[P1]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Best idea ever !
BTW....And I would visit you once .

Of course. Bring me a bottle of Wortegemsen.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by P1et

Of course. Bring me a bottle of Wortegemsen.

No !
A barrel , and only for us .

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by CANGRKE70

Don't feel sorry for them. 5.4 Billion left Greece last week. For a country that doesn't have a word for income tax they should feel the pressure of supporting corruption and mismanagement of funds. All kids have cell phones and internet, motorcycles and cars. They don't know what it's truly like to be poor.

That being said I don't agree with the Troika's (Germany's) stance as they are just getting richer by the day. When Germany pays us the 300 Billion Euro's it owes Greece for forced loans by Hitler, then Greece will pay back the Troika. Also the funding we're getting doesn't go to the Greek people, its basically going back to German and French banks to repay the interest on the loans. Rob Peter to pay Paul kinda deal.

Greece shouldn't have joined the Eurozone in the first place. They were not a strong enough economy to begin with. The Olympics in 2004 just compounded the disastrous debt. Greece's soft stance on immigration also has added to the issue. Just visit the shantytown of Omonia in Athens and you'll see what I'm talking about. You can't afford to pay your own people but you'll let in Albanian, Bulgarian, Indian, Pakistani and others to work for peanuts in a large construction black market?

I rather they blow up the current system, suffer through hardship for 10 years and come out better for it.

Sorry for the rant. Touches close to home.

Wow ! ....Oughh !
Yes you can know it and a lot better than me , you are Greek and with your family over there .
But your comment about the Greece crisis/situation sounds not good...really not good .
But same thing here ...Immigration , no jobs , and when finding a job it's the work activity from 5 people , low salary or frozen salary !
And at the same time everything gets always more expensive and salary's are the same as from the last 7 years !
When I think about it...I ask myself when will it end ...
Thanks for your explanation .

[dj_dub]

My father is US Air Force Retired. After he completed his 20, he and my mother retired in the Philippines and of course brought my sister and I along for the ride. I know the main reason is money and ease/quality of life. He gets pension in US dollars for the rest of his life...that = times 40+ of the local currency. Money gets stretched waaaaay more over there especially when you have a constant flow of dollars coming in. He started a business there, makes good money in the Philippines while having maids, riding jetskis and sh*t all day. haha They are living the life, it's a no brainer for them. They've been there since '93 and have no plans to come back here.

[roastbeef]

i would speculate that people who didn't plan ahead would go somewhere with a very low cost of living.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by dj_dub

My father is US Air Force Retired. After he completed his 20, he and my mother retired in the Philippines and of course brought my sister and I along for the ride. I know the main reason is money and ease/quality of life. He gets pension in US dollars for the rest of his life...that = times 40+ of the local currency. Money gets stretched waaaaay more over there especially when you have a constant flow of dollars coming in. He started a business there, makes good money in the Philippines while having maids, riding jetskis and sh*t all day. haha They are living the life, it's a no brainer for them. They've been there since '93 and have no plans to come back here.

Wow that sounds like a dream scenario. Can i ask what they do for healthcare?

[MightyMouseTech]

Well, hopefully the wife and I will be able to move to the south of France soon.

As long as Greece does not bring all of the EU down.

[GlobalScientist]

I know folks that have retirement places in

Vina del Mar - Chile
Colombia - Bogota
France - Nice
Greece - Crete
Philippines - they have a popular place. I think it's called Maui/Maui (akin to Hawaii) but not sure.

Personally, my wife wants to retire in Nice. I wouldn't mind the Philippines, given the great cheap excellent seafood; however, the typhoons can be a factor. I have yet to explore Australia, though I'm hoping to take a trip there soon.

General consensus is that it's cheaper, there are more things to do as opposed to where they used to live in the US and they like a change in the scenary, as opposed to the US. There is some paperwork when purchasing a home in a foreign country as a US citizen. Typically the Embassies can give you insight on who to talk to in order to do that, but I'm sure the local realtors know the legalism as well.

