In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age
of 38. Now, into their 3rd decade of this
financially independent lifestyle, they invite you
to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.
Retire to Mexico?
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli
Chapala, Mexico
continues to be a prime destination for North Americans to retire. Even with
the current expansion changes which cause the town to become congested with
traffic on weekends and during the 'snowbird season,' there seems to be no
slowing down of either the building of communities or the enthusiasm of
newcomers. Having one of the best climates in the world, an eternal spring,
the natural beauty of the area is remarkable.
Join us in reading this
interview with veteran Expats Lucille and Burt Kennedy, who have lived in
the Chapala - Ajijic area for well over a decade.
Burt and
Lucille, for the benefit of our readers, could you briefly tell us a little about
yourselves? Where you are from, and what lines of work did you do?
We are Canadians who worked for Canada’s largest bank our entire working
careers. Lucille worked in branches, but I worked in the systems field since
1966. We were originally from Winnipeg, but we lived in Montreal for 18
years, and Toronto for 11 prior to taking early retirement and moving to
Chapala in 1995. I was 51 at the time and Lucille was 49. Our 2 boys and
families (6 grandchildren) still live in Ontario.
Did you move immediately to Chapala,
Mexico? And how did you learn of Chapala?
I traveled throughout the Caribbean and South America putting in systems,
and at an early age decided I didn’t want to retire in Canada because of its
high taxes, high cost of living, and long cold winters. My first choice
would have been Buenos Aires, but it was just too far from our families in
Canada.
We first read about Chapala from International Living Magazine, and visited
the area twice in the early 1990s to check it out before we retired and
moved here.
How did your family and children react to the idea of you retiring full time
in Mexico? How do you work out visits with family and how do you keep in
touch, especially with grandchildren?
Veteran Expats,
Burt and Lucille Kennedy
We had been planning
our retirement for years, so it wasn’t a surprise to either our
friends or families.
We fly one family down each winter, and Lucille usually goes back to Canada
for a week or 2 each summer. Our kids and grandchildren far prefer visiting
us in Mexico, especially in winter.
Keeping in touch is much easier now than it was when we first came. Now
everyone has computers, including my 91 and 92 year old parents, and
Lucille’s 86 year old mother, so we exchange e-mails all the time. We can
also phone Canada with Skype for only .024 cents per minute, so we talk to them
frequently as well.
What do you like most about living in Chapala or Mexico in general?
Are there drawbacks?
The weather is great, and the cost of living is low, but things like getting
driver's licenses, renewing license plates, and paying your phone and
electric bills can be painful. Nothing can be done by mail.
How do you figure the dollar amount to spend each year? Do you feel you must
watch your expenses closely or do you live luxuriously?
I have been a “Quicken addict” for many years, and as such have always
tracked our expenses, but it is mostly for comparative purposes to monitor
cost of living. We live very comfortably. Ever since the Canadian Dollar
strengthened earlier this decade, every
Canadian down here got a 40% reduction in our rent, and in our cost of
living, so inflation has been negative for us. For Americans it goes up 4 –
5 percent a year.
Do you own a house or rent? Plusses and minuses?
We have always rented. It never made any sense to buy. Long term rentals are
The Gazebo in
Chapala's popular Plaza
inexpensive, so why bother
buying? A large percentage of the people we know who bought when
they first arrived were selling within a couple of
years.
What do you do about health care? Do you
take advantage of local care or prefer to return to Canada? Do you have
local health insurance? (IMSS)
My company provides medical and dental care to its pensioners. It doesn’t
cost us anything. We find the local care exceptional. In Canada you can wait
weeks or even months for some procedures. Here it’s never takes more than a
few days.
How do you manage your finances from Mexico? Do you invest locally in the
Mexican Bolsa or elsewhere?
We have some money in a
Bolsa Index fund with
Lloyds, but it is an insignificant percentage of our overall portfolio. I
trade on-line in Canada and in the US.
What advice would you give to someone considering retiring in Mexico? Should
they buy a house, transfer their money to Mexican Banks or leave it in their
home country?
Never bring more than you need for emergencies into Mexico, and put it into
an Investment Company like Lloyds or Multivalores.
Mexican banks are nothing like Canadian and American ones. The
service is terrible, the systems are very basic, and the fees are high. Most people don’t bother with them.
There are ATMs everywhere, and we use them.
