Baby Boomer Best Retirement Spots

The financial crisis is hitting everyone in the pockets and as millions reach retirement age, stretching their money has become a necessity as retirement plans and savings fall woefully short of maintaining their standard of living.

Seniors are increasingly looking overseas for low cost retirement destinations. The most recent cost-of-living data from Xpatulator.com reveals a number of exotic destinations where seniors can still enjoy the good life for less. Here are five cities that you may want to consider.

Quito, Ecuador

In the latest Xpatulator.com cost of living rankings, Ecuador ranks 193rd out of 219 countries while its capital city, Quito, ranks 598th out of the 780 locations listed. While being closer to the bottom of the list based on the cost-of-living, Ecuador tops several recent lists as the best place in the world to retire. Quito is elevated at over 9,000 feet and is near the equator which allows it to enjoy consistent cool weather with average highs near 70F and lows near 50F year round. According to Huffingtonpost.com, the state sponsored health care system recently change to include care to all legal residents including those over the age of 60 as well as those with pre-existing conditions. Recently called South America's prettiest big city combined with good and accessible health care, you have a winning combination.

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

While Bankrate.com recently awarded Tennessee the title of best US state to retire, Music City, as Nashville is often known, has become the state's newest Boomtown. The low cost of housing, no income tax and high quality of life, has retirees flocking to Nashville in record numbers.

Nashville, Tennessee ranks 727th out of the 780 locations included in the list of Xpatulator.com's most expensive locations.

Bali, Indonesia

Ranked 597th, a move up of 67 places from last year's rankings, it is still considered an inexpensive vacation and retirement destination, but the island is becoming increasingly popular and gradually more expensive. 

Sofia, Bulgaria

Bulgaria's low cost of living, outstanding infrastructure, membership of the EU, bustling culture and entertainment scene plus  easy low-cost connections to Europe make this a perfect base without the price tag of a city like Rome, Paris or Zurich.  Bulgaria ranks 211th out of 219 countries in the Xpatulator.com cost-of-living rankings while Sofia ranks 759th out of 780 locations. So if spending your golden years exploring the capital cities of Europe sounds like your idea of retirement, Sofia, Bulgaria provides an excellent retirement option.

Chandigarh, India

Chandigarh, nicknamed the "Pensioners Paradise" is virtually unknown outside India other than to westerners that have traveled to India as medical tourists. Many seniors are now looking at India as a potential retirement destination. Chandigarh is the administrative center of both Haryana and Punjab states, and was created from a mostly barren landscape starting in the 1960s. It has uncharacteristically wide streets, well organized public transportation and the highest per capita income of any city in India.

Overall India ranks as the 206th most expensive country in the Xpatulator.com rankings.

There are many considerations that you need to make before choosing an overseas city to retire. Attention should be made to the type of medical care available, whether there is access to western style goods and your proximity to family and friends are all important factors. The bottom line is that it’s a personal choice, but increasing numbers of people are happily choosing to expand their horizons to enjoy a better quality of life in retirement.

Xpatulator.com provides up-to-date cost of living data for over 700 locations worldwide.

Steven McManus is a Remuneration and Benefits Consultant and founder of  http://www.xpatulator.com where employers and employees can calculate how much you need to earn in another location to have a similar spending power.
Calculators include Salary Purchasing Power Parity (recommended if you are an organization planning to relocate an employee to an international location, or an individual with a job offer in another country), International Assignment Management (recommended for the calculation of the compensation and benefits for a typical expatriate assignment of six months up to five years duration using your choice of home and host location), Cost of Living Allowance (recommended for calculating a cost of living allowance for short-term assignments and a detailed cost of living comparison basket by basket) and Cost of Living Index (recommended for the calculation of 3 or more host location cost of living indexes using your choice of home base city).

QROPS - The Pension That Travels With You

When you have earned the opportunity to retire abroad it makes sense to ensure your pension goes on working just as hard as you did. A Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) does just that by allowing you to take your UK pension with you and invest it in the fund that best suits your needs.

A QROPS frees a pension from many of the restraints that surround it in the UK and can offer huge financial benefits if planned and executed efficiently. Essentially a QROPS pension transfer allows anyone living abroad or planning to move abroad in the near future to put their UK pensions, free of UK tax, into any offshore fund approved by HM Revenue and Customs.

Control and flexibility

You control not only how it is invested but where it is invested, allowing you to choose the jurisdiction with the most beneficial tax system for your circumstances. In some cases this can mean paying no tax at all on your retirement income. A QROPS is also very flexible with a range of investment options that allow you to balance factors such as risk level against the growth and income you expect to receive. And that flexibility extends through the life of the pension, allowing you to take advantage of changes in your situation or in the economic climate.

