Getting old in the Dominican Republic

Voyager

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What I usually read on this exquisite message board is that people relocate to and even retire to DR to live a life of simplicity and comfort. The warm climate itself is comfort for "ageing bones". But to what extent is DR a good place to retire?

Turning 49 in a few months and suffering from a gut-wrenching mid-life crisis (believe me, I have ALL the symptoms, driving a sports car, going to the gym, flirting with women half my age...), I realize I need to start planning for the rapidly approaching closing session of my life...

I know that some of you expats, albeit youthful in spirit, are of a somewhat ?advanced age?. Need to tread carefully here... oh! This is a sensitive issue!

What plans have you made to be prepared for the special needs that we all must think of when we get older?

What is it like to be old and expat in the Dominican Republic?

The last years of his life, my father (living in Sweden), changed from his usual strong old geezer to becoming a tired old man. He even used a walking frame on wheels (not sure what they are called in English?) The city offered him a ?personal assistant? but he refused. (I couldn?t help him, because I lived in Saudi-Arabia.) My father was a very proud man and insisted on taking care of himself and not ?bother? anyone.

Suppose my father had lived in Santo Domingo... would traffic stop and wait for him to cross the street? What about going shopping? Would people on the public bus help him get on board? Does the local library have toilets for handicapped (or ?physically challenged?, as the modern term is) people? Would he have reduced cost of medical care?

Or... and this is my fear... would my father have been confined to his home?

And you DR expats of, shall we say, a ?mature age?, will you finally re-relocate back to your origins, to be sure of receiving proper care and comfort if/when you may need it?

Or maybe you are wealthy enough to hire people to take care of you? Maids, gardeners , a chauffeur etc?

Sorry for this difficult and somewhat unpleasant topic, but I feel it need to be asked!
 
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bo-44

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Living in the D.R. at a high age without having a family is not wise. It is recommendable that you marry a younger lady and have some kids there before you get old.
 

Voyager

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bo-44 said:
Living in the D.R. at a high age without having a family is not wise. It is recommendable that you marry a younger lady and have some kids there before you get old.

Okey, I know what you mean. Many people reason like that. I certainly don't!

If I marry a woman, I will view her as my WIFE, not my maid and nurse!!!

And if I had children (will not happen, cuz I feel I am too old to be a father; would not be right towards the kids!) I would bring them up as my father brought me up. To become independent individuals, living their own lives.

My father never expected me to nurse him (he even refused it vehemently) and I was too busy with my life to do it anyway, living overseas. We had this understanding and that is what I would pass on to my kids. I would see them study in USA, in UK, in Australia, whereever they would get the best education. I would expect them to travel the world, work overseas, experience things, live their lives!

...and not waste their lives on nursing me, when I get old and frail!!!
 

Castellamonte

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Okay, here are my two pesos worth on getting old in the DR!

I'm LOVING IT! I am much more advanced of age than you, having eclipsed the half century mark, so you 49 year old youngsters have lots of time to plan. Heck, I'm 365 days older than you!

Since I'm an American (sorry) I haven't a clue about how insurance works in Europe but here I bought some Long Term Care insurance. The LTC insurance pays ME (not the doctors) when I get too old to Merenge. Heck, I don't even need to submit receipts or live in the U.S.!

So when I get so I can't move (from age, not drink) my LTC will more than pay for a few honorable Dominicans (or Dominicanas) to help shove me around in a chair or pick me up off the floor. In the U.S. it wouldn't pay the phone bill but here in the DR it will go one heck of a lot further.

I say; get old, stay happy and live in the DR. The alternative is you die, are sad, and freeze off body parts in much less hospitable climates.
 

Ken

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Voyager, I'm a lot older than you and not worrying about it.

We have good doctors who know us and have been taking care of us for years. We have found doctors here more careing than in the US.

Age is not a factor in the DR like in the US. A lot of people were ready to vote for a man in his mid-90s, blind, and feeble for president if he had chosen to run again.

If you need home care, many women are available at a modest price who are very good at it. Dominicans are accustomed to carrying at home for their aged and dying relatives.

Cremation is now legal in the DR, which is what both my wife plan on. No burial here, no expense of shipping the body back to the US. Other possibility is what a friend of mine did. He arranged with a medical school to have his body. When he died, they sent a truck for his body.
 

Voyager

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Thanks for the info!

