People thinking of retiring to somewhere other than where they currently live, often ask a question such as 'where is an inexpensive place to retire to?'
That sounds fine at first blush but is it? What does 'inexpensive' mean to you? Whatever it is, it may not mean the same thing to me. You may mean a place where you can live at the level of comfort you want, for $50k per year. Someone else may mean at $20k per year and someone else again may mean at $150k per year. The word inexpensive varies by individual.
That being the case, it makes far more sense for people to provide specific budget requirements and just what their number has to include or not include. For example, a trip 'home' once a year can add a couple of thousand for flights to the total. Medical insurance can vary greatly depending on which country you are talking about. When you look at sites comparing cost of living, they do not necessarily include all the things you will need to include in your budget or at a level you consider a necessity.
Just as the person asking should be specific, so should those answering. Telling someone 'X is inexpensive' is not useful if you do not know what they consider inexpensive, regardless of how inexpensive you consider it to be. Any question using words like 'inexpensive', 'best', 'most', 'least', etc. shoud be answered with the request that they define what the word means to them.
One of the biggest problems in determining if a place is inexpensive for you or not, is your personal needs. Again, looking at cost of living comparison websites may not be reliable. They compare the cost of living of the average resident who already lives there. The cost of living for someone who is used to living on rice will not be the same as the cost of living for someone who arrives and wants to live on steak.
Someone may live on $6k per year in country X but that does not mean you will be happy living on $6k per year in that country. You may for example insist on a flush toilet which they don't insist on. So a far better question to ask is how much will it cost to live the way I live now in terms of food, amenities, etc.? Don't try to compare your cost to anyone else's cost. What it costs others is irrelevant, it is what it will cost you that matters.
That sounds fine at first blush but is it? What does 'inexpensive' mean to you? Whatever it is, it may not mean the same thing to me. You may mean a place where you can live at the level of comfort you want, for $50k per year. Someone else may mean at $20k per year and someone else again may mean at $150k per year. The word inexpensive varies by individual.
That being the case, it makes far more sense for people to provide specific budget requirements and just what their number has to include or not include. For example, a trip 'home' once a year can add a couple of thousand for flights to the total. Medical insurance can vary greatly depending on which country you are talking about. When you look at sites comparing cost of living, they do not necessarily include all the things you will need to include in your budget or at a level you consider a necessity.
Just as the person asking should be specific, so should those answering. Telling someone 'X is inexpensive' is not useful if you do not know what they consider inexpensive, regardless of how inexpensive you consider it to be. Any question using words like 'inexpensive', 'best', 'most', 'least', etc. shoud be answered with the request that they define what the word means to them.
One of the biggest problems in determining if a place is inexpensive for you or not, is your personal needs. Again, looking at cost of living comparison websites may not be reliable. They compare the cost of living of the average resident who already lives there. The cost of living for someone who is used to living on rice will not be the same as the cost of living for someone who arrives and wants to live on steak.
Someone may live on $6k per year in country X but that does not mean you will be happy living on $6k per year in that country. You may for example insist on a flush toilet which they don't insist on. So a far better question to ask is how much will it cost to live the way I live now in terms of food, amenities, etc.? Don't try to compare your cost to anyone else's cost. What it costs others is irrelevant, it is what it will cost you that matters.