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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.

Get More - Spend Less in Retirement

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Akaisha and Billy in front of a World Map

Akaisha and Billy in front of a World Map

Are you feeling financially pinched with retirement just around the corner?

The Federal Reserve's 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (released in 2020) found that the median value of Americans' retirement accounts was only $65,000; the average, or mean, account was just over $255,000. And only 50% of families had retirement accounts at all.

I am sure you are doing better than this, but $255,000 is not that much to fund a retirement.

What to do?

Obviously you need to invest as much as you can into low cost ETF’s such as VTI  (Vanguard Total Stock Market) and SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF), and the earlier the better.

But what if you are nearing burnout and looking forward to “telling the man I quit” but you are light on funds? There is a solution where you can get more and spend less in retirement.

 

 

 

 

Look outside the US.

Let’s face it, the US is expensive.

From dining out, to home maintenance, to health care, the costs can quickly burn through your nest egg.

Why not try some Geo-Arbitrage?

Your money will go farther in places with a lower cost of living. More and more people are looking at alternative locations for retirement. Many have already settled in Chapala, Mexico and Chiang Mai, Thailand, where medical expenses are a fraction of the US prices and the quality of care much better.

We learned of this hack years ago and our portfolio has gained markedly as our expenses were dramatically cut leaving our investments to grow. By living in low-cost foreign locations taking advantage of the strength of the US dollar, our annual spending is much lower and the quality of life much better than had we remained in the US.

Our first move was to Chapala, Mexico, an expat favorite. While there we integrated into the local Mexican community gaining our Spanish language skills until we felt confident we could easily travel throughout Spanish speaking countries.

Painted mural of Paradise

Painted mural of Paradise

Guatemala, another Gringo retirement magnet, lead us to Panajachel, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Atitlan. Once again enjoying the low cost of living as compared to the US we were able to leave our investments in tact, getting more value and spending less.

Watching airline fares we were able to fly to Thailand many times and enjoy the ancient city of Chiang Mai. That’s a long way from the US, so in order to amortize our flight expenses we stayed as long as one year. Once again we took advantage of the Dollar/Baht exchange and the high quality medical care that Thailand offers.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we learned that Vietnam is an even better value, so we traveled there a couple of times utilizing their quality textiles and trained tailors to have clothes made.

Buy more, spend less.

 

 

 

 

More and more people from the US and Canada are discovering the advantages of living in low cost places where the weather is better and quality of life is high.

Perhaps you, too, need to take a look at these locations even if it is just being a “snowbird”.

Check out our Relocation Page to find Expat Forums and chat groups where you can find out answers to your questions and meet other Expats in countries like Panama or Ecuador. If you add house sitting to the mix, you can reduce your housing costs considerably.

Another question we receive often from our Readers is what to do with their mail on long-term travel. Easy peasy!

Open up to your options - You might make it a permanent move.

What's Your Number? - How much money do you need to retire?

For more on Retirement Topics, click here and here

 

 

About the Authors

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.

 

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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