topic Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico in Personal Finance

Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 07:30:45 GMT

Good morning all...

I took my retirement at 62. I will be 64 in November, 2025. My wife and I decided to move to Puerto Rico for our retirement years. I was born and raised in NYC, so I was apprehensive, as all I had heard was how unstable the infrastructure had become. Yes, the power grid (called LUMA) is not very dependable. However, we purchased a 14,000 KW Generac generator from Home Depot immediately. Six months later, we purchased a Tesla solar system. As of today, we pay $228/month for the solar system, and only an average of less than $10/month to LUMA. The solar production has been more than enough to power our home, and we do not have to depend on LUMA for the most part. There is no property tax here...a huge difference from the $8,750/year we paid in NY. Mandatory car insurance is only $180/year...yes, per year. Again, a huge difference from the $2,675/year in NY. We bought our home in cash, we have 2 paid off vehicles, and we live within our means, but quite comfortably. I realize retiring at 62 is not something with which everyone agrees, but I refused to work into nearly 70, as you never know how much time you have left. I give credit to sites such as MyFico, and all its members, as it has been instrumental in keeping my wife and I informed and debt free. Thank you all.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

SouthJamaica — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 04:35:27 GMT

@indiolatino61 wrote:
Good morning all...
I took my retirement at 62. I will be 64 in November, 2025. My wife and I decided to move to Puerto Rico for our retirement years. I was born and raised in NYC, so I was apprehensive, as all I had heard was how unstable the infrastructure had become. Yes, the power grid (called LUMA) is not very dependable. However, we purchased a 14,000 KW Generac generator from Home Depot immediately. Six months later, we purchased a Tesla solar system. As of today, we pay $228/month for the solar system, and only an average of less than $10/month to LUMA. The solar production has been more than enough to power our home, and we do not have to depend on LUMA for the most part. There is no property tax here...a huge difference from the $8,750/year we paid in NY. Mandatory car insurance is only $180/year...yes, per year. Again, a huge difference from the $2,675/year in NY. We bought our home in cash, we have 2 paid off vehicles, and we live within our means, but quite comfortably. I realize retiring at 62 is not something with which everyone agrees, but I refused to work into nearly 70, as you never know how much time you have left. I give credit to sites such as MyFico, and all its members, as it has been instrumental in keeping my wife and I informed and debt free. Thank you all.

Thanks. Very informative.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

citymunky — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 04:52:27 GMT

'I glad to see its working out for you. I'm originally from NYC too, with PR roots as well, but I left the city to work my career shortly after finishing school.

Now that I'm halfway until retirement, and I have been thinking about where is my final place to settle down. I know for a fact its not back in NYC. My employer moved me out to SoCal from the east coast , and while its one of the nicest places I lived so far, the high cost of living, high taxes, and all local government rules it is hard for me to image staying here if forever.

Preferred I would like to live in a place with income no taxes or super low tax rate: TX, FL and, PR come to mind, however one major con for all 3 are hurricanes and the lack of homeowners insurance options, the Super hot summers, and the bugs (ie those flying roaches).

I been to the island once back in teenage years, but with the Jones Act still in efforts what are the cost differences between normal everyday things (ie food, household supplies) compared to the uppe 48 states?

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 08:44:50 GMT

Thank you for your well wishes. You have quite a while to go until retirement, but it is never too early to start planning. In my case, moving to Puerto Rico was mostly my wife's preference. As my immediate family had all passed away, I had nothing holding me to any particular location.

I agree, the hurricane threat is my main concern, but there are weather concerns in many areas of the U.S. as well. As far as I can tell, the cost of living is not much different than in the contiguous states. Right now, gasoline is at 74 cents per liter (about $2.80 per gallon). The gas I use here (Puma) is also 0% ethanol, which is great.

Everything "American" such as fast food, etc., is on par as well. That being said, only retiring here with no mortgage or debt is ideal. The poverty rate here, supposedly, is hovering at 40% which is quite alarming. Retiring here is doable, but I don't believe making a living here is all that simple. By the way, I have a phobia to all kinds of insects, so fortunately I have not run across any flying roaches...lol. Fingers crossed. The best of luck to you wherever you decide to spend your golden years.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

Horseshoez — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 14:15:46 GMT

Interesting discussion, my wife and I both turn 68 this year, I will do so in the next few weeks, she won't until later in the year, and I find myself wondering where it would be best to retire. I'm still working, and in spite of a recent health issue (prostate cancer), my plan is to work until I'm at least 70, if not 73, in fact, I'm in the midst of a lengthy interview process for one of the major tech companies right now with an eye to changing jobs in June. We are currently living in one of the highest price areas of the U.S., just outside of DC, so staying here could very well be a challenge financially once I'm no longer working.

