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Europe

World’s 25 Best Retirement Destinations

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News Release from International Living Ecuador tops IL's Annual Retirement Index for the second year running For Kent and Christina Zimmerman, leaving Colorado for Cuenca, Ecuador felt like making a huge jump without a net. But after a year in the country that tops International Living’s 2010 Retirement Index, they’re loving their new lives in Ecuador. They pay just $300 monthly rent for a rooftop apartment with panoramic views across Cuenca, a colonial center steeped in rich history that …

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Totally Unprepared for the French

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Guest Post by Catherine Perkins When I left the United States in February for a two month stay in France, I was very prepared. I had a bag loaded with French language resources (a dictionary, a phrase book, a traveler's guide), and some new cold-weather clothing. Living in Florida my entire life, I'd never had much need for a heavy coat before, but I purchased a lovely blue parka just before I left. I never once used the language books, and I ditched the parka my first week there (too …

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Is France Affordable?

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Recently, the Live and Invest Overseas e-letter has been talking about France in the run-up to their upcoming conference about living and investing there. France is not one of the countries we've been considering as a retirement destination because of the expense. But with headlines like, "Your Second Home In France (Could Cost As Little As 45,000 Euro)," is it worth reconsidering, I wonder? Correspondent Lucy Culpepper writes with enthusiasm about the Languedoc and Bearn regions of the country …

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Almost French/I’ll Never Be French

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Last week my youngest daughter flew from Orlando, FL to Europe. She’ll be spending about 2-1/2 months in Lille, France to round out her gap year between high school and college. In honor of her French adventure, I decided to review a couple of books by expats in France. Almost French, subtitled Love and a New Life in Paris, was written by Sarah Turnbull. An Australian journalist, she met Frédéric while traveling in Eastern Europe, visited him in Paris, and ended up making a life with him. She …

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Which Countries Have the Best Health Care?

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In the Expat Web group on LinkedIn, a member asked recently, “As an Expat, which countries do you think have the best and worst health care systems?” Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Malta and France all received positive comments. One poster said Japan’s was “the worst I ever experienced.” The US was mentioned favorably, but “only if you have good insurance. Prices are about 5 to 10 times the costs of France or Belgium.” This kind of anecdotal information is interesting, but not all that …

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Top 10 Retirement Havens

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Live and Invest Overseas publisher Kathleen Peddicord has named the Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2010, and the list includes some surprises. Panama occupies the top spot, and Peddicord comments that "this country manages to become more appealing all the time." Her Top 10 picks include: Panama France "World's best quality of life, world's best health care, world's best infrastructure, world's most romantic city" Uruguay for "The banking, residency, and tax advantages of Panama without the …

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