Retirement as a global vacationer?
As a follow up to my Chiang Mai trip last week, I have been reading a lot about a retirement lifestyle which I have discovered recently as part of my research preparation. Retiring overseas has been a trend for many years that has been very popular for people in G10 countries, moving to a lesser developed countries.
Even with a pension plan, most active retirees cannot maintain a comfortable lifestyle as costs have soared in their home country. With the same amount or much less, they can enjoy a better quality of life moving overseas. They can either sell their assets now or rent out their current homes to generate more passive income to sustain their nomadic lifestyles, living in a few cities around the world for months or years at a time. If for health or medical reasons eventually, they can then return home permanently and then dip into their savings. Given that it is very common to see active 80-year-old people nowadays, it does mean that your global overseas retirement vacation can last for many years!!!
I came across many online materials that provided comprehensive information on each and every livable city that suits an active retirement lifestyle. Most allow for a relatively comfortable means of survival for under $2,000 a month, either as a couple or individually. This will work out to just $24k per year. Hence a half million of funds set aside can last you for 20 years! Of cost, if there are emergencies, you will have to tap into your other retirement savings. But if you have passive income (rentals or pension like CPF Life), then technically your retirement funds need not be touched at all.
I found a publication online (International Living Australia – see link below) that was helpful and choke full of shared experiences from people who have been there and done it. Some have started as early as in their forties and others are still going at it into their seventies. It is a trend that is going to happen more actively for us going forward. The amazing thing is that most of these recommended cities are just in our backyard, around the Asia regions. Countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia regularly pops up.
https://internationalliving.com/au/
As long as you are healthy and mobile, one can travel the world and not break the bank account. Think about it. For 9 months of the year, one can move to 3 cities and chill out for 3 months in each of them, to really explore the place at our leisure. Bangkok, Hu Hin, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui, HCMC, Hanoi, Danang, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Penang – just a few cities within Asia which retirees are flocking to. All the cities do have an active expat retiree network of associations which one can tap into to seek for information.
This alternative lifestyle is workable and already been tried and tested by many. The attraction is obvious. Of course, if you are a home body, then this may not work for you. But what if you just do this for a few months a year?
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