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Retired U.S. Expatriate Has Found a
New Home in Safe, Welcoming Mexican City of Tequisquiapan
View Map Here | View
Photos Here
Cost of Living: Well Below the U.S.
National Average
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| About the author, Peter
Shuster:
I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and worked
in law enforcement for 16 years. Then worked in the
technical college system, teaching for 21 years.
Living
on a boat in Slidell, Louisiana, I was talking to another boater
that asked me, "When will you retire?"
My answer was that in 4 more years, I'd retire with 62% salary.
Then
he asked me "What's four years of your life worth?''
I replied, "Well, if I retired now, I would have to live on 42%, not
62%." So then thinking about those 4 years working, I
did quite a bit of Internet research. I retired and sold
the boat that I was planning to travel on around the
world and took off to the best country I could find: Mexico.
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Why? Mexico is driving distance from the States. No
air or ship needed to arrive here. Just my car. I receive my
retirement check direct deposit, in the United States bank,
and use the ATM in Mexico to withdraw my money as needed.
I found home prices in Mexico very reasonable in many areas.
The Mexican Government lets us buy homes with titles in
Mexico, 100% legal. There is only one exception, no title
on land 30 miles from coastal waters. No title 50 miles from
borders. That's so Mexico can protect its country, but there
is a way around that law. You can get a bank trust and the
property is in a Mexican bank's name. You pay an annual fee
to the bank. Well, that I don't like. Plus coastal property
is expensive and very hot. Climate is very important to us.
Here in Tequis it's a wonderful temperature with low humidity
and is
great for us and friends that visit us. We have family and
friends that come to stay with us quite often to enjoy our
weather.
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My adopted dad "Papa Gene" spends 2 to 3 months a year
with us to avoid the American winter' freezing weather.
Regarding health care, which is very important to us as we get
older,
Mexico has socialized medicine. Even foreigners with an FM-3 can
get into it, and the cost is $ 270.00 a year. That covers
doctors, drugs and hospitals stays. We were lucky to have had it
last year. My wife had two heart attacks and used the IMSS. The
care was wonderful and the doctors were more than great. They
really care about you! They don't just give you 3 minutes;
they give
you all the time one would want. It was one of the best
experiences one could have had under the circumstances.
Buying a
home in Mexico is as safe as buying one in the states in my 8
years of experience living in Mexico. The government doesn't take
houses away any more than in the States.
In the U.S. they will
take your home for shopping malls, overpasses, etc. (eminent
domain). They pay fair
value to you. Same in Mexico; they have to also pay you.
They
don't take homes for malls or commercial reasons as I have seen
happen in the States!
I cannot find any better country to live in that's safer than Mexico. The people of Mexico are
kinder to
you than anywhere I have been. Experience after experience with
their kindness and respectful ways are more than one could ask
for. Mexico is nothing like what people in the U.S. think.
The movies or peoples' border experiences are not the real Mexico.
There is
little crime, mostly theft but no violent crimes, at least not
here. The real Mexico
is the real people that live in Mexico. They share everything they
have with you and have no vested interest in doing it.
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When I told
my teacher friends that I was retiring and moving to Mexico without
speaking Spanish they tried to talk me out of that move. My reply
to that was, "The highway runs both ways," and if I didn't
like it I could return. Well, it's been 8 years and I'm still
here. Many friends from the States invite us to come and stay with
them for a visit. Our answer is always NO but thanks a lot. We are
afraid we'll miss something in Mexico. There's always something to
do or see here. Plus we feel so safe with the people that we
know. We watch satellite TV and see the crazy killing
in the States day after day. If I returned I would have to pack a
gun again to feel safe there. |
Americans we love, but the things
that happen no longer make me think it is the same country I was
raised in. Mexico and the people remind us so much of how it was
50 years ago in the States. People talking to people on the
streets, children playing outside even after dark. Women walking
to the plaza to hear music and returning home without worries of
being molested. We have hosted many people from the States that
wanted to see Mexico, the real Mexico. Many have moved here and
many want to move here when they retire. Seeing is believing. I
would love
if people in the States would experience the real Mexico and the
real Mexican people.
I hope that this puts a true light on Mexico.
The chance to retire and live a better life is just miles away.
This is a fact that is hard to believe. We live better on 42%
retirement than on a full salary in the States. Who ever heard of a
teacher having a maid? God loves Mexico and the wonderful Mexican
friends we have made.
P.S. If any readers have any questions, please feel free to email me. We are
always willing to help people. My email is mxschuster@hotmail.com
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to Pena de Bernal
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