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Hola Laura y Mike! Dawn and I look forward to having you as neighbors as you are renting a home in our complex. We are hopeful that we will get our Maui home sold soon so we can make our move as well. Rick

Good update video Mike and Laura. Happy New Year to the both of you from Marc and Paulette.

I am so sorry to hear that you had a stressful experience. But very happy for you. When we went for our canje, the immigration agent at the airport marked my passport as Tourist with 180 days. He refused to fix it. My husband was marked as correctly. I was so stressed and worried that my temporary Visa would be null and void and we would have to start over. But our wonderful immigration facilitator in Huatulco was able to work with the immigration office. My husband got his temporary residency in one day and I got mine in 2 days. But it was so stressful.

omg! I need to go here--that Caesar salad looks amazing. Thanks so much for sharing! :)

Looks Great. Expensive?

BTW - We own a home at Capilla de Piedra, and we know you've stayed there. Rick & Dawn

We will put this restaurant on our loooooong list of dining alternatives.

Thats the way it was for us too. After going to Intercam it took about 1 day to get the account setup. Keep in mind that Intercam is not a Mexican bank. A lot of Mexican banks do require an RFC. Intercam has an English speaking help line also. Our experience with Intercam has been fantastic. -Marc

How did you get your bank statements stamped and certified? My B of A bank did not know of this but the VP of the bank stamped it with a B of A stamp and signed it. But my American Express savings account is an online account and they told me they could not do that. Any advice on what I can do?

So a joint account of two spouses over something like $600, 000 would not qualify you for the asset requirement for permanent residency . Both need individual accounts? Is that correct? Thank you.

According to the manufacturer the harness buckle is for a leash only for walking and there is one to attach a leash from the front as well.. The carabiner should attach to the canvas loop only that the buckle is on. Crash test show that is the most secure way..

What medicine did your friend recommend? I was lucky to find chewable Pepto Bismol when it hit me in Oaxaca last year. In March, I’m bringing my wife to SMA for her 1st trip to Mexico, and I want to come prepared, just in case 🤢

Definitely a gogo girl here. Love Laura's giggle.

I am looking forward to it. Love San Miguel

Thanks for that. I guess those figures are not adjusted for inflation. Perhaps $65K is for current Go-Go phase and in 10 years the Slow-Go phase will be up to $65K .

And then there's the band the Go Gos. Slow go years that's two thumbs down for me and we don't even want to talk about the no go years. -Fun video. -Marc

Hola Mike, Laura. Gracias for the SMA video. Very helpful. Question RE Montezuma... is the sickness a one-time thing or is it a recurring thing every time you visit? i.e., once you endure the experience, are you immune or tolerant of the bug the next time you visit?

The right approach is probably not black-and-white. It makes no sense to ship a King sized bed thousands of miles into a new country. So selling as much as possible is the right approach, assuming you are 100% sure you won't be coming back. Here's how we'll do it: Come spring of next year, when everything is nice and green, we will sell our overpriced California home for as much money as possible. We know we will under no circumstances return to California, for monetary reasons alone (mortgage, property taxes, etc.), so we will rent a small storage unit to store the stuff we don't want to part with. Hopefully, that will only be one or two furniture items, but mostly China, 2 electric bicycles, personal effects, and boy do we have a lot of clothing . . . Once escrow closes, the "house money" will go into a 1-year MM account at hopefully around 5%, and we'll hop into our to-be-purchased "Mexico car," most likely a used Honda Odyssee van or a Honda Pilot, spaceous enough for our stuff and 2 small dogs, but low key enough to "blend in" and solid enough to be serviced easily in Mexico in case something breaks. We'll drive into Mexico and explore various locations that are on our short list. SMA is wonderful, but very expensive, and far away from the nearest airport. And the cobblestone roads may become a challenge as we grow older and become weaker. Still, we loved visiting it very much. The Lake Chapala are is great too, but a bit on the grungy side outside the gated communities and expensive as well. But Mexico is a large country with 32 states, so I'm sure we'll find something. After several months of travel through Mexico, and hopefully equipped with better Spanish skills, we should have dialed in to the area we like best, and we'll return to it and do a longer stay there. If after that time we both agree it's Mexico or bust, we'll be looking for a home to purchase, will buy a Mexican plated car, and return our US-plated to the US and sell it. At that point we will need to figure out how to get our "stuff" from the storage in California to our new Mexican home base. If one of us feels Mexico is great but not perfectly suited for our retirement, we'll find another place to check out, most likely back in the US at a lower cost of living area than California. So for us it's a "2 yes or 1 no" situation. In any case, it will be an adventure, and I'm looking forward to it. What I'm not looking forward to is the termination of my business and inventory, getting the house ready, and all the paperwork associated with leaving the United States yet collecting social security retirement benefits and Medicare healthcare benefits. Good luck on your journey!

