Cheapest and best country for retirement

EverFresh · Oct 26, 2014

Serious question here:

what is the best and cheapest country to retire to for a 50 something male who has a passion for gambling, eye candy and warm weather?

I have a decent roll and want to make it last 30 years or until the bitter end

any advice other than CR (which I love but do not want to stay in)

thanks

Everfresh

pocketrockets · Oct 26, 2014

Man, Costa Rica is getting more expensive by the moment and TBH traffic is bullshit. Security is on the decline with all of these drug wars and killings. In the eye candy dpmt we are still top notch.

I'm guessing Colombia and Uruguay are really good choices (Colombia being cheaper) and they do have a poker scene (kind of). Thailand and Singapore might be good choices in Asia but gambling is banned in Thai (only choice would be online).

I couldn't live in Thailand, no poker and you can get arrested for smoking pot (which is the only drug I really don't see the point in quitting). I love Asian chicks but yeah... their drug laws turn me off.

In Europe I don't think there are many choices... at least not with warm weather. Countries like Poland, Ukraine and Czech Republic are not expensive, good eye candy and gambling friendly.

tatehill2000 · Oct 26, 2014

why not Nicaragua?

aceduecetrey · Oct 26, 2014

EverFresh said:
Serious question here:

what is the best and cheapest country to retire to for a 50 something male who has a passion for gambling, eye candy and warm weather?

I have a decent roll and want to make it last 30 years or until the bitter end

any advice other than CR (which I love but do not want to stay in)

thanks

Everfresh

That is awesome that you are able to do that. I am just wondering what amount of money do you have that you are planning on hanging it up and retiring? I would love to be able to do something like that as I have no kids, but I can not imagine what I would need to have to feel comfortable calling it quits.

EverFresh · Oct 26, 2014

aceduecetrey said:
That is awesome that you are able to do that. I am just wondering what amount of money do you have that you are planning on hanging it up and retiring? I would love to be able to do something like that as I have no kids, but I can not imagine what I would need to have to feel comfortable calling it quits.

Not something I am willing to discuss on a public forum.

wolfie_cr · Oct 26, 2014

dont limit yourself to one country and enjoy the best of all, Romania has all 3 (during spring/summer of course)

then during their fall/winter go to an Asian country, rinse and repeat

Texny · Oct 26, 2014

Usa usa

EverFresh · Oct 26, 2014

Texny said:
Usa usa

That's an attempt at humor, right? I wouldn't move back there under any circumstances whatsoever,...land of the oppressed, home of the blind

EverFresh · Oct 26, 2014

wolfie_cr said:
dont limit yourself to one country and enjoy the best of all, Romania has all 3 (during spring/summer of course)

then during their fall/winter go to an Asian country, rinse and repeat

great advice! Thanks

quantumleap · Oct 26, 2014

I'm looking at Portugal. It's cheap to live there. It's in a warm climate. Best of all it's in Europe so it's not a third world country and you can visit the other European countries easily.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-peddicord/best-places-to-retire-overseas_b_5716909.html

aceduecetrey · Oct 26, 2014

EverFresh said:
Not something I am willing to discuss on a public forum.

I understand, good luck to you!

Recon792 · Oct 26, 2014

Panama supposed to be easy on the wallet

gmrcharity · Oct 26, 2014

South Africa

Akillies · Oct 26, 2014

what about NZ or Australia, they would seem ideal

quantumleap · Oct 26, 2014

Recon792 said:
Panama supposed to be easy on the wallet

It has a lot of other advantages as well as mentioned in the web link I posted above.

Soriano12 · Oct 27, 2014

quantumleap said:
I'm looking at Portugal.

Might be some changes coming for (online) gambling/poker though. So if gambling is high on your list, don't be surprised if within the next 1-2 years their legislation changes towards the Spanish model, which is complete crap for poker and would make you jump through some hoops to bet on sports, at least if you want to use certain bookies (use an account not registered in Portugal, access the site through a VPN, etc).
And at the Algarve, outside the main tourist spots (which obv. are more expensive), you might find it hard to get by with English, if you don't speak at least some basic Portuguese.

quantumleap · Oct 27, 2014

Soriano12 said:
Might be some changes coming for (online) gambling/poker though. So if gambling is high on your list, don't be surprised if within the next 1-2 years their legislation changes towards the Spanish model, which is complete crap for poker and would make you jump through some hoops to bet on sports, at least if you want to use certain bookies (use an account not registered in Portugal, access the site through a VPN, etc).
And at the Algarve, outside the main tourist spots (which obv. are more expensive), you might find it hard to get by with English, if you don't speak at least some basic Portuguese.

Thanks for the advice. Portugal has to be much easier than the US (and Thailand for that matter) in which to place bets. If I retired there I would get to know the ways around the system.

As far as the Algarve goes, there is a large British expat community there. I would try to find someplace like that and yes, I would certainly learn Portuguese. I'll be visiting there in 2015 with a friend of mine who was a foreign exchange student there so she knows Portuguese. I would definitely live in a place for a few months before deciding to live there for a long period of time.

Soriano12 · Oct 27, 2014

Right now you wouldn't have any problems at all to access betting or poker sites, but read about a new legislation that was about to be passed for online poker (which, if I remember correctly, was a first step to a segregated player pool like in Spain). Besides that there will always be ways around it, especially once you have an active/verified account set up.
Portugal def. is worth a look, it's not that cheap like some websites make you believe, but it's def. cheaper than other Western European countries and if you take the infrastructure, security, food, nature/beaches & climate into account, plus like you already stated easy accessibility to lots of other great places within a 2-3hr flight, it's a great place to live at.
Even though, personally, I'm not sure if I would choose the Algarve or opt to live in Lisbon.

Soriano12 · Oct 27, 2014

Akillies said:
what about NZ or Australia, they would seem ideal

In general not the place to go to, if you are looking for cheap...

Soriano12 · Oct 27, 2014

quantumleap said:
I'm looking at Portugal. It's cheap to live there. It's in a warm climate. Best of all it's in Europe so it's not a third world country and you can visit the other European countries easily.

If these points are what you are looking for (plus no gambling restrictions at all), you might want to take a look at Malta, too. Not much to do there, especially during winter, and weather during winter can get rather windy & wet, but other than that you might want to take a look. Plus English is the official language.