Best Ex-Pat area for full time residency
We are considering moving out of the US to experience another part of the world. We have thought of Mexico, Costa Rico, Belize, Panama each one has plusses and minuses. When reading the blogs it seems...
Forum Discussion
I am personally attracted to Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Romania, urban areas in all cases. But I've not investigated in depth, have stayed in the U.S. to deal with a cancer that popped up shortly after my last trip to Central Europe.
These would be my choices because I like four seasons and urban living, and would want to be where I can freely travel all through Europe, but my financial resources are not up to the cost of living in any of the major urban areas in Western Europe (they are just fine for modest living in small town U.S. or living Life of Riley for much of Central or Eastern Europe, and much of Asia).
Rome, Nice or Monaco would be nice, but I can't afford them. If I didn't want seasons, Singapore would be great, but I can't afford it and I'd probably get bored pretty quickly.
I lived two years in Beijing and could probably just afford to live there, but wouldn't go back because the climate is brutal, very hot muggy summers, very cold winters, and population growth out of control. We are not particularly welcome as ex-pats in China, but if I were to go back to live, I'd pick Kunming because it is high-altitude sub-tropical, with a quite pleasant moderate climate, and one of the better managed municipalities in China. While I became comfortable with Chinese culture, their way of doing things, to the extent that it hurt me to have to come home, I'm not sure I'm ready to go back.
Sounds like you are looking for someplace permanently warm. Costa Rica has one of the best legal and tax environments for ex-pats, but that is turning it into an expensive ex-pat enclave (but nothing like the cost of Singapore). Belize has the advantage of using English as the language for most business. Elsewhere in the warm parts of the Western Hemisphere, you need to become comfortable with Spanish as a language, and Latin American culture.
Mostly it depends on money. For those with enough money, the top ex-pat communities in the world are Singapore and Monaco. But wealthy Europeans also flock to South Florida and Southern California as tax havens.
I'm sort of assuming that you are not asking this as a RV question, because once you get past Mexico the feasibility of full-time RVing becomes more problematic.
These would be my choices because I like four seasons and urban living, and would want to be where I can freely travel all through Europe, but my financial resources are not up to the cost of living in any of the major urban areas in Western Europe (they are just fine for modest living in small town U.S. or living Life of Riley for much of Central or Eastern Europe, and much of Asia).
Rome, Nice or Monaco would be nice, but I can't afford them. If I didn't want seasons, Singapore would be great, but I can't afford it and I'd probably get bored pretty quickly.
I lived two years in Beijing and could probably just afford to live there, but wouldn't go back because the climate is brutal, very hot muggy summers, very cold winters, and population growth out of control. We are not particularly welcome as ex-pats in China, but if I were to go back to live, I'd pick Kunming because it is high-altitude sub-tropical, with a quite pleasant moderate climate, and one of the better managed municipalities in China. While I became comfortable with Chinese culture, their way of doing things, to the extent that it hurt me to have to come home, I'm not sure I'm ready to go back.
Sounds like you are looking for someplace permanently warm. Costa Rica has one of the best legal and tax environments for ex-pats, but that is turning it into an expensive ex-pat enclave (but nothing like the cost of Singapore). Belize has the advantage of using English as the language for most business. Elsewhere in the warm parts of the Western Hemisphere, you need to become comfortable with Spanish as a language, and Latin American culture.
Mostly it depends on money. For those with enough money, the top ex-pat communities in the world are Singapore and Monaco. But wealthy Europeans also flock to South Florida and Southern California as tax havens.
I'm sort of assuming that you are not asking this as a RV question, because once you get past Mexico the feasibility of full-time RVing becomes more problematic.
