Travel & Holidays Retiring Overseas

this.. drops sea countries down a few places

 

Couple of interesting cost of living vid's

 

Love the first video.

 

Melbourne couple reveal secret to travelling the world full-time as retirees

A couple from Melbourne have revealed how they were able to become full-time roving retirees, after giving up work early and setting off to fulfil their dream of seeing the world while they were “still fit and able to”.

The Lambs have been jet-setting around the globe for almost two years now, visiting exotic and far-flung places such as Spain, South America, Thailand, Laos and the United States of America, all for less than $100 per day.

Glenn Lamb, 57, and his wife Jacqueline, 52, finally took the plunge and quit their jobs in April 2017, offering their services as full-time house and pet sitters free of charge, enabling them to live like locals in a whole host of locations around the world on a modest annual budget of around $32,000 – one third of what they were spending at home in Australia.

 

The pensioners retiring overseas because they can't afford Australia

On a cobbled street in the south of Spain, Norah Ohrt lives like a typical Andalusian in a little white house with red flowers blooming from the windows.

It's a world away from what her life would be like if she was still living in Australia. The 71-year-old former gallery owner says that in Perth she'd be living in state housing, surviving "on the smell of an oily rag on the Australian pension".

With property prices and cost of living on the rise, the number of Australians retiring overseas has dramatically increased in the past 10 years, with swelling expat communities in Thailand, Spain and Cambodia.

In 2016, 11,660 Australians over 55 permanently relocated overseas, compared to just 7,910 in 2005, according to ABS data. The most popular retiree destinations for Australians include New Zealand, Italy, Greece and Spain.

'It wasn't that scary'

Five years ago, Norah shipped all her belongings and her two Abyssinian cats to Martos, a charming Spanish town. Of Martos' 24,000 residents, Norah is the only Australian listed on the council roll.

In Martos, Norah lives comfortably in a lofty three-bedroom, two-bathroom house with panoramic views of the old city.

White sand, cheap living

Freelance writer Rob Schneider, 70, was drawn to Cambodia 11 years ago by its inexpensive lifestyle and white-sand beaches. He hasn't returned to Australia since.

Retiring sooner

For Alan and Ros Cuthbertson, retiring abroad has shaved 15 years off their expected retirement date.

The former IT manager and disability worker have joined a buzzing expat community in Thailand, with more than 73,000 expats from around the world applying for retirement visas in 2017.

 

The reality of retiring overseas: Real retirees share their experiences

A recent report revealed that Thailand was the top overseas destinations for senior Australians looking to retire abroad, closely followed by other south-east Asian countries Malaysia, Vietnam, Bali and Cambodia. But how does living overseas in retirement really turn out for the Aussies who wave goodbye to their homeland?

The report by International Living Australia found that the cost of living, the friendliness of the locals and a better climate were all cited by expats as the reasons they’d swapped the land Down Under for another country in their retirement years, with the majority of respondents to the magazine’s survey citing a much lower cost of living as the main driving factor behind their move abroad. Many reported struggling to afford the cost of a mortgage in Australia or being unable to see they could retire comfortably given the level of everyday expenses.

 

Not only Australia though

These Arizona retirees ‘couldn’t afford’ America — now they live their dream life on $2,000 a month in Ecuador

At 72, Jacqueline Mackenzie has lived in nearly every state in the U.S. (her father was in the military and moved the family often), spent six years in Mexico and traveled all over the world.

But it’s in Vilcabamba — a town in southern Ecuador in the foothills of the Andes — where the retired teacher plans to spend the rest of her life.

“The climate is just unbelievable — never below 58 or above 86,” says Mackenzie, who moved to Ecuador with her husband Don in 2013. Jacqueline, who loves to garden, adds: ‘You can grow 365 days a year. It is a gardener’s paradise.”

“Our friends think we are crazy but they also envy us. An alternative lifestyle can be going overseas, but you can also go overseas and be alternative. We do both.”
Jacqueline Mackenzie

 

She’s 63 and living by the beach in Mexico on $1,000 a month: ‘I can’t imagine living in the U.S. again’

Once a food and restaurant writer in Santa Cruz, Calif., the now-63-year-old struggled to find work roughly a decade ago as journalism increasingly moved online. She lost one beloved job, got her hours cut at another, and ended up working odd jobs, including one in human resources at an amusement park.