Love it! Our Subaru is called Jasper because her color is Jasper Green Metallic. She also tells on me when I do something bad. 😅 I really enjoy your videos.

Huh, maybe I should get a camera for the car so Paulette won't complain/offer diving instruction when I'm driving. -Marc

Great video. Please tell me this. I have knee issues and going up and down stairs is a problem with me. Does this resort have facilities in place (elevators, ramps, golf carts etc) to help me get everywhere I might want to go? (ie: from room to restaurants, beach, pool etc..) Thanks so much, Steve S.

No offense but your videos seem to be more crawling into retirement, instead of wading. You might be dead, or incapacitated , before you get there... LOL

Gopro is garbage they never fix anything.

Yay, I really like my GoPro. -Marc

Did you know that Amazon has multiple channels through which products are sold? 1. Amazon Retail (First-Party Sales) - products sold directly by Amazon - they source the items from manufacturers or suppliers, hold inventory, and sell under its own name and are marked as "Sold by Amazon." 2. Amazon Marketplace (Third-Party Sales): Independent sellers list products on Amazon’s platform. These are sold and fulfilled by third-party sellers, though they can still be covered by Amazon's policies. 3. Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA): Third-party sellers store their products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and Amazon takes care of the logistics (packing, shipping, customer service). The product will have a label like “Fulfilled by Amazon.” 4. Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP): This is for third-party sellers who handle their own inventory and shipping but still meet Amazon Prime's standards for fast delivery - products are marked with the Prime badge. Depending on which channel you ordered the GoPro from can impact your customer experience. Oh, and shrink wrap can be removed by the perp and very easily reapplied by someone with that type of machine. One or two GoPros will cover the cost.

Hi Mike and Laura. A similar things happened to me. Recently, I ordered a set (3) of mower blades and the box was empty. Amazon issued a credit and stated I didn't need to return the item. I think I was able to mark the reason for return was that the item was not in the box. A year before I received the wrong item and just did a normal return of the wrong item. A way more expensive item, by the way, and the thought crossed my mind that there could be a problem, but there wasn't. As you probably know, it is difficult to find the phone number for a live agent at Amazon, but I was able to and used it on several occasions. They have always taken care of me and have not questioned my honesty and I don't think they will question yours. Amazon holding your money for 30 days; and you not having the Go Pro is poor service, for sure. I wonder if you had called before returning the empty box item, you might have gotten better service?

We found things a little to expensive in all Mexico for us. No thanks.

The truth is Mexico is now very expensive and the government is very scary now. Be careful We're moving back it's not cheap anymore and not sure what is going on.

I'm Mexican and the government is very scary now . Be careful. Just saying.

Hi Mike, a fellow Canadian here! I agree with the previous comment from stevenk... that your concerns are valid. However, compared to the prices in Canada you'll be able to live more economically here. I was just in BC and ON last month and the prices in Canada are insane! Prices here in SMA have risen tremendously over the past 10 years - for example, when I first started coming to SMA a taxi into Centro was 30 or 40 pesos and it has doubled to 80 in a decade - but it's still generally cheaper than Canada overall. San Miguel de Allende is much more expensive to live in than most other cities so keep that in mind. You'll have no trouble finding any kind of fresh fruit or vegetable once you get your bearings. The variety and choice of produce here is exceptional! Just make sure to wash it properly before consumption. In addition, there is always SO MUCH going on that you will never be at a loss for things to do and people to meet. Just last night I was at a free language exchange and met some lovely people, both local and expat. As for the weather, there is absolutely no need for AC or heat. I bought a gas heater for the cooler "winter" nights a couple years ago but was without for many years. I put it on for an hour or so during the coldest months to warm the bedroom while reading then shut it off to sleep. The life you lead here in SMA is 100% up to you. You can be as busy and active with daily events or as laid back as you want. You can chill and your wife will have absolutely no problems finding a million things to do with lovely people to meet - the best of both worlds!

