{"id":50434,"date":"2026-05-14T15:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-left-the-us-to-retire-in-mexico-at-50-my-first-year-of-mistakes-and-surprise-expenses-taught-me-what-it-really-takes-to-live-abroad\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:21:24","slug":"i-left-the-us-to-retire-in-mexico-at-50-my-first-year-of-mistakes-and-surprise-expenses-taught-me-what-it-really-takes-to-live-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-left-the-us-to-retire-in-mexico-at-50-my-first-year-of-mistakes-and-surprise-expenses-taught-me-what-it-really-takes-to-live-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"I left the US to retire in Mexico at 50. My first year of mistakes and surprise expenses taught me what it really takes to live abroad."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a03420458810e27922acb1d?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Woman posing below arch on pier\"\/><figcaption>Living abroad in Mexico has come with many challenges, but I&#039;m glad I retired early and made the jump.<\/p>\n<p>Ivy Ge<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>At 50, I left my career in the US and retired to Mexico. The first year abroad was challenging.<\/li>\n<li>I made a mistake committing to a rental before testing out a neighborhood and speaking to locals.<\/li>\n<li>I also learned a lot about working with exchange rates and budgeting for unexpected costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When I turned 50, I wanted to retire from my career as a pharmacist and move abroad.<\/p>\n<p>The high cost of living in the US made an early retirement there feel impossible for me, but it seemed within reach with strong financial investments and a strategic move.<\/p>\n<p>Mexico was my chosen retirement destination because it&#039;s generally more affordable than the US and close to San Francisco, where my family lives.<\/p>\n<p>From there, I settled on Ajijic, Jalisco, a popular Pueblo M\u00e1gico (a &quot;magic town&quot; deemed to have cultural, architectural, or historical significance in the country) on the shores of Lake Chapala, known for its pleasant weather and vibrant culture.<\/p>\n<p>Sorting, selling, and donating my belongings was exhausting, but getting a visa appointment at the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco proved harder.<\/p>\n<p>After weeks of calling the appointment line to no avail, I hired an immigration facilitator who told me the earliest appointment available was at the consulate in Laredo, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>After booking several flights, dealing with cancellations, and driving overnight, I made it to an appointment down South and secured my visa by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was the first of many obstacles I&#039;d encounter as a new expat abroad.<\/p>\n<h2>From the start, I made several mistakes when securing my housing<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0344e558810e27922acb3f?format=jpeg\" alt=\"View of Ajijic village and the mountains on the north shore of Lago de Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico\"\/><figcaption>Ajijic can be a popular spot for &quot;snowbirds.<\/p>\n<p>Ute Hagen Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I arrived in Ajijic, Jalisco, during the peak rental season, when northern &quot;snowbirds&quot; travel south for the colder months. So, the rental market was especially competitive.<\/p>\n<p>Before the move, I had pictured living in a traditional Mexican-style house with high b\u00f3veda (vault) ceilings and an interior courtyard full of greenery. Although I checked real-estate companies&#039; websites daily, nothing came close to what I had in mind.<\/p>\n<p>When I finally saw a lovely house on Facebook, I immediately called the real-estate agent and planned a visit. It looked even more beautiful in person.<\/p>\n<p>Afraid to miss out on this opportunity to live my dream retirement, I agreed to prepay a full year&#039;s rent plus a security deposit. Soon, I realized several downsides of living there.<\/p>\n<p>The home was in a neighborhood where loud block parties often went late into the night. After sleepless nights, a security scare, and a gas leak on the property, I&#039;d had enough. I broke the lease and received only a partial refund of my prepaid rent.<\/p>\n<p>This costly lesson made me realize I should&#039;ve tested out the neighborhood first by staying in a hotel or Airbnb nearby and getting familiar with the area before locking myself into a lease. I&#039;d let my rosy ideal carry me away, and prepaying rent left me with no leverage when things went wrong.<\/p>\n<p>After a few months, I started looking to buy property because I wanted more control of my living situation. Plus, Ajijic has long been a popular destination for expat retirees, so it seemed like a good investment.<\/p>\n<p>By then, I knew the area better and purchased a house in a quiet neighborhood that suited my needs.<\/p>\n<h2>Exchange-rate fluctuations and unexpected expenses put my budget to the test<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69e272fb367066d7c296e11c?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Woman posing in front of Ajijic sign\"\/><figcaption>Although I&#039;d worked hard to create a detailed financial plan, I still had a lot of unexpected expenses in my first year in Ajijic.<\/p>\n<p>Ivy Ge<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Before my move, I&#039;d calculated a monthly budget that would make my early retirement sustainable for several years.<\/p>\n<p>However, I hadn&#039;t factored in how much this budget would be impacted by exchange rates.<\/p>\n<p>When I first arrived in January 2023, the exchange rate was about 19 pesos per dollar. By mid-July, it had dropped to below 17. Although my spending in pesos didn&#039;t change, my living costs in dollars rose.<\/p>\n<p>The fluctuating exchange rate magnified my expenses and pushed me over budget. Watching my plan falter rattled my confidence in those first months.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, I used my Charles Schwab debit card to withdraw money from ATMs, since the card reimburses ATM fees. Still, the exchange rates weren&#039;t good, and Mexican bank rates were worse.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, I learned about Wise, a service that offers low-cost international money transfers at the mid-market rate. I set alerts to move money whenever the rate hits certain levels, giving me more control over my cash flow.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0342e795396a3b6e4176a2?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Woman posing next to water\"\/><figcaption>I adjusted my budget throughout the first year of living abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Ivy Ge<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unexpected expenses also threw several wrenches into my detailed financial plan. For example, I made two trips home to San Francisco in the first six months for family emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>While in Mexico, I&#039;d anticipated keeping my transportation costs low by using the local bus system. However, the stops weren&#039;t always clearly marked, and I was still learning my way around. In the early days, I often relied on pricier taxis for my trips into nearby towns because of the language barrier and my unfamiliarity with the area.<\/p>\n<p>I also discovered the &quot;gringo tax.&quot; Being an Asian woman speaking broken Spanish, I was instantly recognizable as a foreigner.<\/p>\n<p>Since I didn&#039;t yet know the going rate for products and services in town, I often overpaid. For example, one vendor charged me different prices every time I shopped at his store. Another time, I paid 150 pesos for honey from a market vendor and later heard him charge a local customer 120 pesos for the same item.<\/p>\n<p>Now that I&#039;ve been here three years, I have a better sense of what things should cost, and my Spanish isn&#039;t as rusty. However, those small expenses really added up in those first few months.<\/p>\n<h2>That challenging first year abroad helped me build a clearer strategy moving forward<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0342a095396a3b6e41769e?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Woman sitting on book-shaped bench in Guanajuato Mexico\"\/><figcaption>By making costly mistakes, I learned how to better move forward as a retiree abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Ivy Ge<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>My first year as an expat abroad was a disorienting experience full of rookie mistakes and unexpected expenses that taught me to research carefully and stay flexible.<\/p>\n<p>Through conversations with fellow expats and locals, I gradually discovered the best-priced shops and reputable service providers, and gained a deeper understanding of the local culture.<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, I think of &quot;Year One&quot; as my training ground, when I spent more, slept less, and learned fast. Once I found my bearings, I developed a sustainable retirement strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Now, three years later, I wake up to bird calls, ready for each new day with clear expectations and a solid financial footing.<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Living abroad in Mexico has come with many challenges, but I&#039;m glad I retired early and made the jump. Ivy Ge At 50, I left my career in the US and retired to Mexico. The first year abroad was challenging. I made a mistake committing to a rental before testing out a neighborhood and speaking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-50434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}