[goodgrief]

Costa Rica or Panama but I think the cost of living might be lower in Panama. You won't have any trouble speaking English only in Canal Zone of Panama or Guanacaste in Costa Rica, but I'm giving the nod to Panama because that little country has a great energy and I think it has nowhere to go but up. Canada is OK but a bit too pricey for a Louisiana lady.

I'm going to edit my post because I sense your fear of not understanding a foreign language. The Canal Zone in Panama did not become independent of the U.S. until quite recently, so educated people and people who deal with tourists and ex-pats frequently speak excellent English. Guanacaste, in Costa Rica, is a wildly popular tourist area with an enormous population of Canadian and American ex-pats, so again, getting along in English is no problem.

As a bonus, Panama uses the American dollar as its currency, which saves endless hassle. I don't know how old you are or how big your "roll" is, but both countries have decent programs to welcome retirees or other well-to-do settlers as long as they are not trying to take jobs from locals. Check it out.

Belize is an English-speaking Central American country but I have not visited there, and I know very little about it.

The person who suggested the U.K. forgot about the "cost of living" part. You'd better be a WSOP winner if you want to live in the U.K. Holy crap, after I visited the countryside there, I realized why they all sold their houses and moved to Tampa. What a "cottage" sells for in the Cotswalds provides a lifetime income in Florida!