It's Official: Best Country for Retirement Announced

Sorry; I had such a problem with spatchcock!
My parents had a house in NZ, where they made many friends, and transferred Dad's cancer treatment over. They went for about 4 months a year, to escape the winter. but it is soooooo far, they had to sell it, as Dad couldn't My brother lives there; and you can get a visa for 6 months at a time, so having two houses isn't a problem; but I have known people retire to the US, and had to come back; no permit, no healthcare.
 

A widowed lady we knew in Sydney had no one left in Australia, only a daughter who'd married and moved to Montana. She decided she'd spend a few months there to 'test the waters' as it were. She was so glad she hadn't sold her house as she simply couldn't stand it there.

They lived on a grain farm with nothing to look at but crops in the summer and snow in the winter, and sky all year round.
Mae was a city and beaches 'girl'. She also said she couldn't find any company being so isolated and not able to drive, and that the paperwork involved in her moving there was gobsmacking. She also would have qualified for no benefits, fair enough, but couldn't possibly have afforded medical care in the US on an Australian pension.

She was back in her house in Sydney and making the most of the friends she had around her there when we left the district. Felt sorry for her though.
 
I guess it is quite easy to develop 'the grass is greener' approach, but try before you buy sounds very sensible.
we tend to yearn for better weather; then people say they hate being without the seasons!
 

A Canadian friend said she wouldn't consider living in OZ, that she'd miss the changing seasons too much. We have seasons, just not as intensely as she was used to. It's what you're used to I guess, I know I wouldn't last a week in a Canadian winter. Horses for courses.
 
Ozarkgal said:
I don't put a lot of credence on these "best places for" articles. There are pros and cons to every place and some are definite turn offs to some and pluses to others. Beaches and sunshine don't mean a flip if you can't afford to live there. On the other hand if you have a wad of money and want to live on or near the beach it might be just the right place.
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Agree...

Born and raised in the U.S.,there is no other country that can match living here in the good old USA.IMO
 
Diwundrin said:
A Canadian friend said she wouldn't consider living in OZ, that she'd miss the changing seasons too much. We have seasons, just not as intensely as she was used to. It's what you're used to I guess, I know I wouldn't last a week in a Canadian winter. Horses for courses.
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Sure you would! Nothing quite as nice as sitting by the fire with a mug of hot apple cider - or better still - hot chocolate with a shot of baileys. Canada is a big country and the weather varies from coast to coast. I've lived on both the Pacific Coast and the Atlantic - it's the middle of Canada (Winterpeg, Sask etc) that gets the REALLY cold weather. I don't think I could live in the Prairies, but love it here on the East Coast.
 
TICA said:
Sure you would! Nothing quite as nice as sitting by the fire with a mug of hot apple cider - or better still - hot chocolate with a shot of baileys. Canada is a big country and the weather varies from coast to coast. I've lived on both the Pacific Coast and the Atlantic - it's the middle of Canada (Winterpeg, Sask etc) that gets the REALLY cold weather. I don't think I could live in the Prairies, but love it here on the East Coast.
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TICA, you have no idea what a wuss I am in cold weather. But even more than the seasons, it's the day lengths that throw me for a loop. We got no sleep in Canada and Alaska as it was still daylight until around 11pm and we were night owls so would get to sleep about an hour before the bus was due to leave, which equated to none. We'd sack out in the back of the bus... It was kind of jet lag I guess, but it didn't go away. We're used to more even days than that. To live where you only get very short days in winter would freak me out. Cabin fever writ large.
Couldn't handle it, I get the blues here in Autumn when the days shorten up so you could imagine the wreck I'd be there. Even though I'm a night owl I still need daylight to balance me out.
In the depths of winter here I can still go outside and sit in the sun or at least see daylight for around 10 hours a day if I want. . Wouldn't give that up for anything.
 
Lots of nice beaches near us Phil .... and a few mud flats but no crocodiles or alligators, except for the occasional prank. You'd be very welcome to retire here and I could show you some of my self-defence moves. ;)
 
I am pretty happy here in the South, even though the humidity in the summer is a lot worse than what I grew up with in northern Idaho. The summers were hot, but the air was always fresh up there. However, the winters jut got too hard for me as i got older, and I have shoveled all the snow that i ever want to shovel.
I like it that Pansies are a winter flower down here, and we can usually see something blooming year around.
Even when we had this last cold Arctic blast, it only lasted for a few days, and not most of the winter, and we hardly ever have that severe cold down here. It might not be perfect, but it works for me.

I still miss seeing Mt. Rainier in the clouds, from when I lived on the West Coast, and if I were going to move somewhere else, it would be one of the colorful little towns along the Washington coast, I think . The climate is moderate, the air is fresh, the mountains are awesome, and I would love to be able to walk on the seashore there again.
 
gar said:
I see Canada is # 3 not bad eh LOL
actually i never say eh but I'll fall in to be typical.
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"Eh?" is a habit I picked up from the Queensland relatives. It's not just Canadian, it's been a 'tell' that people come from Queensland for generations here. Don't know why they used it and rest of the Country didn't. I've noticed a lot of Kiwis use it too.

If Canada was better located it would be #2 on my list, loved it and felt right at home there. But it's too damned cold!
 
Depends on what you prefer. I could NOT live in cold weather. I moved from NY to FL in 1978 and would go farther South if it were financially possible. I can see why OZ won.
 


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