The Cheapest Place to Live

This blog started as an exploration of the Cheapest Places to Live in the world and I'm still continuing that quest but the blog has evolved into much more than just that. We're also looking at the Best Places to Live based on a variety of criteria - not just whether they are cheap. After all, would you agree the term 'cheap' is pretty subjective and relative to each individuals circumstances. From one perspective cheap may simply mean the least expensive place to live - lowest rent, lowest real estate cost - literally THE cheapest place but for most people that is an unrealistic measure and one that isn't very useful. When I write about and we as a community discuss the concept of living cheaply what we are really trying to look at is that whole bundle of objective and subject qualities that when taken together result in value. For me it's about a lifestyle that represents the best value. How can I get the most out of life and living for the least amount of money.

What is the Cheapest Place to Live?

To answer that question you first need to figure out what your true costs of living are. Sure some of those are pretty easy to figure out. Things like the cost of housing, the cost of food, the cost of utilities, etc. Now it's important to really develop a comprehensive list of your costs of living. Don't forget to look at insurance, fuel, transportation, education - you really want to brainstorm every single thing you purchase to maintain your quality of life. Pull out bank statements and credit card statements. Examine what you purchase daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and occasionally. It's a pretty straight forward project to accomplish.

How do you measure Quality of Life?

The second part of the analysis is a lot trickier and a lot more individual - it's the subjective measures of quality and of cost. But these subjective items often become the most important. I believe they actually are the most important things of all. So, what am I really talking about here? It's probably easiest to explain the concept by way of example. Let's say I want to find the Cheapest Place to Live in the United States. If I look solely at objective criteria I'm likely to end up somewhere north, somewhere cold, somewhere that not many people want to live. So, my rent may be cheap but what are the other non-monetary costs I'm paying for having that cheap rent? My health may suffer. I have to pay more for heating. My car will wear out faster, These are some of the subjective costs of living I need to take into consideration.

So, as you read this Blog and particularly as we examine the Quality of Life Index for 2011 I'm hopeful your mind and our discussion broadens and gets into some of these more interesting aspects of determining the best place to live - for you and for me.

For those who are following the discussion around our leading countries for quality of life tomorrow I'll get back on the trail and give you more information about our 4th best place for quality of Life, France.

Cheap Places to Live Abroad

As I read through the International Living Quality of Life Index for the best places to live in 2011 I can't help but be drawn to that one very important category - Cost of Living. It's such an important topic since the economic melt down. Retirees were sitting pretty and thinking they could settle down just about anywhere they wanted on the planet but then overnight it seemed their nest eggs disappeared or at the very least have been diminished to a great extent. It's really quite sad and when I hear people who should be retiring saying things like, "I don't know if I will ever be able to retire". It breaks my heart.

Now savvy and global thinking retirees aren't about to give up on their dream. In fact they were probably planning alternative scenarios for retirement many years before the collapse. And that's where this index can really come into play. Restricted budgets and income losses don't mean retirement has to be put on the back burner. It does mean finding the cheapest places to live has become a greater concern and a higher priority.

This is the fun, interesting and helpful part of having Quality of Life for each country broken down by nine different ranking categories. Let's revisit our list of the Best Places to Live based on average quality of life and determine the potential Best Places to Retire based and rank ordered by Cost of Living -

Cheap Places to Live Abroad

#1 - Hungary
#2 - The United States
#3 - Argentina
#5 - Portugal
#6 - New Zealand
#7 - Malta
#8 - Uruguay

#9 - Slovenia
#10 - Belgium

Of course we are talking about entire countries here so the data and the index once again can be a bit suspect and perhaps even misleading. The United States is the best place to live and has the second lowest Cost of Living according to the index. Now we know the U.S. does have a very low cost of living in some places. And, it has very cheap housing BUT it also has some of the most expensive real estate on the planet! It's a huge country so the averages can be quite misleading and will skew the results. Sure, you can live very cheaply in some very rough neighbourhoods in the U.S. You can live cheaply in some very cold and snowy places in the U.S. On the other end of the spectrum we have very small countries like Malta with a high quality of life score. But, in Malta the climate and cost of living is pretty consistent throughout the country. This is why quality of life really needs to be considered as a basket of items including such very important things like climate.

Best Places to Live in 2011 - Malta

Next on the list for International Living's Quality of Life Index and at position #3 for the Best Places to Live is Malta.

Like New Zealand Malta gets high marks for Culture, Freedom, Climate and Safety. Malta is also a bit of a darling for those with capital who are looking for the best places to retire where they pay the lowest taxes. Although Malta has taxation agreements with most EU countries and the United States those who manage a work around and show earnings from elsewhere get taxed at a lovely low flat rate of just 15%.

