Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make

In this report, I will share the Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make.  I left the United States in 2007 at the age of 47, and I have lived in or visited 73 countries during those 17 years.  

I visit the USA for a week or two every few years, but I do not have an empty bed in the USA waiting for me.  These 10 mistakes I share are not theoretical.  I have lost thousands of dollars making mistakes, and hundreds of other overseas retirees have made the other ones. 

You may ultimately decide to make one or two of these mistakes, but do it with your eyes wide open.  I will also give you two bonus mistakes that are the most dangerous and I will give you a free eBook that explains how I prepared before flying overseas.   Okay, here we go.

1-Do Not Fall in Love with the First Country

Don’t fall in love with the first country you visit.   There are a bunch of places around the world where you would love to live.  This isn’t like looking for a needle in a haystack.  So don’t fall in love with your first country.  Do a little bit of an exploration.  See the countries around your target country first.  Maybe go to another part of the world too.  See those countries.  It’s not expensive to be in these retire cheap countries.   Many of them are right next to other retire cheap countries.  You can take trains and buses across borders.  Stay in Airbnb apartments so you can shop and cook and get to know the feeling of everyday life there.  You can do some real exploration for not much more once you are on that side of the world.  We often take buses between countries for almost nothing.  See what it feels like to be in multiple countries next to each other before picking where to retire.  Do not fall in love with your first country. 

2-Do Not Apply for a Retirement Visa Too Soon

Do not apply for a retirement visa too soon.  You haven’t even lived in this place long enough to know if it is the right place for you.  You haven’t visited the surrounding cities in this new country or the surrounding countries in this part of the world, so why would you apply for a retirement visa in the first year or two?  

In many countries, the retirement visa requires you to set up bank accounts, prove that you have income, gather documents, meet with officials, and pay a bunch of fees.  What if you decide that you don’t really love the place after the honeymoon is over?  

What if you visit a second country, the country next door, and you decide you like it better?  Would you immediately get another retirement visa in the next country you visit?  Or should you wait until the honeymoon is over?  

This isn’t high school.  You don’t have to marry the first country you fall in love with.  Spread your love around to multiple countries.  See which one feels right to you all the way down to your bones.     

Instead, do what I call exploratory visits.  Fly to a region of the world, and date multiple countries in that region, one after another.  That may sound super expensive, but we usually take buses on the ground as we explore a region of the world for like $20 per bus.  

I think of regions of the world like a buffet restaurant.  You sample 5 or 10 dishes on the buffet, and you pick your favorite two or three dishes of the 10.  Then you go back and load those three favorite countries onto your plate and pig out on them.  

Live in each of your three favorites for 3 to  6 months or until your tourist visa expires.  Spending a few months in your favorite three will help you clearly understand which one you will love once the honeymoon is over.       

Now you are ready to apply for your retirement visa.  Plus, if your favorite country ever changes how it treats foreigners, you can dump that country and move on to another one you already know about intimately, your second favorite.  

These countries have to compete for your love.  You have to know your value in relation to the market before you make any long-term decisions.  So don’t start marrying countries with retirement visas before you know your value.  Knowledge of the world around you is power. 

3-Do Not Ship Your Stuff Right Away (if ever)

Don’t ship your stuff to a new country for the first 2 to 3 years.  Give your new life overseas time to settle in before shipping, if ever.  In fact, I recommend just selling everything you own except for family photos.  Scan photos and put them in the cloud.  Store your music in digital form.  If you have family heirlooms put those in storage for the first few years.  Rent furnished places in the new country and surrounding countries until you know you have made a more permanent decision.  

After your exploratory visits and after your retirement visa is granted … only then should you consider shipping anything.  Again, I never shipped.   I recommend selling all your old stuff in the old country and slowly acquiring only what you absolutely need in the new country.  After 17 years, I still have never settled down.  I love slow traveling the world too much.  You could end up like me.  

I have fallen in love with 20 different countries, some more than others of course, but what would have happened if I shipped to all of them?  What a waste of time, energy, and money.  So do not ship anything until your exploratory visits and final selection are complete, if ever.  

I know a guy that shipped all of his shit to Mexico before he left the USA.  Then he bought land in Mexico.  Then he fell in love with a country in SE Asia.  Then he shipped everything to SE Asia.  

The truth is, that some foreigners move home after a few years.  Why put yourself and your family heirlooms through all that drama?  Don’t make that mistake.  Put it in storage.  Don’t ship your stuff to a new country for the first 2 to 3 years.

