ot. retire abroad propaganda

[scaredyclassic]

Seems like I am constantly bombarded with retirement porn singing virtues of living abroad.

Is this a desperate response to inability to retire comfortably here? Just thrifty plan to stretch a buck?

I gotta admit it sounds good. Head down to Ecuador or live by the water in nicaragua. Lay low. Low overhead. Lower taxes.

Clearly we can’t all just take our money abroad…

But it seems like a nice fantasy.

Then again Temecula is so beautiful today why leave?

My house is kinda cheap after taxes and discounting equity portion.

How much cheaper could it be in portugal.

But then again I could have fish sold by kids on the coast of portugal.

I would like to never cook dinner again. Just eat at the same fish stand every day. Pick up an apple at the market.

[FlyerInHi]

It’s not cheaper to retire abroad if you expect the same level of infrastructure.

For one, cars are very expensive. So is electricity and central AC.

In some countries you can have maids/servants/chauffeur but you have to spend more because you need the house and the trappings to match.

Actually it all depends on what you want.
You could retire in the panhandle of Florida, Alabama or Mississippi for cheap. Financial services, credit cards, US cell phones, medical services will be the same or almost… but life would be very boring. I’d rather live in Bolivia.

You mentioned Cambodia before. Good choice. The only thing is that Cambodian food sucks. I prefer Thai and Vietnamese food (no worries because there’s a lot of everything in Cambodia).

Uruguay is a high income country and consistently gets good press.

[spdrun]

If you lived in Portugal you could probably get away with a light motorcycle or scooter, and you really don’t need A/C near the coast. Many of the locals don’t have it either. Live like a local and enjoy it for what it is; don’t try to be an American.

[scaredyclassic]

i would just walk around.
i dont use heat or ac here in temecula.
i would just eat fish and nap and read.

but i think all this media on retireng abroad is rooted on a strong discontentedness with life…

like, it must be better somewhere else…

[FlyerInHi]

haha… we Americans have habits that are hard to break. Where’s the Costco and the drive-in garage?

When I lived in Europe, I walked up 6 flights of stairs with no elevator to a mansard loft (formerly, maids’ quarters were in the mansard just below the roof before they were converted).

Kinda funny, a guy and his wife I know retired in Vegas. I told him to buy a nice foreclosure condo. But he was set in his ways and wanted a house with all American style trappings. So they hired a Realtor and up buying something far out (and overpaying, because they didn’t want to deal with a distressed sale). Now, they regret it because it’s too far away and too much house. They cannot lock and go, and nobody wants to visit and stay far out of the city center.

A condo near the strip would have been so much more enjoyable.

Anyway, moving abroad can be very upsetting to Americans who are used to certain things. Another thing I noticed, people like Big Food cereal in the morning, or they get upset if they don’t get exactly what they want.

[scaredyclassic]

All I want is anything available. But I need shade.

[scaredyclassic]

A new life. A new start.
No.
Not possible.
It’s always you wherever you go.
The library is great here. The beer at garage brewing by the freeway is probably as good as anywhere in the world.
Everything I could want is here right…
There was a dead mouse and 2 scorpions in my pool this morning.

[Jazzman]

There really is nowhere else unless cost savings and weather are the motivators, or you want adventure. It’s not that the grass is not greener so much as it’s just a different hue. ‘Swings and roundabouts’ as they say.

[joec]

I think unless you are foreign or have lived in a foreign country for a while, moving to a foreign place isn’t as great or easy as they make it sound…

If it was, they wouldn’t have to say a thing and instead, just bitch about all the damn americans moving in.

[FlyerInHi]

scaredy, just get comfortable with retiring sur place. You can’t duplicate your hilltop mansion, with pool and 200 trees, suitable for weddings anywhere in the world for less money.

[flyer]

I think most of us on this forum live in pretty idyllic locations as the world goes, for which we can be extremely grateful.

Having checked out the options, we know we can’t duplicate the lifestyle we have in RSF anywhere else–especially since we bought here over 20 years ago.

One huge criteria for us is being about 10 minutes or less from the
beach–something we would never be willing to give up. We do enjoy taking extended vacations elsewhere–but there’s just no place like home.

[scaredyclassic]

ok. i’ll stay.

these strange desires for another life that pass over like a fever…

i guess i could just eat out at aztek tacos every day….tasty…but not by the mediterranean….just ina strip mall on the 79. though they have an outdoor eating earea. i could pretend.

[Author]

Posts