Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

What Surprised Us the Most in Our 36 Years of Retirement

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Stunning view of Maya resort in Tulum, Yucatan, Mexico

It’s been 36 years since we left the conventional working world and launched our lifestyle of world travel. We’ve been independent of a job-with-a-paycheck for longer than most people will ever be retired. In looking back, we reflected on some of the biggest surprises of our unique journey. 

The Future frightens us less and we have learned to embrace change

Our unique lifestyle requires flexibility and adaptability on many levels. Visiting or living in foreign countries brings us face-to-face with the unfamiliar continuously. It could be climate, means of transport, food, customs, religions, language, celebrated holidays, currencies, - you name it.

What surprised us is that through the years, we've gotten better at this, and the self-confidence it has nurtured has been useful.

No one knows the future, of course, however we tend to think change is a good thing, and we embrace the new.  

Our manner of living takes us out of our routine regularly, and this keeps our minds and perspectives fresh.

We were completely organic about our future plans

While I'm not a "mega-planner" needing my calendar defined months out in advance, I do well with "skeleton plans." I want to "kinda know" where I'll be or where I'm going. I do want to have lodging chosen for the nights of our arrival and I want to be sure we have travel food handy in case of plane/bus delays, lost luggage or inclement weather. But other than those basics, I can be rather free-flowing.

Billy, on the other hand is more free wheeling with his personal plans. His idea of an adventure is to purchase a one-way ticket and "figure it out when we get there."

Visas and visa renewals would sometimes get in the way of this unfettered style. After all, even if Billy wanted to be free-spirited and unhampered, Governments tend to demand otherwise. They want to know where you are, how long you plan to stay and where your lodging is.

However, overall, the two of us were able to combine our needs and personal approaches to our vagabond lifestyle and found out that we actually blossomed with "the organic course" of our financial independence.

Who knew?

We have more money now than when we retired 36 years ago.

This fact surprises a lot of people. Holding the idea that "travel is expensive" they can't quite figure out how we pull this off - especially for 36 years!

But when you think about it, when you are at home you are already paying for food, housing, transportation, and entertainment anyways.

Being in an exotic location isn't that different. You'll have the memories of beaches, mountains, the indigenous, tours of city architecture and history and different cuisines, and yet the costs of your food, housing, transportation and entertainment has just been transferred over to your new location.

Depending on your style of travel and you aren't two week millionaires, then the amount you pay to stay at home is very similar to what your cash outlay is for when you travel. 

A very important point is that we stayed invested and took advantage of compounding, our net worth is higher now - after spending and inflation - than we had when we started. 

Our portfolio continues to outperform both our spending and inflation.

Sole beach chair on Placencia Beach, Belize

I never thought We’d be “Permanent ExPats”

Billy and I both love our nation with it’s physical diversity and natural beauty, the history, the distinct cuisines from region to region, and the benefit of a common language from coast to coast.

We were just 3 years into our financially independent lifestyle when we were invited to come to Mexico and share housing in a mid-sized lakeside town just south of Guadalajara. We promised to come for 2 months to see where it led us, and found ourselves staying 4 years!   

At that time, we made the decision to focus on international travel “while we were still young” – figuring we’d get back to exploring our own nation later on. But we became mesmerized by world cultures, history, the cuisine, and numerous perspectives based on disparate experience, geography and language. It energized and expanded us.  

One thing led to another. Over the decades we realized that becoming Permanent Mexican residents offered us an affordable lifestyle, access to excellent health care, and the convenience of still visiting family in less than those 30-hour plane rides from Asia or Europe back to the States.  

I always thought I’d “go back home” to live permanently in the States, but now we have another adopted country; Mexico. Compared to life in the States, overall, there is less regulation and more personal freedom in Mexico.

We’ve not gotten tired of traveling the world

Recently we received an email from a devoted Reader who asked us if we had gotten tired of world travel yet. “Don’t you just want to settle down? You don’t have to prove anything anymore. Just relax.”

We had ourselves a good chuckle on this viewpoint. To us, world travel is invigorating, mind-expanding, challenging and keeps us fresh on so many levels.

We are FOODIES so the regional offerings from continent to continent continue to amaze and intrigue us. How cultures have survived their natural disasters, wars, economic challenges and still thrive are living lessons in adaptability, creativity and perseverance. We learn a great deal from this.  

