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Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, and more. This show is an extension of the book How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.howtoretireontime.com.
This show is intended for those within 10 years of their target retirement date or for those are are currently retired and are concerned about their ability to stay retired.
Welcome to how to retire on time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income taxes, Social Security, health care, and more. This show is an extension of the book, How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon, or you can go to www.howtoretireontime.com. My name is Mike Decker. I'm the author of the book, How to Retire on Time, but I'm also a licensed financial advisor, insurance agent, and tax professional, which means when it comes to financial topics, we can pretty much talk about it all. Now that said, please remember this is just a show.
Mike:Everything you hear should be considered informational, as in not financial advice. If you want personalized financial advice, then request your wealth analysis from my team today by going to www.yourwealthanalysis.com. With me in the studio today is my, esteemed colleague, mister David Fransen. David, thanks for being here. Yes.
Mike:Thank you for having me here. David's gonna be reading your questions, and I'm gonna do my best to answer them. You can send your questions in right now or anytime during the week. Just save this number, (913) 363-1234. Text them in, (913) 363-1234, or you can email them to heymike@howtoretireontime.com.
Mike:Let's begin.
David:Hey, Mike. How do you plan for retirement if you want to live abroad?
Mike:Great question.
David:Yeah. It sounds like fun. I'd like to do that. Yeah.
Mike:Where would if you could live abroad, where would you live?
David:In Costa Rica.
Mike:Why Costa Rica?
David:I visited there once, and, the food was great. The people were nice, and it was cheap.
Mike:That's fair. Yeah. If it were me, it it would be Southern Mexico. Or, in the Dominican Republic, there's this place called Casa De Campo. It's incredible.
Mike:Uh-huh. I mean, just pristine. And it'd be nice because I speak Spanish. Yeah. So but anyway, it it's a fun question to entertain because your cost of living typically is less Mhmm.
Mike:When you move abroad. A lot of concerns about Social Security or the tax ramifications of all that. So here's my general guidance. Start with Social Security and look up the 70 or whatever the countries are that support Social Security if you live there. So if you if you maintain a United States citizenship and you move to one of the approved countries, you'll be able to maintain your Social Security payments really for life.
Mike:Mhmm. There's an agreement with these governments and their Social Security similar programs and ours and and all that that allows people to live abroad but still collect their payments. I mean, it's cash flow.
David:Mhmm. Why
Mike:would you wanna give that up? Right?
David:Right.
Mike:If you're not a US citizen, you know, so you're here green card, working Visa, whatever it might be, and you've worked for ten years or more, you may qualify for Social Security. In that case, though, you may need to come back to The States every now and then to maintain that payment.
David:Mhmm.
Mike:So for the noncitizens who qualify, there's there's some nuance in there, so we wanna look into that. But look for these countries, and it's just it maintains that cash flow. From there, then you can start to break apart. Okay. Well, what's the cost of living?
Mike:What's that look like? Do you need to maintain a physical residence here? And if so, those are the kind of the more technical issues there. Living abroad can be a very fun thing. Costa Rica is very popular.
Mike:Thailand's a popular place. The Philippines, you've got Mexico is very, very popular as well. So it's a lot of places to go. But when you're doing the planning, the first thing is what countries aren't listed. Second thing is what's the cost of living over there.
Mike:And the third thing is what do I need to keep in The United States territory
David:Okay.
Mike:To maintain certain benefits?
David:Okay.
Mike:Maybe you move to a country that has universal health care, but you wanna maintain your Medicare benefits as well. And with Medicare, by the way, you may consider a supplemental plan or an advantage plan that may be geared towards those who live abroad because those plans vary greatly
David:Mhmm.
Mike:With certain benefits. Mhmm.
David:When you are receiving payments, do you get it in American dollars, or is it, that country's currency? How does it is there a conversion? Or do we know?
Mike:Yeah. I mean, usually, I'd say keep your American bank. So your Social Security and other payments, if you have a pension, all of that, you know, keep it in American currency, stick it in the bank, and then use a credit card if you can. I I have no affiliation with Chase. Right?
Mike:It's just what I have, ironically, but they don't have foreign transaction fees.
David:Oh, right. Right. Yes.
Mike:So and then you could just pay a US bank with a US credit card and settle it up that way.
David:Oh, right.
Mike:And then limit how much cash you have on hand for the other vendors and experiences that might not take a credit card.
David:Okay.
Mike:I mean, look at Argentina Oh. And how their currency has rapidly changed over the years. So you wanna diversify even with currency, but American currency, I can't say is always more stable. It's just less volatile than some of these other countries. Mhmm.
Mike:So you wanna at least keep some currency or some of your money in US dollars. That's my opinion. You could explore the Japanese, the yen, if you really wanted to hedge in different currencies. Going down a bit of a rabbit hole here.
David:That's what we do sometimes.
Mike:The British pound Yeah. If you're concerned about currency and inflation with that currency, but I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. I know there's a lot of politics right now. I know there's a lot of oversimplified claims. Oh, tariffs are gonna destroy our currency.
Mike:No. That's not actually how it works. You're listening to how to retire on time. That's all the time we've got for the show today. If you enjoyed the show, consider subscribing to it wherever you get your podcast.
Mike:Just search for how to retire on time. Discover if your portfolio is built to weather flat market cycles or if you're missing tax minimization opportunities that you may not even know exist. Explore strategies that may be able to help you lower your overall risk while potentially increasing your overall growth and lifestyle flexibility. This is not your ordinary financial analysis. Learn more about Your Wealth Analysis and what it could do for you regardless of your age, asset, or target retirement date.
Mike:Go to www.yourwealthanalysis.com today to learn more and get started.