Early retirement for intelligent expats abroad
According to CNN Money and USA Today, along with the Department of Labor and the Census Bureau, the cost of living in the United States for a family of four is around $60,000 per year. Unfortunately, the salary for the average working adult in the United States is only $26,000 per year after tax, so two working adults only bring in $52,000 a year, which is $8,000 short of what they need to actually cover the cost of living.
By the time most people reach 30 years of age they have obtained around $300,000 of debts. $225,000 of which is the price of a house, with the normal price of a car around $30,000 as of 2011. Financial debts and school loans create the last portion of that $300,000, resulting in a never-ending cycle of debts where the normal individual will never see an early retirement because they will be spending the next 40 or 50 years of their life to pay off the government.
When doing a comparison of other countries around the world, it becomes readily evident just why it is that so many expats are starting to leave the United States for other nations. The cost of living in a country like Uruguay, for example, only costs around $20,000 per year for a family of four, yet the standards of living and creature comforts are exactly the same as the United States. Except that its $40,000 a year cheaper. Bulgaria is similar in costs, as is Greece, Italy, Mexico and beyond.
Not only that, but the cost of an average three-bedroom home in South America runs around $30,000. This is compared to the United States for the average cost of a home is around $225,000 for the same size. No one in their right mind would want to pay $200,000 more for something when they can get it for $200,000 less, which is why so many expats are choosing to live abroad and thus enable themselves to achieve an early retirement by cutting their costs.
The same truths apply in terms of finances no matter where you live in the world. The more a person earns, the more they save, but it’s entirely possible to put the cash away and save up for an early retirement rather than spend it on a cost of living, so long as people realize that the entire planet is their home, not merely one single dot on the map where they happen to have been born.
There are plenty of examples of travelers in places like Turkey, which just goes to show you that no matter where you travel, there are always other culturally aware people enjoying the same benefits like absolute freedom, international citizenship and beyond.
Tags: cost of living, Destinations, early retirement, expats, international living, international travel, living abroad, living in other countries, pension, traveling the world
July 31 2012 06:45 pm | Destinations