Best Places to Retire

Assuming you have planned your retirement to a tee and you wake up as described on the previous page. Where are you? Did you finish off paying your mortgage and occupying your own home, or are you still paying your home off? Did things go terribly wrong and you find yourself living with your children? Perhaps you decided to sell your home and retire to a luxurious retirement village.

Wherever you find yourself on your first day of retirement, it needs to be foreseen in the planning you did in your earlier years. Just as you need to plan your finances, so too do you need to plan your final home. Again, there are multiple options available to you. The examples mentioned above are only some of the choices available to you.

Increasingly, retirees are selling their homes and moving into ‘retirement villages' that are luxurious, safer and quieter. These are by no means cheap though. If this is what you ultimately want for yourself and your spouse, you need to set up a solid plan to be able to afford it.

Alternative options that a significant amount of retirees are opting for, is retiring in a foreign country. Asia, New Zealand and Africa are popular choices. Keep in mind that immigrating to a foreign country can be stressful and the exchange rate and cost of living may or may not work in your favour. If you are considering immigrating seriously, research the country you are interested in emigrating to thoroughly. If you pick up and leave and things don't work out as expected, you could be left with nothing to your name. Ensure that you work through an established agency and that you follow all legal precautions precisely.

If you decide to keep your home, whether it is paid for or not, or if you decide to move into a retirement community, you need to keep maintenance costs in mind. Rates and taxes will always be there, regardless of who you are or where you buy or own property. Paying garden services, a maid, maintenance people and assorted other odds and ends can add up very quickly.

Ultimately, where you wish to spend your retirement depends, as always, on you. You need to make provision for any choice you make and ensure you have a backup plan. You do not want to end up penniless and alone in your golden years.