Warm,Low cost of living,No/Low taxes, inexpensive golf & water sports

[JohnnieRed]

Locations:Warm, Low cost of living, No/Low taxes on retirement income from pensions/401k's/IRAs and eventually Social Security, inexpensive golf & water sports for early retires 55+ ?? (OK, physical security safety and minimal emergency health care must be a given too)

Where are they in the US?

(Think we all know about FL,NV,TX,MS,TN...where specifically and anywhere else?)

Where are they outside the US?
(Hondorus, Panama, Thailand, others?)

 

[Honkie]

The following places come to mind, with caveats:

Malaysia - runs the "My Second Home" scheme specifically for retirees - good climate, low cost of living but standards of health care at or close to western levels. Also generous tax breaks (I think 0% tax) on overseas / retirement income.

Dubai - no tax, VERY warm, good recreational facilities. Bit of a building site though. 1st world facilities generally with a touch of the Arabian exotic.

Australia - specifically the West coast around Perth as the cost are a bit lower than Sydney / Melbourne (alternatively try the east coast further north of Brisbanes Gold Coast), good climate, OZ lives and breathes the outdoors / seaside lifestyle, taxation might be an issue - not sure how they deal with income from overseas.

New Zealand - as for Australia, but a bit cooler in Winter.



Cheers

Honkie

 

[modhatter]

Because of the Health Insurance issue, I would say Ensenada, Mexico.
No taxes on pensions, social security etc. Average real estate taxes about $150 per yr. Need a Bank Trust however, which runs $500 per year. Weather is ideal climate (San Diago weather) An hour and a half to border for major medical treatment if necessary. Many Gringo developments from Rosarito on down. BajaMar is one such about 35 minute drive north of Ensenada. Very nice golf course and facilities. Or you can live up in the hills, on Northern end of Ensenada.

Safety issures: there is more theft, so security is necessary. Either gated community or good alarm and gates.

 

[brewer12345]

Puerto Rice, depending on where you are (less desirable bits of San Juan obviously wouldn't work). Watch out for hurricanes, though.

 

[Arif]

Panama works for me

 

[dex]

The following places come to mind, with caveats:
Australia - specifically the West coast around Perth as the cost are a bit lower than Sydney / Melbourne (alternatively try the east coast further north of Brisbanes Gold Coast), good climate, OZ lives and breathes the outdoors / seaside lifestyle, taxation might be an issue - not sure how they deal with income from overseas.

I thought Australia didn't allow or it was difficult to immigrate to Australia? It is a nice place; could be relatively expensive.

 

[SteveR]

Puerto Rice, depending on where you are (less desirable bits of San Juan obviously wouldn't work).  Watch out for hurricanes, though.

Puerto Rico is expensive and taxes are an issue. If you live there you get to pay PR taxes which are a lot higher than US Fed. tax but you can write them off on Fed. If you have US income, it will be taxable in the US. I had to pay Fed, state and PR taxes when I lived there.

Other than that, every thing that is imported has a nice fat import tax. About the only bargins are liquor (rum), jewelry, coffee, and locally grown fruit. Most other stuff has a nice mark up to cover the added taxes. RE in most places you would want to live, is higher that you might expect.

Add traffic congestion, high crime rates and very crowded conditions to the pile. I lived there for several years and I would not do it now. With the loss of the IRA 936 tax provisions, a lot of companies have left the island to cheaper labor or have not expanding operations and will eventually move to lower cost areas like Mexico. High tech. and drug mfg. is moving to places like Costa Rica. That puts a pretty big dent on the economy and makes an already high unemployment rate even higher. It is not a pretty picture and I would rather not be a part of it these days.

Visit there yourself but get out of the San Juan area and look around. It is stile a beautiful island. It all comes down to personal choices. If one wants to retire there they need to be prepared for a higher cost of living than they might expect unless they are moving from the exceptionally high areas in the US.

 

[JohnnieRed]

Australia/NZ/Dubai---definitely not low cost, could be warm depending on where, tax issues in all but Dubai....didn't know there was any inexpensive golf in Dubai...been to all

(love Australia and NZ though)

PR- definitely warm, taxes and cost of living issues, golf not inexpensive either...been there during the IRC 936 heydays too...I think it has changed quite a bit since then

Ensenada sound interesting...Never been there...are all the CA retirees there yet?  Not sure about the tax situation for a permanent US expatriate resident of MX?  Low cost relative to which locations? Have heard of a lot of golf course development but inexpensive golf?

