If you are young, lazy and desperate to retire young, you are pretty much consigned to a life of hard financial sacrifice, number obsessing, soulless work drudgery, and mandatory mutton-chomping. Unless . . . .you flee the country.
Fleeing the country for your retirement has many advantages:
- Taxes- A U.S. Citizen living abroad does not have to pay taxes on his first $84,000, assuming he meets the other criteria. If you plan on making more, you could voluntary give up your citizenship if you want to avoid double taxation.
- Nicer Weather- Sunny, beautiful and lovely, sure beats cloudy, polluted, and depressing. Studies show that the levels of sunshine can have a positive effect on your level of happiness.
- Cheaper Standard of Living- Depending on where and how you live you could live a lot cheaper. Housing, food, and other staples can be had for a lot cheaper.
- Retire Earlier- With all of the money saved from taxes and cheaper housing and food, there is no reason you can't retire earlier. If you could comfortably retire on $40K a year you could easily retire once you'd saved $750K. You could write Fidelity to tell them to go bleep themselves for telling you you need $5 Million.
- Comparable Services- Depending on where you retire you might be able to get comparable schools, hospitals, etc. Or you could use your extra money to pay for private services.
I'm not saying you definitely should flee the country, but given the advantages, I'm surprised more personal finance bloggers don't consider the option.
2 comments:
I knew a man many years ago who retired early and invested all his money in silver and pesos just before the bottom dropped out of both markets. He then had two choices: go back to work, or find somewhere really cheap to live. He ended up in a beachfront home in Costa Rica.
I do not think that leaving the country is a good idea.
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