Welcome to the Retire Overseas Academy. This is where you gain expert guidance to launch your own personalized retire-overseas plan uniquely suited to you—your interests, your priorities, your preferences. This program provides the best go-abroad education you can get—designed to help you jump-start a new life in a place you love, where you can spend less and live better.
There’s no better time of year for making plans so we’ve packed this issue of Incomes Abroad with great ideas for making money overseas. Tourism hotspots are great places to start up a small publishing venture—newsletters, magazines, blogs, or websites—there’s an appetite for information and a willing supply of advertisers to tap. Meet expat publishers in this issue and discover the different ways you can go about this. You’ll also discover how expats in Costa Rica have found a market for small, artisan food enterprises…busy enough to create an income but small enough to allow for plenty of downtime. Alex Horst is making his own ice cream for sale…Shannon Russell is supplying restaurants with a range of desserts…Margaret and Bill Nevins are making healthy granolas and nut butters. Plus, you’ll discover how to get a visa in Germany for all manner of creative pursutis—graphic design, freelance writing, photography and filmmaking. Imagine all European hotspots you can visit from a base in Germany. And we bring you opportunities to teach English in Colombia…tap into the tourism business in Costa Rica…and set up a really simple income in pet care. Open your issue now…and you’ll be brimming with ideas for your own overseas adventure.
In so many ways, Colombia offers the quality of life you've been looking for… especially if living well on a budget is important to you. With one of the strongest economies and oldest democracies in the Americas, Colombians are friendly and welcoming. They enjoy a modern lifestyle without sacrificing quality, including when it comes to health care. And you can, too.
If you dream about a different life... one lived on a sun-dappled beach... or in a colonial, history-rich town... or some exotic big city abroad... but you need an income to make it happen, sooner rather than later... Then you should know: There are proven, flexible ways you can fund your life overseas... and get paid to do something you genuinely enjoy... So you gain the freedom to pick up and go... travel when you feel like it... live in a place you love... and all the while earn $12,000... $25,000... $40,000... even $85,000 a year or more...
In a handful of noteworthy places on the planet right now, you could own a world-class property for $150,000 and have it throw off $1,000 a month, right from the start. These are what I call "exceptional markets." Places where you're looking at as much as an 8% yield... more than double the norm. But you don't need mounds of cash on hand to get in - often less than $20,000. And these are gains you can pocket with little-to-no effort.
"Whatever you imagine, here’s a guarantee: In the world’s best havens, that dream can be yours…and for less than you can possibly imagine." Imagine lounging on your deck, a cocktail in hand, the quiet turquoise waters of the Caribbean spread out before you. Or picture yourself relaxing in a flower-filled courtyard where lavender bougainvillea tumbles over stucco walls, while the sweet perfume of frangipani fills the air at dusk.
"Whatever you imagine, here’s a guarantee: In the world’s best havens, that dream can be yours…and for less than you can possibly imagine." Imagine lounging on your deck, a cocktail in hand, the quiet turquoise waters of the Caribbean spread out before you. Or picture yourself relaxing in a flower-filled courtyard where lavender bougainvillea tumbles over stucco walls, while the sweet perfume of frangipani fills the air at dusk.
It’s that time of year again, when International Living calls on its extensive and ever-growing network of correspondents the world over to help us assemble our Annual Global Retirement Index. This is the most comprehensive list of retirement havens around the world. These are places where the weather’s good, the costs are low, and the life you’ll have is comfortable and full of adventure. Each year we require more and more information from our editors and contributors in order to put together these rankings. We draw on data from across the world, we plunder the stats of international organizations, and we bring it all together to crunch and mull over in-house.
With its tropical climate, low cost of living, and beautiful surrounding countryside, Chiang Mai is Thailand’s best-value retirement destination. In fact, it’s among the best “bang-for-your-buck” destinations in the entire region, attracting thousands of North American, Australian, and European retirees. Among them are Nancy and Roger Lindley, who never looked back after moving to this northern city, home to nearly a million people, six years ago. “We came over for a month in 2006 on a reconnaissance mission and threw ourselves into all the expat activities,” says Nancy. “We decided it could work, went back to the U.S., and proceeded to unwind our lives there. We returned in 2008 and have been here ever since.”
With spiraling costs compelling more and more North Americans to retire overseas, retiring abroad has never been more attractive. But finding the right location among the myriad options available can be daunting. That’s what our Annual Global Retirement Index does. Using input from our team of correspondents on the ground all over the world, we combine real-world insights about climate, health care, cost of living, and much more to draw up a comprehensive list of the best bang-for-your buck retirement destinations on the planet. Keep in mind that, even though only 25 countries feature on our list, all of them are worth your attention. We selected them from among all the countries in the world for their qualities as retirement hot-spots, so even the lowest-ranked nation on our index is still very much an option worth considering.