The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year

FOREWORD

IN 1979, I STARTED A LITTLE NEWSLETTER called International Living. It explored a fairly contrarian idea at the time: the idea that you could move abroad and save money as well as living a happier, richer, and even healthier life.

International Living grew out of a love of international travel and a belief that the world is alive with opportunities—for fun, personal growth, adventure, and profit. And those opportunities are closer at hand than you might imagine. Everybody says the world is getting smaller, but it is actually getting larger. New air routes are opening all the time. Exotic island paradises and bustling metropolitan centers on the other side of the world are easily accessible. Huge countries that were off limits only a few years ago are now open for business as well as travel.

When International Living started, we hoped to open up new possibilities for its readers. To give them new ideas about places to visit . . . and live. To show them ways to make their international lifestyle profitable, or at least self-supporting. To help them adjust to a rapidly changing world.

Today, some 30-odd years later, the idea of living a happier, healthier life overseas for a fraction of what the same lifestyle would cost in the United States isn’t quite as contrarian as it used to be. But it’s still a little out of the box. The vast majority of U.S. citizens will never obtain a passport, much less seriously consider moving to Panama or Uruguay or Italy.

But as the economic ...