2023-01-21 Finding Your Best Place To Retire

Welcome back to Expat News by Expat Rebel. In this issue: Finding Your Best Place To Retire & my favorite gardening app. – Expat Rebel Chris 🧜🏻‍♂️

I’ve created a 1-on-1 session for people who want to talk about moving to a foreign country, or being semi-retired and still doing business. I am looking forward to speaking with some of you. Contact me if you are interested.

Finding Your Best Place To Retire

One of the biggest questions I get is where should I retire.

My expat guidebook steps through how that is a process. Many tips in there.

People are trying to find the perfect truly safe haven and reality is they don’t exist. There isn’t a single place where you can move and be entirely safe. It simply doesn’t exist.

I’ve been bullied in business in the US. Had things stolen from me here in México.

The world is crazy.

Once you understand that, it becomes much easier.

What you need to focus on is where do you feel safe.

The number one reason I live in Yucatán, México, is because I feel safe. The prices were affordable and I’m very comfortable.

I also don’t have everything I own here. Enough to be comfortable. Believe it or not, I still don’t have a bank account in México. It hasn’t been a must-have. If for some reason it became really necessary, I would have as little as possible in it. And when I visit the bank I would wear cheap clothes and no jewelry or a watch or mobile phone.

Occasionally, I think my friends in the US have it much harder than I do here in Yucatán, México.

Everyone is complaining about everything. Remember the days when people didn’t complain outside their tight friends, now people do it all day long online. I miss the good ole days in that way.

The best thing you can do is find your spot where you feel safe and not have all your assets (especially money) in the same foreign country.

I’ve seen a few that have moved to a foreign country, buy a home and move all their money to a nearby bank only to get scammed and lose all their money.

All my rich Mexican neighbors have bank accounts in the US because they don’t trust their country.

I love living in México, but I’m realistic. México has helped me slow down and enjoy life. I’ve thankful for México.

There are scams everywhere. Scams are at their height right now and getting worse. And most of them are in the US, but it’s happening globally as well.

Diversify. Take steps and don’t do everything at once.

My expat guidebook goes through how you can be an expat now. I did it in 30 days and did many steps after I was already enjoying the expat life. You don’t have to study it for 20 years before enjoying the expat lifestyle.

I choose Yucatán state because it’s safe. See How Safe Is Merida for Travel? (2023 Updated) on the big city of nearby Mérida. It’s the second-safest city in all the Americas, just behind Quebec. And it snows in Quebec, so it’s off my list.

Yes, Mérida is safer than all the cities in the US. I know it’s hard for some to believe that, but it’s been studied and those are the facts.

Yucatán, the state with the lowest incidence of crime in the country in 2022 – This meant a decrease of -52.8% in cases, going from 8,251 crimes in 2021 to 3,893 in 2022.
Merida named 4th Best City in the World by CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER – The Yucatecan capital appears as the only Mexican city on the list of “The Best Big Cities” at the Condé Nast Readers’ Choice Awards 2022 within the category are Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Tokyo. Japan; and Québec, Canada.

But, I’ve had some necklaces stolen by a maid here. I have also had taxi drivers want to charge outrageous prices. I don’t hire them and move on. Thankful Uber and Didi both operate in Mérida. Most of neighbor Quintana Roo (includes Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum) have outlawed Uber and Didi, so taxi prices over there are crazy highs now. (That may change in the future, but it’s currently illegal in most all of Quintana Roo).

Read my expat guidebook and then make it happen. You don’t have to do it in 30 days like I did. It was a full-time job to sell every of the extra things and put heirlooms in storage. You could reasonably do it in 3 or 6 months. Make an exploratory trip, meanwhile.

Keep it simple. Don’t study it too death. This is supposed to be fun. A way to enjoy being retired or semi-retired.