Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Roseanne Knorr
Aired March 16, 2002 - 09:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about retirement, what do you say?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I could do it right now, actually.
PHILLIPS: All right.
O'BRIEN: Matter of fact, why don't you do this interview? I'm going to go retire.
PHILLIPS: No, we're going to need you.
O'BRIEN: No, let's get Roseanne Knorr in here. Roseanne Knorr is in a place where most people historically have retired, Tampa, Sun City, St. Petersburg, shuffleboard, all that.
PHILLIPS: She has written this wonderful book, "The Grown-Up's Guide to Retiring Abroad." I'll tell you right now...
O'BRIEN: Florida ain't for her.
PHILLIPS: I -- exactly. She's more into France. Anyway, we're going to have our parents calling us, Miles, they're going to want this book, you know.
O'BRIEN: I wouldn't mind if my parents left the country. That's not a bad idea at all.
No, let -- Roseanne, good to have you with us. You know, a few years ago I was down in Costa Rica, and...
ROSEANNE KNORR, AUTHOR, "GROWN-UP'S GUIDE TO RETIRING ABROAD": Good morning.
O'BRIEN: ... you know -- Good morning.
PHILLIPS: Hi, Roseanne.
O'BRIEN: And whenever we go on a trip, we always say, Wouldn't it be nice to live here? And, you know, we go through that whole scenario. And they said in Costa Rica, there are an awful lot of Americans have retired. And the one thing they said was, You're welcome to come, just make sure -- you have to prove you have enough money to support yourself. Is that pretty common? KNORR: Yes, it is, because most countries don't want you to retire and take jobs away from their own people. But if you're not -- if you're retiring and you're not working, then it's usually not a problem.
O'BRIEN: All right.
PHILLIPS: Now, who normally lives abroad? I mean, is this something that is -- that's normal, Roseanne, a lot of people -- a lot of folks that are retiring think about this? Or is this sort of a new trend?
KNORR: I think it's a new trend, in a way, because a lot of baby boomers are more adventurous, and they're healthier than our, I think our parents were, they're ready to do an adventure. And a lot of us have had a long-standing desire to travel, and when you finally have some extra time, living abroad gives you that option.
O'BRIEN: All right. It sounds romantic, but a couple of things come to mind. First of all, you know, if there -- God willing, if there are grandkids, you're not going to be very close to them. How do you deal with the relative isolation of all this?
KNORR: Well, as one person who's been over there for seven years said, it gives their families a base in Europe. They happen to be in France, and their families come over on a regular basis. And they get...
O'BRIEN: Nice place to visit Grandma and Grandpa, isn't it?
KNORR: Oh, yes. And most people that live abroad also tend to come back to visit the States, so it's not like they are forever over there. They make trips back and forth. And some people go over for three months and then come home, and then they go back for another six. It can vary.
PHILLIPS: All right, we're looking at video of France right now. Is this one of your favorite spots? Is this one that you would recommend that maybe our parents take off to for a little while?
KNORR: Well, I'm prejudiced, because I just love France. And it's very centrally located. You can travel from France to virtually any country in Western Europe very easily by train or by car, if you have one. And that's one particular reason I like it. It's an advanced country, they got great food and wine. And it's just a lovely place to be.
O'BRIEN: And they just love Americans, don't you know, right, Roseanne? Come on, now, there's got to be a little bit of that...
KNORR: If you say...
O'BRIEN: ... there.
KNORR: If you say that there's a problem with those French, believe me, there's not. I think... O'BRIEN: Are you in Paris, or where are you?
KNORR: No, I'm southwest of Paris.
O'BRIEN: Well, that's probably...
KNORR: I'm in the countryside, and I think you get...
O'BRIEN: That's quite different, right?
KNORR: You get more of the traditional viewpoint down there. And let's face it, Paris is like any large city. You get a lot of more hectic lifestyle. And it's a different experience.
PHILLIPS: Well, now, Roseanne, I would be all for my parents taking off to a neat place like that. But I, of course, would turn into the major worrywart. As they get older, I'd worry about health and safety. And seriously, we want to be there to take care of our parents as they get older. Do you -- is this a place where they would take off and retire for a little while and then come back home, or are you saying move on to another country and stay there, it's OK?
KNORR: Oh, Kyra, it depends on the individual. I've met people that have gone over and said, Well, I'm going to come back to the States when I get old. This was spoken by a woman who was 78. So...
O'BRIEN: It's all relative, isn't it?
KNORR: ... it -- It is relative. I know a couple that just moved there, and he's 71 now, and they just moved.
O'BRIEN: All right. What about, you know, this -- I imagine there are some gears turning in our audience right now, and one of the things that's probably coming to mind for a lot of people, especially in this country, we're not very multilingual here. Would you dare do this without fluency in the language? I assume you speak French well.
KNORR: I didn't when I got there.
O'BRIEN: Really?
KNORR: I thought I did -- you know...
O'BRIEN: And then you learned, you were disabused of that notion.
KNORR: Yes, but a lot of...
(CROSSTALK)
KNORR: ... a lot of countries in the world, they speak English, which I don't recommend you speak English, because I think it's always much more involving to learn a little bit of the language. If you choose that country, you should participate in it.
But it's not the problem that most people think it is. However, Great Britain, for example, is one of the countries that a lot of Americans choose just for that reason, if they're intimidated by the language.
PHILLIPS: Is there a place overseas where you would definitely say, Do not retire as an American?
KNORR: War-torn countries.
O'BRIEN: Definitely not Afghanistan, right? Just skip that one.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: ... going to Afghanistan...
KNORR: I -- one reason I did "The Grown-Up's Guide to Retiring Abroad" is to provide an overview of the 20 countries that I think are the most interesting and the most safe and the most culturally rich, and the most cost-affordable that Americans can choose overseas. I didn't put in any countries that I would not enjoy.
As a matter of fact, when I was doing each chapter, it was very intriguing, because I love France, but as I did Italy and as I did Portugal and Spain, et cetera, I just wanted to move to them all, because they're all different. They're all so culturally rich that it would be very fascinating to live in each one for three months, six months, a year.
PHILLIPS: What about handling tax, you know, taxes and all the things that we have to deal with on a regular basis, you don't think about when you go on vacation or go overseas, all those little kind of intricacies, bills and -- you know, is that...
O'BRIEN: You mean you have to pay bills still when you go?
KNORR: Yes, you got to pay bills.
PHILLIPS: Yes, you do.
KNORR: They have online bill paying.
O'BRIEN: Online bill paying, all right. Well, we have to wrap it up. Roseanne Knorr joining us from Tampa, which is the last place on earth she'd retire, but she's nonetheless there doing the book tour thing.
We appreciate you being with us today, and it's a fascinating book, "The Grown-Up's Guide to Retiring Abroad."
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Roseanne.
KNORR: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
