One of the advantages of moving to the Caribbean is that your US dollar, euro or British pound would go much further than it would back home. For example, one euro gives you about four Eastern Caribbean dollars and three Barbados dollars; one British pound gives you about four Barbados dollars, just over five Eastern Caribbean dollars and about two Bahamas dollars; one US dollar is equivalent in value to a Bahamas dollar but will give you two Barbados dollars and about two and a half Eastern Caribbean dollars.

The benefits of these advantageous rates of exchange are obvious for retirees living on a pension. Apart from avoiding the cold winters in the West, living in the Caribbean can help one stretch one's retirement income.

With this in mind you might be interested in learning about doing business with local banks in the Caribbean. There are a number of regional banks operating throughout the Caribbean, such as RBTT which is owned by Royal Bank of Canada, the Republic Bank Limited http://www.republictt.com/1asp/default.asp, and FirstCaribbean International http://www.firstcaribbeanbank.com/ which was formed by a merger of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce West Indies Holdings and Barclays Bank Plc Caribbean. Other banks operating in the region include the Canadian bank Scotiabank http://www.scotiabank.com/tt/cda/index/0,,LIDen,00.html, the US bank Citi, and the Bermuda bank Butterfield which has offices in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malta as well as other islands in the Caribbean http://www.butterfieldbank.com/. All these banks offer personal banking services including asset management and the setting up of trusts, as well as banking for institutional and corporate clients.

One of the advantages of banks in the Caribbean operating across the region is that should you choose to travel to another island for a holiday, it is often possible to access your funds from the bank's branch in that island through its ATM.

To open an account with a bank in the Caribbean you need two forms of identification; evidence of your address in the island, preferably a utility bill; and in some cases a letter of introduction from your bank back home. ATM cards are available upon opening an account at no extra charge. You will need to have an account at a local bank if you wish to wire money back home, unless you use Western Union or Money Gram. The cost of wiring funds from your account back home is TT$65 from Trinidad and Tobago and BDS$70 from Barbados. In some jurisdictions in the Caribbean, because of problems with money laundering, there is a ceiling on the amount of money you can transfer or receive unless accompanied by a declaration of the source of funds. In Barbados, this ceiling is BDS$10,000 or US$5,000.

Should you decide to use a wire transfer service such as Western Union or Money Gram, my experience is that you are better off going with Money Gram. It costs considerably less than Western Union and operates in many of the countries that Western Union does. Depending on the amounts you are sending, Money Gram may also be cheaper than sending a wire transfer through the bank. Money Gram operates out of selected banks and some supermarkets. To access this service you need your identification as well as the address and telephone number of the person to whom you are going to be transferring the funds.

Credit cards are available through all local banks. But be warned, the interest rates in the Caribbean are considerably higher than in the United States. The annual rate of interest on a credit card in the Caribbean goes as high as 24%. Debit cards are also available. In Trinidad and Tobago, one can make point of sale purchases using one's ATM card. This system is referred to as Linx in Trinidad and Tobago.

While living in the Caribbean, you may also wish to invest locally. There are several options for investing. Among these are government bonds which are among the most secure form of investment since they are backed by the island's government that are not generally known for defaulting on repayments. Investments in bonds typically yield around 8% per annum. They are usually sold through the Central Bank of the country whose government is offering the bond. The local banks all offer money market funds which can be denominated in US currency or local currency. The US denominated money market funds typically yield a lower return on investment. Locally denominated money market funds can yield as high as 6.5% return on one's investment. It is also possible to find euro-denominated money market funds but these are still few and far between and the return on investments from them tends to be low. The islands also have stock markets in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean. Trading can be done on these through a broker or through Caribbean financial institutions that offer investment services to individuals or corporate clients. See http://www.mycmmb.com/equity-invest--faq.asp for one such institution. These financial institutions also offer help with investing on international stock exchanges and in high yielding securities such as oil and gas. See http://www.ttutc.com/default.html

As in the United States and Europe, there are personal financial planners and advisors whom you can call upon for advice as to the best forms of investment and use of your money while in the Caribbean. Inflation in some islands in the Caribbean, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, is proving worrisome while in others such as St. Lucia inflation levels remain modest. So be sure to take this into your calculations as to which island you would choose to live on and be aware that calculations as to how much money you will need to live will need to be revised in light of escalating prices.

As to how secure your money is in the Caribbean, though there are no guarantees, the Caribbean's financial institutions are well monitored and most of the larger ones have a history of stability. There have been bad reports, however, regarding some local credit unions so you should be wary about investing with those. Governments and Central Banks (the equivalent of the US Federal Reserve) are constantly looking at ways to improve the monitoring and financial viability of local financial institutions. On the very few occasions there have been problems, the jurisdiction involved has learnt from them and has put measures in place to prevent reoccurrences of the same problem. Hence saving and investing in the Caribbean is as secure an undertaking as anywhere else. Some may even say it is more so.