Sure, you can buy a home in Italy or France for the price of a truck, but here are the practical considerations of retiring abroad:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/21/tips-for-moving-abroad-from-a-cfp-who-specializes-in-it.html
If taking the step of retiring abroad, I would think entirely immersing yourself in the culture and dedicating yourself to learning a new language is a must. Most people don’t want to embrace that sort of challenge.
Your parents have the right of it: why move to a new country without “trying it out” first?
I’d like to think I would would love the challenge of moving abroad but I don’t think my spouse feels the same.
@evamarie Yeah. It sounds harder to retire in a new country than expatriate or immigrate earlier in life to me. When you're working, your job provides a path into society, and if you're an expat helps you figure stuff out. It's hard enough to make new friends in a new country with that help. In retirement, you have no given path to meet locals, you have to learn a new language when it's the hardest, you start needing medical care in a new system in that language...
Yes, exactly. The placed in Italy or France with very affordable homes are going to be in villages and small cities where very few speak English. It’s almost a must to pick a place with a few expats to ease the transition. That said, I think it would be much easier to meet folks in the community in smaller places, but you’ll need to learn the language. Period. And hope an expat can help translate in the meantime.
@evamarie I think people who have never expatriated underestimate the mental effort of moving to a new country and building a new life. My aging parents who have done it several times declined jobs in Belgium a few years ago precisely because they haven't lived there before. Their retirement country list is limited to places they've already lived.