Ready to retire and be a expat!

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alaska55

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
271
Hi everybody I'm 58 already semi retired. A little background, grew up a military brat spent most of my early years in the Philippines and Okinawa. So I have no roots. Spent 9 years in the navy. Divorced with 2 sons in early 30's. So nothing to tie me down. Now for the money part and if I have enough. 200k in Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund in a IRA, 180k in Vanguard Tax Managed Balanced Fund in a after tax acount. 60k in a Ally savings Also recieving $550 a month in an inherited term annuitiy til I'm 65 1/2. SS at 62 @$1580 or $2190 at 67. Will start recieving a small pension of $300 mth at 65. Just spent a month visiting a couple of friends in the Philippines and had a great time, Plan on spending 4 months later this year before I make a final decision on moving to the Philippines. Plan on living expenses of $2500 a month, which is more than what I spend now and its cheaper in the philippines. I do plan on flying back once a year to Portland Or. to visit my sons. So do I have enough
 
REWahoo

With answers like that (depends) why do you hangout. At 58 being single I think I know my expenses, my parents have both passed on, my sons are in there thirties and both make more than I ever did already( I think i mentioned that).
I said i would allow $2500 for total expenses. I have 380K in Vanguard accounts,$60k in cash plus a inherited Annuities of $550 a month til 65 1/2. I gave my SS payout at 62 and 66. I said i plan on relocating to the Philippines as a non citizen I can't buy. Rent with everything is less than $500 a month. Don't need a car. But will leave my payed for 2012 Focus at one of my sons house. After one year in the philippines if I'm still happy I will sell my paid for house for @$120k. I ran my numbers thru ORP and it says 36K for 25 years with a 95 sucess rate.

PS I raised my sons by myself since they were 5 and 7 year and payed for half there state school so believe me when I say I know to how to budget!
 
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alaska55 said:
REWahoo

With answers like that (depends) why do you hangout.
Click to expand...
Whether you have enough is a highly individual question. It really does depend on your own unique life circumstances. The list of questions REWahoo pointed you to was designed simply to get people thinking about certain key issues. It is not a criticism of your budgeting abilities or anything else about your plan. Just food for thought.

I'd like to think you were rude unintentionally. I hope it doesn't continue.
 
Hi Alaska,
First of all thank you for your service to the country. I took a stab at running your numbers through Firecalc and get a success rate of 100%. Of course I had to guess at some variables, so I suggest you run your own numbers. (The Firecalc link is at the bottom of the page).
 
Gumby

No I was not being rude. I was reading a quote right off his profile page.
Sorry if it sounded it that way.
 
alaska55 said:
Gumby

No I was not being rude. I was reading a quote right off his profile page.
Sorry if it sounded it that way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for apologizing, though perhaps the apology should go to REWahoo instead of Gumby. It sure sounded extremely rude to me as well. Perhaps, as Gumby suggested, it was unintentional and if so then it might be a good idea to self-edit your posts to a greater extent and think about them before posting.

REWahoo has contributed a lot to this forum over the years, perhaps more than anyone, and it was a little shocking to read what seemed to be a very rude statement from a relative newbie, for no apparent reason whatsoever after REWahoo had tried to help you. I know I am not inclined to make any attempts to help you after reading that.
 
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It sounds like you have enough for the Philippines or even one of the cheaper areas of the good old USA. I wouldn't plan on months of First Class world travel. ;)
 
One of the challenges of forums and email is that it can often lead to misinterpretation.

I'm not defending anyone (I actually found alaska's remark rude) but I think that without intonation and a certain context it is easy to be offended or take things the wrong way.

Seeing "Moderator Emeritus" (and 31K posts) would make me think twice about asking why one hangs out here but...that's just me.

So...maybe a mulligan (Not Mulligan) for alaska?
 
The first four questions at the link REWahoo kindly provided have to do with expenses. Like many of us (okay, me), the OP is focusing on what income he expects and knows almost to the penny what that will be--I did that too preretirement. The expected expenses are a vague $2500 a month in the Philippines, more than he spends now.

Since he did after all ask for comments, mine are: what are those expenses going to be--does he have an estimated ballpark budget for monthly rent, food, health care, entertainment, transportation, etc., etc.? Emergencies? What if the Philippines doesn't work out for some reason--what are the expenses for plan B?
 
I wasn't going to bring it up but i throught his answer was bit condescending. I don't have alot of posts But i have read alot including the subject matter that he refer to. I had of enough of this forum. You can delete this thread and I won't return to this forum. BYE
 
Alaska55 - don't run away. There are a lot of know it alls on forums these days and they get their panties in a wad dealing with people who may be slightly different than themselves. Then go on and on about apologies and such. Wah cry babies.

