(Kathleen) Six best places to go overseas if you
don't want to learn a new language we're going to tell you in just a minute. Hi I'm Kathleen
Peddicord. (Lief) I'm Lief Simon. (Kathleen) It's a new episode of our Live and Invest Overseas
Podcast. One of the main reasons someone, maybe you, could be reluctant to move to a new country
even if they're dying to do it if it's their dream of a lifetime is because they're worried they'll
have to learn a new language and afraid they just won't be able to or frankly just don't want to
have to. You don't necessarily have to we have six places where you could live or retire overseas
comfortably, happily, build a very rich fulfilling life, and NOT have to learn a new language. Let's
start with three places, three countries where in fact the language is English. (Lief) Right
exactly, and we're not talking about the UK, Australia or New Zealand. We're talking about
places where you can get residency, where you can actually move - although you can move to the
U.K it's a bit complicated - but the first one is Belize and Belize is one of the former British
colonies so English is the official language, a lot of people speak Spanish as well because
Belize is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries but everything is done in government and legal
wise in English in Belize. (Kathleen) Right, so exactly that's something that you may not
have thought about you may just be thinking about getting through the day without having to learn
a new language but there's another level to it that can be even a little more intimidating
which is the legal aspect. If you're going to be signing a contract for even a lease a
rental but certainly if you're going to buy, if all the contracts are in Spanish or
French or Portuguese it's a little more intimidating. (Lief) Right, so what does Belize
have to offer besides speaking English? Well it's a great destination for beaches and weather. It's a Caribbean destination. There are islands off of the coast of Belize that would qualify as
Caribbean islands and the downside is hurricanes so you do have the potential for hurricanes. They
get them almost every year not in a dramatic way but not as bad as the Gulf Coast of the U.S
this year but once every couple of years you get a pretty strong storm coming through Belize
which also hits the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico which has another destination we'll talk about
in a second. (Kathleen) But for me maybe the most compelling reason to look at Belize can be
the people and the society and the culture. It's the most diverse, eclectic, and open-minded
and welcoming culture in fact that I know of except for the next country we're going to
talk about I would put them on par each with the other but they're very different places in
this part of the world though, in the Americas, Belize really is the most open-minded. The
Belizeans aren't worried about who you are, where you came from or anything about you except
that you're doing your best and you're not causing them any problem it's very much live and let
live exactly I'll do my thing you, do yours, I'll mind my business, you mind your business
and everybody gets along. (Kathleen) All right, the second place which again I think as well as
Belize is very open-minded and open-hearted and welcoming culture is Ireland. (Lief) Right totally
different place but before we jump to Ireland we didn't mention so Belize for residency is fairly
straightforward. There's the QRP program that has it's for retirees if you have two thousand dollars
a month in pension income or social security you can qualify or you can just move to Belize and if
you're there for 12 months straight renewing your tourist visa you can then apply for permanent
residency. So Belize, has a very easy way to live there, is just by showing up and continue
to renew your tourist visa. (Kathleen) Right, which is a great thing to point out because you
may have heard of the QRP Program, the Qualified Retiree Person Program - I think is what it's
called - and that's been very well promoted and it can make a lot of sense for a lot of people
but it requires a minimum monthly income of two thousand dollars that might not work for everyone.
