I have heard of many seniors packing it up and moving to Mexico in the gulf side.
What are your opinions of this? I often think about what a great adventure but at 68, am I too old.? I don’t speak the language but certainly could learn.
How old do you think most seniors who retire to Mexico are?
My friends did it in Baja. They’re happy.
Don’t go crazy and lose your headdown there.
I have friends (in their late 80s!) who just up and moved to San Miguel Allende.
They seems very happy (so far - it’s been around 6 months).
My parents were able to retire early (in their 40s) and have lived in Baja for most of the last 20 years.
Living in Baja California is, apparently, much like living in a separate nation from both Mexico and the US, so I can’t comment on the mainland. Baja has its own separate laws (e.g. a Baja drivers license may or may not carry over to the mainland), apparently, and nowhere near the same issues as Mexico.
The downsides, as far as I gather, are:
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Shipping things across the border is a crapshoot. You only have about a 50/50 chance of having your purchase actually show up. Your items are just as likely to be disappeared by anyone in the chain of custody as soon as it crosses the border into Mexico.
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Your home will be mildly destroyed during the rainy season each year and you’ll have to spend time and money repairing it each year. (Possibly not as true if you’re in an apartment/condo.)
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The roads will be flooded and destroyed each year during the rainy season as well, so you’ll need to expect being stuck at home for durations during the summer.
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The rainy season is hot and horrible and takes ~5 years of living in Mexico to acclimate to.
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While everything is cheaper, getting anything done takes a lot more effort and cajoling, regardless of whether you’re offering people money or not. (Not as great of an issue if you’re very wealthy and your home/party/etc. can serve as an advertising piece for the person’s business.)
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Some questions about how good/reliable medical care will be as you start to need it. So you may end up wanting to move back North again as you continue to advance in age.
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Relatives have to have a passport to visit. Pets are, of course, much more difficult to get over the border.
While on the positive side, I think the main sales points are, obviously, how far a dollar goes and the availability of warmth and sun.
Any reason you are considering Mexico instead of central america, or southeast asia?
I’ve thought about costa rica (I like to plan ahead), but looking at the cost of living the only real savings come from health care. You can get decent insurance for $100/month, but the cost of rent/utilities/food/most everything else is pretty much the same price as what you can find in the US if you shop around. Labor heavy services are cheaper too, but thats about it.
I don’t think health care is going to be much of a savings for seniors: if they stay in the U.S. they get Medicare and only have to buy a supplement for it; if they move overseas they have to pay the entire health care bill.
If you move to Merida you will certainly be in good company as there’s a large expat community there. You’d benefit from finding an expat forum and joining to get your questions answered.
I’m retired and spend part of my winter in a rustic town on the Carribbean in Quintana Roo, MX and if I could convince DH to move there permanently I’d move in a minute.
Sage Rat is correct about the rainy season but I would consider it a fair trade for Minnesota winters. If you are near the ocean you usually can get a good breeze and there’s always air conditioning.
He’s also right about the difficulty with mail, at least where I go, and the slower pace. It becomes easy for me to slip into that mindset but if you’re a Type A it could be frustrating.
I’ve had occasion to use the health care system there and find it sufficient. Larger places have very good health care, I understand. A city like Merida is a sophisticated place.
As far as learning the language, Spanish is one of the easiest to learn and schools will be available to teach you. In the meantime you’d find that Mexican people are generally friendly and helpful.
I’ve taken a lot of risks that a couple of decades ago would have intimidated me because time is shorter and adventure makes life more interesting. So I’d encourage getting to know some folks who live there first who can supply you with knowledge, then making a couple of visits to familiarize yourself with the city and then go for it. I always rationalize that if I don’t like the choice I’ve made I can make a different one. 
It adds up. The medicare premiums alone are about $110/month. Plus you have medigap premiums, medicare part D premiums and long term care insurance to think about. Plus the copays/deductibles/things not covered by insurance/etc It can easily come to $600+ a month for a senior citizen.
Also medicare is really underfunded (the tax rate needs to be closer to 10% to keep it solvent as opposed to the current 2.9%). Since taxes are a touchy subject in the US, more cost is going to be dumped on the elderly. So that $600 a month is only going to keep going up.
My understanding is you can get a pretty decent plan in central america for $100–200 a month.
My aunt and her boyfriend retired to Merida about five years ago. There’s a pretty good expat community. Except for some drug issues (cop roadblocks in front of their house), they’re pretty happy. Her boyfriend had to have surgery on his heart that went well, but language was an issue. They know a little Spanish, but not enough to get along in a medical situation.
My parents lived in Cancún for 10 years. In fact, I drove them to Cancún from Boise Idaho. Along with their cat. There are a lot of expat communities in Mexico, and if you move to one of those places you can get along with very little Spanish. My parents didn’t live in such a place, but they both spoke Spanish well, having been Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay. Cost of living is cheap, but getting things done by skilled labor can be a travail. My father and another resident of their building worked on the hot water boiler and air conditioning quite regularly and were able to keep the whole condo supplied with modern conveniences such as hot water and cool air. The climate in Cancún is quite nice – highs in the 80s and lows in the 70s with a nice sea breeze almost every day. Then there was Hurricane Wilma…
There are tons of web sites dedicated to living in Mexico. That’s where I’d start looking. Places like this.
This site will help you. www.mexconnect.com
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