I read the initial reply to your post as condescending too. Like dialing into help line and getting the blasted call center .... Push 1 for english. Some times non robotic human interaction is what we want, Not a snarky remark with a link attached.

Also keep in mind that many posters here have likely not lived abroad so really don't have much more to say than sending you a link.... They are just ignorant on the topic so remain quiet.

To answer your question. You did a good job outlining the basics. Take it for what it is. Free advice. Ha ha ha also remember there are some old people on the list too and they get cranky from time to time.

Anyway, maybe i can help as I lived in philippines for many years. It's been a while but I would like to learn more about where you plan to live and lifestyle because costs do vary widely. Also the base costs there do differ from usa in any areas - cost of housing. Medical insurance etc. also you may find a girlfriend over there and the money goes a lot quicker when that happens - cultural strings attached - that cost picture is where I see men struggle. Gotta stay out of the bars. Gotta stay strictly to a budget and sounds like you did that raising your kids. Super

I think you may be low on the income side right now for the first 5-7 years. and will need to spend down your nest egg til social security kicks in. Also costs are rising in SE Asia - the impact of China's economy on her neighbors is significant and a mega trend for the next 3 or 4 decades I am certain. So. What are some plan b and c if costs exceed income. Live in province vs big city ? Etc etc. how's you health ? That determines a lot too...

It can be a nice life but not for everyone. !! Let's hear more.
 
racy said:
Hi Alaska,
First of all thank you for your service to the country. I took a stab at running your numbers through Firecalc and get a success rate of 100%. Of course I had to guess at some variables, so I suggest you run your own numbers. (The Firecalc link is at the bottom of the page).
Click to expand...
Can you point me to the retirement calculator you are referring to? I didnt see it at the bottom of the page and I would like to take a look and make sure im on the right track!
 
alaska55 said:
I wasn't going to bring it up but i throught his answer was bit condescending. I don't have alot of posts But i have read alot including the subject matter that he refer to. I had of enough of this forum. You can delete this thread and I won't return to this forum. BYE
Click to expand...

BYE to you too. Have a nice life.
 
This thread was helpful to me. I have read Gumby's "Some Important...I Retire" thread several times before, but this time I printed it out . This time around I will be more diligent in answering those 12 questions.
 
alaska55 said:
I wasn't going to bring it up but i throught his answer was bit condescending. I don't have alot of posts But i have read alot including the subject matter that he refer to. I had of enough of this forum. You can delete this thread and I won't return to this forum. BYE
Click to expand...

Most of us, including me, who have joined this forum lurked here for quite a while before deciding to become a member. Maybe you didn't have the opportunity to do that and experience the culture here. Most forums seem to consist mostly of put downs and name calling, yahoo for example, so it might be natural to assume that this forum would be like that. It is not.

Alaska55, calm down. Many of the people here, especially the long timers and moderators have a tremendous wealth of practical knowledge of what FI and ER are really like. The level of experience and respect here continues to amaze me. Take a deep breath and return, you were not treated disrespectfully.
 
Letj said:
Come on now. Are we adults on this forum? I bet few would dare behave like this in real life.
Click to expand...


I repeated the greeting the OP had used and supported his decision to leave. Quid pro quo.
 
I think Alaska55 asked a fair question...about did he have enough to retire in Thailand. I personally would like to ask what is the consensus on this issue? Aside from the irrational behavior...

Sent from my XT1028 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
 
Mobile app works great BTW

Sent from my XT1028 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
 
firsttimer said:
I think Alaska55 asked a fair question...about did he have enough to retire in Thailand. I personally would like to ask what is the consensus on this issue? Aside from the irrational behavior...

Sent from my XT1028 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
Click to expand...

I think the consensus on this would be that between the $2,190 SS at 67 plus the $300 pension, the OP is very close to the $2,500 per month budget he is looking for. However, lots of things can happen that could drive anticipated expenses up far beyond $2,500 over the remainder of your life. Members on this forum tend to be conservative, and would want to know that they have a significant buffer above and beyond their budgeted expenses. I would suggest that in this case the buffer is too low for most of us to feel comfortable.

If continued part time work is an option, that might be a good compromise here.
 
I have a friend here in PV who lives on his SS and has 2 rental properties. One property has a long term renter. The other is on the beach and has numerous short term renters. When the occupancy is high, he is fine. But I can always tell when there are not enough high paying renters.

In fact he has decided to try to liquidate the two properties even though returns on cash are so low.
 
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