If you or a loved one is living in difficult conditions trying to exist on just Social Security each month, please contact us to see how we can help you or your loved one live a much better life in Colombia.
Everyone's situation is unique although there are a lot of people in more or less the same boat.
Here's a quick snapshot so you can see where you are in comparison to all retirees.
About 40 % of the 70+ million receiving Social Security each month count on that money for most, in not ALL, of their income. The average check for a single person in 2024 is about $1,900 and $3,000 for a married couple with both receiving benefits.
If you are in this boat, I don't have to tell you it's very difficult to live a quality life on this small amount of income even if you own your home. If you rent, it's even worse. Officially, you are living in poverty conditions.
If I still lived in the US, I would be in this boat. But I decided long ago (2005) that I needed to find a lower cost of living country but I wanted someplace where I would still maintain a high standard of living. After searching around, I found Colombia. But more on that later.
Social Security makes up about 1/3rd of the income of ALL retirees. According to the latest data from the United States Census Bureau, the median annual income for individuals aged 65 and older is $47,620, while the mean annual income is $75,254.
I know that sounds a bit confusing. Medium annual income means that there are just as many people making more than $47,620 as making less. Mean annual income is the average income.
According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, almost 40 million households have no retirement savings at all.
In 2021, 42 percent of all owner-occupied homes in the U.S. were owned free and clear, up from 34 percent in 2011.
Of those who owned their home free and clear, nearly 78 percent were owned by homeowners aged 55 or older. Not surprisingly, older homeowners are more likely to own their homes free and clear. As the Baby Boomer generation, which is larger than any generation before it, has aged, the share of homes owned free and clear has increased.
The average home price is $430,000 in Nov 2023. Prices dropped recently but are now inching up again. Prices vary tremendously by state and regions as does the cost of living. Millions are moving out of high cost regions like New York and California to states with lower housing costs and no income taxes like Florida and Texas. New residents to Florida (where I was born and lived for 50 years) will have new shocks with the high real estate taxes and homeowners insurance.
House prices have really gone up over the past 40 years so if you own your home, you are probably sitting on substantial equity (your nest egg).
Home ownership has declined recently due to a number of factors: the 2008 financial crisis followed by the pandemia caused massive financial and job losses. When house values crashed, investors started buying millions of houses for rentals. This trend continued as home values soared. Investors were earning rental income as well as substantial appreciation. Coming out of the pandemia, inflation reached levels not seen in 40 years. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates increasing mortgage rates from the low 3 % range to 7 %. Combined with the high prices of homes, millions were priced out of home ownership. We became a society of renters.
The High Cost of Living:
So here we are in 2024 with high house prices and high interest rates. Rents are ridiculous with many cities having average rents of $2,000 a month or more for a small unfurnished apartment. The cost of living has soared with gasoline and energy prices effecting everything. The government announces that inflation rates are down to 4 or 5 % but that is on top of the huge price increases from 2021 to 2023 which never came down.
Moving to Another Country:
International Living, one of the leading reference sources for living around the world, annually ranks the best countries in the world to retire.
I have a lot of problems with their methodology and scoring. First of all, they use a simple average of the 7 categories. They simply add up the scores for the 7 categories and divide by 7.
For retirees, cost of living and healthcare are by far the most important considerations.
Colombia scores a 98 for cost of living versus Costa Rica with 76. This is backed up by numbeo.com, the world's largest cost of living database. Numbeo calculates a Cost of Living Index (COLI) for each country. Colombia has a COLI of 27.6 (the 12th lowest in the world) versus Costa Rica with a score of 53.0 (92nd).
What this means is that the cost of living in Costa Rica is literally double the cost in Colombia. Monthly groceries which might cost $300 in Colombia for a retired couple will cost $600 in Costa Rica. Rent in Colombia which might be say $600 will be $1,200 in Costa Rica. And that's apples to apples.
Numbeo lets you compare the cost of living between cities too. Here is the comparison to living in San Jose, Costa Rica versus Medellin, Colombia. Two very modern mega cities.
You would need to have $14, 639,959 Colombian pesos ($ 3,753 dollars) in San Jose to have the same lifestyle you can have for $9,000,000 Colombian pesos ($2,300 dollars) in Medellin.
Housing: International Living gives Costa Rica a housing score of 66 versus Colombia at 64. This completely ignores the facts. Numbeo says the rent index in Costa Rica is 15.7 the 79th highest in the world versus Colombia with a rent index of 8.0, the 21st lowest in the world. Again, rent in Costa Rica is literally double the rent in Colombia and outside of San Jose and high end beach condos, the quality of apartments and housing in Costa Rica is terrible.
The United States has a COLI of 74.2 versus Colombia with 27.6 which means just about everything in Colombia is about 1/3rd the cost in the US.
Healthcare: International Living gives most countries about the same score on healthcare but this is a huge error. Colombia healthcare is ranked No 1 in Latin America and its not even close.
Every year, América Economía ranks the top hospitals in Latin America. Colombia consistently places 19 hospitals in the top 46 with 7 in the top 25. These hospitals are located throughout the country not just in the major mega cities. Colombia has 30+ hospitals which are internationally accredited by ICONTEC which is accredited by ISQua, one of the two organizations recommended by the American Medical Association (AMA) along with the Joint Commission International (JCI). Colombia has 5 hospitals accredited by JCI.
In every city, Colombia has a countless excellent, modern clinics specializing in dental, eye, heart, cancer, orthopedics, plastic surgery and many many more.
Costa Rica has one hospital in the top 46; Hospital Clinica Biblica in San Jose at no 8. Panama has one in the top 46; Hospital Punta Pacifica in Panama City at No 7. That's great if you live in or near these two major cities but not if you live 5 or 6 hours away.
There is just no way International Living can justify giving Costa Rica a healthcare score of 89 versus 83 for Colombia.
Moving to another country may seem overwhelming but it's really not as challenging as most people imagine.
Millions of Americans live outside the US now so there are Expat and Seniors communities everywhere and lots of places where you can enjoy ¨all the comforts of home¨ at a much lower cost of living. Medicare will not cover you outside the US so healthcare is a critical issue. Thankfully, there are many countries who have excellent healthcare and there are many low cost healthcare insurance options.
The reality is you can live very comfortably (better than you are living now) on just your Social Security in many countries. If you are making $50,000 to $75,000 a year or more, you can live a lifestyle you could never afford in the US.
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Colombia Home and Health offers 15 and 30 night Get to Know Colombia Vacations where you can:
- see what it´s like to live in Colombia including meeting with top experts on relocation, residency, etc.
- explore this amazingly beautiful and interesting country
- house hunt with top real estate professionals and home builders
- and even have medical treatments or procedures like bariatric or dental at less than 1/2 of the cost in the US.