Anybody found "perfect place, USA?"

 

[brewer12345]

Anybody found "perfect place, USA?"

Doesn't have a beach, but I have been quite favorably impressed with NM. Likely to be a place I seriously think about in the future.

 

[JohnnieRed]

NM taxes SS and only exempts 8K of pensions...like it there too except for taxes and probably not as warm as I'd like it in the cold months...In MN now and likely to be shivering for years to come!

 

[JPatrick]

Fairhope Alabama.  It is nothing like what most folks think of when you say "Alabama" except that it shares the low cost of living.  A very nice artsy town on the bay about 40 min to the gulf. Plenty of the other golf as well.  The people are extremely open as they are in many parts of Alabama.  Lots of festivals etc.
The downside now.  Humid summers and of course those hurricanes. Perhaps the biggest downer is the fact that the cost of housing has soared in the last two years. We looked at houses in the 250K range that are now 325-350.  If it weren't for the housing issue, we'd be there now and damn the hurricanes. Now if you can do without an ocean, I could tell you about the MO Ozarks which is our current future homesite.

 

[brewer12345]

Fairhope Alabama.  It is nothing like what most folks think of when you say "Alabama" except that it shares the low cost of living.  A very nice artsy town on the bay about 40 min to the gulf. Plenty of the other golf as well.  The people are extremely open as they are in many parts of Alabama.  Lots of festivals etc.
The downside now.  Humid summers and of course those hurricanes. Perhaps the biggest downer is the fact that the cost of housing has soared in the last two years. We looked at houses in the 250K range that are now 325-350.  If it weren't for the housing issue, we'd be there now and damn the hurricanes. Now if you can do without an ocean, I could tell you about the MO Ozarks which is our current future homesite.

Another downside: the fact that you are in Alabama (shudder). Wouldn't matter to me if it had the lowest cost of living and nicest weather...

 

[JohnnieRed]

Great golf, definitely warm, close to water...exempt SS BUT tax, at up to 5%, private pensions, IRAs, and lots of other forms of "tax deferred" distributions...certainly will always be the Hurricanes...

 

[BUM]

Face it the is no perfect place to live on earth. The planet is wonderfully alive and changing all the time. Some places for the better, others for the worse.

Find a nice place (or two) live there and be happy. The taxes, SS, etc. will sort themselves out. Safety should not be a daily ER worry.

 

[JPatrick]

Great golf, definitely warm, close to water...exempt SS BUT tax, at up to 5%, private pensions, IRAs, and  lots of other forms of "tax deferred" distributions...certainly will always be the Hurricanes...

If you look closely at the tax code I think you'll find it fairly painless IF you are fully retired.  Regarding IRA's, I was told that mine would be tax free because none of my contributions were made while a resident of Alabama. Therefore, I didn't get a tax break when I made the contribution.  

 

[JohnnieRed]

Yea, as far as I know there is some break, e.g., Alabama Form 40 on Partially Taxable Pensions, Annuities, and IRA Distributions;however, even the tax on the Private Pensions kills it for me...

They get to the 5% tax bracket quickly for me at over $3k of taxable income, the tax of course is deductible on the federal return when you itemize but maybe I can do better elsewhere?

 

[Calgary_Girl]

MSN had a good article on retiring in Nicaragua recently:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Retirementandwills/Retireinstyle/P137253.asp

 

[Honkie]

I thought Australia didn't allow or it was difficult to immigrate to Australia?  It is a nice place; could be relatively expensive.

It is not that difficult to emigrate to Australia / New Zealand to work, even more straightforward to emigrate there to retire. As with all things there are minimum requirements and conditions to be met (similar to the Canadian points system), but overall for reasonably educated, regular people with a retirement nest egg it can in no way be described as difficult. As an aside (and though it is probably not applicable to most here) it's even easier if you intend to take a family of younger children or you have a profession you intend to pursue.

As for the cost of living, again location matters. I personally find Sydney/Melbourne to be "average to slightly cheaper" overall than most international cities - that is staying largely inside the city, eating in city restaurants etc. Once outside the major conurbation, prices fall and I found it "cheap" - not "Thailand Cheap" but cheap nonetheless for a prime first world country with universal health care and first world standards of everything.

