I have been on a long journey through Europe, Middle East and now in Asia. I am excited and happy to report that I think I have found my retirement home outside the United States. I won’t reveal the location yet because now the real work begins and I don’t want even a few dozen people snapping up the real estate before I get a chance to buy my own property or two.
It’s a great place and my goal is to find a high rise condo with a view of the ocean and mountains, preferably where I can see the sun set over the ocean every evening.
The next steps are to apply for a visa and get the paperwork going. It often takes anywhere from 5 to 9 months to go through the whole process from friends who have done it. I won’t actually submit the paperwork until 2026 because I still have many loose ends to tie up back home and that will at least take 5 months or longer but if all goes well, I should have my new home in Asia in Q3 or Q4 of 2026.
I may write a series of posts about the process or might even start a new blog about the process and resources needed to do something like this but I am super excited about the whole process. I will say that I am always shocked at the number of expats moving to these regions. I keep running into Americans and Europeans escaping their own challenges back home for greener pastures elsewhere. It won’t be good if the numbers dramatically increase over time because eventually these countries will want to stop immigration.
I have mostly been ignorantly bliss from news back home but I did check in this week and saw there were two mass shooting this week, a controversial political figure got shot and killed, and the endless tariff tantrums from the current administration. Yikes!
Oh well, at least my investment portfolio is doing ok and my hedges are working beautifully. I should have some time to write a few posts after Wednesday and I have an interview later today so we’ll see how that goes.
I’ll be back in the US by mid or late October and resume some of the life I left behind.