Retire to Central America for twice the lifestyle at half the price
Are you feeling adventurous? Are you tempted to broaden your perspective beyond US borders? Then read on. A growing number of North Americans are reinventing themselves overseas. They’re leaving their current world and embracing a new one. Here’s what they’re finding in their new life aboard.
1) The cost of living across Central America is well below what most people are used to at home. Nicaragua is the cheapest destination according to PPP data from the IMF, but Belize, Costa Rica and Panama all offer a luxurious lifestyle (with a full time maid if you wish) for far less than it would cost in the US.
2) You get to choose you climate zone. Some retirees love the coast and their dream is to find an beach-side home to call their own. Others retreat to the hills for cooler temperatures, and seek out Boquete real estate in Panama, the Central Valley of Costa Rica or the highlands of Matagalpa in Nicaragua.
3) No longer do you have to bump along bad roads to remote areas miles away from shopping and entertainment. Now you’ll find real estate in central locations with vibrant expatriate communities and all the services you need. Top picks for us would be real estate in San Jan del Sur, Nicaragua or, for a touch of the Caribbean, Ambergris Caye real estate in Belize.
4) A new culture awaits. When you move abroad you’ll be entering a new culture and a new community. Everywhere in Central America, except Belize, Spanish is the main language. You’ll find things more laid back and, yes, slower.
5) A wide range of benefits and incentives are available for retirees who qualify for special retiree programs. Central America is keen to attract retirees so some of the benefits are very tempting and result in large savings. The details are different country by country but most offer household import tax and property tax exemptions.
Overseas living may not be for everyone. You may miss some of the conveniences or feel frustrated by the slower bureaucracy. So if you’re at all tempted, a great idea is to rent first and test the lifestyle before you take the plunge.
Filed under retire early, Uncategorized | Comment (0)Retirement Investing Essentials
Before you begin your retirement investing venture, you should understand first how much money you will need to attain well-off retirement years. You should familiarize yourself about the numerous factors that affect the rate of returns of your investment choices. These include your present income, age at retirement, your way of living, and how insistently you desire to build your investment portfolio.
Preparing your investment portfolio is one of the most critical financial decisions you must think about in your lifetime. It is possible for you to get caught up in the financial necessities of your present condition that might result to neglecting how you should manage your retirement financially. It’s most beneficial if you don’t depend on one company or entity to protect you from financial expectations and objectives of your retirement years.
There are many ways to start retirement investing the right way. You should look at employer provided retirement plans, government sponsored retirement accounts, and even individually subsidized savings accounts. Each of this type comes with distinct incentives.
401(k) Plan
This type of plan is normally furnished by employers to their employees. It permits a predetermined amount of your pretax income to be contributed to your retirement account. The contributed funds and your account’s gains are commonly not taxed until you make distributions of funds at retirement.
IRA
This stands for Individual Retirement Account. It allows a yearly contribution of up to 100% of your earned income but only to a specific maximum amount. You can take advantage of basic Roth investment advice with a tax free or tax-deferred account, depending on the type of Individual Retirement Account that you open. It’s best to study and familiarize yourself about each IRA type to find out which will provide you with the most lucrative income and tax benefits.
Get a comprehensive overview of traditional vs Roth 401k retirement accounts that will help you decide which will grant you a well-off retirement.
For successful retirement investing, you can seek the help of financial experts or professionals in the investment field who will present you with the investment options available.
Filed under retire early | Comment (0)Retire Early?
So you want to retire early do you? Well what’s considered early, 50? 55? 60? According to Revenue Canada you can start collecting early retirement benefits from the Canada Pension Plan at at 60. This of course comes with reduced CPP benefits. Your benefits are reduced by .5% per month for every month that you start to take your CPP benefits before the age of 65. So if you were to start your benefits the month after you turn age 60 your benefits would be reduced by 30%.
So how do you apply for CPP if you choose to retire early? You can visit the Service Canada web page at www.servicecanada.gc.ca and fill out an online application. If you haven’t decided whether or not you are going to apply yet you can also contact Service Canada to find out what your estimated monthly CPP benefits are going to be, the closer you are to retirement the more accurate the numbers will be. Your benefits depending on how much you have paid into the plan which in turn is dependent on how long you have been working in Canada and your income level.
In order to start collecting CPP you need to stop working, or at least stop getting paid by the end of the month before the month before that you will begin receiving payments. If you choose to stop your CPP payments once you’ve started to receive them you may do so for up to six months, but be aware that you must repay all the benefits that you receive during that period.
So as you can see your idea of early retirement may not be the same as the governments! You may wish to retire early at 55, that just means that you’re going to have to save enough before than to provide you with enough income to get by without government supplements. Careful planning and disciplined savings can get you there!
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