Where to Retire: What to Look for When Choosing the Best Places to Retire

Where to Retire Factors and the Best Places to Retire criteria adapted from the retirement book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

According to International Living, "Once you allow yourself to look beyond U.S. shores for a place to retire, the choices get downright exciting. Mexico, sure. But how about Panama? Or France? Or Romania? The right spot can allow you to live the life you'd only dreamed of: crashing surf, mountain air, bustling cities. You can comb beaches to your heart's content, or you can find a place to learn. You can relax, or you can find new opportunities."

If you are thinking of relocating to one of the best places to retire in the world, but don't know where, the question that arises is, "Where to Retire? What makes a good place to retire?" You must examine your priorities: What type of climate do you want to live in? What activities do you like, and are they available in your list of possible cities or countries to relocate to? Do you care more about a low cost of living or health care? What about safety?

For The Top 22 Things to Look For and Enjoy in a New Retirement Location that will help you choose where to retire, see Chapter 8: Relocate to Where Retirement Living Is Best in the bestselling retirement book on Amazon.com called How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

Note: Another article about the best places to retire in the world by Ernie J. Zelinski was originally published with the title Retirement Planning Tips on the Best Places to Retire on several websites.

Check out Where to Retire on Squidoo:

The Coast Is Not Necessarily One of the Best Places to Retire

Retirees Urged to Rethink Retirement Plans for a Slower Retirement Life on the Coast as One of The Best Places to Retire

Recent research about where to retire released from Queensland's Griffith University in Australia suggests that a move to the coast may not help retirees realize their dreams or retirement plans. Indeed, the beach is certainly not one of the best places to retire for many retirees. Research team leader Michael Davies says city dwellers, adjusting to life after work and asking the question, "Where is the best place to retire?", can find it difficult to relocate to a quieter place on the coast.

Dr. Davies claims that people do not understand the shock that can come from leaving a busy work schedule and a network of friends to move to the beach. "Generally when you're looking at a transition like retirement you need to think a bit about what that change will mean for you," Dr Davies said.

"I guess for those who don't think long and hard about how they want to retire to maximise their opportunities and to maximise their lifestyle and well being, then I think there can be some problems."

Significance of Money When You Retire

Individuals looking forward to retirement must determine what sort of lifestyle will make them happy and how much money they will need to support it. They must then take steps to ensure that they will have enough money to support this lifestyle. An A G SunAmerica study found that satisfaction is positively related to the number of years individuals save for retirement. More than 60 percent of those who saved for twenty-five years or more reported being extremely satisfied with their retirement. Just over half of those who saved for fifteen to twenty-four years were extremely satisfied, and only 46 percent of those who saved for less than fifteen years were extremely satisfied.

Note: Check out excerpts from the book 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement:

Significance of Money When You Retire

A major dilemma faces many of us as we try to decide when is the best time to retire. It involves our finances. This dilemma is best summarized by the words of Bertolt Brecht: "Life is short, and so is money."

Everyone has decisions to make about money and what each is willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of it. Here are a few quotations regarding money to place it in proper perspective:



The 777 Best Things Ever Said about Money

Perhaps It's Time to Tell Your Boss, "I'm Outta Here," and Retire Happy

Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;
You've played, and loved, and ate, and drunk your fill:
Walk sober off; before a sprightlier age
Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage:
— Alexander Pope

Soon there may come a time when you won't want to work at your career anymore. You will have had enough of the pretending that happens in the typical workplace. Working at nebulous activities just for the money can go on only so long before you realize that you are in a state of mental inertia. You will start wondering why so many workers blindly accept confinement to rigid work hours, waiting until they are in their sixties or seventies to be put out to pasture — either by layoff or poor health.

After focusing on the negatives of the typical workplace long enough, you will start looking at alternatives. As is to be expected, the thought of early retirement will appear highly promising. It will be easy to fantasize about the wonderful things that you can do once you retire — go on three cruises a year, spend a lot of time with your grandchildren, spend a year in a monastery, or live in Costa Rica for a year. If you have recently been having similar fantasies, perhaps it's time to tell your boss, "I'm outta here."

Note: The above is excerpted from the book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.