Living like a king on pennies

[BunsGettingFirm]

Really? I'm catching all sorts of hell from 30-something women for talking to 20-something women. I'm in school. I can't help it if my target audience younger than usual, and they don't see to mind at all, so is it really my fault?

Ah, after all the replies to this thread, my concern about getting ribbed by 30-something women for dating 20-something women seems like a lot of navel gazing. I think I'll need to follow the spirit of this thread and date away.

 

[d0ug]

This not a rehearsal of your life this is the real thing so go for it. You will never get a second chance of living your life

 

[yakers]

Ah, after all the replies to this thread, my concern about getting ribbed by 30-something women for dating 20-something women seems like a lot of navel gazing. I think I'll need to follow the spirit of this thread and date away.

Another thing you could do is check out the women who are 35+, even 40+ as well. There seems to be a number of couples on this board where the women is older and that can bring a lot of resources both personal & finacnial to the relationship. My wife is a bit older but looks like a trophy wife, hey does that make me a trophy husband?

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Another thing you could do is check out the women who are 35+, even 40+ as well. There seems to be a number of couples on this board where the women is older and that can bring a lot of resources both personal & finacnial to the relationship. My wife is a bit older but looks like a trophy wife, hey does that make me a trophy husband?

Yeah, I have thought about that too. I have a potential who's a CFA and head of research at a bank. She's still quite good looking.

 

[haha]

Yeah, I have thought about that too. I have a potential who's a CFA and head of research at a bank. She's still quite good looking.

If you plan to date older women you will have to excise the word "still" from your vocabulary.

Ha

 

[yakers]

Good advice from Ha. And if you don't even think it you're home free.

 

[chinaco]

Go for it D0ug. I am not critical of you for marrying a younger woman. You have found someone that needs (in life) what you can provide an vice versa. You can be sure that your wife knows what she is doing. She is likely balancing the practical matters of life and relationship.

I have to hand it to you... some single expats would just shack up and cut and run later.

On a side note: Not to criticize your personal decision and adventure (i.e., FI balancing act in retirement) in DR. I have been to DR on vacation. It is a dreadfully depressed third-world country (other side of Haiti). If I were to go international to fully leverage a fixed pension, I would consider Mexico, Argentina, or some other more developed Latin/South American country or the western part of Eastern Europe. Those countries are more developed (and refined) and have lower expenses!

 

[d0ug]

The country might be third world but I have everything I want and need. There is nothing that I had in Canada that I don’t have here. Probably here I am more self-reliant as I don’t expect the government to coddle me. If there was a disaster I have my own electricity, my own water and grow my own food. I have seen places after a disaster how helpless everyone is that relied on the infrastructure when it no longer exist. I live an the countryside where I know people for miles around if I was in a city I would probably not know the people living be side me. Most people that visit the DR come as tourist and never get to know the real country. They flock together with other ex-pats and recall all their horror stories of being taken advantage of, or the government corruption. Please don’t judge this country from a tourist point of view. I am not saying this is a perfect country for every body and some people need to be crowed in a big city to feel comfortable. There are many counties that fit the life stile that a person wants and probably the DR is not for everyone. I like it here that’s why I’m here.

There was a story about a man wanting to know all about a certain town. He asked around and finally someone told him to ask the barber he knows all about the town. The fellow asks the barber what is it like here? The barber answered what was it like where you came from? Well everyone was a cutthroat and just bad people. The barber said it is just the same here. Little while later another fellow ask the barber the same question. The barber asks what was it like where you came from? The fellow said everyone was very friendly and good. The barber said it is the same here.

It seem we find what we look for and some times what we fear. 

 

[haha]

I know a Dominican woman I her early thirties. I met her in a salsa club, continue to run into her in the same places and recently found discovered that she lives near where I am staying. (I ran into her in a local Starbuck’s.)

The striking thing about her beyond her physical loveliness is the way that she treats me like any man, not like an old man she is trying to humor.

Very pleasant change from the usual here in USA, and I can easily understand how Doug finds it irresistible.

Ha

 

[d0ug]

I had a gentleman visit me from the US [Georgia]. He stayed here 12 days to find out living conditions here and thinking of moving here. While he was here lots of girls came to visit hearing there was a man looking for a wife and planning to build a house. All the girls where under 23 years old they all wanted the same thing my wife has. There is no shortage of opportunity to live your dream here.