Prior to seeing this thread I had not even considered Puerto Rico, now, yeah, it is definitely on my radar, thanks @indiolatino61 for starting the thread.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 14:30:34 GMT

First of all, I hope you are victorious in your cancer fight. I know too many people with this dreaded illness. I am aware that the D.C. area is disproportionately expensive, as I have friends who live and work there and are planning on moving to somewhere less financially stressful for their retirement. I see you plan to work 2-5 more years...I admire your fortitude.

Take care, and the best of luck to you and your wife.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

Horseshoez — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 16:03:13 GMT

@indiolatino61 wrote:
First of all, I hope you are victorious in your cancer fight. I know too many people with this dreaded illness. I am aware that the D.C. area is disproportionately expensive, as I have friends who live and work there and are planning on moving to somewhere less financially stressful for their retirement. I see you plan to work 2-5 more years...I admire your fortitude.

Take care, and the best of luck to you and your wife.

Thanks! The good news is less than a year after I was given less than five years to live, my body responded to the treatments so well my cancer went undetectable. At this point my oncologist thinks there is a very good chance I'll live long enough to have something else kill me, so from a bizarre perspective, that's a good thing.

Regarding living in the DC area, one of the benefits is the quality of health care; we only moved down here from New Hampshire last summer and when I was undergoing radiation treatments last fall, I was able to ride my bike to the IMRT center. So yeah, while it is stupid expensive here, we'll probably stick it out until I retire.

And then there is working into, and beyond, typical retirement age..., the 2008 recession was not kind to us and things kept going downhill from there, we finally bottomed out in about 2014 and have been rebuilding since then, so working until my early 70s will afford us a comfortable retirement. Fortunately I'm in a technology field (Conversational AI to be precise), and I love what I do, so working isn't exactly a hardship.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 18:15:51 GMT

Fantastic news regarding your recovery! One thing I forgot to mention is that the healthcare system in Puerto Rico can be called by many as "substandard." Healthcare is a main concern at retirement age. I have kept my doctors in Florida and go there for routine checkups so I have records there just in case.

As far as your career, we do indeed need better conversational AI. The most common gripe on YouTube videos is the "abysmal" lack of human inflection and failure to recognize common words, as so many videos are now using AI instead of reading the script themselves. Funny thing...I just watched a police chase video where the AI voice was supposed to say MPH (miles per hour), but pronounced it, "meph." So it sounded like it said, "meth per hour." The suspect was a meth addict, so it ended up being hilarious.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

Horseshoez — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 19:20:24 GMT

@indiolatino61 wrote:
Fantastic news regarding your recovery! One thing I forgot to mention is that the healthcare system in Puerto Rico can be called by many as "substandard." Healthcare is a main concern at retirement age. I have kept my doctors in Florida and go there for routine checkups so I have records there just in case.

As far as your career, we do indeed need better conversational AI. The most common gripe on YouTube videos is the "abysmal" lack of human inflection and failure to recognize common words, as so many videos are now using AI instead of reading the script themselves. Funny thing...I just watched a police chase video where the AI voice was supposed to say MPH (miles per hour), but pronounced it, "meph." So it sounded like it said, "meth per hour." The suspect was a meth addict, so it ended up being hilarious.

I agree, many of the TTS (Text to Speech) algorithms are garbage, and many designers of the conversational aspect are pretty bad as well. In my case, I got "voluntold" I was moving into Conversational AI (although it wasn't called that back then) back in 2017; the initial toolset I worked with was purchased by Google and I've ended up partnering with them on over a dozen projects since I joined a consulting firm back in 2021. Funny thing, about a month ago they invited me to apply for a new position they'd created which is pretty much right up my alley consulting to their clients; apparently they'd already interviewed over 30 internal candidates and not one passed the screening interview. I passed that interview back in late March and have all but one of the technical interviews complete as well. I should know by early- to mid-May whether they are going to extend me an offer.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

Realist — Tue, 13 May 2025 03:57:25 GMT

Ok, this is one heck of a great topic. Congratulations on the opportunity. People won't really know in real time, unless they're living that life.

