[Peter Burnash]

I am going to kick this off by saying that we have been discussing the possibility of moving out of the US for over a year. After looking at a number of countries, we have decided to concentrate on Spain, at least for now. We have an almost-month long vacation scheduled for September, and want to take in as much of the Costa del Sol as we can in 25 days. It’s weather, cost of living and acceptance of others is all what attracted us to begin a search there. We love the US, but not what it has become politically. I include the gun culture in that realm. So many of our spineless representatives in Congress refuse to stand up to the NRA, and they continue to collect blood money from the gun lobby. So, we would also be leaving something that makes it difficult to live here. We do have other considerations. While our cost of living in general would be lower, I have retired with an amazing health insurance plan. I left my employment at the right time to be grandfathered into a “Cadillac” plan, and relatively, it costs so very little to maintain outstanding coverage. As we explore, we will have to see if the wonders of Spain, along with the terrible gun culture here, are enough to offset the amazing health care budget we have here in the states. It’s definitely a first world problem, but it is a tough decision considering what we would give up.

[Nadia Aityata]

I always had plans on returning to Europe to retire. If my retirement accounts hadn’t taken a hit in the past year (and possibly more is expected), I would probably retire in about 2 years. Considering today’s political environment in the US and obsession with guns (and escalating gun violence), I’m more convinced now that I need to “get out” of the US, sooner rather than later. My wife is from Sweden and I’m from France but we are seriously considering Portugal as our retirement home, it’s close enough to our respective families.