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 earned it a spot as a UNESCO World Heritage city. In fact, say the Zimmermans, they are exactly 55 steps from the city’s colonial heart, the picturesque and lively Parque Calderon, putting them at the hub of every festival that this renowned “City of Festivals” celebrates.



“The pleasure of being in this vibrant city keeps us feeling energized, fit, and young,” says Kent. “Our place has a wonderful penthouse deck looking straight across the street at the sparkling blue-tiled domes of the huge cathedral that anchors the park. The deck has become our outdoor dining room, because the temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit all year.”

The healthy, relaxed, and friendly lifestyle the Zimmerman’s found in Cuenca is just one of the reasons Ecuador tops International Living’s Annual Retirement Index for the second year running.

“Ecuador is simply the world’s most affordable retirement haven,” says Eoin Bassett, editor of International Living magazine, which published the complete 2010 Retirement Index in its September issue.

“In Ecuador, there’s something for everyone,” says Bassett, “beaches, rural highlands, jungle escapes, colonial cities. You can find a four-course lunch for $2. A taxi ride in the capital, Quito, costs $1. You can stay in a nice hotel for less than $20 or get a 30-minute massage for $15.”

In addition, says Bassett, Ecuador offers the best-value real estate in Latin America. “You can find a brand-new two-bedroom, two-bath condo—with city or ocean views—for less than $50,000. A hacienda-style home in the mountains lists for $90,000. A high-end home with floor- to-ceiling windows on two acres of hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean goes for $83,000.”

But as the Zimmermans and hundreds of other North American expats have found, the real draw is the climate. The beaches are tropical, but in the Andes Mountains, the weather is mild and spring-like. And because Ecuador lies on the equator, the weather is constant year around. In Ecuador you chose your ideal climate simply by choosing your elevation.

In addition to the ideal weather and low cost of living, Ecuador also offers top-notch health care and some appealing benefits for retirees, including half-price airfares and other transportation costs, and big discounts on a variety of other expenses like taxes, utilities, and entertainment.

All these qualities combined to earn Ecuador the #1 spot on International Living’s 2010 Annual Retirement Index.

To determine the Annual Retirement Index, Bassett says 25 countries are analyzed and ranked in categories including real estate costs, special benefits offered to retirees, culture, safety and stability, health care, climate, infrastructure, and cost of living.

“We give top priority to those things that matter most to retirees, such as special retiree benefit programs that include tax breaks and discounts,” says Bassett. “Ecuador first won the top honor in 1999, and it has been high on the list ever since.”

On this year’s Annual Retirement Index, the world’s top five retirement havens are Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, France and Italy.

The United States moved up seven spots on the 2010 Index, reaching #15 for 2010 from a ranking of #22 last year. Total score for the U.S. was hurt by relatively high cost of living and high carrying costs for real estate such as taxes and insurance. The United Kingdom comes in at #22 this year, and Thailand takes #25.

Bassett says that to determine the index rankings, data is analyzed in eight categories from a huge range of sources.

“Then we run the results past our in-country experts for their judgments based on their first-hand experience,” says Bassett. “So it’s not a purely by-the-numbers, scientific call… it’s more nuanced. We’ve crunched the numbers, but we’ve also made adjustments based on what we know to be the reality on the ground.”

“No place gets a perfect score,” says Bassett. “Every place has pros and cons, pockets where living is easier, or cheaper, than another. But all of the countries in our Index have something to offer. Even if they score poorly in a specific category, they’re still the best places in the world to retire that we’ve found.”

The top 10 best places to retire, with possible points out of 100, are:

1. Ecuador – 81

2. Panama – 80

3. Mexico – 79

4. France – 78

5. Italy – 78

6. Uruguay – 77

7. Malta – 76

7. Malta – 76

8. Chile – 76

9. Spain – 75

10. Costa Rica – 75

This is the 18th year that International Living, founded in 1981, has compiled its Annual Retirement Index. See here for the complete 2010 Annual Retirement Index.

1. France (was #1 last year as well)
2. Australia (moved up from #5 in 2009)
3. Switzerland (down one spot)
4. Germany (up from the #8 spot in 2009)
5. New Zealand (up from #9)
6. Luxembourg (down from #4)
7. USA (down from #3)
8. Belgium (down from #6)
9. Canada (a big jump up, from #19)
10. Italy (down from #7)

Top Ten Retirement Havens from Live and Invest Overseas

1. Argentina
2. Belize
3. Chile
4. Croatia
5. Dominican Republic
6. France
7. Malaysia
8. Panama
9. Uruguay
10. Vietnam

Mercer’s Best Cities for 2009:

1. Vienna, Austria (1st)
2. Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
3. Geneva, Switzerland (3rd )
4. Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
5. Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)

Forbes list of The World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live. According to Forbes, the 10 most expensive cities are:

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Hong Kong, China
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. New York, USA
9. Beijing, China
10. Singapore

2009 Best Retirement Havens, according to International Living:

1. Cuenca, Ecuador
2. Merida, Mexico
3. Coronado, Panama
4. Punta del Este, Uruguay
5. Calitri, Italy

So there you have it. Some highly respected lists from 2009, and one for 2010.

Best wishes for a happy expat New Year!

