Where, oh where?.....the World Regions

So, you want to retire offshore, for a myriad of reasons.....taxes, climate, adventure, culture, a more relaxed life......whatever. It's a big old world out there, with a lot of possible destinations. And you have a lot of decisions to make. Do you want to settle in one place, or sample several places for months at a time? How much can you afford? Are you willing to learn a new language? Do you want to be surrounded by the familiar...including many other expatriates, or would you prefer your neighbors to be locals?

Those are just a few of the factors you must consider, and in future posts I will try to address many of them in relation to specific countries. But before I do that, I wanted to look at larger, more general, regions of the world and talk about what they might offer, and the hurdles they might present.

North America - Hey, it's possible you might just want to move out of the city and live on the beach, or a small town, or near a ski hill. You might want to head up to a remote area of Vancouver Island in Canada, or out to the Oregon coast, or a small town in Maine. There's nothing that says you HAVE to move offshore, and familiarity, with language and culture, might be a priority for you. Costs will be a bit higher, as may taxes, and the beauty of experiencing a new culture might be missing. But maybe you want to restrict your cultural exploration to vacation time. I won't be covering North America, but you will still get a lot of information from me on other countries you might want to travel to on vacation, particularly Mexico and Central and South America.

Western Europe - Much of what I talked about regarding North America applies here, particularly with cost of living, but Western Europe gives you lots of opportunity with great culture, a new language, and some climate advantages in the southern countries. The diversity here is almost endless...from snow in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, to sun in Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, and southern France. Mountain ranges abound in Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France, and forests in Germany. That diversity applies to every facet of life in Europe, and while I would love to provide details, this would require a whole new blog and a lot of research. There are plenty of great sources of info on Europe, and I wouldn't discount it as an excellent place to retire.

Eastern Europe - Eastern Europe has opened up immensely since the end of the Cold War, and opportunities abound for retirement havens. Eastern Europe boasts many of the same advantages as Western Europe without the accompanying high costs. This is a rapidly developing part of the world as the grip of communism has weakened and capitalism has crept in. It also has a deep and varied cultural background. As with other regions I won't cover in detail, there are many great online sources of info to be found.

Australasia - Australia and New Zealand offer tastes of European life mixed with dashes of backcountry adventure. Cost of living can be as high, and immigration may be as difficult, as that in Europe and North America. This region ranks as a place I definitely want to visit, but not a place I would consider retiring...not that it has anything wrong with it, but it also doesn't strike me as all that different in many ways from North America.     

Asia - Asia offers a host of countries where retirement can be inexpensive, like Thailand and Vietnam, as well as many where it is not, like Hong Kong. Living in Asia can induce real culture shock, as it differs vastly from what you would see in North America or Europe. But true adventurers may want to keep their options open regarding Asia, and I would definitely advise a trial period here before making a longer commitment. Besides the countries mentioned, Asia also includes countries that may be fine for visits, but not so fine for retirement, like India and Bangladesh, for example. Asia is also too wide a topic for me to cover in detail.

Africa - Africa is a tricky one. It rarely surfaces as a retirement destination, but sits high on the list for fantasy vacations. There are certainly some countries that engender images of possible retirement, like Morocco, Kenya, Madagascar, and South Africa, and others that definitely do not, like Chad and Senegal. If you want to retire here you'd better bring a real, serious spirit for adventure and cultural difference.

Arabia - In general, the Arab world isn't particularly appealing to North American retirees, especially women. It tends to be a world of glaring contrasts between unimaginable opulence and deeply depressing poverty. Having said that, there are a few countries that may appeal to North Americans as retirement options, like Israel. Immigration is likely a serious obstacle, but I say this from a point of relative ignorance about the topic, as there doesn't seem to be a lot of available informational resources, and I admit I haven't really dug for it. I would love to visit, and will some day, but I have no plans to retire there and wouldn't be much of an advocate for anyone who does. If you do, you need to do some homework and make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

Latin America - Depending on who you speak with, the term may mean several different things. I will use it to encompass Mexico, and Central and South America. Many people include the Caribbean here...at least some of those nations.....and while my focus will not be on the Caribbean, it certainly deserves some looking at. But Mexico, and the countries of Central and South America, will be the target of the majority of my posts. This area of the world boasts an appealing climate, a low cost of living, generous and simple immigration policies (for the most part), amazingly diverse culture, a mostly laid back lifestyle, a rapidly developing infrastructure, relatively stable governments, safety, inexpensive healthcare, and a host of other advantages that I will cover in my posts from this point forward. As this blog progresses I will be researching the countries of this region, and providing you with valuable insights and resources that will help you make a move, either temporary or permanent, to this area.

So, that's the world in a nutshell....so to speak. The wide range of possiblities is daunting, as are the sources of information. Beyond this summary, much of the insight and research you would need to make a retirement move can be found online and in libraries and great sources like Lonely Planet. What you'll get here from me is a concise and detailed look into what Latin America has to offer the potential retiree, a plethora of information and choices that will help you narrow your targets down, and the kind of research that will hopefully make retiring here easy for you.