Retirement Planning

ABOVE: Fishing, sunsets and retirement go hand in hand. But how sweet it is when you can bring in your household effects car, boat and even a plane duty free. And your pension is also free of tax.

So you are thinking of your retirement plan and considering a sunny Caribbean Paradise.. Or like some savvy expatriates, you are planning on an active retirement where you can make some money to add to supplement your 401K, IRA or annuity and have fun at the same time. It's a not too well guarded secret that many visitors have come here as tourists or seeking secure offshore banking services, and have ended up as business owners.

Some have decided to sell off their assets in their home country and gone into the tourism business as inn keepers, condo managers, resort or restaurant owners, tour operators, consultants and a couple are even into what first drew them to this country in the first place – offshore banking. A gentleman from the U.S. that we know took early retirement in Belize but could not stay idle for long. So he bought some land on the cheap and sub-divided it. He is now into real estate and specializes in - you guessed it - selling retirement homes and house lots to Americans moving here . His latest project is a retirement community for North Americans.

Another visitor, an American attorney, came to this Caribbean paradise for the fishing. He found out he was suddenly a big fish in a small pond and now practices in the offshore banking sector and also attends to clients back home via the Internet. He says he has more business than he can handle. Talk of working from your verandah overlooking the beach!

But some things are different here. Perhaps the most useful tip we can immediately give you towards your acculturation process concerns time. While this country does have a touch of the “manana” syndrome associated with a tropical paradise, many of the more established businesses are prompt and efficient. However, if you intend to entertain a lot, it will do your “presha” (heart pressure rate) good to remember that if a local tells you to stop by around 6: 00-ish , showing up anytime between 6:15 – 7:30 is considered okay! Local time is the same as US Central Standard Time Zone (GMT minus 6), and does not utilize Daylight Savings Time.

No doubt, just about any expatriate resident will have his or her own story about how to best adjust to life in here . As a potential resident or retiree, you will come to appreciate that one of the most attractive points about our country is that it is a great place to relax. Yes, relax. After all, isn't the “r” in retirement the same ‘r' that begins relaxation? Remember how you always promised yourself that you would take time to smell the roses? Well – we've got the time! So, even though you may not always get instant attention when you require some sort of service, you probably will also be able to truly unwind as you enter this new round in the boxing ring of life.

You will want to hear all about the challenges and successes involved in moving to this country. With a land mass of 8,866 square miles, this little coluntry is about the size of Massachusetts in the United States . The outlying cayes and the great Barrier Reef host some of the world's renowned dive spots, and a consistent approach to ecotourism principles has seen the development of both marine and inland adventure tours in pristine waters and jungles abundant with wildlife, flora and fauna.

Of course, as a resident, your initial concerns involve settling in, not touring, so your biggest need is to communicate. The country's official language is English, and all your paperwork and government transactions will use English; all signs are in English and the education system uses English as the official medium of instruction. However, as you interact among locals, the languages of everyday communication you are most likely to hear are Spanish (about 48% of the population speaks Spanish as a first language) and Kriol (this is the Creole language spoken as a first language by about 24% of the population and as a second language by the majority of residents in the country's 250,000 populace. Kriol is a blend of mostly English vocabulary, often with systematic differences in stress, combined with African grammatical patterns. A Chicago Tribune travel writer once described the Belize Kriol language as one that “teases but just escapes the imagination of a native speaker of English.” One can often hear a new expatriate resident telling a clerk: “I'm sorry, I didn't get that – could you repeat that?” It's okay to ask; in fact, do ask questions, and do compliment Belizeans on their beautiful accent. Best of all, arm yourself with some of the do's and don'ts as you make your transition into the Belizean way of life.

HOME