Places Where You Can Retire on $200,000 and Feel Rich

[astokel]

The OP mentioned $200K nest egg. I take it that the amount is supposed to last a lifetime. At $30K a year, you'd be done in less than seven years.

[Marc1]

Too many pages to read, but in relation to DR, corruption and poverty are not a place to retire. Puerto rico may be a better choice just around the corner
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=673576

[PortClydeMe]

If it involves a live-aboard sailboat life, this works for Chris from South Africa. Don't know if it will work for you. Three cool videos:

One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Lc...&frags=pl%2Cwn

Two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Kj...&frags=pl%2Cwn

Three

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZAt...&frags=pl%2Cwn

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Im not a big fan of these "best places to retire" articles as they are usually based on someone else's criteria (not likely the same as mine) and are often thinly veiled marketting. The article below was published by International Living (which is really just a marketting entity...so take all their info skeptically), but it is better written than the terribly bad initially posted article and does recommend some realistic places. Weve been to many of them and are currently based out of Volcan, Panama which is on their list.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/10/five...k&par=sharebar

The amount is a lot more reasonable since there is a presumption, the annual amount will be available indefinitely but still severely lacking in details.

Big issue is how did they come up with the monthly cost for each location?

Also, it seems focused primarily on Central America...which is OK but at $2500/month, many countries are an option (pending the expected lifestyle).

[hpeer]

It obviously also depends upon ones required services. Compare:

Dominica - pop 60k - very few services
Grenada - pop 125k - better services but still thin
Martinique - pop 376k - nearly full services you could expect in USA

i think you need a population of about 250k to find the kind of services most folks would want in retirement. Well stocked markets, medical staff, etc. Not that you can’t do with less, it’s a personal choice.

Back to Belize Sailors article, while the costs are similar the living experience in Volvan and Medellin will be vastly different.

[Copacabana]

With 200K in savings and USD 1,400 per person in SS (as the article suggests), I think you can retire in many, many countries around the world. In Brazil, you could live like a king on that much.

[astokel]

Originally Posted by Copacabana

With 200K in savings and USD 1,400 per person in SS (as the article suggests), I think you can retire in many, many countries around the world. In Brazil, you could live like a king on that much.

Can you do the math on that? Let's see $200K divided by $33,600 per year (your figures for two people for a year) your two grand would last you only seven years of the rest of your life.

Or am I misunderstanding your mathematics?

[Copacabana]

As I understood the article, you have USD 1,400 per person (2,800 per couple) in social security (retirement income). The USD 200K (or about BRL 700,000) would buy you a nice house on the coast of Brazil with plenty of change. A couple can live very well on USD 2,800 per month in SS income. That's about BRL 9,000 per month, which is a lot of money to spend every month in Brazil. So yes, it's pretty viable and sustainable in Brazil. There is even free health care in Brazil if you choose not to pay for private health insurance.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by hpeer

It obviously also depends upon ones required services. Compare:

Dominica - pop 60k - very few services
Grenada - pop 125k - better services but still thin
Martinique - pop 376k - nearly full services you could expect in USA

i think you need a population of about 250k to find the kind of services most folks would want in retirement. Well stocked markets, medical staff, etc. Not that you can’t do with less, it’s a personal choice.

Back to Belize Sailors article, while the costs are similar the living experience in Volvan and Medellin will be vastly different.

Yes, Volcan and Medellin are VERY different places and therein lies the flaw of articles like this...they are rather superficial on analysis and are based on someone else's criteria, not yours. A searchable database, where individuals could set their own criteria, would be useful.

My home base of many years was in a very small village (like 100 people) on the Rio Dulce. It was heaven for me (I still miss it), but would be hell for many others...including my current wife! [emoji849] On the Rio the nearest grocery store was a 30 minute skiff ride away (no roads) and provisioning was a half day event. When we visited Volcan the first time, we went to the grocery store(s!) several times a day just because we could! Volcan was pretty up-town for us, but cosmopolitan Medellin makes little Volcan look like hicks-ville.

We are now in Lisbon, another more cosmopolitan venue where most could live on $2K per month pretty easily. Loads of places in Portugal where you could live within that budget, but of course none are listed in that article.

I think most articles like this are just written to create buzz for marketting purposes with organizations like International Living drafting up whatever superficial criteria they need to pitch their destinations. For example, I suspect Volcan got on the list because there are folks associated with International Living who live there.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by astokel

Can you do the math on that? Let's see $200K divided by $33,600 per year (your figures for two people for a year) your two grand would last you only seven years of the rest of your life.

Or am I misunderstanding your mathematics?

Yes, you misunderstand the math. First of all the $200,000 is not going to be in savings, it's going to be in some income producing investments, say diversified into 50% growth and 50% income (bonds and income funds), say producing 5%, so $10,000/year, plus the $33,600 SSA, so that's $43,000/yr not touching the $200,000 capital.

Of course it is best case, but doable with out too much risk in the investment side, and is a very livable income, Brazil or elsewhere.

It's all in this thread already, more than once.

[svIara]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Carrabelle. 0.92% on cost of living relative to the nation, WAY below Florida. Easy access to the golf, a vibrant community of people with very little money. Useable building lot within walking distance of everything available for less than $15K. Mobile homes and RVs welcomed. Details if you want them.

You left out worm gruntin'.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Yes, you misunderstand the math. First of all the $200,000 is not going to be in savings, it's going to be in some income producing investments, say diversified into 50% growth and 50% income (bonds and income funds), say producing 5%, so $10,000/year, plus the $33,600 SSA, so that's $43,000/yr not touching the $200,000 capital.

Problem is that's not the premise of the title. I can buy the idea that it's invested and providing a return but the title says nothing about alternative sources of income beyond $200k.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Problem is that's not the premise of the title. I can buy the idea that it's invested and providing a return but the title says nothing about alternative sources of income beyond $200k.

That is probably because they only have so much room for a title. It doesn't alter the fact that the article isn't quite what one expects.

[john61ct]

Since even the least civilized out of the developed nations do offer at least a few hundred per month in guaranteed elder pension from the government, I think it's safe to assume that in an article not targeted at the citizens of a third world nation.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

That is probably because they only have so much room for a title. It doesn't alter the fact that the article isn't quite what one expects.

Considering the SS is a larger asset (when you calculate net present value at 5% discount it's worth a bit less than $400k) as opposed to the $200k...it's kind of worth making the space for it in the title for the primary source of money.

Plus:

Places where you can retire on $200,000 and feel rich.

Places where you can retire on $200,000, Social Security and feel rich.

Doesn't look like it eats up that much more space in the title.