With little savings and a low salary, the single mother of three struggled — even as she watched friends buy million-dollar homes and pricey cars. “I constantly felt like I wasn’t ‘enough’ and didn’t have ‘enough,’ ” she writes in her new book, “Why We Left,” which profiles 27 expats in Mexico.

 

To me personally it is not just about the place and cost of living.
Personally I place more emphasis to being close to those that I love, places I love to see and visit often, having close access to health care when I may need it.
So it is a combination of things but I would rather live on a beach in a tent with those that I love rather than be in a billionaire's house or best hotel on my own!

 

The UK has many many retirees living in Spain, who though the £ would always be good for them.. Spain now has many many UK nationals waiting in line in soup kitchens....
I can't say wether or not they had any contingency plans..

 

To me it's a weird thing really with a lot of angles.
Like Australia is ridiculous these days in many ways , expensive as hell, but what you get for it is even worse, over regulated in every possible way and then some , it's all about money money money to me yet quality of life and what you get is pretty poor imo. Even look at all our fancy supermarkets cost an arm and a leg, foods all wrapped up in plastic and fancy packets yet people go to the poorest countries in the world for the great food , the price of it , the freshness ,street markets and food, sea food straight our of the ocean that day, yaknow and the beautiful lifestyles. l can't even work out how we even an immigration problem either, how do people even restart in a country like this?

But ,if your established you can end up set up pretty good right. lifestyle , and what you get , l dunno , upto the individual l guess. Thing is , retiree's got in when the place was dirt cheap 30 40 50 yrs ago , their crap would be all payed off anyway. All they've gotta do is live. They probably haven't has a mortgage for 20yrs
Sure l can well understand those that for whatever reason aren't in that position , things happen in life and it can hit the fan in so many ways especially here it ain't funny.

But supposing you were all payed up and just retiring , this is your home family friends whole life , and your probably pretty comfortable anyway. You won't need much anyway just day to day stuff. So to me money wise it seems like a silly thing to do if just for that. A new lifestyle and something different or that you'd always dreamed of , yeah sure, but financially, l don't get , unless your nearly broke. But even that depends, if you didn't have much in the bank but you owned your house, you'll get the pension , not that much sure but if everything's paid off you don't need much anyway especially at the other end of life. Not like they're gonna be partying every night.

 

I guess these stories ignore a few realities...like what if your health takes a turn or you need special treatment, what about seeing your family/kids, etc etc. And its one thing to find a cheaper place to live, and another to be (sincerely) happy doing it.

Love reading these stories though!

 

You can get cheap health insurance when living overseas, about $500 per year or so. Hospitals in Thailand, for example, are way better than in Australia. If I get sick that is where I would rather be.

 

And see , there it is again , even hospitals are better in say Thailand than Australia , yet dirt cheap to live, and isn't a poor country ?
Yet everything's cheaper , best food, cheap dental , and l could just imagine how you could live and the property you could setup in for the money your spending here.
l heard they can have maids for the house and everything and still be 500miles ahead.

 

Hi Geoff.
Buttttt, those are also the things that make it so nice imo.
Can l ask , so are you back in oz now ? How do you feel about life here now?
l mean you mention 3mths , a holiday , how would you feel about living there forever rather than here ?

l always wonder how people feel once they get back and settle in again, and they seem to stay , known very few people that haven't come back and stayed . l mean l know of course there's family and life, but you know , apart from that stuff.
And then you hear a lot of people , well it use to be the typical actually, saying things like Australias the best country in the world and things like that. Don't hear it as much these days , that's gotta make you think alone.
l use to think but why , why is it the best country in the world ? It'd lost it's easy going'ness , lost it's no worries, so regulated it's insane, expensive is hell it's just all about money money, really makes me scratch my head.
Even heard Harvey Norman say it just a few weeks ago actually and l thought , he's rich, probably been all over the world, could live out his life anywhere in the world in luxury , yet he says that . Again l had to think well why , why does he think that .
Just even speaking of people along those lines , a lot of the actors say that stuff too. Yet Have hide aways in the most exotic places in the world or live in the US or something, not that l'd wanna live in the US no thanks, traveled the world , can have anything they want, yet they say Australias the best country in the world.
You know , l always wonder where all that comes from and why they think that, if they even do or if it's just to sound loyal for media.

ps , mind you , l suppose my questions here are for a whole nother thread , but anyway.