'Medical Doctor' Retirement

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Medical Doctor

Use Extreme discretion and use Extreme Caution when reading any articles about living in Uruguay. The majority of the articles are false and misleading. With the importation tax of 60% on all items and a VAT tax of 21% you can do the addition here. If you think that Uruguay is retirement friendly you need to think again. Uruguay is not retirement friendly and is a SUPER SUPER expensive country to move to and to live and own property. It would be a gross mistake to consider Uruguay as a cheap economical country to live in. It is not cheap or retirement friendly. Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica or Panama are about 1000% more practical and more friendly and certainly far far more economical than Uruguay will ever be. Uruguay is a loser in every since of the word. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by living in super expensive Uruguay. Avoid Uruguay and go back and do your home work on Mexico and Central America. You will be glad that your avoided Uruguay and save a lot of wasted money moving to

Uruguay. One more thing. Yes, you can find lower priced real estate out in the country side outside the big cities in Uruguay and there is a reason

for this. There is absolutely nothing to do there unless you are into raising chickens or cattle for a living. No entertainment and Zero activites living in your cheap country farm home in Uruguay. If you like a super boring life living far out in the country side in Uruguay and wish to die of bordom then buy a cheap country home in Uruguay way out in no where. Avoid Uruguay at all costs. There is nothing to look forward to in Uruguay today with their super high real estate prices and taxes.

IVA 22%

Import Taxes (60% including IVA)

Food in Restaurants: Complete meal, significant portions of meat

Comfortable living.. no harassment or petty theft, flush toilet paper, bidets, hot water, choice of internet providers

Costa Rica

IVA 16%

Import Taxes (60% or more in many cases... though around 12% for computers)

Food in Restaurants: A base of white rice and beans with a little meat for garnish.

Uncomfortable living.. constant harassment on the street, petty theft everywhere (ie: taxis and stores that rip you off everyday), hot water as a luxury, no choice of internet services, and you have to save your used toilet paper because you can't flush it.

Now, I think if you read this site you would have found that it is full of people that have spent time here and expressed their opinions and experiences. This website should not be confused with "International Living" or others that seem obsessed with the Cheap.

To mean, cheap means not only inexpensive but also low quality, ie: an expats life in Costa Rica.

In Uruguay you can live moderately inexpensive in Uruguay if you are not obsessed with consumption and imports. I think that is where you will find the big different in cost of living between the USA and Uruguay.. in Uruguay you will be less of a consumer (and have more time to Enjoy life), also for fruits and veggies.

WOW. Somebody is aaaaaaangry! Robert I'd be very interested in hearing how long you spent here and in what areas...and also what happened to leave you with such a bitter taste of a very beautiful country.

Let's start with some clarification - Uruguay is "technically" a third world country, but I challenge you to find another 3rd world country that is this safe, stable, and offers many of the perks and comforts available in the US or Europe. Of course it has its down sides - some things are very expensive because it is a small market place and they do not produce finished many goods so a lot of things have to be imported at a high cost. Some things are lacking - good customer service, efficiency, common sense sometimes...but in general most people conclude that Uruguay is a wonderful country and when you take the good with the bad, the good generally wins out.

There are miles of beautiful sandy beaches (many totally untouched!) there is a wonderfully relaxed outlook on life (low stress, little to no violent crime), food is fresh and locally produced for the most part - great beef! There is a much wider array of products and services in Montevideo or Punta del Este than you would find in ANY part of Costa Rica or Nicaragua, but if you're coming here to go shopping you will be disappointed.

Mainly I question your definition of "retirement friendly". If you're ONLY searching for a super cheap location then you are right, Uruguay is NOT for you. If you are looking for peace, personal privacy (no government constantly interfering, watching and telling you what to do), enjoyable summers and mild winters, relaxed lifestyle and happiness that can't be measured in terms of money, then Uruguay may well be for you, but luckily its not for everyone ;)

• Positive aspects of life in Uruguay

• Negative aspects of living in Uruguay

Living as I do deep in the campo, I feel that I should take issue with your sweeping statement.

What I suspect you mean is that there aren't the sort of things to do that died-in-the-wool city folk are used to doing.

Winter Sundays involve motor racing and since coming here, our dirt-track racing team has won the annual departmento competitions thrice. I run English conversation classes on a regular basis (free of charge, ) enjoy the local gossip, go flying from time to time, ride horses, fall off waterskis coz I'm too heavy for our aged outboard motor, get involved with various annual festivals, go fishing, help out with our new project attempting to make bio-fuels from assorted agricultural waste products etc etc.

For me, the days just aren't long enough :-)

As for taxes... moving here has saved me itro 615k U$S in UK capital gains tax liabilities, 5k U$S/annum in property taxes, 24k U$S in income tax and when I die, 50% of my estate's wealth in terms of death duty avoidance.

Because of the mega-strong peso -v- the sickly dollar and pound, things seem expensive here now in terms of USDs and GBPs but given time the situation will no doubt reverse itself.

As for claims of nothing to do in the campo...the more countries I visit the more I marvel about how SIMILAR the countryside is in so many very different places - Ireland, Hungary, Italy, the US, Uruguay...fields start to look surprisingly similar when you see enough of them. I am, as Patrick would say, "died-in-the-wool city folk", but I know that and therefore choose a city life to fulfill my needs. I don't go to smaller countryside towns expecting big city entertainment, I also don't go to a small developing country with only 4 and half million people and expect to find bustling 1st world metropolis.

If anything Robert's message will help to serve as a healthy reminder for those who come here with deluded expectations, and hopefully prevent others from being as disappointed. For that I wil say thank you for sharing your opinions, and I'm really sorry to hear you didn't stumble upon the things that have made me and so many others fall in love with this place.

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