Malta has been growing and attracting a lot of expats over the past six or seven years - basically after they chose to enter the European Union in 2004. As a result the country has become more and more of a multi cultured mix of nationalities. You'll find people who have moved to Malta from just about every european country you can think of in addition to most other parts of the world.

So why move to Malta?

Well besides the opportunity to save big time on taxes there are lot sof reasons to live in Malta. Climate is probably top of the list. This is the place where outdoor living is not only desired but extremely comfortable and easy to do. If you're retired the cost of living is reasonable but if you're still in the job market wages are definitely lower than say the U.K. But many people are willing to accept less pay for a higher quality of life aren't they? Malta has lovely warm weather and beauty in all directions particularly in it's architecture with grand stone houses and flowers running wild along stone walls and fences.

It can be hard to think of Malta as a country because it's really just a grouping of small islands. It's located south of Italy and north of Africa. in the Mediterranean Sea. Malta is often referred as the crossroads of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The area it covers is quite small as just 122 square miles. To put that in perspective Malta is about twice the size of Washington D.C.

Malta may not be one of the cheapest places to live in the world but it is certainly one of the cheaper places to live in Europe.

Best Places to Live in 2011 New Zealand

We talked a little about our #1 winner for the Best Places for Quality of Life in 2011, the United States. But we've talked a lot about the U.S. on this blog and I know we will again! So, let's move on a talk about our runner up for the Best Places to Live in 2011, as ranked by International Living Magazine in their annual Quality of Life Index.

New Zealand - a land that prides itself on Life Balance.

The best things about New Zealand include the unending belief and action for living life in balance. Meaning work is just one part of a quality lifestyle. A place where working part time is not something to be embarrassed about but something that is celebrated. Employers recognize that quality performance comes not from cracking the whip but from happy, healthy and satisfied employees. Employers are open to and work towards policies that can insure work flexibility.

Of course New Zealand is english speaking, extremely safe and the quality of education os excellent. Housing, environment, abundant fresh food and water, superior infrastructure and health services all make New Zealand an easy pick for runner up. It's no surprise that New Zealand ranks high, above 90 pts, for Culture; Healthcare; and safety. It does rank a little lower for cost of living but still ranks in the top ten.

Best Places to Live in New Zealand

A lot of people who emigrate to New Zealand live and work in and close to Auckland. But if you talk to a Kiwi (New Zealander) they will quickly tell you that Auckland is thought of poorly. In fact it's one of the locals less favourite places to live. This is due to the generally inflated real estate prices, the high cost of living, and a higher than average crime rate. It's also because of the larger number of immigrants making this city their home!

So if you're wondering where the best places to live in New Zealand are, it's best to ask a New Zealander.  According to the locals the best places for lifestyle in New Zealand reasons are Christchurch in Canterbury, and Tauranga, Waikato and Otago in the Bay of Plenty.

New Zealand is a land of natural beauty and a place where the people are known to be exceptionally friendly, hospitably and happy. I discovered this Unique Guide that reveals insider secrets on how to migrate, live, work or invest in New Zealand - you can learn more about it by Clicking Here!

Editors Note: Last year New Zealand ranked 5th of the Quality of Life Index.

The Cheapest Places to Live: Where Should I Live in 2011?

http://cheapestplacestolive.blogspot.com/2011/01/where-should-...

Where Should I live? I agree it is a great question to ask! We really can live Globally but some many people get stuck in their history - "My mum and dad have always lived here and so should I." What rubbish! I agree with PanamaMark - patriotism is truly an outdated concept - aren't we intelligent and strong enough to stand up for our own personal values where ever we land on the planet? It's time for us all to grow up and be patriotic about the whole world and all of the people on it!

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/blz6n

Where Should I Live in 2011?

Last year I first asked the question, 'Of all the places in the world, Where Should I live?' This lead to a quest to find the cheapest and best places to live as ranked by authorities who do just that - rank places based on a variety of statistics. A year ago I presented what I thought was a pretty interesting and credible list - the International Living Quality of Life Index. I had so much fun reviewing that piece and such great feedback that I decided to subscribe to, a monthly publication. I've learned a ton about new places to live which are emerging all the time. It's such a great resource - I highly recommend it - you can get more details on he magazine and subscriptions by clicking on that box over to the right or on any of the numerous links I've placed in previous articles.

Well yesterday I announced that the annual Quality of Life issue had arrived and I let you know about the top ten places to live in the world - that is to say the list of those places offer the very best Quality of Life and Living for 2011. You can just look below at that post to learn more.




