To those folks who are considering to retire to Europe: don’t forget the growing wave of anti-Americanism due to recent political developments. Trump has cut Europe loose, Vance lectured Europeans in Munich like schoolboys, read them the riot act. Readers’ comments e.g. in the NYT are full of condescending remarks about Europeans who should be thrown under the bus. When Putin and Trump have decided how they will divide influence in Europe, only the southwest of Europe might be spared a war situation. All this together might not make Europe a comfortable future retirement option for Americans. You never know but this aspect is worth to be taken into consideration.
That’s worth considering, but I’m not too worried about that. I have no problem assuring people that I hate Trump and what America has become more than they do. I could even do the time-honored tradition of telling people I’m Canadian. I am very concerned, though, with the impending collapse of the United States, especially since the rest of the world is going to be highly motivated to diversify their economies away from the US, and the US dollar will go away as the world’s reserve currency, and the value of USD will plummet. Could I move somewhere only to find that my money is worth about half of what it was before? Unfortunately I don’t think that’s a far fetched scenario and it scares me. It does steer me a bit towards the very cheap options (like the Phillipines) versus the cheaper than the US but not by as much (Spain, Portugal) because I’d be able to survive a crash of the value of the dollar in the former case but the latter case would be difficult.
On the other hand, Spain and Portugal are much more likely to survive climate change over the next few decades, so it’s a bit of a “choose your impending disaster” adventure.
My wife and I are currently kicking around the idea of retiring to Costa Rica. I started a similar thread awhile back that got some great replies. It’s a few years old, but the info should still be pretty relevant:
If you are concerned about “the impending collapse of the United States”, why are you assuming that your [American dollar] may be “worth about half of what it was before”? If the United States effectively collapses as far as the world economy is concerned and the US dollar is no longer the reserve currency that other nations convert against, you should just assume that he dollar, like the Russian ruble, will not be worth the substrate it is printed on outside of its issuing nation.
Which highlights a real problem with your entire concept; US expats are ubiquitous throughout the world, and at least grudgingly accommodated because of the wealth they bring to local economies. It is a kind of privilege that Americans are blind to even though they natives in those countries see it all too clear (and resent it even as they vie for the business of these expats). If your American dollars are suddenly worthless, so is your privilege, and what are you going to do then, a foreigner in a land where you have a tenuous grasp on the language, no deep understanding of culture and governance, and no social or familial network to fallback upon if things go wrong or you are disinvited to stay because you can’t pay for anything?
Stranger
I think a complete collapse to the point where the dollar loses 99%+ of it’s value is unlikely. It will still be an economic powerhouse as a fascist state, even if severely diminished. Besides, if we’re postulating that it becomes a failed state such that the dollar is worthless, things are bad enough that I’d rather be broke somewhere else than living here.
You could keep some money in the Bank of China just to hedge your bet. They have branches in the Philipines.
I have spent very little time in Europe, but I would guess that a retired American in Europe may still be received positively if he or she takes effort to emphasize, “I’m NOT a Trump/MAGA American, in fact, I vehemently oppose him.”
Yeah, that would do it to me (a European), but unless explicitly stated, there would be suspicion. We do know millions of Americans aren’t MAGA.
As an actual American actually living in Europe, I can confirm that people here seem generally aware that MAGA dipshits are close-minded yokels who don’t travel much outside the US, and presume based solely on my presence that I’m very unlikely to be a Trump cultist. They don’t challenge me to prove my bona fides; at most they’ll make a sarcastic cutting remark about how terrible Trump is, trusting me to signal agreement.
I’ve been pondering taking a cross-atlantic repositioning cruise, where the ships go between NA and Europe for the seasons. They are crazy cheap - sometimes you can get it for like 12-15 days for like $700. They might be boring - after all, at most, you’ll stop at an island or two like the Azores, it’s almost all sea days. But I don’t know. They still have all the normal cruise ship. Lots of food, lots of booze, lots of nice places to hang out, pools, events. It might be a nice way to chill and read and eat out every day for two weeks. Good internet too these days on the ships that upgraded to starlink. And it’s cheaper than the same flight.
Anyway, I found some cruises that meet that description in about a month. Which seems like a good time to travel to the med - shoulder season, not cold but not super hot yet. I’m thinking maybe now would be a good time to take the ship over there and then travel around the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
Ayy, what? Send me the link. Here I was thinking 5 days of Caribbean for $800 was a good deal and there’s a cross-Atlantic cruise for $700 for 12-15 days…??
5 days in the Caribbean for $800 is a good deal. Repositioning cruises are unusual – there’s usually not a high demand because a lot of people don’t want to go on a trip that’s 95%+ sea days. And most people that want to take a cross oceanic trip don’t have time to take a 2 week cruise getting there, and then spend time when you’re there. So low demand creates some unusually good deals. This is the site I use when I cruise alone.
This.
I’am afraid many American expats don’t bother to read the press in their host countries. And some might trust too much in American Exceptionalism so they are not open to see reality.
Hm. I’d rather think this could be a bit naive. Depends as well on how things go on with Trump and Musk. If they carry on to look down on Europeans as complete idiots they can shove around at will people might react correspondingly in contact with Americans.
I find it interesting that everybody in this thread is assuming that they will live overseas, but leave their money back in the US. If you are so sure you want to move to another country, why not take your money with you?
If you want to feel accepted by the locals, live like they do. Use their banks, invest in their stock market. Just like you use their language , their social customs, and their cuisine,
As I mentioned in the OP, the guaranteed income is in USD, so people are basing their advice off of that. I’d certainly change over some of the savings into the local currency.
The o.p. mentions:
Assuming this obligation isn’t directly convertible to foreign currency, the o.p. is dependent upon the stability of the US dollar, else he will have to rely upon the “modest savings in the 200k range” for the rest of his natural life unless he can obtain a work visa.
Stranger
As a European, I’d say that the mood at the moment is one of great concern, not outward hostility towards Americans.
It could change quickly, though.
Point taken about feelings towards Americans, but I would appreciate if we could get back to discussion of different locations rather than debating that issue or the value of the USD.
Another American in Europe (well, Switzerland 
). We don’t know a single Trump supporter over here, even among fellow Americans. In fact we are so used to the anti-Trump echo chamber over here that I had to seriously remind my wife and daughter not to say anything about Trump when we went to the US consulate in January for a passport renewal. That might have gone badly