Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We have around $550K. We will be inheriting about another $500-$750K within the next 20 years. We are in our late 40's and would love to relocate now to Central America where we can rent cheaply and have lower cost health care. Neither of us will have pensions and our social security will probably be minimal. Since local help is plentiful and cheap, I imagine we would have in-home help should one of us get to the point of needing it rather than rely on a nursing home situation.
What kind of monthly draw should I budget taking from the $550k for now? Any ideas on where should it be invested? We can live comfortably on as little as $600 month, or we can live very, very well on as little as $2K a month.
Can we afford to do this? Or are we being unrealistic? Thanks in advance...
We have around $550K. We will be inheriting about another $500-$750K within the next 20 years. We are in our late 40's and would love to relocate now to Central America where we can rent cheaply and have lower cost health care. Neither of us will have pensions and our social security will probably be minimal. Since local help is plentiful and cheap, I imagine we would have in-home help should one of us get to the point of needing it rather than rely on a nursing home situation.
What kind of monthly draw should I budget taking from the $550k for now? Any ideas on where should it be invested? We can live comfortably on as little as $600 month, or we can live very, very well on as little as $2K a month.
Can we afford to do this? Or are we being unrealistic? Thanks in advance...
I think your biggest issue is that you are seeking to early retirement. The longer you wait the greater your pool of money will be and the shorter the time period you will need it for. Build up the portfolio, SS and evaluate again in five years.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,829 posts, read 58,408,191 times
Reputation: 46349
I'd go for it (first make a sustainable plan). If you are truly acceptable with living on a shoestring for the rest of your life, you will find ways to make it. I always expected to retire (from the daily grind) at age 35. Due to single income, buying a farm, homeschooling, providing elder care for my parents... that continually got delayed until age 49. 35 would have been a much better choice BUT, keep alert and active in seeking ways to earn some dough. I recently found a real estate income property that was netting $42,000 annually on a $350k investment.
I think your biggest issue is that you are seeking to early retirement. The longer you wait the greater your pool of money will be and the shorter the time period you will need it for. Build up the portfolio, SS and evaluate again in five years.
Right now we are living in a house that is paid for (part of the $550K in assets) and have $135k in cash. The house will not be rising in value anytime soon and in fact may drop in value. I am not working and our AGI is currently only $40k (our health insurance runs close to $11k per year). Property taxes and homeowner's insurance run $8k per year. We have about $55K in our 401ks.
There's not anything leftover to build a portfolio up with and Im afraid if we continue to live in this country we will draw down what cash we have for health insurance and out of pocket medical expenses (we have already stopped getting some basic preventive stuff due to high deductibles). Our cars, etc. are paid for, but at some point we would need to replace one. As it is, we rarely eat out or spend money in general because we're just getting by.
In Costa Rica, as an example, someone with a guest visa can buy into their universal health coverage for $150/month. If we became dual citizens (not that difficult to do), we would be entitled to free care. We wouldn't need more than one car and property taxes are almost non-existent (assuming we were to buy - which would run between $100K & $200K for a place that's comparable to what we have now. There are no insurance expenses. Taxes on earned income there dont begin unless you earn over $35K. It is possible to find work (my husband is bilingual and a math teacher), but I dont want to count on that, but that is an advantage to being young.
The negatives are that we are so young and could easily live another 40 years (tho without regular testing here, I imagine something will catch up to us sooner rather than later). I think Im leaning toward doing it...
I'd go for it (first make a sustainable plan). If you are truly acceptable with living on a shoestring for the rest of your life, you will find ways to make it. I always expected to retire (from the daily grind) at age 35. Due to single income, buying a farm, homeschooling, providing elder care for my parents... that continually got delayed until age 49. 35 would have been a much better choice BUT, keep alert and active in seeking ways to earn some dough. I recently found a real estate income property that was netting $42,000 annually on a $350k investment.
That would be another option. We could rent this place out for between $2500 & $2800 per month and live on that. It's tough to be a landlord from a distance though and our taxes and insurance would increase to around $12K per year taking a major bite out of that.
We are already living on a literal shoestring, so no adjustments necessary there, though some luxuries, like having a maid who would cook local food which is also very inexpensive, are very affordable in most parts of CA.
The longer you wait the greater your pool of money will be and the shorter the time period you will need it for.
This is certainly true. Personally, the idea expressed in the second part of your statement was more important than the first when my wife and I planned our retirement at 55.
It's a balancing act. No one wants to outlive their income, but on the other hand, the longer you work, the less time you have in retirement.
But I think the answer to the OP's question lies in that very question, and the use of the word "dreaming." How often in our lives do we have the opportunity to truly follows our dreams?
Like anything, it takes a lot of planning. I have no doubt you can live on that kind of money. My friends mom lives on less than that, but she lives with friends while in the States and works/studies with a spiritual leader in India most of the year. She is happy though.
What's the worst that would happen if you failed? Would you even fail? I mean, unless you are completely undisciplined, I would imagine you would adjust to your new income and it would be sustainable. You wouldn't fail as much as have to change your lifestyle. Even if you did fail, you'd just be right back doing what your doing now. Not exactly a tragedy.
The biggest risk is if you have never lived in Central America in my opinion. It is actaully little good to vacation in an area and judge what living there is like IMO.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