Feeling less worried now if not entirely relaxed... I am still concerned about crossing some of the major roads, when I am 85 and dragging my feet, supporting myself on crutches. On the other hand, every time I am in Santo Domingo, I see that one-legged guy, with incredible balance hopping about mid-traffic, begging for handouts. Amazing, really!

And Ken, it is a comfort to know I have a choice of going up in flames or being trucked away, when I finally kick the proverbial bucket! :nervous:
 

Naufrago

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Voyager said:
Turning 49 in a few months and suffering from a gut-wrenching mid-life crisis ...I realize I need to start planning for the rapidly approaching closing session of my life...

Get over it! You're 48, not 84! A mid-life crisis should be about doing all of the things you should have, and recapturing your mis-spent youth. My Grandmother just turned 92 and isn't making plans to depart any day soon. At 48 I think you could handle it here, if that's what you're thinking. You have the life experience, and hopefully a few dollars saved. Hired help is cheap, but I haven't seen many hanicapped parking spaces, and I wouldn't advise you crossing the street in SD with your walker. Come on down check it out! You might find that what you really needed was a fresh perspective and a new challenge. Get back to living! Old age is what you make of it, stop thinking about it's limitations.
 

Voyager

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Naufrago said:
Get over it! ...... Get back to living! Old age is what you make of it, stop thinking about it's limitations.

Aha! Hahaha! Hey, thanks for pulling my ear! I have this tendency of getting myself all worked up...

I am actually coming over to DR in April, for my 8th or 10th (or whatever it is) visit. And I do have a few dollars saved, even more than a few. But living in DR could turn out very expensive, as I have fully realized by now. Just to keep my hobby (travel) will consume quite a few pesos.
 

Lambada

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Would it make you feel better, Voyager, if I offered to read your funeral eulogy? Because despite being 14 years older than you, I may just outlive you. ;) Aging is in the mind, not the body.

Seriously, I don't intend returning to UK to peg it. It will most likely happen here. If home nursing is needed, as the others have said, it is inexpensive. I do have a medical policy in uk to cover operations etc. & can claim on that for certain emergencies here also.

If you are going to organise in-home care, you're quite right to start planning now. You need to give your nurse time to undertake the dealing with crochety old men course......advanced level........ :laugh:
 

Voyager

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Lambada said:
If you are going to organise in-home care, you're quite right to start planning now. You need to give your nurse time to undertake the dealing with crochety old men course......advanced level........ :laugh:


Ehum... okey, I know I have a tendency to worry to much and maybe I will become a grumpy old man!? I already had my ear pulled by Naufrago and now also by you! But it is okey, I guess I deserve it!?

...and this thread is leaning way too much on my own anxiety for ageing. I fear I am in danger of again being accused of being self-absorbed, so here's a reminder that I was only trying to explore what it is like to be "old" and expat in DR. The replies on this question have all been very jovial and happy-go-lucky, so I guess all is fine then...

Anyway, with the dangers of traffic and the increasing crime in DR, I may not live to suffer the problems of old age, so maybe no need for concern?

Thread closed!
 

Ken

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Lambada said:
Aging is in the mind, not the body.

I agree,Lambada. But just in case, I work out almost daily at the gym, so my body is probably in the best shape it has ever been.
 

Snuffy

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If her age is correct...there is a 125 year old lady in Brazil who just may be the oldest person in the world. That gives you 77 more years of living.

In the moments that you are near your death...your subconscious prepares for it. You go peacefully. You have nothing to fear. Live life. Try kite surfing, hike into the tallest mountains alone, camp on the beach without fear, take a motorbike through the country, date beautiful women. You will be fine.

I came here, was here for only 2 weeks, met my wife...so I only got two weeks to party with all the zillions of girls here. Although I don't regret that move to marry my wife...I would have liked to be 48 like you getting ready to come here and live as a single guy with all these girls. Refrain from getting married for at least a few years...experience something that most men don't get the opportunity to experience...of course, if that one diamond heart crosses your path...snatch her up and don't look back.

At some point you will decide to create a family here. It may be with the love of your life...it may be an adopted family...it may be a few wonderful children. But you will want to create your family...be surrounded by those who offer you unconditional love.
 

