Best Country to Retire

Whether it’s adventure, sand, sun and sea or maximizing your retirement’s worth that you’re after, it’s good to consider living abroad for the rest of your golden years.  One of the top destinations for retirees is Panama, mainly because of the perks that it offers to its pensioner population, tropical climate and value for money.

For single retirees, all you need is US$500 a month to get the special pensionado (pensioner) privileges in this country. Panama City was built by Americans while they were running the Panama Canal so it is a cosmopolitan city much like Miami. If you can’t afford Miami, then this is the place to go.

So what are the perks for retirees?

•    50% discounts on movies, theater, sporting events and concert tickets.
•    25% discounts on restaurants.
•    at least 30% discounts on hotel stays; 50% from Monday to Thursday.
•    import duty exemption for a new car every two years.
•    great health care system.
•    modern buildings, shopping centers, city convenience.

Panama’s weather can get so hot during summers and you may find it intolerable. You can choose to time your vacations during this time and head to colder places, like the mountainous regions of the country, if you can’t take the heat. But remember to learn Spanish first. While city dwellers can readily converse in English, that’s not the case in other parts of the country. To fully enjoy the countryside and explore more, you need to overcome the language barrier first.

-Stephanie

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Hello-

They say that when you reach the age of 60 or 70, your bones would be frail and that you would need to extend your sleeping hours and take naps in the afternoon, thus would not be able to keep up with the night life.

Well, I say you’re wrong and these stereotyped and preconceived notions about senior citizens should be thrown and placed inside a trash bin. Many people who would have hit retirement age are more than capable of staying up late at night and enjoy late evenings.

So where do adventurous, nocturnal people retire to? Where else but in the Kingdom of Thailand, a country that knows how to celebrate and always give its visitors and foreign retirees a rousing good time.

Various night bars, disco clubs, karaoke abound in this Southeast Asian country to cater to the different tastes and budgets of its patrons. Bright lights from these establishments beckon to its prospective clients to enter.

And if you grow tired of the nightlife and would like to slow down, in this Kingdom there are a lot picturesque sandy beaches to choose such as the Phuket Island, Krabi Phi Phi Island, Koh Lanta, Koh Samui, Koh Chang, and Koh Samet.

Enjoy the solitude as you walk barefoot along the white sandy beaches while sipping your favorite glass of pina colada or you could laze around on your beach chair or lie on your towel. It is not too late to get a tanned skin you know.

But the you ask yourself this would be a dream come true, but can a pensioner really afford this kind of retirement lifestyle. The answer is a definite yes. The cost of living is much more affordable in Thailand than in some other countries especially if you came from a European country or from the United States.

Since Thailand is a favorite place of tourists, the locals have had a lot of time to brush up on their English, so communication with them would not be a problem. You could even have enough money to hire the services of a housekeeper to help you with your daily chores.

You can rent a room and eat 3 meals a day for around $24 USD!  Talk about affordable retirement living.

The Thai government is so accommodating that it would not give interested foreign retirees a hard time to settle down. In order to get a retirement visa in Thailand, it requires the basic such as the applicant has to submit the documents such as a health certificate from a hospital within a three month period, no criminal record certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, a certificate of income or pension, and a photocopy of the passport showing that he or she has been going back and forth to Thailand for the past three years.

This is just a small sample of what makes Thailand one of the best countries to live and retire.

-Stephanie

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After all your hard work, you definitely want to retire in place where you can relax and live your life to the fullest. Some dream of retiring near the beach, up in the mountains, or in a secluded town far from busy city streets.
 
Norway is still the best country in the world to live and retire in according to the annual Human Development Report produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
 
This paradise is a long, narrow country on the northwestern edge of the European continent. The northern third of Norway lies above the Arctic Circle and is called the land of the Midnight Sun. Because this region is so far north, it has long periods every summer when the sun shines 24 hours a day. Oslo, Norway’s capital and largest city, is in the southern part of the country.

Norway, along with Denmark and Sweden, is one of the Scandinavian countries. It is the world’s third largest oil exporter and western Europe’s largest gas producer. It has been saving oil revenues in a fund worth around $190 billion for future generations.

