Everyone tells you it's beautiful. Nobody tells you what it costs.
A 300-page guide to retiring abroad, written by someone who has watched people get it right — and rather more of them get it wrong.
- The eight figures that decide whether a place works — and where to look each one up
- What private health cover actually excludes once you are past sixty-five
- The renewal trap that keeps ten years of residence from ever becoming permanent
- How to tell early that it is not working, while going back is still affordable
$22.99 $45.99 one-time payment · instant download
You have done the research. You still don't have the answer.
The numbers don't add up
Every site quotes a different cost of living, none says what it includes, and none was written by someone paying those bills at sixty-five.
Nobody mentions February
You visited in July and loved it. Whether the town is still open in winter — and whether you would be alone in it — is in no guide.
The health question stays vague
“Healthcare is excellent and affordable.” At what price, past sixty-five, with a pre-existing condition, and how many weeks to see a specialist?
The visa rules read like law
Because they are law. What you need is the income figure, the renewal trap, and whether it ever becomes permanent.
„The place that wins is rarely the prettiest. It is usually the one with a hospital, an airport, and a bakery open in February."
Nine parts, forty-six chapters, about three hundred pages
Before you decide
Why people really leave, and what you are giving up.
The money
Pension, budget, exchange rates, tax, and the costs of year two.
Health
Cover after sixty-five, reading a waiting list, when one of you needs care.
The papers
Income thresholds, renewals, and why buying does not always let you stay.
Where
The holiday test, February, distance to family, language.
The home
Rent first, what a viewing hides, selling again.
The people
The expat bubble, friendships at sixty-five, grandchildren.
The first year
The honeymoon, and the second winter.
When it does not work
The early signs, and going home without shame.
This book is for you if …
You are seriously considering it
Not daydreaming. You have looked at listings, you have a number in your head, and you are afraid of getting it wrong at an age where mistakes are expensive.
You want the arithmetic, not the atmosphere
Beautiful photographs are everywhere. What the month actually costs, and who pays when something goes wrong, is not.
You watch The Retirement Atlas
You have seen the rankings and want the unhurried version — the decision behind them, not another list.
Get your copy
- All 46 chapters — money, health, papers, place, people, the first year
- The eight figures explained, with how to find them for any town yourself
- The chapters nobody else writes: when your partner wants to go home, when one of you needs care
- Written by the person you hear in the videos, in the same plain language
Digital book (PDF) · one-time payment · instant download · no subscription
The things people learn two years too late
- How to build a monthly budget that survives contact with reality
- Why a published waiting time answers a different question than the one you asked
- What private cover actually excludes once you are past sixty-five
- The renewal trap that keeps a decade of residence from becoming permanent
- How to test a town in the month that matters instead of the month you visited
- What a property viewing cannot show you, and who to ask instead
- How to tell early that it is not working — while going back is still affordable
- What to do when your partner wants to go home and you don't
Before you buy
Is this a country guide?
No — deliberately. Laws and prices change, and a country guide is out of date the month it prints. This is the decision itself, which does not change: the money, the health cover, the papers, the place, the people, the first year.
I have watched the videos. Is this the same content?
No. A video has twenty minutes for five places. The book has three hundred pages for the decision behind them — including the parts that do not fit into a ranking.
Will it tell me where to go?
It will tell you how to work that out yourself, with the same eight figures used in every episode. Anyone who names one perfect country for everyone is selling something.
Is it too late for me at sixty-eight?
Possibly, and the first chapter says who should stay exactly where they are. That is the honest answer, and it is worth more than an encouraging one.
How do I get the book?
Immediately after checkout you receive a download link by email. It is a PDF — no app, no account, no subscription.