According to Gallup polling, the percent of Americans expecting to retire okay is about the same since 2008 (slightly more, actually), and the % of retirees saying they are okay has been relatively steady for over 20 years.
As Gallup notes, the % who think their future retirement will be good or bad tracks their current views on the current economy. Unemployment is very low and interest rates are likely to come down – and we are not in a recession – yet 50% of the country thinks unemployment is very high and we are in a recession!
Against that backdrop, America’s news organizations run a barrage of stories about Americans retiring abroad because America is awful and too expensive. Less than 1% of Americans will retire abroad, and about half who do already have dual citizenship, or a right of descent residency option, or family living abroad.
Further, American’s are eligible for Medicare at age 65 – but that does not cover health care outside the U.S. If you do not pay Medicare premiums, then your Part B premiums will increase by 10% per year, for each year you did not pay. If, ten years later, you move back to the U.S., you’ll be paying a 100% premium every month for Part B. Optionally, you can pay Medicare premiums while abroad – but to use Medicare, you must return to the U.S. This is another reason that in the real world – and not the world of media doomers – very few Americans will retire abroad.
