I spend a bit of time now researching international destinations for where we’ll retire. The best way I have found to do this is to hear from people who’ve actually done it and follow them on their journey. My first resource for this is YouTube followed by Reddit and then blogs or other websites.
Please note that what I mean by “failed” is these people moved overseas and for a variety of reasons decided to move back to the United States. I am not using the term pejoratively so keep that in mind.
Failed Expats: Thailand
Failed Expats: Vietnam
I attribute a large part of my financial success to learning from other people’s mistakes. It is obviously less costly to learn from others mistakes than to make your own.
If you don’t want to watch the whole videos I can summarize them in two simple ways.
- Ramze moved back for a variety of reasons but an aging parent was a key one. I’m fairly sure he’ll leave the US again at some point because he’s been very vocal about the high cost of living in the U.S.
- Kirsten – moved back for 3 reasons: money, money, money. If you’re not willing to commit to a fixed income budget then it will cause failure no matter where you’re living.
- Eric – Language barriers, family issues – aging parents, missing grand kids, changes to visa program.
Based on some financial modeling we’ve done, I don’t think we’ll run out of money but anything is possible. Inflation rates could change, government policies can change, markets can crash and so many other things like war, famine, disease can wreck a financial portfolio but you can’t plan for every possible scenario.
Failed Expats: Portugal
Share The Wealth
Do you know anyone who’s failed as an expat? Let me know in the comments below.