TalkBaja.com » Baja Mexico Forums » Moving to Baja Full/Part Time

I copied this from a friends post on another forum, talking about the problems facing Mexico right now...

"The economy has been a much bigger issue, however. I'm with BajaGringo - I think the economic meltdown far overshadows any news about the narcos. Over the last 6 months, we have watched as dozens of our friends and co-workers get walked out the door - some having been employed at the same company for 20 or 30 years. Both of us have managed to escape the pink slip epidemic, but we have taken very significant pay cuts. Including the lost bonuses, our income is down about 30 percent in one year's time! That has been the number one and only reason why we haven't been making any trips to Mexico (or anywhere else)..."

"That said, the meltdown in the economy will have the strange effect of getting us to move to Mexico sooner, rather than later, and permanently, instead of part-time, as we had envisioned. Because of that, and because we feel that Mexico needs all the help it can get from the tourism business, we are going to scrape our pennies together and make a trip later in the year. If we're going to move to Mexico full-time, we want to thoroughly explore the locations that have made our short list. Might as well get started and help out the local economy in the process..."

I answered in the poll ---stay the same. I really think that people who are not motivated already to visit, let along live part or full time in Mexico will change their minds. There is so much negative publicity.

Also, not everyone has a desire to make changes---for many, it is just too difficult. Gees, much of the population of Ireland chose to stay in Ireland and starve rather than risk coming to the US. I think the curious and restless spirit is either there, or not.

Since we have been together, our lives have been about change. I guess we believe that if we stay put too long in one place doing the same thing our brains will grow moldy; or these days, moldier.

Right now we find that we prefer to spend most of our time in our Baja home. Life in this fishing village is so different than life in Imperial Beach. In a way, we feel like we are time travellers going back and forth. We keep saying that sometime in the future, we will close the door on this adventure and move on to another.

Then again, we wonder if we could ever let this one go entirely. We may always keep it as a refuge when returning from other adventures. When we wake up to watching a million cormorants fly over the waves, and end the day listening to the surf while watching the sun falls into the ocean and discussing as to whether it was a really pretty sunset or not, we just can't let go. And when the time comes, it will be most difficult to leave behind some of the really great friends we have made among the locals.

Time will tell---we also don't like to plan too far ahead and lock ourselves into any one direction.

OK, maybe a little off-topic as it is our personal story and the poll is global in nature. No, I just don't think more people will see Mexico as a safety net. JMHO.

Diane

As husband Wooo mentioned, our goal to reside in BCS is unwavering . We've been planning it for so long can't imagine any other scenario. Trying to hold out long enough to have the funds to retire without worries, but still be young enough to enjoy the stuff we're retiring for- now there's a delicate balance.

We’ve been tempted many times to chuck it all and move to paradise as some of our friends have done. But we don’t want to be living in a hut when we’re 70 scraping together pennies to get our cataracts fixed. So we've stuck it out and for many years the cycle has been : Work- Come home- Make retirement plans or pack for the next trip- Work- Come home...

Most articles about retiring baby boomer hot-spots focus on cost of living. Like Ken and Diane mentioned, for us it’s strictly a quality of life issue- we love the desert, want to surf with fewer people, in warm(er) water, in an ocean that won’t make you sick, where fish jump and birds dive, and we can drive down the beach and not see another person. A few other places might meet these criteria but we’re fond of Mexicans and Mexico feels homey. It would take something drastic to change our plans, like if they booted all foreigners out of the Mexico. And then we’d probably sneak back in.

What has changed is the drop in value of our So Cal home won’t leave us enough when it sells to finish our Baja home and build the casita we had planned in Nicaragua. The Nica properties are up for sale and that chapter is closing before it really got started.

I think that financial uncertainty will keep people retiring closer to home, but then I’m out of the loop with how the average American feels..

Originally Posted by oladulce

I think that financial uncertainty will keep people retiring closer to home, but then I’m out of the loop with how the average American feels..

I think that is a very valid point you make - Baja has not drawn the "average" crowd. At least not up until now. Nor do I necessarily want for that to change anytime soon. I just get this sense out there that things are changing. Not a whole lot to go on other my conversations on other forums and my gut feeling.

I do think that whatever happens, 2010 - 2012 are going to be some interesting years for a whole lot of reasons.

Just heard some more not so good news about coming foreclosures. I think that it might be better now to either just cut your losses and get what you can for your place back home or just commit yourself to a decision that you will not sell for a long time. I have had more people ask me about moving down here in the last month than in the previous 2 years. Times are changing and the coming retirees are going to be the barometer for what lies ahead I think.

People are more worried about their finances than the media blitz about the swine flu or drug cartel violence.

Combine that great news with the other news out today that Medicare is already running in the red and Social Security will cross over into the red in about four years.

