and doing ok.

[McGavin999]

Thanks, I'm getting ready to retire. Phoenix is very expensive, but my home is almost paid for. I had some stashed away, but when the market crashed, most of my savings went south with it. I'm going to be depending a lot on social security for awhile.

I love my country and I don't want to go live in some other country.

[GOPJ]

I have a friend who gets around $800 a month - well below average - and she does well. She and an old high school friend share a condo on the beach. She's careful - lives within her means - and as she says, "what else can I want?". She's on the beach - within walking distance of shopping - has friends near by.

She had a home for many years and worked hard to keep it - but finally gave it back to the bank. The pressure is off for her now - she calls to tell me how relaxed and fun life can be... we laugh.

I think she's onto something...

[BenLurkin]

Thank you.

[McGavin999]

Yep, you don’t need very much. If there is someone to help share the expenses it’s even better. I don’t have that because I have large dogs (hard to find people who like large dogs at my age LOL)

[Yardstick]

Sounds very nice. My dad has been kicking around the idea of retiring in Mexico. Maybe he should look at the Philippines too.

[AlexW]

“Maybe he should look at the Philippines too.”

Well, the Philippines is not for everyone.
It all depends on one’s attitude.
It is paradise for older single men, but maybe not best
for retired, or even young married couples, unless the wife is a filipina.
Remember, it is a third world country, where all but a few are quite poor.
A dollar, however, goes a very long way here.
It is probably the cheapest living that you will find anywhere.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

My wife and I have lived in Thailand since my retirement in 1994. Even with the latest problems, Thailand is hard to beat.

We have been in China for the last three years but one has to be pretty hardcore to really appreciate it. Thailand is the easiest country I have ever lived in. We will be moving back in two weeks. Social Security goes a long ways in both places.

Thank you for the information on Thailand.

I know it is a destination for medical tourism, so I guess it has modern hospitals (though like anywhere, you need to know which ones are the good ones to go to).

Medical Tourism Thailand

Thailand Medical Tourism

Bumrungrad International Hospital | World-class Bangkok Hospital in Thailand for Medical Tourism

[Nik Naym]

“...we all know Manila is an envelope factory. “

Boy are you mixed up! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Everybody knows they are called VANILLA envelopes.

Jeeez. I gotta tell you guys everything.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

...The sweet spot are all those metropolitan areas of around 100-250,000 population that now have everything that the biggest cities have, except the crime and high cost of living.

Anyplace that has a Walmart, Costco, Target, Trader Joe’s, Ross, Grocery Outlet, Dollar Tree, etc. — has a de facto low cost of living yet access to wide choices. Then, if you go to the craigslists, many communities have 1 bedroom apartments for around $400 or less!

That’s not likely to be Honolulu, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Tokyo, London, Paris — but you don’t have to be in those cities for their primary benefits of culture anymore — because it’s as close as your iPad, laptop or cell phone.

Austin, Texas is usually heading the list of best cities to live in regardless of the cost — but up the road a bit (60 miles), is a small town of Killeen, Tx, where you can probably still get a 1 bedroom house! (maybe even a 2 bedroom house or apartment) for $400 — outside of the largest US military base in the country.

There are a lot of communities in the US like that — and even a few fairly large cities like a Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Little Rock, Salem, Oregon, that are very affordable, so that one doesn’t have to be thousands of miles from a leading edge of civilization, as one would be in a foreign country still.

That’s where I think most people ought to be directing their attention — rather than being lulled by those thoughts of exotic, foreign places that themselves, are out of the mainstream of contemporary civilization...

Thank you for the information.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Just in case anyone doesn't know what Craigslist is, it's an online listings of classified ads - pick a city and start looking at categories that interest you:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites

[BulletBobCo]

Bump

[nascarnation]

Craigslist is the free internet site that essentially eliminated classified adverts in the local newspaper.