How is the cost of living down there? Crime? Employment should you want to do something on the side? Does the dollar stretch down there? So many questions.

I'm curious about health care. Do you have easily access to this? Now this can happen to anyone anywhere, but my father-law had a cousin, that retired in Brazil I believe. Purchase a farm type household, don't remember what they grew - whether as a hobby or to make some side cash. But what I do remember is that at one point in time, there was a health emergency that required attention, but medical services were an hour away. He passed before he could reach a hospital.

Interesting topic, and I am interested. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Tue, 13 May 2025 21:59:09 GMT

@Realist wrote:
Ok, this is one heck of a great topic. Congratulations on the opportunity. People won't really know in real time, unless they're living that life.

How is the cost of living down there? Crime? Employment should you want to do something on the side? Does the dollar stretch down there? So many questions.

I'm curious about health care. Do you have easily access to this? Now this can happen to anyone anywhere, but my father-law had a cousin, that retired in Brazil I believe. Purchase a farm type household, don't remember what they grew - whether as a hobby or to make some side cash. But what I do remember is that at one point in time, there was a health emergency that required attention, but medical services were an hour away. He passed before he could reach a hospital.

Interesting topic, and I am interested. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, Realist. I'm happy to answer your questions...

1. The cost of living here is comparable to the states if all one ever does is frequent venues such as Walmart, et al. Prices there are the same as as any other. However, local and neighborhood establishments are where your money will last longer. Going to franchised restaurants like Longhorn or Chili's will cost you much more than finding a local eatery. A local bakery/coffee shop is one of my favorite places. As far as property values and home purchases, a comparable house here is often less than one-third of what it is in the states. Yes, you have to put in the effort, but as an example, my wife and I bought a 5-bedroom, 2-1/2 bath with separate office space and balcony for $150K in cash since selling our home in Florida afforded us to do so. The same type home in Florida would easily be well north of $500K.

2. Crime is where you look for it. I live in Caguas, about 30 miles South of San Juan. I've not experienced first-hand any criminal activities. In the news, most of the crime is where you would expect, in the tourist areas, and late at night. I'm 63 and retired, so the days of hanging out at 3am are gone, so I presume my exposure to pickpockets and muggers are diminished. Road rage incidents happen everywhere, much like other possibly risky events. Violent crime seems to be within families/friends/seedy individuals and less for people minding their own business.

3. Employment is another issue altogether. Personally, I would have never moved here if my wife and I were not already financially secure. Unless you wish to work at retail or fast food jobs, Puerto Rico is not the place to gain financial freedom in your retirement years. I came here for retirement and had no intention of doing anything...just relax! As far as "side hustles" are concerned, Uber, Doordash, etc., exist here but as many will tell you it is quite a grind and there is ample competition already, so it is a saturated business model.

4. LUMA is the island's electric power supplier, and it is in dire trouble. The island has blackouts continuously, even when the weather is wonderful. For this reason, our home has a 14KW generator from Home Depot and in addition an 11 panel solar system with Tesla battery. So far, in almost 3 years, there have been literally dozens of power outages and we have not lost even a minute of power. It is imperative and essential to have these setups if you want to live a comfortable retirement here. If you prepare, life here is enjoyable, not so much if you just move with no contingency or emergency planning. It is a beautiful place as long as you are prepared.

5. Now for the bad news...medical care here is nowhere as available as it is in the states. I retained health and medical records in Florida and go 3-4 times per year in case my health starts to deteriorate in my later years. Depending on where you live, emergency service can be 5-10 minutes or over an hour. We bought our home within 12 minutes of Cagua's main hospital. Often, doctor's visits will be scheduled once every six months...dental care is even more precarious, but that is the situation in many places.

Thanks for the interest and I hope I covered most of your concerns.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

Realist — Thu, 15 May 2025 04:02:55 GMT

Thank you for your contribution indiolatino61. I enjoyed reading your reply.

I've always wondered about elsewhere, somewhere off the mainland. So I guess I'm just in gathering information mode.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

dfwxjer — Thu, 15 May 2025 14:27:25 GMT

Congrats on the great sounding retirement! My wife and I's goal is very similar to yours but with moving to rural desert land in NM, but the same principles apply. Selling our properties to buy a plot of land in cash, retiring early, and enjoying our years in a stripped down manner.

Re: Retirement in Puerto Rico

indiolatino61 — Thu, 15 May 2025 21:22:57 GMT

Thank you...I wish you all the best in your retirement years. We deserve it...lol!