 

[Retire Soon]

dOug,

It sounds like you're having a blast in the Dominican Republic. Please don't be bothered by the criticism by some people on this board in regards to your 21 year old wife that you've been married to for four years. She is probably a very intelligent person as you are and did not want to marry an immature man her own age. Someone on this board eluded to the idea that she is too young to make such a long lasting decision at such an early age. Do we say the same thing about 21 year old Americans who come back from Iraq in body bags or without legs?

 

[mh]

dOug,

It sounds like you're having a blast in the Dominican Republic. Please don't be bothered by the criticism by some people on this board in regards to your 21 year old wife that you've been married to for four years. She is probably a very intelligent person as you are and did not want to marry an immature man her own age. Someone on this board eluded to the idea that she is too young to make such a long lasting decision at such an early age. Do we say the same thing about 21 year old Americans who come back from Iraq in body bags or without legs?

As a matter fact a lot of people do. Everyone thinks they know what's best... what else is new (shrug)

 

[d0ug]

Visiting other countries. Being exposed to their beliefs and values. The only way to understand the culture is to except their belief and values. If you apply the values or beliefs of your culture to another you will never understand. I know as a tourist it is difficult to make that changes.

 

[JOE_PANAMA]

well i live in panama for less than 750 i have a maid and i bouth my condo for 150 with a bay view

 

[d0ug]

Well is sound like you found your paradise too. Thank goodness there is more than one.

 

[JOE_PANAMA]

yes doug

[MODERATOR EDIT]

 

[d0ug]

If anyone wants infomation on living in the DR or if I can help please PM me.

 

[loosechickens]

dOug.....it sounds like you have indeed made a good life for yourself and your wife there in the DR. More power to you.

We've never been to DR, but we have lived in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica for varying periods of time, and never in the way that most ex-pats live.

In a small Pacific fishing village in Mexico where we lived for several years, there was a German man in his late 60s with a local wife in her mid twenties. They had two small children and were very happy together.

Good for you. It sounds like you know what is important to you and have made the transition to life in another country in a good way.

True wealth, after all, is what you'd be worth if you lost all your money.....and it sounds like you'd be just fine.

Enjoy life.....it sounds like your wife got herself a fine man.

LooseChickens

 

[d0ug]

Life is good

Still living like a king and now have a two-month-old baby girl. My first child. It doesn’t get any better than this.

 

[retiringby50]

Still living like a king and now have a two-month-old baby girl. My first child. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Wow, thanks for the update. Good for you! Earlier there were comments about us not understanding the age difference; I think it's because in the US, we think of it as the guy is going through a mid-life crisis, and the woman is a gold digger, but it does seem to be more acceptable in other countries and not viewed in the way I mentioned. We're Chinese; when my dad was in his mid-80's, he went back to China and married a 40 year old in hopes of having children with him (umm, okay, Dad). I was probably about 35 at the time, and all my friends thought he was crazy, but we also heard other stories that were very similar. In dad's case, it didn't work out. He wasn't very nice to her, and they divorced.

 

[Trek]

Congrats on the little one Doug! Sounds like a great life you have. Keep enjoying it!

 

[HobbyDave]

Conrats Doug, good to hear from you, and glad to hear that things are still working out well.

 

[Grizz]

I was in DR two yrs ago, and until then, I thought that we Canadians and Americans on average were the happiest in the world. After all, our financial wealth is almost unimaginable to most of them.

Once I got well out of the resort and met and watched some of the locals, I realized that they laugh and smile much more naturally and seem far less stressed than "we" do. The pace of everything is slower, and nothing seems to be based on a clock, but so what. I've never said at the end of a day at work, "boy it felt good to run my butt off and not have time for a friendly conversation with a passerby". The people of the DR taught me a valuable lesson about my culture and its shortcomings.

To the OP, best wishes to you and your family. You are fortunate in your situation and surroundings.

 

[Olav23]

Great thread!

I've always considered the ex-pat lifestyle, but was always nervous about living in a country where I can't speak the language fluently. In DR, I'd want to understand the lingo to not get myself into a dangerous situation, or the wrong side of town, etc. Thailand, somehow seems a bit less sketchy to me, but still, I'd feel out of place as a falang.

How do you guys get over the feeling of being an "occupier"? Showing off your US-wealth and not being able to communicate properly, I'd imagine, could get you killed.

 

[d0ug]

I still am not fluent in the language but enough to hold a conversation. Fitting in with a good family helps when I was married the chef of police came to welcome me to the community [not invited] but welcome. The whole community here looks out for me and warns when someone is not who they pretend to be. I do show that I have money. I dress like the poor and do not have a car and do not lend money. I do help people I think need help but I do it in a way that they don’t know it’s me. I feel safer here than I have felt for years.