Things you should know. There are doctors here that make house calls at a very reasonable price. All the pharmacies have free delivery to your house. There are close to 15 spas near Atotonilco. All with hot mineral water. They are all nice, but some have amszingly good facilities. The cost for vet care is really cheap compared to the US/Canada. Just to get a regular checkup is 400 pesos, a female dog spaying is around 1500 pesos. Cheap.

Nice review Mike. -Marc

My biggest fear is how will my wife manage living in Mexico when I die. Don’t get me wrong, this thought worries me in general.

Very informative! How did you find your pet friendly driver from the airport? Would you recommend the one you used?

Hola, Just subscribed! Just got my Mexican residency in June!🥳🇲🇽 Back in Toronto, getting the house ready to sell. Will move to Bucerias, Nayarit this fall. Gave the neighbor my snow blower, tossed the snow shovel in the garbage! Retiring in the sun, having fun on the beach. Going to enjoy watching hockey from a beach bar this season!🥳

I can hardly wait for you both to revisit all these issues on 6 months and a year. I will be looking FWD to hearing your views then. Thank you for sharing

Those are all reasonable concerns. If you make an effort to meet new people in Mexico you can fill that void. These new friends will also be able to help with finding doctors. If you’re still planning on moving to SMA this will be easier. The financial independence will go away with time hopefully. Once your in Mexico and you invest your time and energy into your new life things will get easier. -Marc

Nice!

Plenty of other countries with a very low cost of living that you can retire to that don't have the dangers Mexico does.

Why in the heck would you overlook the States?! Are you running from the law? The US and Canada for the most part are light years superior to an industrial third world nation like Mexico. The cartels run Mexico . . . lots of luck.

Mike, thank you for sharing your perspectives on this subject. My view is that your concerns are fairly universal no matter where you folks may move in retirement that would move you away from your present cultural and physical milieu. Even, for example moving to Phoenix Arizona or Boca Raton Florida would present similar "assimilation" challenges. Mexico presents both excitement and very specific challenges. Easiest would be the language challenge. This would be temporary as you folks would assimilate and learn to communicate with locals. In retirement learning a foreign language is a dazzling hobby! More of a challenge is to remember that even when you folks find those leafy greens for salad making, living too far from the agricultural activities wherein those crops are grown presents increasing challenges the farther away from larger cities one chooses to domicile. Lastly, leafy greens need to be washed (even in our towns, mine in California). Washing leafy greens or anything in Mexico presents a unique challenge due to the water treatment (or lack of it) situation in water supplies (even in larger Mexican cities). You probably would not drink a glass of tap water in a cafe in Mexico (bottled water is virtually everywhere there), so washing veggies and fruits must be accompanied by methods easily learned on line (like adding a touch of vinegar to the "soaking" water then drying. After all, we certainly cannot undertake all veggie washing in Mexico using bottled water! Good luck with your move. I believe that all your concerns will melt away and you folks will live dazzling lives ahead.

Sounds like you need to pick a different place in Mexico. Most of your complaints are based on the location you chose to stay in.

For beds in Mexico, the best brand is LUNA, we have a sleep number bed here in the states but LUNA is better, a little expensive but worth the money 👌🏼they have a store in Queretaro but they deliver in San Miguel.

Good solution for the trip!

You all are adorable ! Thank you for sharing! I'm considering a retirement home in San Miguel! Right now I am in research phase.. I look forward to more of your videos!

Can she help if you are looking to retire in another part of Mexico? I didn’t know if it was region specific. it was so informative. I decided to ask a question to get further information.

Thank you so much!

Congratulations! We recently closed on our new home in SMA. We think you may have rented in the complex where we bought - Capilla de Piedra. We received our Temporary Residency cards on our most recent stay last month in our new home, and we started furnishing it. We are back on Maui as we need to sell our home here and then "wade into retirement" right after we sell.

She's an "environmental engineer"- newspeak for a loopy Californian tree hugger who will push crazy laws to destroy the economy even more. Watch for the peso to drop like a rock. Your careful sharing of speech time and constantly looking at each other has gained you 24 Chinese social credits and the ridicule of people with common sense.

When she says oh she's so happy they voted in a woman, Feminism ruined America so may as well let it grow like leaven.