The signs are coming. And I am not even a religious man...

i have planned on retiring in Baja since I graduated from college. My family started going down from northern San Diego county in the mid-50's and while my love affair has gone through a lot of soul searching the last couple of years due to all the violence, I still believe it is where I am meant to retire.

I have spent the last two years researching places all over the globe for possible retirement within the budget I will have. I have traveled extensively and am familiar with a lot of great places in Asia and Latin America where my budget would provide a comfortable life style. I have looked at the current "Hot Spots" like Panama and Ecuador and find plenty to like about both. But as nice as both places are, Baja still ranks number one for me due to the weather along the Pacific and the people, the people, the people.

Anyone who has spent time in Baja and gotten to know the local people understands how truly amazing they really are. In the midst of all the horrow stories about the crime and violence, most of us that have spent a lot of time in Mexico have a lot more stories about the generoustiy and warmth of the locals.

Someday very soon, all the BS of getting my business sold will finally be over and I will be on my way. Then if someone can just point me in the direction of the nearest fish tacos and ice cold cerveza.....

Good attitude TravelPro787!! You'll succeed just fine south of the border!

BG, too late!! I already committed in 1999....I think I said something like "Till death do us part" at the Immigration office! But if "they" screw with my SS, I might have to consider making friends with your dogs & moving into your spare room! If your dogs leave any remains, feel free to go toss them into them water in front of your casa!

Now that this thread has resurrected it made me reflect for a moment how things have changed since this question was first posted almost two years ago. Based on the number/type of emails I continue to receive I would say that a growing number of folks are considering Baja for their retirement. This is a very different crowd for the most part than what we saw buying 5 to 7 years ago. The current group I hear from is approaching retirement with less money than they thought they would have and simply seek to get the biggest bang for their buck.

Most seem to want to stay away from the border area and the common concerns seem to generally be about language, health care and cost of living/housing.

The dogs aren´t that bad Legs, just be nice, don´t make any sudden moves and you´ll probably be okay...

If they screw with our SS, Ecuador will suddenly be a lot more attractive. Most of the country is so fertile it is pretty easy to be self-sustaining.

I know some folks who are doing it on 1.5 hectares and didn't spend much to build a small, but very nice home and an amazing garden that gives them enough to barter with their neighbors for the things they don't produce. They live very well on less than $400.00 a month. They even have a real astronaut as a neighbor.

Now as long as one of those pesky active volcanos just doesn't blow it's cork...well actually one is right now, but not exactly a Mt. St. Helens type event...so far.

Just so we can at least say we tried to stay on topic, I think most of Mexico is going to see a huge number of not just Americans and Canadians immigrants, but more and more people from all over the globe.

I agree with BG on the next few years being very interesting. Who knows what is going to happen, but I can tell you that inflation is really starting to hit here in the Seattle area. Gas, dairy products (I use a ton of dairy in my busines and wish I owned a couple of cows right now) and a lot of other stuff is going through the roof.

A lot of folks in a lot of countries are going to start looking for great, affordable places to retire. Mexico will undoubtedly get a lot less than they would have, until some semblance of peace and security returns.

Cost of living will still make it the choice for those of us who want to be close to family in the US.

For us....NO... not owning a place. Our house in San Diego is just about paid for. No mortgage seems like a good thing. We would spend our time in Baja renting places in many places down that-a-way. Nothing permanent. But, then again, we spend a lot of time off traveling all over the world. We have those American Airlines benefits that we just need to take advantage of.

5 years ago probably not since it was something only I dreamed about.
With us having bought a house that with a little seller fraud (my bad for trusting professionals), subsequent mega-black mold growth, my kids building health problems due to said black mold and lawyering up against insurance companies and multiple pay cuts in my public sector job and my wife having had to take an extended leave of absence to care for our kids while their health was declining we are now renters for the first time in a loooong time.

The plus side of that is my kids health after about 3 years of ever increasing mysteriously worsening health is MUCH better, I am not tied to a mortgage until I am 70 and we have decided when I hit retirement age I can leave since my pension will afford us a decent lifestyle south of the border.
So, instead of working for many more years and watching my pay, benefits and life expectancy erode annually I will take my retirement, get paid a nice portion of my wage to be with my family rather than be exposed to dangerous compounds, situations and enormously fat patients and live a lifestyle that will probably add years to my life.

This is a new paradigm that we would never have adopted without a string of significant bad luck....lemons/lemonade type of thing.
It sucks to have lost my life savings on a bad real estate deal but that is life...my family is healthy, we are not starving and we will have a much better lifestyle in just a few years.

However, if a giant bag of money falls out of the sky who knows......not likely, though, so we will proceed with the current plan.