4-Set Up Non-SMS 2FA Before Moving Overseas

Banks and Investment firms require you to do an extra step when you log in to stop hackers trying to steal your money.  So financial institutions use two-factor authentication, or 2FA to make sure you are you and not some hacker who got your password from a data breach.  

Using one of the earliest forms of 2FA, banks would text a code to your smartphone that you would type into the financial institution’s webpage after your password was correctly entered.  Texting a code to you on your smartphone is officially called SMS 2FA.    

The bad news is that hackers have begun to figure out ways to intercept SMA 2FA codes and people have begun to have their bank accounts hacked.  Don’t panic yet.  It is still not all that common for hackers to intercept SMS 2FA.  But if I were you I would begin to migrate away from SMS 2FA and towards a more secure form of 2FA.  

The website for your bank or broker recommends another form of 2FA called an Authenticator apps.  For example, I just Googled WallsFargo 2FA and they have a recommended 2FA that you can read about.   As soon as this video is over, Google what 2FA your bank recommends.  

In my free eBook, How I Fired My Boss and Travel the World for 17 Years, I have a list of things I recommend you set up before you leave your home country.  Trust me, it will be harder to set up some of these things if you wait until you are overseas.

5-Do Not Shop Exclusively in Expat Grocery Stores

What is an expat grocery store?  A grocery store with air conditioning, vinyl floors, and shopping carts is an expat grocery store.  The people you see shopping there are rich locals and foreigners.  The value-conscious locals and foreigners shop in wet markets.   

A wet market has fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and meats sold in individually owned stalls in large markets by farmers and fishermen.  You are cutting out the middleman if you shop there.  

Shopping primarily in expat grocery stores is very expensive.  They have multiple types of foreign food you can buy from all over the world.  They sell specialty foods from each country such as American, Italian, German, whatever.   

If you just have to have American pickles or mustard, you will pay through the nose.  If you take an interest in your new country, and you are able to learn about the local foods in the local market, your grocery budget could easily be 70% cheaper and fresher. 

6-Do Not Put Money in Foreign Banks

Keep your money in your home country banks for now.  You do not understand the laws outside your home country yet.  Don’t rush into anything.  Why would you put your life savings in a foreign bank?  Just use your ATM card to get money out of your home country bank when you need it.  

After you have settled in a new country and have learned the laws there for a few years, then you can put some of your money in a foreign bank if you want to.  But for now, keep your money in your home bank, keep your house and rent it out, and get a property manager.  Think of this like you’re exploring.  Don’t think like you’re going to take one step and it’s going to be perfect.  

You could step on a sharp rock and not like your first country.  Then step one country to the right and fall in love.  When you are ready to go full-time in a country, that will be obvious to you.  Don’t rush this like you know that the first country you meet you will be happily ever after.  

If you decide to put money in foreign banks, make sure to understand any banking rules in your home country that require you to report foreign accounts.  For example, the USA has very stiff penalties for opening foreign bank accounts without properly reporting it.  

7-Do Not Go Exclusive With One Overseas Guru

I don’t know everything bad that can happen to you.  None of the retire overseas gurus know everything despite what they may tell you.  So make sure to listen to multiple sources and do your own research before making any permanent life-altering decisions.

Some overseas gurus offer to help you retire overseas after living overseas for only 5 or 10 years.  They probably know more than you for sure if you are new.  But continue to listen to multiple people and continue your research from multiple sources as long as possible.  

So pick a few gurus that seem sincere and honest to you, and don’t just focus on a single guru.  Some of us know some countries better than others.  But it would be almost impossible for any of us to keep up with all the changes that happen daily all over the world.   

And even when you have a few good overseas gurus you are following, do deeper research on any topic that you perceive as confusing or risky in your journey.  Do not put all your marbles in one source or one guru. 

8-Do Not Hang Out Exclusively with Expats

When I first left the USA in 2007 it was to India.  

I was the only westerner at the company in India.  So I made friends with Indians and they were part of my everyday life.  

But I noticed that a bunch of the expats living in India at the time all hung out together.  Not all of the expats were like this, but many were.  They often didn’t work with or socialize with many Indians.  

So many expats never really got to see the Indian culture through the eyes of Indians.  If you’re just hanging out with expats in India you’re not going to get an idea of the traditions of the culture. You’re just going to be kind of a fish out of water.  It’s okay to have expat friends but if you make a steady diet of that, before long, it will be like purchasing a ticket to get out of that country.  

Which is fine, maybe that country is not right for you.  Maybe you need to explore some other countries.  But you should at least get an honest look at the country through the eyes of the locals before flying away.  

