Algarve - a retired couple could live comfortably on as little as $1,400 a month

[HeadedWest2029]

Anyone else read articles like this and think why am I going to work every day like a sucker when I have enough passive income to retire abroad right now?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-great-places-in-the-world-to-retire-if-youre-not-rich-2016-08-10

[redbird]

I have a $2k/month budget, but I really only need $1600-1700/month. This is with renting and absolutely 0 debt. I could easily cut that down if I owned a house and had a paid off mortgage. This is living in a suburb of Atlanta, GA, so it's no HCOL, but it's not the cheapest possible spot either.

It's definitely easy to be retired on a small budget. It just depends on your lifestyle and your expenditures. I'm not saying you have to live like a poor person either. You can travel and have nice things easy if you're smart about your money and actually track it. It's very easy to not notice a $5 expense here or a $10 expense there. It seems so small. But if you don't track those things and cut out things that aren't important to you, then they can easily add up to being a LOT each month.

[Dicey]

Anyone else read articles like this and think why am I going to work every day like a sucker when I have enough passive income to retire abroad right now?

Yup, a million times. My answer was always family, friends and connection in my community. If you don't care about any of those things, definitely pull the cord. Otherwise, at least you know why you're slogging away on the workaday treadmill. It took me longer to get to FIRE, but at least I can easily afford to live comfortably in my high COLA for the rest of my days. In the end, totally worth it, but it was a struggle getting there.

[Eric]

Anyone else read articles like this and think why am I going to work every day like a sucker when I have enough passive income to retire abroad right now?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-great-places-in-the-world-to-retire-if-youre-not-rich-2016-08-10

Not bad, although light on actual content.  I guess I have to go directly to the Live and Invest Abroad site for that though, huh?

If you liked that, try perusing some of these articles:

http://frugalvagabond.com/retire-abroad/

Personally, I'm looking forward to living in just about all of those places, but I also want to live in places like Amsterdam and Rome, so I'm padding the budget to allow for that.  And of course if there's a big market crash, I can always just stick to the cheap locales for a while.  The ultimate flexibility!  Now I just have to keep working for another 3-ish years.  Like a sucker, of course.  :)

[jim555]

With a paid off home, car, and covered medical it is easy to live on $1,400 a month in the US.

[former player]

Anyone else read articles like this and think why am I going to work every day like a sucker when I have enough passive income to retire abroad right now?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-great-places-in-the-world-to-retire-if-youre-not-rich-2016-08-10

I think you either need to ensure that you are thoroughly integrated into your new community so that you will get support from it, or have enough money to come back to family, friends and familiarity when the infirmities of old age strike, as they inevitably will.

[Altons Bobs]

I know a few couples living with less than that, in the US. 

There's this couple who are parents of someone I know, they don't have any savings, and they rely on the government to pay for everything for them.  Now their kids see how much they can get from the government, they have decided that they don't want to save at all and use all their money now because the government will just give them free money like their parents.  So there's that, you need $0 to retire with their situation, in the US.

[Eric]

I know a few couples living with less than that, in the US. 

There's this couple who are parents of someone I know, they don't have any savings, and they rely on the government to pay for everything for them.  Now their kids see how much they can get from the government, they have decided that they don't want to save at all and use all their money now because the government will just give them free money like their parents.  So there's that, you need $0 to retire with their situation, in the US.

How is this political nonsense at all relevant?  It's not.  Take it somewhere else, Rush.

[Roland of Gilead]

So if you are in Uzbeckibeckistanstan or one of these cheap retirement places and get the cancer, how much of the $1400 a month is going to be left for international flights back to the USA for treatment?

[Eric]

So if you are in Uzbeckibeckistanstan or one of these cheap retirement places and get the cancer, how much of the $1400 a month is going to be left for international flights back to the USA for treatment?

I would guess that most people would not choose to have their treatment in the most expensive place (by far) in the world.

But yes, your budget should include things like medical care and travel.  Why wouldn't it?

[Roland of Gilead]

So if you are in Uzbeckibeckistanstan or one of these cheap retirement places and get the cancer, how much of the $1400 a month is going to be left for international flights back to the USA for treatment?

I would guess that most people would not choose to have their treatment in the most expensive place (by far) in the world.

But yes, your budget should include things like medical care and travel.  Why wouldn't it?

I think most people would definitely want treatment in the USA for many cancers...the top clinics in the world and ACA means you can afford the bill.