The boom in the number of Americans living in Portugal is due to the Baby Boomers
My lovely wife and I were both born in 1945 (you do the math). We are not Baby Boomers. Nope, that phenomenal demographic wave is officially said to have begun bulging in 1946. I guess our parents got home from The War early and couldn’t wait to start pursuing the American Dream. Getting a jumpstart on a population explosion has not proven to be a disadvantage overall, but there are consequences with which we have had to deal.
The main issue is that growth and development are always right behind us.
When I was a kid, growing up in Maryland, there was no beltway around Washington, D.C. and Dad would drive the car straight down Connecticut Avenue, around Chevy Chase and Dupont Circles and, yes, right past the White House through the center of the city and on to the airport in Virginia, where we parked on a circle right in front of the main building. No need for vast satellite parking lots.
When we were first married, we lived on the top ninth floor of a “high rise” in an apartment that overlooked a tennis court in a park next door. Sometimes, we would notice that the court was empty and so we would change into our tennis togs, grab our rackets and a can of balls and saunter down and play a couple of sets.
Five years later, there was always somebody hitting booming serves on the court, morning, noon or night, under the newly-installed lights, and always twosomes waiting.
Later, we moved out into the countryside and lived in a little town called Mt. Airy, Maryland. There was a “T” intersection at the end of our road, and we would turn left to go to town, never once actually coming to a full stop at the sign, which I considered “stoptional” since nobody was ever coming in either direction.
Twenty years later, when we finally retired, there was a traffic light at that intersection and a Walmart, two 7-Elevens, a McDonald’s, a Burger King and an Arby’s and six gas stations in the town.
The boom is still resonating across the globe today. Since we’re ahead of the curve and we’re still kicking (if you haven’t done the math yet, now’s a good time), that means that a lot of them are still around too.
In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 76.4 million people alive today who were born between 1946 and 1964. So, more than ever, it’s important to make your tee time or dinner reservation way in advance. And obviously, as more and more boomers retire, the demand for an ideal place to spend their golden years becomes competitive.
I am proud to report that a little over seven years ago, I was at the first organizational meeting of what is now the Americans Living in the Algarve group known as ALITA. There were seven of us at the coffee shop in the Pingo Doce in Lagos. Now there are approximately 2,200 members, along with plenty of people belonging to Americans & FriendsPT and a growing number of other groups. And they’re still coming.
There are now roughly 10,000 Americans living in Portugal, an impressive 239% increase over the number back in the good ol’days of 2017. Also last year, there were over a million visitors from North America. Hopefully, not all those folks were on “scouting trips”.
My lovely wife’s Portuguese hairdresser, when asked about what she thinks of the influx of Americans, said: “Well, they are full of themselves.” I think in a lot of cases she’s right. Facebook is loaded with photos of mostly couples and a few families standing in front of what they tend to call the “compulsory” baggage shot of 12 suitcases, three backpacks, a set of golf clubs and a giant crate containing their pet camel.
First of all, that photo is not required. We all moved with lots of stuff. What is obvious is that every one of them thinks that they are participating in a unique grand adventure that would be a whole lot easier if Portugal removed any and all bureaucratic obstacles.
I’ve actually heard some newbie Americans question “why can’t everybody simply learn to speak English?” That would make things so much easier – for whom? What do they do next? They start a blog so that the few remaining pensioners back home can fully appreciate just how daring and clever they are for settling on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
When we were much younger, my lovely wife and I thought we were avant garde, but, after a while, we realized that we were just typical first. Coming before might not only make us older, it might just make us a bit wiser.
When we first retired to Panama in 2006, both a pack of cigarettes and a taxi ride across the city cost $1.25 (so, I started smoking). We bought an apartment in the historic section of the city, a house in the mountains, furnished both places and bought a car with the equity from our house we sold in Mt. Airy. Remember equity?
The apartment alone has more than tripled in value. That is happening in the Algarve right now due to an ever-increasing demand on a very limited inventory of housing in any price range.
Americans in particular might not even realize that prices have really gone up here across the board since the pandemic, because the cost of living is still much lower than back in the States.
Here’s the deal if you’re reading this via the internet back in the U.S. of A. – you’ve already missed the sweet spot. Prices are going up everywhere you turn. Lisbon airport is already too small. Pretty soon, if not already, the locals will begin to resent the newcomers who speak a bit louder, are more demanding and less patient, while flashing credit cards that reflect a different economic standard. Residents, the very people who read the leading English-language newspaper in the Algarve, have already noticed.
Yes, the weather will still be delightful and the wine more affordable than elsewhere, but by simply coming to appreciate the history and the culture, you will spoil it by your shear numbers, since you all have read in some international magazine that Portugal is the “best” place to retire.
By Pat the Expat
|| features@algarveresident.com
For the previous 10 years, Pat lived in Panama which used to be rated above Portugal as a top retirement destination (but not any more), where he wrote a column for a tourist publication.
