Retire like Royalty in a low-cost paradise

Sunday morning at one of our beaches - no rush, no fuss!

MSN Money recently ran this story on Retirement. We excerpt the portion that relates to Belize:

Many Americans looking to retire early and live in style find themselves tempted by low prices in pristine, faraway lands. Here are 5 keys to really making it work -- and a few delightful destinations to consider.

Even after a long bear market of bloodletting in the stock market, you still haven't given up on your dream of retiring early. The only question is how

The answer for a growing number of Americans making the leap into early retirement is moving to a country with a lower cost of living. The U.S. State Department estimates some 4 million Americans live abroad, not counting military and embassy folks. About a quarter of those are estimated to be retirees.

Poke around on the Web, and youll find a whole industry devoted to retirees looking to live like a despot on $15 a day -- usually under tropical skies with daily maid service and umbrella-bedecked drinks thrown in for good measure.

From a financial perspective, spending your golden years overseas is certainly tantalizing. Consider how far your Social Security checks might go:

* In Ajijic, Mexico, a community near Guadalajara thats home to more than 3,000 expatriate Americans, where you can rent a sprawling three-bedroom, two-bath hacienda for about $700 a month.
* In English-speaking Belize, where retirees don't have to pay taxes on the first $75,000 of income and where property taxes on a $500,000 home run about $90 a year.
* In Spain, where the weather is good, health care is affordable and the rest of Europe is at your doorstep.

The cost of living may even be low enough for you to retire years earlier than you might otherwise.

Louisiana banker Tom Vidrine, for example, fell in love with Belize on his first trip to the Central American country in 1990. He bought a vacation home and spent the next seven years saving money so that he could retire in 1997 at the ripe old age of 45. He says an American can live a comfortable life on one of Belizes many tropical islands for $2,000 a month, or half of that on the mainland.

My only regret, said Vidrine, is that I did not come sooner.

The full MSN story is here

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