Thinking of Moving Overseas? We're Too Old to Make Big Mistakes

Too Old for This Sh*t: How to Take Your Life Back from an Ageist Society

Photo by Julia Solonina on Unsplash

One author takes this very seriously. Here’s how it’s going, Part II

Dear Reader: The above photo is from Portugal, one of several very popular spots for ex-pat/immigrant Western retirees. My personal exploration is Ecuador, but I strongly recommend you look around and be thorough. Above all do NOT just sell and land in a wholly new culture based on a sales pitch or curated comments from Happy Expats who haven’t lived there more than at least five years.

Paul W. sat across from me at lunch this past week. He’s one of the two top movers for gringos eager to find a new place in Ecuador. One of his stories is worth sharing.

Some years ago, a woman of means lost her husband, read about Ecuador in International Living, and decided immediately to make the move. No preparation, no investigation, no research. She loaded up a few big containers and down she came.

Figure about twelve grand or so plus expenses per 40-ft container. She had several. It’s a massive undertaking, to say nothing of the time and labor.

Barely three months later, she was done. Couldn’t find her community, wasn’t happy. Didn’t like the weather, the people, nobody spoke English. Nothing but complaints. Lost the tens of thousands it cost her to ship the big containers, walked away from all her goods. That was the end of that.

She could afford it. Could you?

Seduced by the gorgeous photos and the sales pitch from slick magazines, too many people repeat that very expensive mistake.

You can get a stunning penthouse here in downtown Cuenca for a comparative song, compared to American prices. AND you can get healthcare here for a comparative song.

But there is fine print.

A great deal of fine print, which is the case for any country that any immigrant decides to high-tail it to for a better life.

Those two big ticket items are enough to make anyone want to ditch it all and come on down. That’s especially true if you’re older like I am and am genuinely concerned about not being plunged into extreme poverty with one accident or illness.

That’s America and getting worse by the second.

The scaffolding many of us paid into may well collapse on us all. Inquiries into getting the hell out of Dodge are way up right now.

However, please, folks, this is a very serious endeavor, and it is absolutely not for the faint of heart or those who can’t adapt well to extreme change and constant discomfort.

My focus is Ecuador. Others are looking at Spain, some Eastern Europe, Vietnam. Do your research, beginning with Tim Leffel’s excellent book, updated regularly (he also has a FB page and you can get personal advice): A Better Life at Half the Price.

By the way if you think Spanish is hard to learn, try Vietnamese. I did try.

Tim regularly updates his work so that the countries offering the best opportunities for ex-pats are included. It’s a very fluid world, new leaders have different visions.

Please look in our own back yard to see how immigrants are being treated in the USA. That currently includes legal immigrants who did everything right and are still being summarily kicked out.

If you move overseas, that could happen to us as well. One newly-elected leader could get the populace stirred up about those lousy American expats and get every one of us drummed out, losing our real estate investments and worse.

In fact, if said leader is mad enough about how their folks were treated in the US, they might feel justified in treating American expats the same way.

It’s a reality anywhere. If you can’t handle uncertainty, this may not be the best move for you. Still, let’s talk.

I’ve dug deeply into Ecuador for the last several weeks to see what I can learn. These are my observations from being in country much of February.

Your reasons for moving are different from mine and you aren’t me. I do well with discomfort and I bloody well love a challenge.

If you want to research Ecuador, most especially Cuenca, I strongly recommend Stephen Vargha’s comprehensive Una Nueva Vida - A New Life: A Rejuvenated Enthusiasm in Cuenca, Ecuador.

I’ve spent time with Stephen and his wife Joanna. Those meetings have allowed me to get their understanding of the culture as well as the challenges faced by anyone considering such a huge move.

Stephen and his wife are understandably enthusiastic about living in Cuenca. His book explores all the good things about being here. To his credit Stephen also addresses some of the not-so-good, part of which I want to touch on here as a reality check.

Please also see this Business Insider article on Stephen and his wife.

Here are some angles that many don’t consider when reading the International Living articles which gush about All The Wonderful Things About Living Overseas.

What about healthcare?

Most favored ex-pat locations are starting to demand health insurance with higher deductibles if for no other reason than many Americans show up very ill. Health care costs are lower, but you still need insurance. Tomorrow I meet with an insurance broker to discuss my options.

Here, pre-existing conditions affect your coverage.

There are no long-term care or end-of-life facilities in many if not most of these developing countries. That’s done by extended family members. That may change, but don’t plan to move here to get those services.

Stephen told me that some well-established gringos are looking into creating facilities. That will take time that many don’t currently have. They may have to move back to the States.

