I would love to do this, at least for a few years, but Mrs. M isn't going for it:


Quit Your Job And Live Abroad in 2019: 10 Places So Cheap You Might Not Need to Work

Thanks
Sent that to Bob.

I wish I could be that adventurous.

Truthfully though, I live In A pretty nice area now. Just wish I had more time to explore.

Soon, hopefully!

After visiting Spain three years ago, I have seriously thought about it...It was surprisingly affordable and the very first day we were there we met a Mom and Daughter from Natick, Massachusetts who had moved there.

I have a snow bird dream of an apartment in Madrid.

Don needs to stay here for the doctors that
take the best care possible. They are very protective of
him after treating him for years.
If I leave he has no place to live.
Bob wants to stay near the best medical care for Parkinson's. He says that is
the USA.
Have not given up on this country yet.

The WHO says that Spain offers the best healthcare in the world. It free, also, too.

Just sayin’.

Can't help but notice that many of those places are the sh*thole countries.

But I bet to differ, you can't live "anywhere" in Spain for $2k/mo. Madrid and Barcelona are fairly expensive. My kid and his gf are moving to Madrid in a few months and they've started to research it.

It's very livable, but $2K/mo is optimistic.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
The WHO says that Spain offers the best healthcare in the world. It free, also, too.

Just sayin’.

Think your report on Spanish healthcare for expats is sadly optimistic for the purposes of this report.

First, it's not free except for citizens and expats working there and paying into their social security system.

Second, WHO (your article confirms) reports Spain is ONE of the best healthcare systems, not THE best (that honor goes to France). It's in the top dozen.

Oh, well, I really don't want to learn another language and unfortunately the ones I know are spoken in countries which are NOT cheap to live in.

(Kind of wondering about the upscale/First World concept of being able to live "without working" even in places where you can "scrape by"(?) on ~$2K/month. More like living on Social Security/savings.)

Before I got sick our plan was to retire early to Mexico. We had already started researching/visiting towns.

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
Before I got sick our plan was to retire early to Mexico. We had already started researching/visiting towns.

Despite my uncanny grasp for the obvious, I would like to ask why your plans changed.

I needed medical care not available down there. The weekly infusions I had for 8 years before transplant were only available in a handful of developed countries. Not even all of them.

Also I knew transplant was on the horizon and it’s only available in a handful of countries.

One thing not mentioned (and I've given it quite some thought) is the requirement/advisability of continuing to pay for Medicare for those in that age range. Especially now, for anyone with a Medigap plan F, you'd darned well better keep signed up for it since it was just dropped for anyone who doesn't already have it.

It's the best MediGap plan. There's a reason ~ 1/2 retirees chose that (or plan C, almost as good as F).

What's more, if you drop it for any reason, you are apt to have to undergo medical underwriting - as you age, NOT a good prospect.

Looks to me like the only plan you can drop and go back to is Part D - medications.

That means, maintaining your Medicare policy is another required expense - unless you're 100% sure you're never going to return for some reason, and/or that you won't need to fly back for some complex surgery for which the specialists are best here!

These articles (and I've been reading similar ones and subscribing to expat newsletters for ages) are always, always vastly overstated in how economical moving could be as well as infamous for understating negatives, political instability or social drawbacks.

I note in this regard that about half the Forbes "best retirement destinations countries" coincide with "most dangerous countries to live in." What about that?