My wife and I made the decision to relocate from the Northeast to the Southeast in our mid-fifties. Ten years later, we are very happy and convinced that it was a great move for us.

We never seriously considered relocating outside the U.S. -- but plenty of retirees do just that. The growing trend is largely because of cost, although lifestyle obviously plays a big role in the decision. If it's something you are thinking about, your choices of where to live can be overwhelming. That's why it might be helpful to let experts do the advance work for you.

One of those experts is Kathleen Peddicord. After editing and publishing International Living for more than 22 years, Kathleen started a new publishing group in 2007 called Live and Invest Overseas. Kathleen followed her own advice as well: She and her husband moved to Paris and then Panama City. As a travel veteran (she has been to more than 50 countries) and overseas expert (she wrote the books, How to Retire Overseas and How to Buy Real Estate Overseas and publishes the Overseas Opportunity Letter), Kathleen is as well informed as anyone about where to live outside the U.S.

Writing for Next Avenue, Richard Eisenberg cites Kathleen's 2015 "Retire Overseas Index" of best places to retire. These locations, listed in descending order, all get "A" grades from her:

1. Algarve, Portugal
2. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
3. Cayo, Belize
4. Languedoc, France
5. Abruzzo, Italy
6. Medellin, Colombia
7. Hua Hin, Thailand
8. Chiang Mai, Thailand
9. Cuenca, Ecuador

Kathleen's books can be directly purchased from Amazon below.