Discover

You promised yourself you'd travel -- better yet, you'll move overseas! Retiring to another country has to be better than here, right? Not so fast. Before you pack your bags and leave the United States, make sure you think it through. 

Do you need gas? Is it time to make a pit stop? Where on earth are you going to sleep tonight? Relax. There's an app for that!

Maybe you once vacationed in Spain and wished you could live there all year. Maybe you're dying to live within walking distance of a white sand beach where you can spend the day in a hammock. Or maybe you'd like to live somewhere a bit more affordable after you retire. You can live your dream of retiring abroad, but make sure to take a few factors into consideration:

Young people, listen to your elders: Travel more now or you might regret it. Thinking back on their lives so far, one in five boomers say that one of their biggest regrets is not traveling enough, according to a survey of 2,000 baby boomers conducted by survey company Censuswide on behalf of British Airways, which has a vested interest in encouraging people to take more trips. Those 65 and up say the same thing: Research into the lives of 1,200 older people over a 10-year period by Karl Pillemer, a professor of human development at Cornell University, found that elders often regretted not traveling more while they were young. “Based on my studies, I can almost guarantee you one thing: If you don’t do it now, you will wish you had traveled more,” Pillemer writes. “To sum up what I learned in a sentence: When your traveling days are over, you will wish you had taken one more trip.”

Before the chill sets in, many of us are making plans to leave for warmer climates for the short or long term. Flying off as a “snowbird” to the tropics is an option for retirees, while a few getaways over the winter fits into your weekly work schedule. My winter "escapes" began in 1973 and have continued on 4 continents, with 40 years of warm weather. For the past 10 years, my winters have been based in Panama which has provided easy access to Central and South America. Be sure to catch my guide of wonderful travel getaways that will take you back to summer!