Still, retirees move here in droves, and some with significant illnesses. They will eventually need care that isn’t currently available.

Disabled? Wheelchair-bound?

There is no such thing as the ADA here. There are virtually no facilities for handicapped folks. A few places might have a ramp in an expensive ex-pat building, but you’re likely housebound. No public transportation can accommodate you, everything is stairs.

To say nothing of badly-maintained sidewalks which send capable walkers flying. They are a fact of life.

Most local taxis can’t put our super-sized bodies in their cars, either.

At the risk of being attacked about being fat-phobic, I am going to call this out. You do not see an obesity epidemic down here. Local taxis, trams, all the public transportation are designed with the smaller Latin American body in mind.

Including ceilings. I looked at two rental properties here and beaned my brain hard on sloped ceilings meant for locals a good six inches shorter. It was funny, but you can get seriously hurt.

Another perfect example is the stairwell to the top of my hostel. There’s a charming cupola up there where you can plug in your computer, open the windows and work while looking out over the city. Here’s what that looks like:

But getting up the stairway? No bannisters, the stairs are slick tile, and very, very narrow. There is no OSHA here. In this World Heritage City, outside the residential buildings you won’t often find the kinds of comfortable upgrades and elevators we take for granted in the States. You’re walking. And it’s 8000 feet high.

If you’re a double-wide, and I used to be, you aren’t getting up there.

Most of the rest of the world isn’t designed to accommodate the massive American body.

If you’re seriously considering moving overseas and your weight is debilitating enough to be considered a disability, you must take this into account.

However, here’s the good news. Cuenca and places like it are walking cities. EVERYBODY walks here.

Photo by Lucy Mui on Unsplash

Here’s the terrific news

Not only that, the availability of inexpensive, excellent produce means that you can head out every single day to the mercado, load up with fresh fruits and vegetables and eat like a king for vastly less money.

Then you walk. Everywhere. Cuenca, among other places, is blessed with gorgeous architecture, thickets of trees, four tumbling rivers and so much more.

Lots of Westerners who move here watch the pounds roll off because they start using their bodies again at the same time their consumption of fruits and veggies improves. The opportunity is here to transform your health but you have to take advantage of it.

Stephen dropped some twenty pounds. His story is very typical.

Even so, the prevalence of gringos in any one place means that local stores stock what they want, like Jif peanut butter. You and I would be better served to buy raw peanuts and have them ground, but Americans gotta have their junk food.

What about your money?

Too many expats try to hide taxable income from their host countries. Because of the prevalence of money laundering, this is getting harder to do.

Ecuador doesn’t have a tax treaty with the US. Immigrants have to pay taxes on ALL our income. Including what we make in America. You read that right. However, the list of what we can deduct is endless (rent, mortgage, pet food, yes pet food, our food….) and if we’re over 65 we get all kinds of breaks.

I strongly suggest you plan to play by the rules. The alternative could be, well, costly.

Too many Westerners want all of life for free, for others to bear the burden of their poor health choices, and for a much poorer economy to carry the cost of fixing their broken bodies, and not even bother to learn enough language to engage in basic courtesies.

That’s what American imperialism looks like. It’s not welcomed anywhere.

Those of you who travel enough, you understand.

We need to pay our way wherever we are

Increasingly we immigrants who want to purchase property and take advantage of the benefits of moving to a new country have to be far more transparent with all our resources and pay taxes on them.

Those taxes, as here in the US, pay for the healthcare so many Americans want and need. They pay for all kinds of services, like the sleek, brand-new trams which run almost silently through town. The efficient bus systems.

If we want better infrastructure in our new home, help pay for it.

If we want handicapped ramps, help pay for them.

Appreciate the culture

Once the honeymoon phase is over, people start noticing everything that’s wrong. Better advance research can mitigate this in this in most cases.

On Facebook expat sites, some immigrants comment on stupid locals, stupid local customs, publicly criticize local professionals (for which you are immediately and can be successfully sued here, which frankly I love) and trash the country which welcomed them with open arms.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, folks.

We as Americans can be brutal towards immigrants who have difficulty with the language, pay taxes whether legal or not, and who scratch their heads over what we find normal.

Like how we treat our very old.

Here, if you’re old and on the bus or tram, you are offered a seat.

Miss that? I do.

Learn and appreciate the culture you chose.

You might die here

If you’re older and married, and you move down here as a couple, what happens if your spouse dies?

One expat found out that there is no infrastructure to handle the removal of a dead body (no really).

If you can’t immediately make lots of friends, you’re really going to be lonely.

Community is everything in Latin America. Our attitudes about being independent are anathema to living well. Never will you find that so powerfully experienced as here, where family is everything.

