Author Topic: Retired Early: it's not working out  (Read 3879 times)

Rani

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Retired Early: it's not working out
« on: September 19, 2018, 11:29:29 PM »
I stuck to the plan: paid off all my debt, saved enough to retire and live on the investment.

There is one small problem though. I saved enough to live on the cheap overseas.
I'm desperate for intellectual stimulation and a community of people who speak English.

My questions to you, the much wiser and less naive mustacians:

-Do I come back to the US and get a regular stressful job until I've saved enough to be independent in America?

-Do I take the risk to start a business since I'm not beholden to location or expenses?

-Any other ideas? Starting from 0 here... but at least I'm not in the negative :)



a-scho

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2018, 12:52:39 AM »
snark start........ Sounds like you stuck to the plan of painting yourself into a corner.......snark end. If you only need a few thousand more per year to live in America, I'd do some side hustles to earn it. If you need tens of thousands more, I'd go back to a full time job and save for a larger stache.

Retirement to me means I could live in 90% of the world's cities without needing a job. But, it appears your definition of retirement is the ability to live where people don't speak English.....okay snark really over.

Rani

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2018, 03:46:13 AM »
Thank you for the responses.

That's a good idea to get in touch with local expats. They will probably have some additional wisdom for me as well.

Cheers!

Freedomin5

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2018, 03:48:08 AM »
It sounds like you didn’t fully answer the question, “What are you FIRE-ing to?” before actually FIRE-ing. Or once FIRE-ing you realized what you thought you wanted was not actually what you wanted.

So the question is, you’ve currently attained lean FIRE with geographic arbitrage. What would full FIRE look like? How much more would you need to add to your stash to achieve full FIRE?

Other than intellectual stimulation and English speakers, do you like the other aspects of the country in which you live? Depending on the country, intellectual stimulation and English speakers are not hard to find. Just look for meet ups (www.meetup.com) — there are usually native speakers who want to learn English. Or as previously mentioned, hang out in the expat communities or attend expat events.

However, if you’re actually getting tired of your host country, then you need to think about adding to your stash so that you have more flexibility and options.

Rosy

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2018, 06:04:12 AM »
Intellectual stimulation - means you are not surrounded by the right people - to have an exchange with. Could you possibly move to a locale within this "cheap living" country that may have pockets of foreigners living abroad, expats and a stimulating presence of local English speakers as well?
Perhaps a short distance from a big city so you could enjoy both the cheaper rural life and the city life?
Until then the only outlet may be online forums of interest to you.

If that is not possible - then find a different country or return to the US to work and devise a plan to reach your new FI $ level asap. It's not the end of the world, only a misjudgment of what you require to be happy with your life.

I assume you are still young enough and healthy enough to rearrange your life a second time - now you have a much better idea of what you need and want in your life - go for it!:)

Although it is always nice to hear you mother tongue spoken, I hope you realize that just because someone speaks English doesn't mean that he/she is an interesting conversationalist or has anything of value/interest/stimulation to offer to you.

...and one more thing - you could always choose to be the change you seek and set up a lively expat community yourself - there are smart people everywhere that crave conversation, exchange, stimulation - including local people living in the "cheap living" country you chose.
... and what Fredoom5 said ...




Padonak

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2018, 06:22:52 AM »
Op, where exactly are you? Perhaps people here can recommend some places where you can find what you are looking for on the same budget if you tell us at least the name of the country and your maximum monthly budget.

justchecking

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2018, 11:17:23 AM »
It might be helpful if you gave us a location and some details about where you might be able to live.  I have lived abroad and for better or worse have found plenty of English speakers.  Are you in a city or just out in the rural areas?

Retire-Canada

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2018, 12:31:53 PM »
I've travelled to a number of places in the world and not had any issues finding English speaking folks to spend time with. Where are you?

Tourists are once source. The upside is you'll always be getting fresh people to hang out with. The downside is they'll all leave after a few days to a couple weeks. The another source are seasonal migration destinations where English speakers will come for weeks to months at a time.

Long-term expat communities can be found as well. This will provide the longest duration of relationships.

HipGnosis

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2018, 01:46:36 PM »
How long have you been there and how fluent are you in the primary local language?

I've heard that once you become fluidly fluent, you don't even notice what language is in use.

Slow2FIRE

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2018, 06:26:53 PM »
I stuck to the plan: paid off all my debt, saved enough to retire and live on the investment.

There is one small problem though. I saved enough to live on the cheap overseas.
I'm desperate for intellectual stimulation and a community of people who speak English.

My questions to you, the much wiser and less naive mustacians:

-Do I come back to the US and get a regular stressful job until I've saved enough to be independent in America?

-Do I take the risk to start a business since I'm not beholden to location or expenses?

-Any other ideas? Starting from 0 here... but at least I'm not in the negative :)

Belize is cheap.  English is the national language (though they do have two other major languages in frequent use there).  Plenty of English speaking people to engage with, beautiful rainforests, wonderful beaches and an amazing reef.

SnackDog

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2018, 06:46:26 PM »
Have you given it a chance, like 3-5 years? Can you get intellectual stimulation from reading or internet pursuits? How about writing a book?

Megma

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Re: Retired Early: it's not working out
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2018, 08:04:43 PM »
Have you given it a chance, like 3-5 years? Can you get intellectual stimulation from reading or internet pursuits? How about writing a book?

In my experience when moving to a new city it takes 3-5 years to find your group. I've moved 3x in the past 10 years to cities where I knew no one, I've of these was a foreign country and it was harder than the 2in the u.s. but exist groups helped.