Building for Retirement in Belize : How a Primary School Dropout Conned a Multiple-Degree College Client!

Retirement is a time for travel, a time to experience life stress-free, a time to sleep in until noon - but wait, not for everyone. In 2014, Ms. Gloria Swift returned to her native country, Belize and the village where she grew up. Several mothers asked her what she will do for their children because "there were two educational standards: one for City kids and one for village kids." Ms. Swift decided that their needs were more important than hers. She had the property. Why not develop it before it was stolen?

Belize is a thriving Caribbean mecca in Central America with a booming construction business and a plethora of contractors. But without governmental agencies regulating and monitoring these so-called contractors, many prey on unsuspecting, trusting, financially able clients from the U.S., like Ms. Gloria Swift.

What follows is the story of "one of the largest financial blunders and idiotic decisions of my life," remarked Ms. Swift. When she was told, "You aren't the first one that this happened to and you won't be the last," she wrote Building for Retirement in Belize as a cautionary tale for others-"Because I will be the last."