Why Retire in a Foreign Country?
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Increasingly, baby boomers are retiring outside the USA. Boomers frequently travel with an eye on their “place in the sun”. Latin America is understandably high on the list of desireable expat destinations. Why?
Many of the reasons for becoming an expatriot in retirement are easy to guess. Climate, culture, cost-of-living, and adventure are common reasons for becoming an expat. What about creativity? A new study has proven that living in a foreign country increases creativity.
In negotiation exercises given to 200 people, none could make a deal when neither had lived abroad. When both individuals had lived abroad, 70% find a way to negotiate a mutually satisfactory outcome! This study was conducted by the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago and the INSEA, a business school in Fontainebleau, France. Yes, the researchers conducted a cross check to make sure that it wasn’t a case of the most creative people choosing to live as expats.
A quick look into the lives of your favorite authors, painters, and artists tells you that many of them lived as expats at some point in their lives. We now know for a fact that this experience increased their psychological creativity. The initial France/USA study found that 60% of students with expatriot experience solved a problem that only 42% of students without foreign experience solved, which led to the negotiation excercise study. But these students actually lived abroad; simply traveling abroad is not enough.
The moral of this story is simple. Live abroad and you can increase your creativity. (Source: Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, W. Maddux & A. Galinsky.) You will learn a new culture, language, cuisine, music, and social situations. Your brain will rewire itself for your long-term advantage. Gauguin painted in Panama before heading to Tahiti. Hemingway often wrote from Cuba. Where is your “place in the sun”?
