Best places for a soaring pilot to retire?

Tom / 2G wrote:

"Going international multiplies the difficulty exponentially. Just getting your glider into country permanently will involve much difficulty and you could end up doubling its cost in duties. Health care will be a huge issue."

Hmmmm.....so you had a hard time in one single country so you're now writing off the rest of the world? The United Nations has 193 member states. Your experience WILL vary.

Let's take Australia for example. Despite the distance, shipping your glider there will cost $4.8-6k depending on chosen port and method (container vs RoRo). If you've owned it more than 6 months the tax is NIL. Duties NIL. In fact, tax on any aircraft with not more than one engine for a new immigrant or permanently returning resident is NIL so bring your SR22 too.

The big issue with healthcare is its free gosh darn it. Sorry about that. You don't have to auction your first born child to pay medical bills nor bleed out in the corner of the emergency room because you don't have insurance. In the interests of full disclosure, if you're working you'll pay a 2-3.5% healthcare levy on your taxable income and naturally, the waiting periods for govt provided care are longer than private. As this thread is about retirement, those charges are unlikely to apply.

Ok, that's Brazil and Australia sorted. Only 191 more countries to go....

Casey
B3