Retire Overseas? Don't Just Plunge In! Know These 7 Things First

For many people, to retire overseas is....exciting. A dream comes true......

But in the midst of all the excitement and euphoria, you could have missed out on a lot of things. Because retiring overseas isn't the same like going overseas for holidays. It's entirely a new ball game altogether.

Hey! You're moving to a foreign country, let's face it, you got tons of things to make sure first before you make that "gigantic" plunge!

Here are 7 things you should tackle first if you want to retire overseas.

1. Do Your Research

The Internet is probably the first and foremost place you could go for information.

For example, the IRS has a number of publications on taxation of US resident living abroad on retirement pension monies and also other issues that would affect a US national overseas.

Equip yourself with information on:

-Overseas destinations considered good as retirement locations

-The cost of living including property prices

-The social cultural environment

-The food, entertainment and travel conveniences

-The weather and climate

-The political climate

and etc....

2. Taxation

First, you need to look at tax residency, whether you're a tax resident in a foreign country. Then determine how you need to declare your income and what you need to be paying in a local country.

It's quite a complicated subject, taxation. So it's best you leave it to the care of your tax consultant to sweat it out for you......

3. Health Care

It's a difficult area since it depends on the country you're moving to and whether or not it has a socialized medical system. If it does, you may potentially not fall under its benefits rules for travel abroad even while you're a resident in the local country.

P/S: You're not eligible for Medicare while you're overseas.

It's best you check out the local rules on health care.

4. Owning/Buying Your Own Home Overseas

From tax point of view, this is not a problem.

From the US perspective, when you buy a property overseas, you're taxed on the gain and the capital gain from the sale of that property just like you would be from a US property sold.

From a local tax perspective, it would depend on the country you're in and when you sell it and if you're a resident in the property when you sell it.

However, buying a home has a lot of issues overseas. If you're not a national of that country, in some countries you can't potentially buy property.

Some of the other issues are:

-not knowing enough about the local real estate market

-not understanding exactly what's going to happen from a tax perspective both on an annual basis and at the point of sale

5. Social Security Dollars

You can receive your Social Security dollars while overseas. The authority can mail the money directly to a foreign location or they can deposit it into a US bank and you can draw the funds into an overseas account.

6. Find Out The "Hidden" Costs

When you retire overseas, the biggest surprise or the unanticipated financial consequence that you may face is probably the hidden costs like costs of living which you don't anticipate, meaning, some things in certain countries just cost money whereas in the US they don't. So you need to do your homework ahead of time.

7. Live In the Country For A While

Before you make the move to relocate to another country, I would say it's good that you live there first for a while yourself,look around at the local amenities, what are being offered, what's free, what's not, and get a good feel for where you're going.

Due to her strong yearning to retire early in life, Cecelia Yap has been researching on the subject of retirement. She has found the most "viral" way to grow her retirement nest egg and you too can do what she does for moeny making .