The Strong Dollar Just Made Retiring Abroad a Lot Cheaper

Every year, more and more Americans retire abroad. About 615,000 Americans received their Social Security checks outside the U.S. last month, up 57 percent since 2000. That doesn’t count thousands of additional Americans who live abroad full- or part-time but continue receiving checks at U.S. banks.

Those checks just became a lot more valuable, too. After a decade in the doldrums, the dollar has gotten significantly stronger. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the value of a dollar against a basket of international currencies, is up 25 percent since July, boosting the buying power of expatriate retirees, from Buenos Aires to Paris.