But you do have an option that you may not have heard about because it just isn't discussed
as often, it requires no proof of income, it requires no upfront investment in real
estate or anything else you just you show up. (Lief) It does require that you to show that you
can take care of yourself while you're there, but you know you don't need 2 000 a month to
live in Belize. Ireland on the other hand, has decided that they don't really want retirees
and so they changed their immigration law a few years ago now, - I think it is now pushing more
than five years or six years - to create a new what they call Stamp Zero. So you know different
immigration stamps have a number depending on what you're applying for. Stamp Zero is for persons
of means which includes retirees but it requires fifty thousand euros of income proven fifty
thousand euros of income per person per year which is a high threshold especially for a
retiree, it doesn't have to be pension or social security income, it could be dividends or rental
income or whatever but you have to show that level. But if you do have that level then
Ireland is a great place to spend time, the Irish are friendly and talkative and from a retirees
perspective, Ireland couldn't be a better place to live other than the weather. (Kathleen)
Right, so we as you may know we lived in Ireland for seven years when our children
were young when Lief and I were first married and we found the experience kind of maddening
at the time because we were there as kind of young people with a new family trying
to launch a business, grow a business, and we found the Irish approach to business
frustrating because they don't prioritize it. They prioritize life and living and crack - as
they refer to it - just having a good time and at retirement of course that can be exactly what
you're looking for. (Lief) So stopping in the middle of the day in the middle of the road to
have a 20-minute conversation is not something you're looking for when when you're rushing to get
to the office when you're running a business. But for retirees it's perfect. (Kathleen) All right,
number three on our list of countries where in fact the language is English so no language study
required would be Malta. (Lief) Right, and Malta actually has two official languages English -
again it was a former British colony - and Maltese but all legal documents are in English as well as
Maltese so you can get by in English no problem. The downside for Malta is that gaining residency
isn't as easy as in Belize, but they have four different programs in Malta that you can look at
for getting residency. The other thing is that some people we know who have been to Malta aren't
happy about is in the Summer time it can be hot so you know above 95 above 100 degrees during the
Summer but that's because of its location, it's in the middle of the Mediterranean as the crossroads
between Southern Europe and North Africa. So from a scene, the region perspective, Malta is in a
very excellent position. (Kathleen) As a base for travel it's really ideal. (Lief) And it has
huge history, you know the Knights Templar and all the crusade stuff that went
on there lots of architecture and buildings to look at as well. (Kathleen)
Okay now those three countries speak English, everybody is going to speak English they may
speak something else as well Spanish in Belize, Maltese and Malta but they all speak English.
(Lief) Right, but the official language is English. (Kathleen) Here are three countries
where the language is not officially English, but there are pockets of these countries or of
these specific locations we want to highlight, where English would be spoken by most everyone you
would interact. (Lief) You could get by without learning the local language if you didn't want to.
(Kathleen) Okay number one on this list we've put Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Lief) Right, so there's
lots of places in Mexico that are tourist spots, Playa del Carmen is one of them. Playa del Carmen
has been a tourist spot for so long with the local Mexicans to get jobs in the tourist industry
they're learning English from birth basically, so there's a lot of English speakers in the
Playa del Carmen area. This is a beach area so lots of tourist amenities as far as restaurants
go and other outdoor activities plus in the Yucatan Peninsula where Playa del Carmen is
located you have a lot of Mayan history so you have Mayan ruins to visit, fishing off the coast,
and any kind of water activity that you can think of. (Kathleen) Right, so it's an ideal Caribbean
spot, if your retirement dream is the Caribbean and you don't want to learn another language I
would put Playa del Carmen at the top of the list alongside Ambergris Caye, Belize for example. One
point I would make about Playa del Carmen, as we suggested it's very touristy it's a
big and growing tourist destination which could be a big plus for you or a big minus.
So with tourists comes all of the infrastructure, the amenities, the services that tourists want and
that can be great. The restaurants, the shopping, the nightlife, and activities you know all kinds
of water sports and all of that would be so easy, accessible, and affordable in Playa del Carmen.
But at the same time you're going to have the souvenir shops and the tourist touts and people
approaching you to see if you want your picture taken on the feet. (Lief) It's not the real Mexico.
If you want the Mexico culture and to to be living in Mexico it's not Playa del Carmen. Playa del
Carmen is just an extension of Florida, from a beach resort kind of perspective. (Kathleen) Okay,
we're staying in Mexico with a second pick for a place where the language isn't officially English
but you wouldn't need to learn another one, on the other side of Mexico: Puerto Vallarta.
