johninajijic
Feb 8, 2003, 8:20 AM
Post #5 of 18
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Mexico Retirement Cost of Living Estimates
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Well, I find these “add em up” cost of living estimates of limited value for two reasons.
One, every personal situation is different. Some have more income than others. We all have different expectations. Some are happy to hunt down a $350 “rough” rental and fix it up while others are unhappy with a $1500 rental.
Secondly, these “lists” of expense items often omit more than they list. Rarely do you get to see a grand total what people are actually spending - instead we see these short itemized lists of selected expenses. I rarely see replacement appliances, computers, automobiles, out of pocket major medical emergencies, home furnishings, home repairs, etc. on these lists. They might be “one time” expenses but their cost needs to be “averaged in”. And what about gifts to grandchildren, travel to the USA, and trips “to the beach”? Almost all couples here own a car. And many have a second car. Reading material. Cable TV. Satellite TV. Internet service. Computer repair. Long distance telephone. Hobbies. Booze. Cigarettes. Pets. Vets. Entertaining. Charitable donations. Severance pay. Visa expenses. Household shipments. Mail order. Dental. Exterminator. Mail box fees. Membership fees. Recreation expenses. Expeditor fees for visas, insurance, car matters, shipments. Car repair. Property taxes. Medicine. Car taxes. US income taxes. Tax preparation. Personal care. Courses. Gardening. Water bill. Insurance. Legal expenses. Homeowner association fees. Security service fees. Holiday expenses.
The list goes on and on and it all adds up. Few gringos here just hole up in a cheap rental without upgrading it, never travel, walk or bus instead of owning a car, shop mainly at the tianguis and consider their “luxuries” cable TV, a maid a few hours a week, the weekly newspaper, and one meal out a week at California or Salvador’s.
Food expense is often grossly underestimated. Sure, eating is not too expensive here if you eat lots of fresh produce and local butcher shop meat prepared at home. But the reality of it is that many expatriate seniors shop at Superlake for the canned, boxed, and frozen which is expensive in Mexico (whether imported or not) and at Tony’s for meat - and complain about the prices! - , and often they eat out a lot. Eating out is cheap here per meal but many eat out a lot more here than they ever would in the USA.
I tell people to plan on overall cost of retirement living in Mexico to be the roughly same as in the USA in a “normal” place without inflated prices (e.g., not Hawaii, many parts of California or the Northeast, etc.). Then if you are lucky you might have a “buffer” to make it doable in Mexico.
Sure, many things are cheaper in Mexico but you need to look at the grand total of what most American retirees actually spend to get a handle on the overall expenses.
And for all the talk about it, many seniors just can’t be bothered with the hassle and inconvenience of doing many things “the cheaper way”. These “cheap living” myths are interesting in theory but few do it by choice and many who have to are not very happy about it. If saving money was the primary goal, many would be happier in the USA and at less expense living in a used trailer in a rural part of the southern USA.
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