In one case, the husband developed ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease).

The wife has stayed and flourished, but it was devastating. Retirees must take this into account.

Grief is hard enough to bear in your home country.

Overseas, you’re countries away from your family support system. If you’re strong and intrepid, you can carve out a whole new life.

The expat community in Cuenca sees its fair share of passings for the simple reason of the average age of the retiree. This is exacerbated by distance from familiar ways of dealing with death, extended family and friends.

Should you choose to move as a retiree couple or a single, dust off your connecting skills. Forty-four percent of all the retirees in Cuenca are single and often living alone. Plan for it.

For those willing to adapt, there is magic ahead

Gerard DeGroot

, in a recent piece about leaving the States, writes about one American couple who moved to France:

In their first podcast they discuss three myths that every American grows up with: that America is the greatest country on earth, that her citizens are uniquely free and that the quality of life is second to none. ‘We didn’t even realise … how ingrained these ideas are in the psyche of Americans until after we left’, Jason confesses. In later episodes they delve into more detail about quality of life: in France they've encountered healthier food, more accessible healthcare, a slower pace of life. And, most importantly, they feel safe.

OMG the drug cartels!!!

Move to Ecuador (Mexico, Colombia…), there are drug cartels operating along the coast where their supply chain can access ships.

Drug cartels are everywhere. As long as there is a huge demand for dope, they will flourish, along with all the violence with it.

There are desperate and desperately bad people who do all manner of things to survive. In America, we have allowed and encouraged all those desperate and angry people to arm themselves irrespective of their mental state.

You don’t see that kind of firearm proliferation here, but folks are getting caught in cartel crossfire. The online expat community is all up in arms about it as though they’re offended that their safe paradise has been invaded.

Most of those complaining are Americans. Look to your own back yard before complaining about gun violence.

At least in Latin America, you don’t see people shooting school children as though it’s target practice.

About that bucolic country life

One American woman, now 65, has been here ten years. Her brand-new country home was raided, she got smacked on the forehead by a gun and had a knife at her throat from a gang who heard she kept money at her house.

A Western woman living alone in the country is a target.

Police in other countries often cannot help you the same way you expect assistance in the USA. You have to build your community.

Such perils exist everywhere. Rich Westerners are of course targets. To help mitigate this you must learn the language. You must befriend locals. You must treat people with respect and regard and weave yourself into the fabric of society.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Developing countries are lagging Western countries in many ways

Many countries are decades behind the States, or were before Trump, in terms of how they treat animals, women, their environment and much more.

If you can’t handle seeing thousands of dogs with busted back legs dragging themselves around, if you can’t handle people selling four-week old puppies, don’t move overseas.

If you can’t handle Indigenous women dropping their butts to the street, lifting their skirts and excreting on the sidewalks, don’t move overseas.

Above all don’t move overseas and show up like a jerk telling your host country how to run their affairs. You are a GUEST. Grow up.

Do your research

A month before leaving, I read Tim’s book, Stephen’s book, investigated various options. I looked at Mexico, Spain and other places, considered the bureaucracy of their visa processes. I asked hard questions about what suited my value set. I’ve been to 47 countries already, including Ecuador.

By the time I landed in Cuenca, I had already set up appointments with an accountant, a visa lawyer, two different tech professionals, a real estate agent, an insurance broker and multiple ex-pats to get their take on what it’s like to live here.

I found and have spent time with people who have similar values, like horse folks who have made a home here.

I’ve met with a banker to find out how large sums are transferred not only for real estate transactions but how you protect your Social Security status, if in fact that continues.

The sales pitch that you can live well on your Social Security is just that: a sales pitch. For many, that may change overnight if this administration makes big cuts. These countries require minimum income so that you can survive well. If you can’t meet that income you can’t stay.

I see lots of posts from expats begging for work. You need to plan to land with those clients in hand. You have to prove that your income is solid over time. Every country is different.

The expats I listen to have been here from five to fifteen years. They’ve made it past the inevitable honeymoon period, been disgusted and frustrated, and stayed.

Of course it’s hard.

If you suffer from American exceptionalism, you will not do well overseas.

The more America is seen in a negative light, the less welcome we are in the world. Plan for this to worsen considerably in the coming years.

It takes a lot of careful thinking to do something this huge, late in life or any time. I already spent four years as an expat. Doing it again at 72 is very different.

Despite all the challenges it still looks like play.

the author collects a kiss from a nine day old colt

Thanks to all of you for reading. Please considering supporting my work if this is valuable to you. More on this topic to follow.

If someone you know is considering an overseas move, please consider