(Lief) Right, in Puerto Vallarta, the same thing, you know 30-40 years of tourism, lots of
locals learning English from a young age, lots of tourists, lots of retirees as well in
Puerto Vallarta and lots of options in Puerto Vallarta. The town is relatively small but the
whole area has expanded in lots of development from resorts but also the gated
communities. The gated communities for retirees and for expats. So, Puerto Vallarta is not
terribly dissimilar from a weather perspective to Southern California which is why a lot of people
like it again on the Pacific Coast you don't have the storms as much although Puerto Vallarta can be
hit by Pacific typhoons that kick back in and come that way - there was one earlier this year - not
a lot of damage but a lot of rain. (Kathleen) So, Puerto Vallarta I would say would be
the most developed choice on the Pacific Cast. If you're looking for Pacific Coast
living you might be looking down that coast Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, those are all options you might be considering for a Pacific Coast lifestyle with
the kind of crashing surf and surf beaches, etc. For the most part your options in say Nicaragua
for sure but even in Costa Rica and Panama are going to be less developed. Puerto Vallarta,
there's a Walmart in Puerto Vallarta. (Lief) Shopping in Puerto Vallarta is not not unlike
shopping in the U.S, if that's what you're looking for. And then Mexico in general has
easy residency options and easy access from the U.S as does Belize, so lots of flights going
in and out of Cancun to access Playa del Carmen and lots of direct flights into the Puerto
Vallarta airport as well. (Kathleen) All right pick number six for where to think about living
or retiring overseas if you don't want to learn a new language is Algarve, Portugal which you may
not be surprised to hear us include. (Lief) Right, we've talked a lot about Algarve is a great
destination for retiring and English being spoken is one reason why. They have a close
relationship - Portugal does - with the U.K and a lot of British retirees and expats have
moved to The Algarve and over in over the years the Portuguese in that area in particular have
learned English so it's you're going to have to pick up some Portuguese probably but you
can get by with English for the most part and don't have to be become fluent in Portuguese to
live in The Algarve. (Kathleen) And why Algarve in general take a step back beyond language and
beautiful beaches, long coastline, great weather although there is a winter but it's very mild and
because there is a winter there is seasonality so one thing to consider when shopping The Algarve
coast, there are many towns in this part of Portugal and each one has its own charm and flavor
and cultural appeals but look at which ones are more affected by seasonality some of them become
very quiet in the winter. (Lief) Right, in some of the smaller towns all the restaurants will close
so if you like to go to restaurants you want a town that is big enough to support restaurants
in the winter so that you can partake in that or be willing to drive to the next town over but
the seasonality there can be an issue in the winter time. (Kathleen) and then again we'll make
the point about residency which is very easy to establish in Portugal. You have a number of good
options depending on your situation. (Lief) Right, two basic options The Golden Visa option which is
buying property in Portugal but if your plan is to live there full-time the easier option is just
the Self-Sufficiency one where you can show enough income to support yourself and you can
get residency in Portugal and that threshold is is around 1200 euros a month is what
our attorney there recommends although the official threshold is lower. It's at the
discretion of whoever's reviewing the residency application. (Kathleen) And 1200 euros a month
is less than the average social security check so it's an example of a place where with the average
social security check right now is about 1500 a month so this is a place where if you're receiving
you know the average amount in social security and that's all the income you have you could still be
looking at Algarve, it's still realistic. Alright, I hope we've given you reason to take lack
of language skills off your list of reasons not to think about living or retiring overseas.
Thank you for listening we'll be again in touch next week with a new episode of the Live and
Invest Overseas Podcast, thanks! (Lief) Bye everyone! (Kathleen) Thank you for listening
we hope you enjoyed this episode of our Live and Invest Overseas Podcast. For more please
visit liveandinvestoverseas.com/podcast where you'll find lots more information and resources
to help you live better and retire well overseas.