[K.M. Tim]

I'm an American that is married to a Belgian. We live and work in NL. I've been overseas 15 yrs on this run. I own a home in Spain. I plan to retire in 14 yrs in Spain but a different area. OK, taxes are crazy and the cost of living in the Northern EU countries. The violence in the US made we want to stay in EU. My sons are dual citizens and speak at least 3 languages. I have no regrets about the decisions I've made with my family and serve my country proudly but I just don't want to live within our borders. Traveling has always been a passion and by not limiting yourself opens so many doors. You can drive the ///M on some of the fastests roads on the planet. You can do a photoshoot in Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna and many other countries in a day or two. I work for a living and wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth so, we decided southern EU will stretch my $$$ a lot farther than being up north. I always tell people; its about people and the ones I like to be around, not the place. I can sleep anywhere. Life's too short. Live without regrets do what makes you happy as long is at the price of others.

[dj_dub]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i would speculate that people who didn't plan ahead would go somewhere with a very low cost of living.

That would be a fair assumption, but not true for all people...ie: my parents. They planned ahead and still have income properties here in the US. Being in the military, his retirement is pretty good for the rest of his life. But aside from having your money stretched out further, I feel they are more comfortable to finish out their lives in the Philippines as they're originally from there. The comfort factor and ease/quality of life played a big role IMO.

Originally Posted by 1love

Wow that sounds like a dream scenario. Can i ask what they do for healthcare?

Yeah it is...except for the fact my sister and I live here in the US with no plans to live there, so it sucks to only see your parents around once a year.

The US military pays for my parents healthcare under the VA for the rest of their lives. Anything minor, they go to local hospitals...anything major or yearly checkups are done here in the US when they come to visit.

[mike5809]

I most certainly will retire in another country. I currently have dual citizenship between the US and England - which provides me with lots of options for moving (EU countries, Canada, New Zealand, etc). I was also born in Holland so I am sure if I wanted to could get citizenship there if needed.

My wife is a teacher and 5 years older than me. Our plan is for her to retire and receive her full pension when she is 58. Which means I get to retire when I am 53 I guess it paid off to marry older.

We have talked about residing in England as that is where my family is from but we haven't made any final decisions. It will all come down to what happens over the next few years and who will offer the best benefits and healthcare.

By the way this is my first off-topic post! I have been on the forums for a few years now and never ventured into the off-topic section. This could be bad for productivity.

[UncleWede]

Welcome to the world of wasted time, Mike!

[MMMCOOKIES55]

Originally Posted by Nkc

Nef can you give us more info and calculation as to how it's remotely possible to retire with $150k? I'm genuinely curious.

No kidding, Our financial advisor says to keep our current lifestyle the way it is when we retire, we need a little north of 6 million... just saying lol

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by MMMCOOKIES335...

No kidding, Our financial advisor says to keep our current lifestyle the way it is when we retire, we need a little north of 6 million... just saying lol

Not picking but $6MM seems to be an awful lot. Must be one hell of a lifestyle!

But in all seriousness, these numbers are like the threads asking about what we pay in insurance on our cars and the correct answer is it depends...

[CANGRKE70]

Originally Posted by MMMCOOKIES335...

No kidding, Our financial advisor says to keep our current lifestyle the way it is when we retire, we need a little north of 6 million... just saying lol

Just saying

[BMW F22]

I recently thought about this with Vietnam. The lifestyle is better, especially if you have a steady stream of cash coming in. Considering that the average salary there is $200, one can find a good job or have a nice business and live like a king with a monthly intake of $3,000-4,000.

[MMMCOOKIES55]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Not picking but $6MM seems to be an awful lot. Must be one hell of a lifestyle!

But in all seriousness, these numbers are like the threads asking about what we pay in insurance on our cars and the correct answer is it depends...

very true. And to be honest I thought that was a little excessive but when he layed it out for us (given were only 27 and 29 years of age) given the ROI from our life Ins. policy and the rate at which everything is going in this country, 6 million isn't THAT crazy. Of course that was saying we keep our current lifestyle when we retire which we obviously would not be (no mortgage, car payments etc...).

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by MMMCOOKIES335...

very true. And to be honest I thought that was a little excessive but when he layed it out for us (given were only 27 and 29 years of age) given the ROI from our life Ins. policy and the rate at which everything is going in this country, 6 million isn't THAT crazy. Of course that was saying we keep our current lifestyle when we retire which we obviously would not be (no mortgage, car payments etc...).

Ahh... did not realize how young you were! That far in the future, looking at average inflation etc, that is not unreasonable. I am in my 50's so was thinking shorter term...