Aussie retirees are ditching the suburbs for cheaper life abroad, according to this year’s Global Retirement Index. Kate Christie is one of them. She bought a run down, pigeon infested palazzo in Sicily last year and says she’s never been happier. Groceries run about 40 percent cheaper than back home, and the house plus renovations cost roughly $200,000 Australian dollars total. “It’s just phenomenally affordable,” she says.
With 46 countries now offering retirement visas, seniors are chasing lifestyle and savings in places like Uruguay, Mauritius and Spain. Migration specialists point to a kind of silver tsunami, driven by cost of living frustration at home and the appeal of making superannuation stretch further overseas.
One specialist notes the main downside is distance from family, but for Christie that’s manageable. “Family is only a flight away,” she says. She spends her days enjoying wine, olives, the Mediterranean diet and swimming in the Tyrrhenian Sea, documenting the whole adventure online. As she puts it, “this isn’t about retirement for me, this is about living.”
My Take…
Forty six countries now court retirees chasing cheap wine over Woolworths. Family’s a flight away, she says. Fair trade for Mediterranean swims, honestly.
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