I really believe there is a home country and a favorite country for every human on the planet.  The grass is always greener so your favorite country for you is likely to be different from your home country.  

Be careful of negative expats when you land overseas.  If an expat is talking trash about the locals, they may pollute your opinion through osmosis.  They say things like, they don’t know how to run a country here.  They are idiots.  I wish they would do it like we do back home.  

Move away from people that talk like this.  Discover what you really feel about the place.  You may have actually loved the place if you had spent time seeing it through the eyes of someone who really enjoys it.  So make sure to include people in your circle of friends who can share what is so lovable about each country.

9-Do Not Pay for Sex

Paying for sex is not really a fulfilling way to live your life.  I’m not judging you or the women involved.  I’m just saying it’s not a good way to live your life.  It is hard on your self-esteem, your health, and your pocketbook.  

In any country in the world, you could meet normal locals who are looking for authentic love.

Plus, because you’re a foreigner you’re interesting to people.  So you already have a leg up on the competition.  You don’t have to go to some bar and buy drinks and develop inauthentic relationships.  

People will be interested in you, whether you are a man or woman because you come from another country.  They like the accents, they like to learn about new countries, and they like to make friends with people from other countries.  

There’s no reason for you to waste any of your time going into these places and creating these inauthentic relationships.  Don’t pay for sex.  Online electronic dating apps work in foreign countries.  Put your profile up in a foreign country and go out and have fun.  

10-Do Not Assume The Laws Are the Same

Assuming the laws and the legal rights are like home is not realistic.   Every country has quirky different things about it.  It is better if you stay on the right side of the law.  

Breaking laws, getting in fights, or being rude to people are all bad ideas when you don’t understand the environment you are in.  Just be a polite visitor.  Be a nice representative of your home country.  

Okay, those are the Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make.  Now it is time for two bonus mistakes and our free eBook. 

Bonus 1-Do Not try to Create Your Old Life in a New Country

Don’t try to recreate your old life in a new country. These countries have different personalities. They have different foods. Different groceries.

The world is getting more homogenized but things are still quirky and different in each country.

Two years from now, you have no idea what local food you are going to like in the restaurants. But you have to try them before you will know. So don’t just eat steak, potatoes, and burgers in expensive expat-style restaurants.

Don’t try to recreate your old life in this new country. Don’t try to look for that old food. Learn what the local food is all about. Read about the restaurants in the area. Find out what the Specialties are. Get immersed in that culture; find out what the culture is really about. Don’t eat the same food you ate at home. You need to learn about the new food.

You see, a local dish might only cost you a dollar fifty, but if you look for an Italian restaurant serving fettuccine alfredo, it will cost a fortune and won’t taste like what you expect. This new country does local food best, not Italian food. Immerse yourself in the country, become part of that culture and you save a lot of money and you will learn something too.

Instead, if you say I want my old house, my old car, my old food … what’s the point? You’re not really enjoying a new country, you’re not exploring the world. You brought your world with you.

Bonus 2-Don’r Buy Real Estate Too Soon

You should live in a foreign country at least 2 years before buying real estate. That means that you already live there for two years before you think about buying real estate. If you think about the times you bought real estate in your home country, it is when you knew the neighborhood, you knew how much the houses all around you sold for.

You knew what they sold for in the neighborhood you grew up in. You didn’t buy a place when you didn’t know anything about the place or the neighborhood. You didn’t buy it after going to visit for two weeks either.

Why then, when you are moving to a new country, where you have no comfort with the laws, why would you buy real estate right away?

Do not buy real estate for the first year or two. That’s the number one mistake new international retirees make when they move to a new country for the first time. It is easy to get into this mess, but very hard to get out of it. Everyone’s going to tell you how it’s such a great deal, you need to buy right now. “It’s going to double in the next year or two!” But it’s a lot easier to get into a mess than to get out of it.

It probably won’t even grow as fast as buying another rental in your hometown town. It will take time to know if you really love this new country. Make sure you know what you’re doing in the new place. Know it like the back of your hand before you make a decision to buy real estate.

If you have so much money that buying another home is like a drop in the bucket, then go for it if you like.

In fact, I don’t even recommend selling your old home in your old country before you finish your exploratory visit. The rental income for your home in your home country is probably double or triple what you would you have to pay for rent in one of these retirement paradise places. So why sell that place when you know it has been taken care of because you own it.

Hire a property manager and rent your place out. Use the income to pay the lower rents in the foreign country.

This report was updated in November 2024.  Here is the original video of the Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make Overseas, which I shared on YouTube back in 2020.