Cheers
Honkie

PIE (Pedant Induced Edit - see below)   

 

[Mr._johngalt]

It is not that dofficult to emigrate to Australia / New Zealand to work, even more straightwforward to emigrate there to retire. As with all things there are minimum requrements and conditions to be met (similar to the Canadian points system), but overall for reasonabley educated, regular people with a retirement nest egg it can in no way be described as difficult. As an aside (and though it is probably not applicable to most here) it's even easier if you intend to take a family of younger children or you have a profession you intend to pursue.

As for the cost of living, again location matters. I personally find Sydney/Melbourne to be "average to slightly cheaper" overall than most international cities - that is staying largely inside the city, eating in city restaurants etc. Once outside the major conurbation, prices fall and I found it "cheap" - not "Thailand Cheap" but cheap nonetheless for a prime first world country with universal health care and first world standards of everything.

Cheers
Honkie

It appears what is "dofficult" is spelling.............
straightwforward? reasonabley? conurbation?

JG

 

[Brat]

DH and I spent several months in AU and NZ a couple years ago.  I love AU, particularly Sidney and the Whitsunday Islands area.  

The absolutely only reason for not moving is that our kids are in the US.  FYI, DH says the golf is very reasonable.. and he is cheap.  Water sports are popular and little/no expense.

Re taxes: some states in the US do not tax public pensions, or do so on a limited basis.  So, as in so many areas of life, taxes go in to the "it depends" box.  I see many list TX as having low taxes.  From what I read on the board their property tax is high.  Don't overlook the total tax picture.

MrGalt2U.. give Honkie a break.  If posters were evaluated based on spelling some of our greatest posters would be off the board.

 

[Honkie]

It appears what is "dofficult" is spelling.............
straightwforward?  reasonabley?  conurbation?

JG

JG - Fair enough! Typed in a hurry, before heading to the office. But how do YOU spell conurbation , John??

My grammar is pretty good though...

Ceersh

enkioH      

 

[Mr._johngalt]

MrGalt2U.. give Honkie a break.  If posters were evaluated based on spelling some of our greatest posters would be off the board.

Ahh, I was just jerking his chain a bit.  He can take it, or if not,
he should be posting somewhere else.  

JG

 

[Honkie]

It appears what is "dofficult" is spelling.............
straightwforward?  reasonabley?  conurbation?

JG

JG - still waiting to here you version of "conurbation"................

 

[Honkie]

JG - still waiting to here you version of "conurbation"................

Still waiting........

There is however one safety issue related to Australia. Some Texans want to invade it!!

Just after the Iraqi invasion, an Australian TV Company went to Texas to interview people “on the streets” to learn whether the average Texan thought the US should invade somewhere else and where that should be. Overwhelmingly, the replies were “Yes” and the place should be either Iran or North Korea.  (One guy included France, but he looked a bit of a nutcase). Unfortunately, only 1 in 10 of the respondents could actually locate Iran on an unmarked map of the World. No one could locate North Korea. One guy thought Australia was North Korea and expressed surprise when he saw how North Korea was much bigger than South Korea (which he mistook for New Zealand). It was interesting to note how many of the people interviewed were clearly unfamiliar with a map of the world.

So beware, you might be sunning yourself on Bondi Beach one afternoon when a sudden amphibious assault by the Texas Rangers finds you swept off to GITMO!!!! 

Cheers and have a good weekend one and all.

Honkie

 

[REWahoo]

There is however one safety issue related to Australia. Some Texans want to invade it!!

Damn straight! From the day the Aussies compared Texas beer to making love in a canoe, we've been planning an attack!

Just after the Iraqi invasion, an Australian TV Company went to Texas to interview people “on the streets” to learn whether the average Texan thought the US should invade somewhere else and where that should be.

Well there's your problem right there. No such thing as an "average" Texan. I have it on good authority that half of all Texans are above average and half are below.

(One guy included France, but he looked a bit of a nutcase).

How could you tell?

Unfortunately, only 1 in 10 of the respondents could actually locate Iran on an unmarked map of the World. No one could locate North Korea. One guy thought Australia was North Korea and expressed surprise when he saw how North Korea was much bigger than South Korea (which he mistook for New Zealand). It was interesting to note how many of the people interviewed were clearly unfamiliar with a map of the world.

Texans consider everyone living over the state line as "furiners". And once you get past New Mexico, Oklahoma or Louisiana, geography starts to get a little fuzzy. If you want to talk about geography outside the Yew-nited States of Merica, then you need to contact one of them Winter Texans like JG. Like most of those people, he can sure tell you where to go.