AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye US News piece on retiring in Belize

This article said that TWO people live on 1,500 a month ..... but apparently they do not insure their car or their "Santa Fe Adobe Style" house on the beach, nor do they wear glasses or go to the dentist. And they must be nudists, as they have no budget for clothes and shoes.

I'm sure they don't live on AC. We would definitely notice naked, toothless old people driving a car.

This subject has gone on for too long. Between the board and facebook, most of the posts are ours. Don't you get it compadres? There are people trying to scam us. I even got a personal message about this on my facebook. I asked them where they got my name and address and it was about that Expats Blog. That blog seems to be from some real estate concern inland. I would suggest that some of our very smart board administrators dump this thread

Why? It's fun to see what some people will believe but then they get the reality when they read the message board so they don't get screwed over...

Poor Gwen..suffering over so many problems....

Get a grip.

The message board doesn't give reality as there are editors that sanitize it.

Check out Lan Sluder's book about retiring in Belize. He very clearly breaks down the living expenses for a few different monthly price points, based on where you want to live, how many times a week you want to eat out, size and location of house, etc. His book clearly shows that it is much more affordable to retire on the mainland, in say Corozal, than on the expensive island. He points out that everything is cheaper on the mainland than on the island, including housing, food, services, etc. And the close proximity of Corozal, or points in northern Belize, to the Mexico border, is advantageous to retirees. Maybe the US News piece wasn't concentrating, or even referring per se, to Ambergris Caye prices. We all know the island runs on tourist prices. And why assume they were talking about the island? Some of us tend to think of AC AS Belize, when really AC is a very small part of the country of Belize as a whole. It is very conceivable that a couple could live on the mainland for $1500 US a month if they lived modestly. Using a meal as an example: when you can have a nice lunch of tacos or stewed chicken for $3 on the mainland, or a nice lobster or shrimp dinner at a nice restaurant in SP for $20, the savings really add up over a month's time.

The confusing thing about the article was that the writer used people like Lara, who live in San Pedro as example, and the photos definitely look like Ambergris Caye. The numbers they state don't work though for AC, but the reader doesn't know it. Those are definitely Corozal prices. As an example, I went into a Chinese restaurant in Corozal with a friend last week and ordered a chicken chow mein for $3 U.S. The same dish would be $6-8 U.S. on Caye Caulker for a smaller portion. So, it really is possible for 2 people (who don't drink or go out to eat much, or live on AC or CC) to live in Belize for $1500 U.S., but most of us spend way more for the lifestyle. I don't think most people who say they are clamouring to get here are really really ready to live in the 3rd world. They might think they are, but the reality of it is not as glamorous as the photos show.

This is all so correct. It never changes. One gets what they pay for. I would like it if this board promotes the idea above. This is the third world, even a frontier as some have called it. You can't build a poshy, posh condo, and pretend the world around you is posh.