The key difference between a UK-based pension and a QROPS is that you retain ownership of all the money in your pension fund. You do not have to buy an annuity on retirement, although you can if you wish. Instead your money is invested directly in a QROPS under an asset management plan geared to suit your requirements. And in the event of your death all unspent pension funds can be left to your beneficiaries without being taxed at source.

Eligibility

A QROPS is suitable for anyone living abroad with a UK pension, both expats and people from other nationalities who retire to their home countries. There is no set figure for the amount required to set one up, but experience has shown that an initial investment of over £25,000 is needed to make it worthwhile. It really comes into its own, however, with a pension fund exceeding £100,000 which will allow you to place you investment with an approved offshore portfolio bond of your choice.

As with all financial planning it is essential to seek professional QROPS advice before making any decisions. An independent financial adviser will consider your circumstances and be able to advise on whether a QROPS is right for you or whether an alternative plan such as a qualifying non-UK pension scheme (QNUPS) would be a better option.

Company’s Profile:

Whichoffshore provide professional expatriate information on QROPS pensions and offshore tax in order to help British expatriate make the most of their money. For more information, please visit - http://www.whichoffshore.com/

The Cost of Leaving Loved Ones Behind

Today, I held my mother’s hand as they prodded her arm for a vein, my heart broke as they pulled it out as the left arm veins are no longer usable.  A hysterectomy to remove the mass of cancer and thirteen chemo sessions later, she is starting all over again as the last six sessions did not work in reducing the remaining tumors sitting close to the bladder, colon and one kidney.  

The second time they tried in the right arm and found a good vein, no collapsing, but the pain was evident on Mom’s face as her knees lifted towards her chest and her face visibly sunk deeper into itself.  

Two days earlier, my father who turns 80 in November, fell down some concrete steps onto the tar road. He was picking up his post, a normal everyday event.  He wasn’t hurt too badly, a bloodied finger and damaged pride. He couldn’t understand how he could possibly have misplaced his foot. He has fallen three times on this visit.

My stomach knots and my heart saddens into itself when I think of the fight that my mother still needs to face and of my aging father. This is part of their lives that I will not be around to support. 

I am lucky, I have two wonderful sisters who have been around to drive my mother to and from the oncology center, to hold her hand when needed and to support and love her through part of this challenge.  All four of her daughters were with her when she was diagnosed, all four of us were with her at her first meeting with the Oncologist and all four of us were there for the first chemo session.  Unfortunately, my two sisters still living in the country live 11 hours away from her actual home, one of us is in Ireland and I am an expat. Mom has been living with my two sisters that are still here, one year on and she wants to go home to fight this fight, with her husband at her side and in her own home.  This leaves her four daughters many miles away from her, with an aging husband for support and the hospital an hour away. It is not the ideal situation.

In the last year, two of my friends have lost their fathers, they are both expats. Both knew their fathers were ill but were not there in the final moments. Another friend rushed home (a 2 day trip to the USA) because her mother had been given the last rights, she survived and is still going strong.  This is the reality when you are an expat living far from your home and have aging parents. You hope that they have sufficient support or family around to help with their requirements, that they have love and comfort, but you just never know what the future holds and that is the toughest part of leaving them behind. Each visit home I make sure that we spend quality time together, knowing that “You just never know”. 

On this visit I have been trying to convince my parents that the house with 12 steps up to the front door is not the best option to grow old in. We have looked at retirement homes, options of frail care, discussed the what ifs and what nots of cancer and ageing, the pros and cons of moving, and that at the end of the day the decision cannot be made by anyone other than themselves (at this stage anyway). This is their decision, where they want to spend their final years and quite frankly I want them to be happy, cared for and loved.  We are concerned for their welfare and we as their children will have to finalize whatever the outcome of their decision is.  

An Expat friend of mine wrote a blog with regards a Granny who was left tied to the toilet in an old age home, where she died READ Gwendaline Gleeson.  This is not what I want for my parents.  

I am frayed, how can you force your parents who have looked after you into adulthood, to do something that they are not comfortable doing. Yet, you know that the options are limited. They have no daughters close at hand to check in on them on a daily basis, they live in a house with numerous staircases that need to be maneuvered more agilely than they are capable of, chemotherapy is 50 minutes away which requires driving, while housework and meals need to be considered.

