Where would be the best place in the third world country in which to retire? I ask this because, I am not sure my wife and I can afford to retire in the USA or in another first world country. We had dreamed of retiring in Cambridge England but we don’t believe that we could afford it. I love the architecture and the libraries.

We are about a decade away from retirement.

Affordable housing, high quality affordable health care, political stability and low crime rate, religious freedom and reasonable taxation are a must.

Sunny days, nice weather (like the baby bear’s porridge not too hot and not too cold); an expatriate community and good library resources are a plus.

We would like prefer an English speaking country but are willing to learn a relatively easy foreign language like Spanish.

I welcome your suggestions.

Peace,
Rip

You'd be surprised how many European countries speak English as a second language better than many of our countrymen do as a first language. Northern Italy's nice; so's southern France (my daughter's lived both places. My foreign travels have been in uniform. Let me ask my daughter and her Holland-born (but long since American, and now an Oakland police officer) husband if they have other suggestions. their wedding in our front yard looked like the United Nations. best tom

Tom, you're quite right France and Italy are lovely particularly SW France and some of the rural areas have most of Iply's list of desirable features. But the big drawback in all these first world European countries just like the good old UK is a fairly high cost of living and taxes - more than you guys in the USA are used to. Most everyday stuff is more expensive than in the US.
I think 1 ply needs to look at some of the recent Eastern European countries that have recently become, or are aspiring to become EU members - Turkey is a good example. living costs are low, property is cheap, they have an improving human rights record (as they aspire to EU membership) and they are a mixture of Christian and Muslim. It is also a cuturaly very rich country.

There are others such as Yugoslavia which are now very stable, lovely climate,cheap and very beautiful.

Just a few thoughts.
Phil

Stick around here. In about ten years the US may be in third world country status.
Believe me I say this with a sad heart.

I tell you what we have seriously thought about retiring to the US - whenever we holiday there its always very affordable compared to Europe - and your house prices are now so low.

I remember doing a temporary duty in Holland, when I was in the military, I heard one of the taxes were according to how many windows you had.

Phil if you retire here in the US, you will find that our language is close to English...although I'm not guarantying that after another 10 years.

Papi - we also had the window tax here in the UK for many years - now we a special tax to pay the expenses of all our cheating MPs and the robbing banks that we have had to bail out.

I'm used to non english - english we live up near the Northumberland Scotish border.

In that case...Welcome to America!

I lived in Nicaragua for a year. A beautiful place to be with a lot of inconveniences and frustrations but unbelievable prices for some really primo real estate.

PM me if anybody's serious about learning more.

Andrew

Places like Nicaragua, Mexico, etc. are trully beautiful and affordable, lots of friendly people too. My worry is always the government.

no affiliation

http://www.retireincostarica.net/

In Mexico these days, I'd be a little concerned about Gringo Flambe. Lovely place, though.