How complicated is it to obtain a retiree visa in Mexico? (FM3)
We have been “Inmigrados” (permanent residents) since 2001, so we don’t have
to do anything anymore, but when we came down almost everyone used an
Immigration Consultant. Now most people do it on their own. Lake
Chapala Immigration Services brings
people out to the lakeside every Wednesday. You don’t even need a
translator, but it is a painfully slow process that involves waiting for
hours on 3 consecutive Wednesdays. I would still recommend a consultant.
Avid tennis
players and volunteers at the Cristiania Park courts
What do you do about transportation? Do you own a car or use public
transportation? How about the price of gas?
We own a Mexican plated car. Gas
is .74 cents per liter ($2.75 USD a gallon).
Share with us your best money-saving secret.
When we were working we always
saved 10% of our salaries. Now we don’t have to save. We live off our
pensions and never touch our investments.
Apparently this
is what retired Bankers do. A favorite actor in the Little Theater
Would you recommend Chapala as a retirement destination?
We are not as happy with the area as we used to be. We moved to a quiet
little Mexican village that in the past 5 years has evolved into a madhouse
in the winter months. A number of long time residents have left for quieter
places. There are over 20 gated communities that have sprung up. The traffic
jams are awful. Parking is very difficult. Up until 2000 there were no
traffic lights west of Chapala. Now there are 8. They are currently building
a 55 store shopping mall, and across the road from that, a Wal*Mart. Our
quiet little village is not quiet any more. It used to be paradise. Now it's
paradise lost.
In the States we read
about gang shootings and kidnapping there in
Mexico.
How about personal safety where you are in Chapala?
There are occasional purse snatchings and
burglaries, but compared to up north, it’s far safer down here. It’s
hard to tell numbers, because the majority of foreigners don’t
report the crimes. It’s just too difficult a process. Crime is not
an issue.
Where do you get your news? Do you have to speak and read Spanish to live
in Chapala?
Foreigners all have US satellite TV. Very few expatriates speak much
Spanish at all.
What keeps you busy? What is a typical day for you?
We play tennis 3 – 4
days a week, go shopping, and relax in the evenings. Tuesday and Friday
afternoons I play pool with a number of friends. We go out for dinner to
nice restaurants every Saturday with a group of friends. A couple of days a
month we go into Guadalajara to shop.
Do you have a maid and gardener? How much do you pay them per month and for
how many hours?
We have a maid one morning a week. She also cleans up
outside the house, so we don’t need a gardener. We pay her $15.00 USD for 4
hours work.
Lake Chapala
still has a laid back feel
In your opinion what's the best restaurant in the Chapala - Ajijic area?
There are 57 restaurants in Ajijic now, and many of them are very nice. It just depends on what we feel
like eating. We eat out 75 – 80 times a year. Dinner for 2 with a bottle of
wine usually runs around $40 - $45 USD including tip.
What do you do for fun or entertainment?
The Little Theatre has plays every
month, and The Music Appreciation Society has regular functions. There are
always fundraisers for one charity or another. A couple of bars have
karaoke, and others have bands. You can go out every night of the week if you
want.
Do you have problems with the Mexican mail system? Do you receive your mail
from Canada problem free or do you utilize another service?
A letter to/from Canada takes about 2 weeks, but we get very little mail. I
suppressed our bank and brokerage statements because they are all available
on-line. Don't send anything of value to Mexico, because you will never get it. Most
companies that sell on the internet will not send anything to Mexico. People
who have to get things like medicine from outside the country use Mail Boxes
Etc.
What are the biggest changes you have seen in Chapala in the 13 years
you have lived there?
When we moved down in 1995 there were very few snowbirds. We all lived full
time in our nice quiet little Mexican villages. Then in 2002 an article in an
AARP publication caused a buying frenzy in Ajijic. Well the frenzy is over,
there are hundreds of houses for sale, but very few are selling.
We'd like to
sincerely thank Burt and Lucille Kennedy for taking their time to answer our
questions, and hopefully give our readers the inside view of what it's like
living in the Lake Chapala area. For more information about
Chapala and the
surrounding towns,
click here.
Retirement is right
around the corner and
you're ready to go
someplace where the
weather suits your
clothes. Spring-type
temperatures year
'round, Chapala, Mexico
is a dream come true and
the place for you!
If you're looking to
stay in chain hotels or
for a lifestyle that is
just like the States
then you're ...
Read more click here.
To read more
interviews with Expats, Early Retirees and Interesting Characters,
click here
Sign
up for great stories, interesting tales, and superb
retirement information.
