retiring in Belize
August 18, 2006 8:23 AM Subscribe
Do any of you live in Belize? A friend of mine is toying with the idea of retiring in Belize and frankly he's got me curious as well. Have any of you actually done this or know anyone who has and would be willing to chat with him about it? Thanks in advance.
Sorry, this is going to be really vague, but...
to
When I was in high school, a friend moved away and we lost touch with her. About 5 years later (about 5 years ago, from now) she contacted one of us -- apparently she had, some time after moving away from us, moved to Belize for a year with her family to take charge of a B&B (I don't know the name) owned by an American who was going to be away (for whatever reason).
The point is, there is (was?) at least one B&B in Belize owned by an English-speaking expat. Perhaps if you could somehow find that place/similar places, you could strike up a discussion with the owners?
posted by penchant at 9:45 AM on August 18, 2006
to
When I was in high school, a friend moved away and we lost touch with her. About 5 years later (about 5 years ago, from now) she contacted one of us -- apparently she had, some time after moving away from us, moved to Belize for a year with her family to take charge of a B&B (I don't know the name) owned by an American who was going to be away (for whatever reason).
The point is, there is (was?) at least one B&B in Belize owned by an English-speaking expat. Perhaps if you could somehow find that place/similar places, you could strike up a discussion with the owners?
posted by penchant at 9:45 AM on August 18, 2006
Escapeartist has a bunch of articles about Belize on their site.
I can't vouch for the veracity of the information, it's just a site that I bumped into when evaluating non-US locations to retire to.
posted by Mutant at 10:20 AM on August 18, 2006
I can't vouch for the veracity of the information, it's just a site that I bumped into when evaluating non-US locations to retire to.
posted by Mutant at 10:20 AM on August 18, 2006
Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II. Got to be OK...
posted by A189Nut at 10:33 AM on August 18, 2006
posted by A189Nut at 10:33 AM on August 18, 2006
So, my former friend Melissa vacations there every year, her mother lives there half the year. The exchange rate is pinned at 2:1 (i.e., two belizean dollars = one use dollar), and obviously the climate is what you'd expect. She always talked it up, said how great it was, how she'd want to retire there some day, get some kind of telecommuting job or a simple tech job in Belize City (where the competition wouldn't be fierce when you've come from Seattle) and that small amount of money, plus savings from the "real world", would put you in a pretty cozy position.
So I went to visit while she was spending the spring there, back in 2001, thinking "Wow, the idea of semi-retiring, living the beach life after building up some capital here in the States... that sounds kind of fun".
I HATED it. Well, maybe not hated, but while it's very pretty, it's so removed, so remote... if that's what you're looking for you might like it, but I suspect other areas are just as nice and not so undeveloped. That kind of echoes what Floydd said: the abstract concept sounds good, but for god's sake vacation there (it's not that pricy) first to be sure. There's quite an expat community, but in the two weeks I was there (Caye Caulker), the expats were looked down on by the islanders, and they didn't seem that happy.
Me, I could never give up the modern conveniences... so you and your friend should find a way to spend at least two weeks there, enough time that you really feel the withdrawal from modern life, and decide if that's for you.
posted by hincandenza at 10:36 AM on August 18, 2006
So I went to visit while she was spending the spring there, back in 2001, thinking "Wow, the idea of semi-retiring, living the beach life after building up some capital here in the States... that sounds kind of fun".
I HATED it. Well, maybe not hated, but while it's very pretty, it's so removed, so remote... if that's what you're looking for you might like it, but I suspect other areas are just as nice and not so undeveloped. That kind of echoes what Floydd said: the abstract concept sounds good, but for god's sake vacation there (it's not that pricy) first to be sure. There's quite an expat community, but in the two weeks I was there (Caye Caulker), the expats were looked down on by the islanders, and they didn't seem that happy.
Me, I could never give up the modern conveniences... so you and your friend should find a way to spend at least two weeks there, enough time that you really feel the withdrawal from modern life, and decide if that's for you.
posted by hincandenza at 10:36 AM on August 18, 2006
Echoing what hincandenza said, you really need to visit before thinking about moving there. Many of the first world conveniences we take for granted like good roads, security and health care aren't readily available there. Belize once offered incentives for retirees, but those have evaporated in the last year or two, and in fact taxes have gone up quite a bit for gringos.
You might want to check out belizenorth, written by a fellow who lived there for a few years, but has since moved back to the states. He has a page that summarizes the expat experience fairly well. You can email him if you have any specific questions.
As an alternative, some folks are now retiring to Panama. The down sides are a language barrier (Spanish in Panama vs. English in Belize), and expats there tend to live in walled compounds, away from the country's culture. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, but to each their own.
posted by SteveInMaine at 12:14 PM on August 18, 2006
You might want to check out belizenorth, written by a fellow who lived there for a few years, but has since moved back to the states. He has a page that summarizes the expat experience fairly well. You can email him if you have any specific questions.
As an alternative, some folks are now retiring to Panama. The down sides are a language barrier (Spanish in Panama vs. English in Belize), and expats there tend to live in walled compounds, away from the country's culture. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, but to each their own.
posted by SteveInMaine at 12:14 PM on August 18, 2006
Joe Bageant, well known lefty blogger who's been mentioned a few times on MeFi, has Belize connections and writes periodically about his goal of retiring there. He seems quite willing to answer emails.
posted by rob511 at 6:36 PM on August 18, 2006
posted by rob511 at 6:36 PM on August 18, 2006
Belize is only brushed or hit by a hurricane once every 3.86 years. Even Florida gets hit more often than that. Of course, in Florida, they have to build houses accordingly now.
posted by paulsc at 6:55 AM on August 19, 2006
posted by paulsc at 6:55 AM on August 19, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
The Belize Forums are a good source of information.
posted by Floydd at 9:35 AM on August 18, 2006