Retiring Abroad
How exciting! You have worked all your life and now you get to live it how you want to! You have worked hard for much of your life and you deserve now to enjoy yourself. These golden years are a fabulous opportunity to make a real change and hopefully this article will give you some things to consider.
1. Determine your retirement goals
Retirement goals can be different from person to person, and these impact which country you may want to move to. These retirement goals include:
- Saving money by living somewhere which has a lower cost of living.
- Travelling the world after retirement.
- Being closer to your children/relations.
- Retiring early and investing in foreign property.
- Being of service to others through volunteer work.
2. Select the retirement location
Your retirement goal will help you decide which country is the best place to move to, after you retire. Try a short-visit to the retirement location to see if you like it
Before you apply for a Permanent Residency visa for relocation, visit your chosen country for a stay of a few weeks. Live exactly how you plan to live when you do retire. This will give you a fair idea about how life may be like after you retire.
3. Identify which visa applies to you
While some countries have a program for retirees relocating to their nation, others offer the regular Permanent Resident or Citizenship route. Depending on which option is available to you, the visa application process will also vary. You can check the options you have on the government/embassy’s website.
4. Make the best of your financial situation
Your finances should support you when you move abroad, especially if the country you’re retiring to has a higher cost of living. So:
- Check if are eligible for any financial or non-financial benefits in that country post-retirement.
- Find out if you can apply for a retiree-specific job there (such as a museum guide).
- Find out what tax exemptions you can apply for certain remittances.
- If you are keeping your pension and savings in your home country, find a safe and inexpensive way to make transfers, often this will not be through your bank but through a specialist company like ChangeGroup who can set up a regular payments process carefully and securely. For more information visit our Global Transfers pages.
- Contact your insurance provider to work out feasible rates post-relocation, or introductions to insurance providers in your destination.
- Identify your tax obligations and find out how you can reduce them.
5. Identify the best healthcare plans
While most healthcare insurance policies have global coverage, some of them may cost more overseas. In that case, it’s best to find an alternate, local provider for your healthcare or old age needs.
6. Make plans for housing
Decide whether you will sell or rent your current property while you relocate overseas. This decision will help you choose whether to purchase or rent a house in your new country. When choosing housing in the new country, consider renting first. If you don’t have a lot of possessions you want to bring with you, you can even consider staying in different AirBnB’s and travelling the length and breadth of your new homeland, exploring its unique haunts. Many AirBnB owners accept all cash payments and you can live on a small budget before finally renting a home in the city of your choice.
7.Transport Plans
Will you be using a car regularly? If you will be driving you may need to retake your drivers licence locally as many countries require this for permanent residents. Also make sure that any car is modern enough to reach the increasing environmental standards so you can sue it without having to pay extra penalties. Of course you can always always bring your old car with you, but you may find it cheaper and easier to buy a new one when you arrive than deal with all the registration procedures and tax issues. Of course if you choose somewhere with excellent public transport and where most things are within walking distance, you might not even need a car at all!
8. Be flexible and realistic
Finally, before relocating overseas, be realistic about your life overseas. How will your life be with different sets of friends and family? How often will you return to your home country if that is important to you? Make sure you have a clear plan on moving again if you need to for any reason.