Soulpatch, sorry for the tough times you've had to go through. But, as you say, lemonade is GOOD! It sounds like you have your priorities straight (meaning of course that I agree with you)

We are far more likely to retire in Mexico than we were a few years ago. About 4 years ago we went into a partnership with some friends, on a small farm in Costa Rica. It has fertile soil, abundant water, and even a small hydroelectric plant! There's no house, and limited access.

The problem is that it's very isolated, and a long way from where we live now, and a long way from shopping.

We recently discovered San Quintin, by a series of cooincidences, and are making our second exploratory trip there in early March.

I'm not sure how all this is going to play out; we need to sell our share of the farm, and a rental house here in the Pacific NW, but if a move to SQ is meant to be, then I am sure that it will all work out somehow.

This forum has been a tremendous asset as we consider our options and try and calculate the costs. Thank you all for your participation!

Very nice Islander.
We will definitely be renting for a long time in Mexico, which I don't see as a bad thing because it will allow us a certain mobility if we were tied to a property.
Rolly recommends it highly....http://rollybrook.com/Page%20Directory.htm
of course, if I didn't agree I would do what I want within my limitations.....I can find an argument just about anywhere to justify damn near anything.....

I hear you on the shopping thing....if it was just me, no problem, but I have raised kids while living remotely and it is a bitch when you need something from the store.

Our partners in the farm have a house next door to it, off grid, of course. They had a part fail in their inverter and had to order a replacement from the states. It took months for them to recieve it due to the complicated shipping process into CR, and the hold for customs.
They need to get simple parts (faucet repair kits for example) brought down with visitors, because there are none available in the whole country!

One of the nice things about Baja is that if you REALLY need something, you can get into the car and go get it! It may take a few days, but it's POSSIBLE. Driving through Nicaragua and El Salvador is a bit too much of an adventure for me to go through for a wind generator part!

I have lived in Baja for 7 years when i retired the second time I had two priorties Travel being # 1 and a affordable place to live being #2
It didnt take long to figure out I would not be able to live in the U.S. and travel too. Being semi hooked on Baja I decided to look down here we looked in the Mulje area first and on our way back north stopped to visit friends in Ensenada.& 7 years later I am still here. It was not a planned relocation but like most things in my life It turned out to be a good decision. I have a very nice home here and can still afford to travel too.I operate on the theroy in life if i decide to do something I dont have to keep doing it if it dont work out. and soooo far this place couldnt of been better if I had planned it.
As far as current fear of income security standing next to the good local people here I wont look too bad broke. and My theroy about being broke it is no sin to go broke but it is a sin to stay that way. In my life i have ben financially broke many times and always came out better for it.

What does retire in Mexico really mean. Live there full time??

we discuss this regularly and our conversations are constantly changing.
we are 10 years from both being retired but in the mean time we just travel between our San Diego and Mexico home with some trips to Mammoth Lakes in between.
If you asked today I would say yes to Mexico still when we are retired but much further south, so we can get warm during the winter. We often talk that we may even end up on mainland Mexico. I don't think i would ever give up our San Diego home cause our roots are to strong here, but I do see always having a second home in Mexico.

I'd say that those who say they are "retired in Mexico" are here most of the year and consider their home in Mexico, either purchased or rented, their primary residence.

We are, I think, going to be able to retire part time in Mexico and part time in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps that will change after we've done the two households on a fixed and limited budget thing for a while, but for now that seems to be the plan.

For us, there is no retirement without SS and Medicare, so all our plans may change if those programs grenade in the next couple of years. If that happens, our retirement plan goes back to working until we die. Yea...........

Originally Posted by Islander

We are, I think, going to be able to retire part time in Mexico and part time in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps that will change after we've done the two households on a fixed and limited budget thing for a while, but for now that seems to be the plan.

For us, there is no retirement without SS and Medicare, so all our plans may change if those programs grenade in the next couple of years. If that happens, our retirement plan goes back to working until we die. Yea...........

You can collect your SS down here....as a matter of fact, you can even apply for it down here through the US Consulate in Guadalajara. It's electronically deposited in the bank of your choice either NOB or SOB & if SOB, you have the choice of having each payment deposited into either a USD or peso account.

As for Medicare, I've heard rumblings for the past 5 years that there are proponents lobbying for Medicare SOB. The sheer numbers of USA retirees living full-time SOB, combined with the lower medical costs here make it a viable option. The negative that I've read is that Mexico isn't jumping right on the band wagon because they don't want to get involved in the reimbursement process & as a result, if implemented, it could very well drive medical cost up for SOB retirees. The fact this is a cash society flies in the face of the existing bill for reimbursement method used NOB.

My personal bottom line is that I'm not holding my breath for Medicare to make it's way SOB during my lifetime. That "working until we die" idea really sucks!