I've said before, but it's always worth repeating. Consider Mexico as a home, regardless of what your age is or what you do for a living. It all starts with:
1) Abandon the notion that you just can't do it. Necessity is the mother of invention, and you might need to leave here for a better situation somewhere else. Mexico is the best option.
2) Purge your mind of almost everything you know about Mexico through American news sources. It's mostly all bogus. They have crime, yes, but many places there have far less crime than you live around here. Their government is corrupt, you say? Can you hear me laughing? Like the one you live under here isn't? Mexico is poor, you say? Have you looked around lately? It's here too, you know, and it affects upwards of half our population. Mexico is backward? Think of it this way: They didn't just elect a misogynist, xenophobic jerk to the highest office in the land, and we did. I could go on and on about this, but the bottom line is: Don't believe what you hear here, not from our press. Do your own research, go take a look for yourself.
3) Don't dive into the deep end of the pool without your floaties. Plan adequately, make contacts, form alliances, and again, do the research. You'll find out some interesting things. All of them won't be good, but you'll know what you're up against and can weigh the costs of moving there against the benefits. You'll find the benefits enticing. I did, and it only took a short while to do that. We all have different situations and circumstances to deal with. I'll reveal mine, show you the difference, and you can go from there.
I live in a nice house in central Texas and am on a fixed retirement income. We, the wife and I, have a steady bankable income of about $4,600 a month, but she still works to help make ends meet. On a monthly basis we spend about a thousand a month just on various insurances. A move to a nice town in Mexico cuts that in half, even a little more, and we're just as well insured. We spend over five thousand a year here on just property taxes, and for the same kind of house in Mexico, that goes down to more like two hundred. Utilities here can run as much as $1,000 a month, almost always around $800 (that's for a home and my wife's business), and in Mexico that would be no more than $100 a month. Three things, folks, just those three things would save this family around $20,000 a year. With other reduced cost of living there, that number edges up close to $30,000 a year. I fact checked it all; it's not a myth.
4) Be prepared to give up some things, and one of them is your spoiled American attitude. Be prepared to change and adjust to another culture. Mexico is mostly a pay as you go society, and if you go there and try to live like you do here (credit cards and big debt), you're very little better off. You won't have to sacrifice in lifestyle, just mostly in your style. Don't be the ugly American. One of the hardest adjustments you'll face is to shake your fearfulness, something you've been trained to be here. You can't be fearful of people who're not like you and get along well anywhere.
5) Relish the adventure. What do you really have to lose? Nobody leaves a place that's working well for them. They go looking for a better life, and that doesn't just land in you lap. I'm trying to make that move, and I'm 75 years old. If I can do it, anybody can . . . if they need to, and want to. My need to move there is greater than my wanting to be there. In in a position to say, "I'd love to stay, but they won't let me." Too many people want to take too much here. I want out from under that.
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