Hi, after a few years following this board I finally went ahead with:
- My first post .
- Informing my boss that I will be leaving within the year . As I am only 45 I left the "ER" part out .
I have been living in SE Asia for 20+ years, single and planning to stay this way, no dependents, no house, no pet, no debt and no pension .
Actually I give myself 1-2 years of travelling around before deciding if ER is really for me, within this timeframe I expect that I can come back to the job market if I decide to.
This is probably due to the local cost of living factor, but I put my financial goal much lower than most posters here: I targeted & reached a nest of 1.1M USD only, around 35% stocks, 35% income products , 15% property and 15% cash.
Compared to most posts I read here, this is quite low for ER at 45, however I plan for a monthly budget of 2.7 K USD/months only.
It may seems low from an US point of view but is adequate in SE Asia (it is my current expense level even through I leave in an expensive area of Thailand).
I plan on a 3% withdrawing rate, I accept to eat the capital over time to reach zero at the end of the road. I do not mind if I exhaust my nest in old age, as I am not that interested in old age anyway (plus I can expect to get a couple 100 K from my family by this stage).
Health insurance should be OK as I participate in one of the "socialist" health insurance program from the old Europe!
The way I see it the main risk over the next 30 years is the increase in living standard of SE Asia that would relegate my budget from "comfortable" to "struggling", so I do not expect to stay in Thailand over the long term but plan to move to one of the less developed neighbors (except of course if I decide to work again).
Two points:
- When reading this board I often feel very inadequate compared other posters that frequently hesitate to ER at 55 because they have "only" 3M in the bank, makes me feel insecure! Is it lifestyle and environment differences, or am I missing something ?
- I would be interested in members opinion on the currency allocation. As of today I am 45% Euro, 45% Thai Baht (good performance of the THB since the meltdown of 1997), and 10% GBP, no USD as I do not feel confident in USD for the future. Actually I am not that confident in the Euro either, but I do not really know in which currency to place my savings as my future expenses will be in Thai baht (thailand) or linked to USD (cambodia / burma / philipines) - but I would hate seeing my saving going down due to an US default!
I am interested to hear the thoughts of the members of the boards, especially if you have experiences in such currency dilemmas.
Thanks.
- My first post .
- Informing my boss that I will be leaving within the year . As I am only 45 I left the "ER" part out .
I have been living in SE Asia for 20+ years, single and planning to stay this way, no dependents, no house, no pet, no debt and no pension .
Actually I give myself 1-2 years of travelling around before deciding if ER is really for me, within this timeframe I expect that I can come back to the job market if I decide to.
This is probably due to the local cost of living factor, but I put my financial goal much lower than most posters here: I targeted & reached a nest of 1.1M USD only, around 35% stocks, 35% income products , 15% property and 15% cash.
Compared to most posts I read here, this is quite low for ER at 45, however I plan for a monthly budget of 2.7 K USD/months only.
It may seems low from an US point of view but is adequate in SE Asia (it is my current expense level even through I leave in an expensive area of Thailand).
I plan on a 3% withdrawing rate, I accept to eat the capital over time to reach zero at the end of the road. I do not mind if I exhaust my nest in old age, as I am not that interested in old age anyway (plus I can expect to get a couple 100 K from my family by this stage).
Health insurance should be OK as I participate in one of the "socialist" health insurance program from the old Europe!
The way I see it the main risk over the next 30 years is the increase in living standard of SE Asia that would relegate my budget from "comfortable" to "struggling", so I do not expect to stay in Thailand over the long term but plan to move to one of the less developed neighbors (except of course if I decide to work again).
Two points:
- When reading this board I often feel very inadequate compared other posters that frequently hesitate to ER at 55 because they have "only" 3M in the bank, makes me feel insecure! Is it lifestyle and environment differences, or am I missing something ?
- I would be interested in members opinion on the currency allocation. As of today I am 45% Euro, 45% Thai Baht (good performance of the THB since the meltdown of 1997), and 10% GBP, no USD as I do not feel confident in USD for the future. Actually I am not that confident in the Euro either, but I do not really know in which currency to place my savings as my future expenses will be in Thai baht (thailand) or linked to USD (cambodia / burma / philipines) - but I would hate seeing my saving going down due to an US default!
I am interested to hear the thoughts of the members of the boards, especially if you have experiences in such currency dilemmas.
Thanks.