Posted on 08/08/2014 5:22:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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,
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
No doubt Obama is about to brand them as “unpatriotic” and go after them as vociferously as he’s chasing corporations who flee to Europe.
I read the headline differently. I don’t expect to retire in the U.S. because I won’t be able to afford retiring anywhere!
Of course the problem is for me, the number of countries where you can pursue my hobby- shooting- is damned small. To be quite honest, gun owners are practically trapped in the U.S.
“I don’t expect to retire in the U.S. because I won’t be able to afford retiring anywhere!”.....
If you have a job, be thankful, think about those who don’t even have a job or will never see retirement on the horizon.
Doesn’t Guam have a “shooting culture” there?
What about the Philippines?
I read a book in the 1980s called “Best Places in the World to Retire”. Turned out to be some little known place in Central America. Lake Something or other.
That's just great until the government collapses and you get some drug gang roaming around killing people, or some Leftist dictator who takes power and confiscates your property, or whips up antagonism against Americans. Sadly, when you are retire, you are faced with living in a safe, high-tax Socialist country (including the USA) or an unsafe, lower cost country.
If you should start researching it, also do some on reloading equipment and supplies. There are heavy restrictions or bans on those in many countries.
This is why the government will eventually build a wall.
If a retired foreigner was determined enough, I think they could join and shoot. The hardest thing to find in other countries is rifle ranges - anything over 100 yds. Also, long guns tend to be more restricted than handguns.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ipscthailand
Philippines doesn’t look friendly from a cursory examination, and Guam is a U.S. Territory so I’m not really sure you’re going to be getting away. I might be wrong on that though.
Costa Rica?
Very well could be. It was a mountain lake area where alot of expats are. But this was in the 1980s. Maybe different now.
What about Alaska?
Anyone here retired to Anchorage?
From Top Secret!:
Hillary Flammond: My uncle was born in America.
Nick Rivers: Oh, really?
Hillary Flammond: But he was one of the lucky ones. He managed to escape in a balloon during the Jimmy Carter presidency.
No worries about goobermint here: the Panamanos had 20 years of 'populist' dictatorships, Torrijos, Parades & Noriega, ending in 1988...and are REALLY not likely to repeat the experience. Also, partly courtesy of Noriega's abuses, drugs are major league bad news here. The only place the druggies operate is in Darien province in the East of the country, which is essentially impassable jungle and you don't want to go there in any case.
Just elected a new presidente and legislature in May, 5 year term. Varela, the new man, is entirely pro-business and the socialists lost seats. Esta todo bueno.
I visited there last year.
Very nice town, beautiful area, not cheap to live there, and lots of gloomy weather.
But the people are great.
So it would depend on what you value and like. If you plan a lot of visits to the lower 48 after retiring, plane fares are up quite a bit in the last 5 yrs since the airlines have consolidated extensively and less competition.
And you have internet access to FR. I’m jealous. :)
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