Thanks to medical science, our parents are living longer and so will we. Adults over the age of 80 are a fast growing segment of our population and unless they have provided a good pension for themselves, they will be dependent on others for their basic needs and medical support. 

So what are the solutions?

Firstly you need to consider your cultural roots, is it disrespectful to place your parents into an old age home?  Do you come from a culture where parents live in their children’s homes when they can no longer care for themselves? As an expat how can you accommodate this?

Consider the society you live in, if your parents live at home but both you and your partner work, who is there to look after them? Would you need to consider a caregiver? What about their social lives, can you cater for them to socialize during the day while you are not around? Where is their safety net when you are not around to help?

Allow your parents to make an informed decision, give them all the options that are available. These can include retirement villages with frail care units, remaining in their home or yours with part time or full time nursing staff, hospitals that are close by, etc.  

As an expat this decision becomes more difficult to answer, if you are not in the country to care for your parents, do you have the answers? 

As an expat have you thought about where you are going to lay your head to rest? Have you thought of the consequences and have you planned for your own retirement years?

I always think that if I was in the same situation, I would want to make the decision of where I would want to grow old, the view I would want to appreciate and where I would want to die.

Wouldn’t you?

Denise is an Expat, Mom, Wife and Marketing Manager at  http://www.xpatulator.com/ a website that provides cost of living index information and calculates what you need to earn in a different location to compensate for cost of living, hardship, and exchange rate differences. The complete cost of living rank for all 300 locations for all 13 baskets is available here.

Retire to a low cost of living country

Picture this. It's 2024, and you have been retired for several years now. You are up early for a light breakfast and head out on your way to the golf course while your significant other heads for the mall. But the reality is that you work at the local pro shop, and your partner works in a bookshop in an effort to supplement your retirement funds and make the money last another 30 years.

If you are a Boomer (born between the end of WW2 and 1960) your challenge is to stretch a lifetime of savings and convert it to a stream of income. Poor investment returns in recent years, increasing life expectancies as well as rising medical costs mean those savings have to stretch further than ever before.

The bottom line is that if you're a Boomer you would be wise to figure out how to retire overseas to a lower cost of living country or you are likely to be doomed to work for the rest of your life.

Where could you retire, and live comfortably in a safe, lower cost of living country?

We have come up with what we view as the top 5 most suitable for retirement, exotic, overseas places (i.e. outside the USA, UK, and Europe), based on having a low cost of living and a reasonable quality of life (i.e. excluding high and extreme hardship locations):

Location	Quality of Life	Cost of Living Rank	Cost of Living (%) Compared to New York City
Paraguay, Asuncion	Some Hardship	276	-36.5
Argentina, Buenos Aires	Some Hardship	227	-36.1
Saint Lucia, Castries	Some Hardship	277	-35.8
Antigua and Barbuda, Saint John's	Some Hardship	243	-30.4
Seychelles, Victoria	Some Hardship	237	-30.2

Asuncion in Paraguay, Central South America, is a place of contrast between wealthy and poor. Asuncion boasts upmarket suburbs, modern shopping malls and dazzling nightclubs contrasted with shanties, fever–carrying mosquitoes, polluting buses, heat and humidity.  Asuncion’s overall cost of living is 36.5% lower than New York City. Spanish and Guarani are the prominent languages spoken, while the major religion is Christianity.

Buenos Aires in Argentina, Southern South America, is a cosmopolitan metropolis with designer boutiques, stunning neighbourhoods and parks and its share of downtrodden areas and tatty streets.  Buenos Aires

cost of living is 36.1% lower than New York City. Spanish is the prominent language spoken, while the major religion is Christianity.

Castries in Saint Lucia, an island between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, is extremely small and relies on tourism, banana production, and light manufacturing. There are approximately 40 hotels and many shops selling goods to tourists. Castries cost of living is 35.8% lower than New York City. English (official) and French Patois are the prominent languages spoken, while the major religion is Christianity.

St John’s on the island of Antigua, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, is green. Two-thirds of it is parkland and sublime beaches, excellent for hiking and snorkelling. The environment is beautifully preserved, with limited development.  St John’s cost of living is 30.4% lower than New York City. English is the prominent language spoken, while the major religion is Christianity.

Victoria in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar, has the feel of a small provincial town set against a backdrop of majestic hills that seem to fall into the blue sea. Victoria’s cost of living is 30.2% lower than New York City. English, French and Creole are the prominent languages spoken, while the major religion is Christianity.

These are just five possible locations that we identified. There are so many more places you could consider retiring to, with a much lower cost of living. For a detailed cost of living rank for all 300 locations click here.