1. Forbes list of The World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live. According to Forbes, the 10 most expensive cities are:
   • Tokyo, Japan

   • Osaka, Japan
   • Moscow, Russia
   • Geneva, Switzerland
   • Hong Kong, China
   • Zurich, Switzerland
   • Copenhagen, Denmark
   • New York, USA
   • Beijing, China
   • Singapore

   
   

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2. Foreign Policy’s Global Cities Index. This list, according to the magazine, identifies cities which

   “continue to forge global links despite intensely complex economic environments. They are the ones making urbanization work to their advantage by providing the vast opportunities of global integration to their people; measuring cities’ international presence captures the most accurate picture of the way the world works.”

   The study measured 24 metrics across five dimensions which include business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. The cities that made the final cut include:

   • New York

   • London
   • Paris
   • Tokyo
   • Hong Kong
   • Los Angeles
   • Singapore
   • Chicago
   • Seoul
   • Toronto

3. Environmental Science and Technology measured Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Cities. Greenhouse gas emissions of 10 cities were studied, and the results were published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal. In order, from highest emissions down, were:
   • Denver

   • Los Angeles
   • Toronto
   • Cape Town (tied for third place)
   • New York
   • London
   • Prague
   • Geneva
   • Barcelona

4. Mercer’s 2009 Quality of Living Survey, posted here previously. Best quality of life, according to this survey, can be found in:
   • Vienna

   • Zurich
   • Geneva
   • Vancouver
   • Auckland (tied for 4th place)
   • Dusseldorf
   • Munich
   • Sydney

5. International Living’s 2009 World’s Best Retirement Havens lists the top five cities, then continues with countries.
   • Cuenca, Ecuador

   • Merida, Mexico
   • Coronado, Panama
   • Punta del Este, Uruguay
   • Calitri, Italy

6. Reader’s Digest compiled a list of the world’s Most Polite Cities, and their results may surprise you. Two reporters fanned out across the cities and tested whether the locals would hold a door for them and/or help them pick up dropped documents, and whether sales clerks would thank them for their purchases. Surprisingly, the Big Apple scored #1 according to these limited measures. Top 10 cities for courtesy were:
   • New York

   • Zurich
   • Toronto
   • Berlin
   • Sao Paulo
   • Zagreb
   • Auckland
   • Warsaw
   • Mexico City
   • Stockholm

7. Top Ten Global Outsourcing Cities. Where are American jobs going? According to an article at Trendsniff, it’s Asia, Asia, Asia. Cebu City, Philippines takes the no. 1 spot for customer service. Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, India rank highly, as does Makati City (Manila) Philippines. IT outsourcing is a little less Asia-centric, with centers in Central and Eastern Europe. Science R&D, testing and development is heading for China.
8. UBS Prices & Earnings Comparison looks at earnings and cost of living, and draws some interesting conclusions. The study put together a “basket” of (mostly food) purchases and drilled down until they could determine how many of these baskets could be purchased by wage-earners in different countries, after deducting taxes and social security contributions. One of the items in the basket was an iPod Nano. The study found an average wage-earner in Zurich or New York could purchase the Nano with one day’s wages, while it took an average earner in Mumbai 20 days, or basically a month of work, to buy it.

   In terms of purchasing power, top cities are

   • Zurich

   • Sydney
   • Luxembourg
   • Dublin
   • Miami
   • Los Angeles
   • Geneva
   • New York
   • Chicago
   • Nicosia. Yes, Nicosia. Isn’t that on the island of Cyprus?

   I did spot a huge flaw in this study, however. Some mechanism should have been used for deducting cost of health care from the disposable income, which USB calculated as earnings less taxes and social security. Since some of the countries pay for health care from taxes, results favor wage-earners in countries which do not. I suspect that the USA would not be represented among the top 10 on this list if health care costs were properly balanced. You can read the entire report here.

• Bleeding Espresso, by an American who moved from Pennsylvania to her ancestors’ village in Italy.

• Chris Winchester, who moved very recently from the UK to New Zealand, and who promised to write a guest post here but hasn’t gotten around to it yet. (Wink!)
• Mid-Atlantic English, subtitled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Host Culture.
  
  

• Jim & Carole’s Mexico Adventure. A former community organizer and his wife moved to Ajicic, Mexico and photo-blog about it.
• Cuenca, Ecuador, New Life in Retirement. A CPA and an acupuncturist retire to Cuenca. I especially like his commentary about their multi-year process of deciding where to retire, and then implementing their plan!

  I’ll try to post more links to expat blogs once a month or so. I find them fascinating, and hope you do too.

  If you have a favorite blog you’d like to recommend, contact me or click the Comment link below to pass along the information.

  
  
  
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  Rope Vendors, Cuenca, Ecuador

  International Living has just named Cuenca, Ecador its Best Retirement Haven for 2009. The cover story, in the September issue of the magazine, outlines why Cuenca beat out the competition as the best place for expat retirees. They describe the city, Ecuador’s third largest, as “a place of old world beauty.” The colonial city is a UNESCO World Heritage site with cobbled streets and gorgeous examples of colonial Spanish architecture. It’s also inexpensive, with monthly costs for a couple to live well under $1500/month. Retirees enjoy some special benefits in Ecuador, including discounts on transportation, utilities and cultural, sports, artistic and recreational events.
  
  
  
  

  Their second choice is Merida, Mexico, on the Yucatan peninsula, where real estate prices are still considerably lower than some better-known expat havens like San Miguel de Allende.

  Coronado, Panama also makes the list, as do Punta del Este, Urugay and Calitri, Italy.

  Find out more at their website.

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