The older people get usually the better it gets financially. The family has basically grown up and become self sufficient, in most cases. All of the major items need for reasonable living have been purchased and long paid for. Now is the time to think about enjoying life a little more, but many times it turns out that the retirement years create their own financial struggles.
In past articles we have talked a lot about the tax implications for seniors. One may think that they have had years of paying taxes, and that this obligation should end once a certain age is reached. In some respects it does because retirees are not paying taxes on wages earned. However, they are now paying taxes on pensions in many cases.
It is not usual for seniors to start thinking about moving perhaps to another country not only for the chance to have less taxes to pay, but for other incentives like a warmer climate and perhaps other countries tend to look after their seniors better.
There have been studies done to see which countries offer the most advantages to seniors and the results have shown that it’s the European countries that took the top ten positions. For many Canadians they often think that the USA would be the ideal spot to move to. In many cases this is based on the many choices of warm climates that don’t experience the harsh winters that Canadian seniors must endure.
It turns out that one study showed that the USA just made it into the top 20 best spots for retiring seniors. The stats aren’t focusing on tax implications but take in many different factors that are important to seniors. It includes health issues, health services, objectives for living a reasonably comfortable life style as well as overall finances as well as other living issues.
If you are curious as to which Country took the number one spot for best senior living it was Switzerland! Out of the different stats that were created this country scored a 9.5 out of 10 for quality of life. Canada took the 14th spot in the top twenty with a quality of life score of 8.3 out of 10. The USA landed in the 19th spot with a quality of life score of 8.0 out of 10. So for you snowbirds that are thinking of making the US your permanent resident you may want to weight out all the pluses and negatives before doing so.
