Buying a carpet cleaning company.

It might be sarcasm, but that really isn't that bad of an idea. You still have your pension so moving to the tropics or even Mexico isn't a bad idea, you could live pretty well on that. I have a buddy who did that years ago and owns a small hotel and charter fishing boat near Encinata that caters to the American tourist crowd.

I might be right there with you depending on how this year (actually this spring) pans out. I could sell off the house and everything, take the cash and disappear without a trace. It might not be enough to cover 25 years, but I might not live that long anyway.

I was looking into some of those "retire on $1000\mo" places. 
Become an expatriot, duel citizen.
Some sound OK, but my wife would be a "no go".

The wife would make it difficult unless she was on-board. I have nobody else to worry about so I could live in a van down by the river. In a location without winters, I believe I could tolerate just about any living style.

The only concerns I would have is that the rules can change over-night on you. I remember Jimmy Buffett buying a hotel in some foreign country where the government decided one day to just take it over. Just like that, no compensation either, just took it and declared that no foreigner could own property. I don't think I would be able to let that go.

I was thinking more like southeast asia. You can live pretty comfortable on 1000-1500 a month.

My mother owns a home and land in Guatemala so that's always an option but I really like the beaches of Thailand and its safer too.

Did you ever travel to Thailand when you were In the service Bob? Hey by the way don't you have military pension?

I did Mo, still remember having people trying to sell me their children in Bangkok. It wouldn't work for me, but I sure could enjoy the Phiippines. There is nothing wrong with such a relocation. I still remember talking with a road engineer in upper Norway that was retiring. He said that he was thinking about relocating to the US around Chicago where his daughter lived, but was afraid that he would not be able to live on his "very modest pension" of $74,000 per year. It made me chuckle.

There are parts of this world that have awesome scenary, good food, and a lot less stress where one can live quite well on $1500 per month. Sometimes it is better to be the big fish in a small pond than to be the small fish in the ocean. If I had a pension, I would likely do it, or at least try it for a year. Sadly, I do not and will be working until they put me in the grave. Well, unless I win the lottery, then I am building an authentic pirate ship and living at sea.

I have this image in the back of my head "I see: Tonga or Samoa" as a retirement destination.
My wife's cousin is Tongan.
Alan took a trip back to Tonga last year. It funny how they do their power and other utilities.
Kinda pre-pay way of doing it. Go down to the corner market(there one every half mile), pay x amount of $ for power, x amount for phone.... Run out, go down to the store. Weird.

With each country that I have spent time living in, I always came to the same conclusions....bad place to live as a young man, but pretty nice for an old man.

I still feel that way. As a young man, you want to go out and make your fortune fully independent. Once you get to your backside of life, your values start to shift to being secure and comfortable. Like in the movie "The Searchers", Old Mose Harper just wanted a rocking chair to sit by the fire in his old age. It can be far easier to do that in a different land if you have a few bucks.

When I went to Indonesia, I spent about $ 2300 for a whole month which includes eating out a LOT, bought LOTS of food for my wife, and some arts and crafts, gasoline, uber, etc.
I bet I can live comfortably and have a maid ( around $ 150 / month ) down there.
My wife is completely up for that, I'm not sure I can deal with the traffic and humidity and the damn mosquitos

It's funny how the mosquitos only nite the tourists.

I could probably live in a foreign country but in would always have to come back home for a few months too much family in the states. I will be an economic refugee.

Lots of "economic refugees" all over the world...what's a few more going to hurt? Maybe we can pull our resources together, move to Jamaica, and open up a charter fishing business / bar?

We could call the bar the "The Cleaners Lounge"?

But that would mean we still have to work

Mo wrote:But that would mean we still have to work

Nobody works in Jamaica, we just collect the money and let the tourists do the work

milspec6 wrote:Lots of "economic refugees" all over the world...what's a few more going to hurt?  Maybe we can pull our resources together, move to Jamaica, and open up a charter fishing business / bar?

I'll take care of the fishing charter:)

milspec6 wrote:With each country that I have spent time living in, I always came to the same conclusions....bad place to live as a young man, but pretty nice for an old man.

I still feel that way.  As a young man, you want to go out and make your fortune fully independent.  Once you get to your backside of life, your values start to shift to being secure and comfortable.  Like in the movie "The Searchers", Old Mose Harper just wanted a rocking chair to sit by the fire in his old age.  It can be far easier to do that in a different land if you have a few buck

Never heard of that one.
Thought I knew all john Wayne movies

"The Searchers" was called by Spielberg as the best movie ever made. Not just best western, but best movie. It is a great western with the only exception being the way they cast and directed Natalie Wood. It was just the way Hollywood functioned at the time letting her appear like a model instead of terrified captive.

Still, some of John Wayne's best work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii_7QnXPQxA

When my military and a smaller pension of almost $3K show up in a bit less than 18 months I could semi-retire too. For cost of living I could relocate from Alaska to the Philippines, which is where my wife is from, but my kids and grandson are in Alaska so I will probably stay here but will be researching snowbirding for a month or two in Arizona.

I think we all have similar ideas of becoming expatrioted Americans. A friend of mine just returned from a medical trip to Ecudor and told me that there were a lot of ex-patriots down there. Maybe we are just all getting burned out by the rat race? That $3k would be enough to get by in Nebraska....weather sucks though.