Friday, May 7, 2010

Paean to Mexico Living

As a corollary to Andres Oppenheimer's recent article "Mexico's Big Hope: Get 5 Million U.S. Retirees" in the Miami Herald, Chris B. recently posted the following commentary in a Yahoo group. Quoted with Chris's permission:
Mexican banks are already making it easier to deposit your pension or social security checks.

I think many more Americans will look for refuge in Mexico as health care will not be resolved anytime soon.
I am currently in San Antonio, Tx and am shocked at prices in the supermarket, apartment rentals, and the cost of utilities. If I were a retiree it would drive me to move to Mexico.


I can't seem to spend more than 700 dollars a month for expenses including; three vehicle insurance policies (two cars and one rv), cable, electric, gas, internet, telephone, gym, exterminator, club campestre dues, and private healthcare insurance. This doesn't include gasoline or groceries. My house is paid for but I couldn't survive in the U.S. with this budget.

Most of my friends in the U.S. are retirees who didn't plan well for their retirement. They barely scrape by month to month. Utilities and healthcare are eating them alive.


Imagine all the foreigners who live fulltime in Mexico. If there are 1.5 million Americans, what about Canadians and Europeans?

Apart from lower living expenses you can't beat the variety of foods, fresh produce, sunshine, culture and language.

chris b.
monterrey, nuevo leon

"Mexico's Big Hope: Get 5 Million U.S. Retirees"
Chris B's Blog
Stretch your dollars in Patzcuaro

2 comments:

Michael Dickson said...

The popular myth is that there are 1 million Gringos living in Mexico. First time I´ve seen somebody use the 1.5 million figure. I´m sure it will start to spread too, perhaps from Chris B. The fact is that nobody knows how many Americans live in Mexico. The Mexican government is the only entity that keeps track. The last I saw was a few years back when they said the number was about 250,000.

Moving to a new country, especially one so utterly different culturally from the United States and Canada, is not something most folks can do easily, I don´t think.

But I do recommend it. Go to San Miguel, however.

The cost of living in the United States these days is astounding.

Tracy Novinger said...

Good Pátzcuaro living is a well-kept secret.