Ever since the Vikings left home waters in the ninth century, Norway has drawn strength from the sea. Today its merchant and oil-tanker fleets are among the world’s largest, and its fishing flotilla lands Western Europe’s biggest catch.

Wealth from oil and gas in the North Sea, first tapped in the early 1970s, subsidizes public health and welfare programs

Norway is mostly a high, mountainous plateau covered by bare rock, and it has a relatively small amount of farmland. But the rivers that rush down from the mountains provide much cheap electricity. Norway generates more hydroelectric power per person than any other country. Norwegian manufacturing is based on this cheap power. Important products of Norway include chemicals, metals, petroleum, processed foods, and wood pulp and paper. Norway is one of Europes largest producer of petroleum due to its massive oil reserves. Which has made Norwegians one of the richest people in the world.
 
The climate of Norway is much milder than that of most other regions as far north, especially along the country’s west coast.

Outdoor sports are an important part of Norwegian life. Recreation areas lie within short distances of all homes. Skiing, Norway´s national sport, may have started there thousands of years ago as a means of crossing the snowcovered land. Almost every town has a ski jump. The second most popular winter activity is ice-skating. Norwegians also have long enjoyed bandy, a form of hockey played by 11-player teams on large rinks.

Soccer is the favourite summer sport. Norway’s forests and mountains provide many other recreational opportunities.
 
Norwegians have contributed much to the development of the arts. Henrik lbsen’s realistic plays of the late 1800´s brought him worldwide fame as the father of modern drama. Three Norwegian writers have won the Nobel Prize for literature. The painter Edvard Munch was a strong influence on the expressionist art style of the early 1900´s. Statues by Gustav Vigeland, perhaps Norway’s greatest sculptor, stand in Oslo’s Frogner Park. Edvard Grieg, Norway’s bestknown composer, used melodies from folk songs and dances in his orchestral works.

Norway has a relatively low crime rate remains largely free of terrorist incidents. Norway provides retirement, disability and survivors benefits.

Add all this up and you can begin to see what makes Norway the best country to retire in Europe.

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If you are looking for a place to sate your dreams of living like gods and goddesses, relive the valiant, never-say-die last stand of the heroic 300 Spartans, and experience the true Olympic spirit, then Greece is very willing to welcome and embrace you in its arms. The Hellenic Republic is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia and Africa. It is easy to see what makes Greece a best country to retire to.

Heir to the heritages of ancient Greece, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, Greece is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama including both tragedy and comedy. A country which truly offers an old world charm, the history of the world beckons at your feet once you start to explore the legacy left by the ancients that once live there.

A developed country and member of the European Union, it has progressed and steadily climbed to what it is now. Greek culture has evolved over thousands of years, with its beginnings in the Mycenaean and Minoan Civilizations, continuing most notably into Classical Greece. These fusions of different periods had significant influence on Greece, revitalizing and giving birth to a single entity of its multi-faceted culture throughout the ages.

If you are a food connoisseur, Greek cuisine will definitely make your mouth water at the prospect of having a healthy Mediterranean diet. Incorporating fresh ingredients into a variety of local dishes such as Greek Salad and the world famous Souvlaki, Greeks often enjoy eating from small dishes with various dips such as grilled octopus and small fish, feta cheese, dolmades (rice, currants and pine kernels wrapped in vine leaves), various pulses, olives and cheese.

Olive oil is added to almost every dish. Sweet desserts, drinks and a variety of wines will definitely make you forget your diet.  When you go island-hopping, the Greeks will offer you different kinds and versions of their cuisine that you will feel like a god on a cruise.

An essential part of Greece’s history is its long tradition in sports. Known as the progenitor  of the Olympics and home of the first modern Games, the ancient Greeks propensity of excelling in every endeavor can be seen in their unofficial adaptation of that old adage “All work and no play, makes John a dull boy”. It not only cultivated the basic philosophy of life as seen in the works of Socrates and Plato, it also valued the need to relax and stretch those muscles through sports.  The gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus await you if you ever decide to live and take their place in Greece.

Those are just a few reasons that make Greece a best country to retire

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