As I did last year I'm going to spend the next few weeks going over the list in-depth. I'll talk about each country and some of the things which may not appear in the index like, which ones are also the Best Places to Retire and where I can find data I'll explore the cheapest places to live within each country.

The index is just that - an index. So it ranks countries by a number of factors and the overall winner is the one with the highest overall rank. Yesterday I announced, much to my surprise, that the United States Quality of Life was determined to be the best with a final score of 86.43. Now numbers aren't the whole story. Sure the U.S. ranked high on Economy - let's face it, depression, recession whatever you want to call it the U.S. still it has the largest economy on the world. or - at least compared to the other 191 countries in the complete index - well no, not really - it is the biggest in the world! The United States also scores very high when it comes to infrastructure - sure if you live in the States you may be contenting with pot holes and other challenges which would cause you to question that but again overall when looking at all of the countries the U.S. stands in pretty good stead when it comes to infrastructure. And it continues to score relatively high across all of the other nine categories (see previous post).

Now all of that said this is a list which is determined by averages so a huge country like the U.S. can really skew the results. For example, while the U.S. does offer some of the cheapest places to live in the world - check out Waco Texas or some of the mid-mid west States like South Dakota or how about Detroit where, due to a devastated auto industry, the cheapest house on record was sold last year - it also has some of the most expensive lifestyles and cost of living on the planet - check out downtown Manhattan or Malibu Beach. The same goes for weather - 40 below in the North is tempered by balmy warm winters in Southern Florida and Southern California.




In future posts we will move beyond the U.S. borders but may check in with comparisons from time to time. For now, read on as we explore and try to answer that question, 'Where Should I live in 2011?'

Best Places for Quality of Life 2011

I just received my brand new January 2011 issue of International Living Magazine. Can you believe it's been a whole  year since we looked at I.L.'s  Best Places to Live? Well it's true. One year ago almost to this day we counted off the International Living Annual Quality of Life index highlighting the Top 10 places to live on the planet.

The 2010 List of Best Places to Live was:

1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. US
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy

For 2011 the Best Places for Quality of life have changed up a little. In reverse oder, here's where I.L. thinks we'll find the highest quality of life in 2011 -

10. Germany (4th in 2010)
9. Austria (not in top 10 last year)
8. The United Kingdom (not in top 10 last year)
7. Japan (not in top 10 last year)
6. Belgium (8th in 2010)
5. Monaco (not in top 10 last year)
4. France (1st in 2010)
3. Malta (not in top 10 last year)
2. New Zealand (5th in 2010)

and the Best Place for Quality of Living in 2011 goes to,

The United States ! (The United States was ranked the 7th best place for quality of life in 2010)

It's interesting to note that half of these countries weren;t even in the top ten last year. So, what's changed? Well over the next few weeks I offer some comments on each country that appeared on this years list. Of course I will also attempt to build in some info about the cheapest places to live in each country and which ones may present as the Best Places to Retire.

Last year I had a few comments and questions about how the list is created. It's pretty much the same story every year and I will admit I.L. has soem huge gaps in how they measure Quality of Life but they do at least focus in on some pretty important criteria that most people would actually use in their personal judgement. I.L. considers the following when creating their list - Cost of Living; Culture; Economy; Environment; Freedom; Health; Infrastructure; Safety and Climate. Of course the rating is subjective and done by their staffers so it's not exactly an unbiased view. But admittedly they say, "Every index is prone to nonsense by numbers which is why we include some subjectivity."

Regardless, I quite enjoy this list  picking it apart and looking at each country. It's fun, interesting and always giving me food for thought when I think about where I want to live, next!

Waco - Cheapest place to live in U.S. but...

Browsing the net today I came across a small item on the Channel 25 News site serving Waco, Killen and Temple, Tx. claiming "Waco as one of the Cheapest Places to live in the U.S.A.

The article basically drew on data compiled by the Real Estate research website, HomeFacts.com. Homefacts listed Waco as one of the top ten cheapest places to live in the U.S. based on cost of living data they compiled from the U.S. department of housing. Waco was #7 on the list.

I always find these little snippets interesting - its often what's not reported that is most interesting. If available, the comments people leave can be quite revealing. In this case the comments were pretty negative. Confirming that Waco is in fact one of the least expensive places to live but perhaps for good reason. Posters trashed the place for high taxes and what sounds like a pretty nasty crime and poverty problem.

A comment by one poster may just sum it all up, " Woo Hoo Waco! - Save money, get robbed, shot or maybe raped. Thats the place I want to raise my family..."

As I mentioned its a pretty small piece and what I've written here captures it all but if you still want to check out the original source you can go here - Source: www.kxxv.com

Yes, it's true Waco is the cheapest place to live in the U.S.