Quality of Retirement Life in Foreign Countries

Although I am curious about U.S. expat retirement life in foreign countries, it’s not something I have a strong interest in. There is plenty of diversity to experience in the U.S..  On the other hand, some foreign countries can offer a substantially lower cost of retirement living. But how do folks rate the quality of life in some of these foreign countries?

Some information about a couple of quality of life resources arrived in my reader this week. First, International Living has published its annual quality of life index for 194 different countries.  You can read summaries of the top ten here. France is rated number one. Sorry, although I concede that I have never been to France (my wife has), I still have to comment about that selection.  The authors of the index quickly pass off the “tiresome bureaucracy” and “high taxes” as if they mean nothing to a retiree. They also forgot to mention that France is basically controlled by powerful unions. I have friends who have visited France twice and each time their visit was disrupted by nationwide strikes. I suspect that France would be a nice place to live part-time in retirement if money were not an issue. “Strolling by the Seine” can only take you so far in life.

Another resource for evaluating quality of retirement life in a foreign country is the book “Retirement Without Borders.” I have not read the book yet but this interview of the author is intriguing.  I particularly find it interesting how much the author – who lives in Mexico and the U.S. – now favors renting over owning. It does make sense, even though inexpensive real estate is a prime attraction of many foreign retirement destinations. If you can have a home base here in the states, retirement living in a foreign country can be like taking really long vacations. If you don’t like the your experience and are renting rather than buying, you just leave and try another destination. That seems like the ideal compromise.

Relying on quality of life assessments of foreign countries by others is a risky proposition. I’m sure there are plenty of folks who think I’m crazy to be critical of France as a place to live, for example. So try it yourself, but don’t overlook the practical issues. I’m not the kind of person who can tolerate a bureaucracy where it takes weeks or months just to get Internet access. Others may not care.

Now back to my retirement dreaming ….

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