Retire in Mexico and Live Like a King Or - Queen? How?

You'll be amazed at how much further your pensions or savings can go and how much higher the quality of your life is, in Mexico.

Yes, retire in Mexico is a bargain; a warm, inviting paradise for a steal.

But the question is how?

In all practicality, the best is to learn to adopt to a Mexican way of life.

That said, how much will it cost you to live in Mexico?

Well, first calculate how much you spend now, in your comfortable circumstances at home.

Then, using the "ballpark" figures I give you as a guideline below on the cost of living in Mexico's popular retirement communities, you can compute how much money you need to live in Mexico.

1. Housing

It would be 50% off whatever you're paying now. If you rent a small house or apartment for say $900 a month in the US, you can get an equivalent or even better one for $400 or thereabout, in Mexico.

In areas that don't have many tourists/foreign residents, it could be 75% off whatever you're paying in the US.

2.Food & Alcohol

Eating out is seen a good social ethic and an important form of entertainment in Mexico. Even with much eating-outs, you still get to save around 25% on your food bill because the food here is so cheap. Plus you'll love the freshness in the food.

If you home-cook your meals, that's gonna even more economical as you could shave off 50% from your current food bill.

Generally, liquor is also cheaper in Mexico, but it also goes down easier. The thing is if you go for heavy drinking, it's gonna be a major expense for you, cheap aside. So watch out on this.

3. Heating

You won't spend much on it as the climate is warm.

4. Utilities

Your utility bill, on average, would be around $30 per month or $50 if you've air-conditioning. Cooking gas and hot water cost another $10 to $30 per month. Water may be free or just a few dollars per month.

5. Telephone & Internet

Basic service is quite cheap, but long distance international calls charges can be expensive. Switch to using email and fax if you need to make many calls.

For Internet service, on average, you pay about $20 to $30 per month.

6. Hired help

Feel you wanna splurge a bit?

For $2 or $3 an hour, you can hire a domestic help to do all the boring, mundane housework for you. And you can devote your time to do something that's more interesting.

When you do all the math and number crunching, remember to impute inflation into your calculation as Mexico's inflation is quite high, could be something like 15% or more per year. So, you need to take into account what's your monetary worth 1, 2 or 5 years down the road.

OK. You're done with the number crunching. Your next task is to visit Mexico. Your purpose? To talk to the retirees there and get as much information and feedback from them as you possibly can. Then, go back to your numbers and re-work them, if need be. You can get quite close to the amount of money you need to spend per month.

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