Danny W

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I was going to bring up this subject myself. I'm almost 61 and live in New York, and it's very likely that in about 4 years I'll relocate premanently to Sosua to live with my 22 year old girlfriend and her 2 children. We have a very comfortable home down there, and consider ourselves a family. I am constantly joking with her about my being 80 when she turns 40, and of course she insists that she will take good care of me. My mother is 90. She lives alone and swims and takes her morning walk every day, so perhaps my genes are good. But the fact is that if my mother's health goes bad, we don't even have a next step planned for her, yet. If my girlfriend turns into an ogre 20 years from now, I have to find a plan B. Possibly come back to the States and become a burden to my to sons. But for now, my fantasy is sitting on my terraza, watching the sun set over the ocean, listening to Beethoven and Bill Evans, and being doted on my my sweet Dominican family. Not bad at all!! - D
 

Escott

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Dan, I have my 90 year old dad here in the DR with me till the 19th when I ship him off and get my 13 year old daughter down. My dad still drives and works. Imagine how long I will be here to keep annoying the petty people:)

This is a nicer place than NY this time of year. Try not to wait the next 4 before you pull the plug. Life is good here and you can wear shorts even when it rains:)

Escott
 

Danny W

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Escott said:
Dan, I have my 90 year old dad here in the DR with me till the 19th when I ship him off and get my 13 year old daughter down. My dad still drives and works. Imagine how long I will be here to keep annoying the petty people:)

This is a nicer place than NY this time of year. Try not to wait the next 4 before you pull the plug. Life is good here and you can wear shorts even when it rains:)

Escott

Dinero, amigo. I was completely irresponsible about money until a few years ago. I fulfilled my responsibilities, put my kids through college, supported my ex-wife, but didn't put a cent away. Fortunately, I'm having some good earning years now, but I need at least 3 more. Plus I kind of like my work, and my visits to the DR are all the more special. Don't have time to get tired of my novia yet!! - D
 

Voyager

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Danny W said:
Dinero, amigo. I was completely irresponsible about money until a few years ago. I fulfilled my responsibilities, put my kids through college, supported my ex-wife, but didn't put a cent away. Fortunately, I'm having some good earning years now, but I need at least 3 more. Plus I kind of like my work, and my visits to the DR are all the more special. Don't have time to get tired of my novia yet!! - D


Hello Danny,

You got me curious there, when you write that you "...need at least 3 more..." years of saving before the final move to DR. It appears to me as if you have a plan, as to the budget you will need for your life in DR. May I be curious and ask you to give me some hints?

By comparison, I only have equal to c.200' US$ and I consider that way too little to even begin to consider a relocation. I would definitely need an income from working. With initial cost of setting myself up, adding the cost of living and considering the risk of a couple of bad investments, and hey presto, my money could be gone.

Also, having worked overseas for quite a few years, my state pension from Sweden will be quite low (I will only get the basic), or in todays monetary value maybe equal to 1' US$ a month, which is nothing.

Rgds,
John
 

Danny W

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Voyager said:
Hello Danny,

You got me curious there, when you write that you "...need at least 3 more..." years of saving before the final move to DR. It appears to me as if you have a plan, as to the budget you will need for your life in DR. May I be curious and ask you to give me some hints?

By comparison, I only have equal to c.200' US$ and I consider that way too little to even begin to consider a relocation. I would definitely need an income from working. With initial cost of setting myself up, adding the cost of living and considering the risk of a couple of bad investments, and hey presto, my money could be gone.

Also, having worked overseas for quite a few years, my state pension from Sweden will be quite low (I will only get the basic), or in todays monetary value maybe equal to 1' US$ a month, which is nothing.

Rgds,
John

John - I my case I will be sending 2 children to private school and will have a "wife" who most likely will not have a job. Since she is very young and just experiencing life beyond the most basic Dominican poverty level, so I look forward to showing her the US and other things. Then there's medical insurance, a car .... So I'm figuring that I will need to have an annual income of about $60,000 per year without touching any principal. Social Security will give me about 20k per year, so my investments will have to yield the other 40K. That may seem high for th DR, but I don't think so. The last thing you want to do is underestimate. - D
 

Voyager

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Danny W said:
So I'm figuring that I will need to have an annual income of about $60,000 per year without touching any principal. The last thing you want to do is underestimate. - D

Thanks for the feedback, Danny!

I think your estimate is very much on target. I agree totally and is reminded again how important it is to do the homework very carefully as to the cost of living in DR. To have investments yielding 40k a year is impressive and I wish I had the same horizon to look forward to.

I wish you all the best!

John