How I'm Retiring Abroad in My Early 30s

[262]

Not sure if Money Mustache has been mentioned on this forum, but figured I'd share, since it's the way I'm planning to retire abroad in my early 30s (and thus saying goodbye to Western women!). Who is Money Mustache? He's a guy who retired at 30 with a wife, and now has a kid. Interested? This is probably Money Mustache's most useful post:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/ ... blog-post/

TL;DR: Save money by minimizing expenses and invest it in low-cost market index funds (ie S&P 500 and MSCI EAFE, not sector X or Y). Not willing to cut useless expenses such as cable TV, etc.? Then you must not want to retire early (and thus go abroad) that badly. Think about it: if it were that easy, every Western man would do it (even in their own country, never mind abroad, thus flooding the market).

Note that this isn't exclusive of other financial strategies for going abroad, such as online businesses. Also, Money Mustache's method won't get you abroad as instantly as a successful online business, but developing that probably takes a correspondingly higher level of guts, efforts, and brains.

Money Mustache addresses many questions in his blog, so go there first before asking a question (his blog has a search feature). He doesn't address gender issues, but hey, who's above copying and reshaping ideas for their own purposes, especially if it means freedom (from Western women)?

[Ghost]

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[Bane]

Great advice… So many useless expenses these days. I don't have cable TV, I still own a 2007 edition standard Motorola cell phone, and if I could find a job where I could work online from home (my dream job) I wouldn't really have that much need for a car either (IMO the biggest money sink there is). Trim the fat, and cut away any excess expenses that you can.

[Cornfed]

Such advice would have been sensible enough, even obvious, back in the day. The problem is that most young men are not getting enough money to even live a tolerable life right now, and even if they are they need cash on hand to live on in case they lose their crappy job or are suddenly financially wiped out for one of a million possible different reasons. Any strategy that involves long term planning and long delayed gratification must should be treated with extreme suspicion these days, because such plans require long term predictability and we are simply no longer living in a world like that.

[QatarDan]

How much would you need to retire at 40 years old in provincial Philippines? ball park figure? Very difficult I expect to come up with an accurate amount.

[Ghost]

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[Jester]

Such advice would have been sensible enough, even obvious, back in the day. The problem is that most young men are not getting enough money to even live a tolerable life right now, and even if they are they need cash on hand to live on in case they lose their crappy job or are suddenly financially wiped out for one of a million possible different reasons. Any strategy that involves long term planning and long delayed gratification must should be treated with extreme suspicion these days, because such plans require long term predictability and we are simply no longer living in a world like that.

I think if you have a good job so you can save money, you still ALSO would need a source of soul-sustenance. If not trips abroad to date, then perhaps a rewarding hobby - snorkeling vacations or something. I do NOT think most men can be economic automotons for a decade. A year at most, and that's a long time, but it has been done (fishing boat in Alaska, oil fields, etc).

Oh, someone says,
"my Great Uncle Sven toiled fourteen long and lonely years before he finally went back to Spitzbergen for a bride."

Sorry, no he didn't. For fourteen years Sven was enjoying weekly church picnics with other jolly Scandinavians. He had a roommate, later a business partner. His cousins lived up the road in Oshkosh. He had a SOCIETY. Today, many men don't have that.

Years of toil in concert with others is hard.

Years of toil alone, without respite, without caring human company, is reserved for a few legendary figures.

And none of us here want to emulate them, or even hear about them.