What About Retiring Abroad?

If you read our recent depressing post about the general direction of wages, explosive costs of health insurance, health care, education, housing and en mass boomer retirements, then you would want to beg the question, “What are the alternatives?”

The prudent investor that has made wise investment decisions should have sufficient cash flow to choose some alternative options. It has been said that “money doesn’t by happiness” and we agree with that sentiment but what money does buy is OPTIONS. Money can provide you the option to move abroad and retire and live in a more cost effective country than perhaps the United States.

We decided to take a look at some data about what it costs to live abroad and what are the trade offs. First and foremost, we need to understand what the cost matrix is of living in a different country. For that data lens we took a look at Numbeo which has a nice table to reflect the cost of living in other countries compared to the United States.

Things to consider can seem endless because each person will have a different perspective, needs, goals and desired outcomes from moving abroad. The Numbeo site will break down four major categories: Cost of living vs. US, Rent Index, Grocery Index and Restaurant Index. These will all tell you relatively what it will cost to have a roof over your head, eat at home and eat outside.

Unfortunately, we’d also like to know several other things important to most people such as:

1. Safety – What is the crime level of the country?
2. Medical system – How advances is the medical system in country? What trade offs are acceptable?
3. Is there online ordering and delivery for retail items and restaurants such as Amazon, DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc?
4. What are the cultural options in country: Concerts, Operas, Plays, Musicals, Artists Quarter, Cultural Activities, etc?
5. How diverse is the population? What languages are spoken? What is the political climate of the country?
6. Availability of high speed Internet to go online and stay in touch.
7. Is there an ex-pat American community in country?
8. Is there an international airport with multiple flights back to the US or other places abroad?

There are many more questions to ask but we hope to answer these questions in an upcoming post. In the meantime, we found this interesting video on CNBC about a 68 year old woman that retired in Mexico and is enjoying her low cost lifestyle.