AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life Living in Belize Relocating to Belize

Heylo,

Due to the prevailing political environment and associated changes to life and living in the US (as well as other considerations) I'm considering moving out of the country on a more or less permanent basis. I've been doing studies on and offline that have, on more than one occasion, mentioned the desirability of Belize as an expat location.

I'm posting in hope of engaging in information extraction vis-a-vis actual living conditions in Belize, coastal living as opposed to interior living,how well the Belize Retirement Program works, possible bugs in the system, etc.

Having examined other posts herein, I would like to state that I am not seeking to escape from a criminal past, I want to know how things are done over there (as opposed to how they're done over here), I don't think my personal life will dramatically improve because I've moved to someplace where nobody knows me.

I plan on visiting first, renting for 6 months to a year, and then buying a place. While I qualify for the Retirement Program, I'm also interested in people (non-Belizean) who have their own businesses there as I don't want to close off other options. I build concrete domes for homes and storage so I may want to take that business with me when I leave. Also, my parents are retired and also looking at life outside the US.

What kind of facilities are available for boats? Can you live onboard and visit onshore? That kind of thing.

I appreciate any info I can get.

Thanks,

Glenn

Glenn,

I think that the single most important thing you can do by far is to invest in a plane ticket and spend some time in Belize (assuming you haven't already.) Although there's a lot of good information on Belize in books and on-line, nothing compares with actually being in Belize for a few weeks, seeing the actual situation and seeing how you respond to it. Of course try to sift through the vacation aspect of it, as any place looks different when you live there versus when you visit on vacation.

In my opinion, the best places to live in Belize are not the places you'd visit first on vacation, but then individual tastes vary.

I've written a couple of books on living/retiring/investing in Belize, one published by Avalon, Adapter Kit: Belize, and the other an eBook, Easy Belize, available on www.escapeartist.com -- you might want to get a copy of one of those or the other book on the subject, Belize Retirement Guide by Bill & Claire Gray (not their real names.)

--Lan Sluder
www.belizefirst.com