To be able to live our immersive, nomadic and dynamic lifestyle is a blessing, a gift, an opportunity and a benefit.          

We think we’ll continue on this path for a while still, not willing to put ourselves up on the shelf just yet.

Billy and Akaisha in Sorrento, Italy

We love our freedom even more after all this time, and still protect it strongly

We initially left the traditional working life because our calendar was packed with career obligations and no personal time to explore or independently choose our focus.

After all these years, the number 1 attraction of our lifestyle is still the freedom we experience. We come, we go, we stay, we go somewhere else. We volunteer, we tell stories, we take photos and listen to others’ stories.  

We stay to ourselves or we join in, we contribute and observe. We can celebrate 4 different styles of New Year’s celebrations in one year, and holidays that are different than our own.

Within all respectful parameters, we do what we want to do, when we want to do it.

We are not owned, and we love that.

Who gets to live like this? We do!

Medical Tourism turned out to be our best bet

Because of our traveling lifestyle, we have taken ill while on the road. We have received annual exams when necessary, check ups, dental repairs, tooth implants, new eyeglasses and colonoscopies all while overseas. We have experienced several emergencies and have received excellent care. Recently, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast cancer, received a mastectomy, radiation and follow up treatment while in several different countries.

We chose not to return to the States for this care, even through we have a Medicare Advantage plan, but rather took the opportunity for what was offered while living our vagabond life.

For us, this has worked out very well.

Akaisha with the radiation machine

Our free-wheeling, traveling, organic style to “Life After Work” still only appeals to a very small percentage of retirees.

When we first retired, we made the erroneous assumption that “everyone” wanted to travel, given the chance.

We were dead wrong.

We found out that most people desire a traditional life with much of it being scripted out. There is security in that and a sense of belonging.

“Traveling” to many is taking a 2-week vacation to the beach, or enjoying a tour of England’s castles or of Rome’s ruins. Exhausted yet grateful, they return to their predictable lives and share their souvenirs and photos with friends and family.

Which is all very well.

However, It's just not us.

We enjoy the 3-dimensional National Geographic lifestyle we have created for ourselves, being able to stay months in a foreign country wandering the alleyways where warriors or knights fought battle. We meander the cities and gaze upon their monuments, appreciating the architecture of centuries past. We get local, learning about the vendors nearby and purchase regional specialties.

We appreciate the different foods that have accompanied the various diasporas of humans over history, thereby changing the cuisines of their destinations forever.

Taking notes, we share our stories on our Website, RetireEarlyLifestyle.com and then we are off to the next location. 

Through these experiences we have personally changed and have been enriched. We love this! 

Akaisha and Billy in front of the Caribbean Sea, Yucatan, Mexico

People are devoted to their schedules. We yearn for an open calendar

Everyone is different.

We have friends who play tennis on Tuesdays and Thursdays, go grocery shopping on Wednesdays, Church on Sundays and the husband plays golf on Mondays and Thursdays.

There are neighborhood potlucks once a month, country club luncheons every other Saturday and the grandkids come and visit for the summer and holidays.

They love it, love it, love it, and we are exhausted at the thought of it!

We prefer a calendar that says:

Spring: I visit my sisters.

May and June: Japan

Tuesdays – Newsletter goes out, and sometimes even that's a challenge!

Sure, we go to lunch with each other (those delicious 2-hour lunches) or with friends and meet for coffee – and all of this happens spontaneously. Billy goes to the beach about every 6 weeks, weather and his “schedule” permitting.

We like wide, loose, uncluttered days and weeks ahead of us.

You know, it’s “the freedom thing.”

Our RetireEarlyLifestyle ballcap on the beach

We loved our careers and titles, but all of that is overrated

Our lives are so much richer now.

They are ample, exuberant, productive, and satisfying.

We have volunteered building tennis courts in Chapala, instructing and demonstrating Thai massage to locals, and teaching English as a second language. Through our website, we have helped many people get a handle on their finances, thereby changing their futures permanently. Learning Spanish and functional Thai has opened our world in countless ways. Focusing on our hobbies for personal enrichment has brought contentment and fulfillment. 

Our journey through Financial Independence has been so much more than we expected. We allowed serendipity to play a large part in our lives, and it's worked out spectacularly. 

Everyone has their own style of moving through Life. What's yours?

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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