Places Where You Can Retire on $200,000 and Feel Rich

[GTom]

I don't need 5 bedrooms but I want my fore and aft cabins as well the saloon safe and sound

[Aargau]

I retired at 38 years old but that lasted all of 18 months. Went right back to work (16 years running now). The most important thing I found is having a purpose. Volunteering or mentoring are awesome ways to switch from full time work to retirement, and when you plan where you want to live, factor in the ability to be engaged with your community.

[geoleo]

I say Haiti is the best! I sailed in there at Cape Haiti in 1971. There was a dead mule on the dock! So whats so bad about that? It had been there 3 months! Sail away!

[Capt. Ray]

Here in the Philippines you can rent a nice 2 bedroom house by a beach in a pleasant area for US$200 a month... That is $2,400 a year to rent a place you can buy for $10,000 which makes it rather tempting...

Originally Posted by daletournier

I understand and agree. I live of rental income ,I have two rentals and up to recently a third, therefore I have a fairly good grasp of the rental situation.

I don't know how middle class families in Australia get by. Storm clouds are building. I follow Australian economics very closely, this includes housing and the banking sector,its a bazzaar alternate universe we live in.

[Pelagic]

I think one good country indicator of "Retirement Value" would be labor costs.
As you get older, you want the option of younger people to do the mundane, boring physical jobs like mowing the lawn or cleaning the bottom.

Here in the Philippines I can hire a guy with own gear to clean the 65' boat bottom for USD 20

Day rate to polish stainless or whatever is $9.70 a day

That allows you to enjoy doing other things and hire a day guy whenever you need him.

[geoleo]

My experience is that if you want to live a first world life style in a third world country it is impossible! A second world lifestyle is possible but costs as much as a first world lifestyle but your still in the "third world"! Then there are forth worlds ---maybe fifth worlds. Forget about Canada- a shack in Toronto or Vancouver costs over a zillion.

[geoleo]

I suggest staying away form places where people think living on boats is cheap housing. LOL

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

I think one good country indicator of "Retirement Value" would be labor costs.
As you get older, you want the option of younger people to do the mundane, boring physical jobs like mowing the lawn or cleaning the bottom.

Here in the Philippines I can hire a guy with own gear to clean the 65' boat bottom for USD 20

Day rate to polish stainless or whatever is $9.70 a day

That allows you to enjoy doing other things and hire a day guy whenever you need him.

This^^^^^^^^^^^

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Capt. Ray

Here in the Philippines you can rent a nice 2 bedroom house by a beach in a pleasant area for US$200 a month... That is $2,400 a year to rent a place you can buy for $10,000 which makes it rather tempting...

Whereabouts in the Philippines would that be? Never been there but its on my list of places to go.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by geoleo

My experience is that if you want to live a first world life style in a third world country it is impossible!

Yo bro geoleo! Ah'se right sho yo' experience living in different countries, first world, second world, third world, an' whatever world iz much greater than mine. Ah've only lived fo' periods o' two years or mo' in five.

Let's peep at yo' first proposition, da one ah gots quoted above.

Ah'm sho you'll agree dat Jeff Bezos, wid a personal fortune of US$133 billion has uh pimp-tight first world life in da USA, right?

But ah read you as suggesting dat Henry Sy, who lived uh long 94 years o' life in da Philippines - an economy dat ah guess you'd regard as Third World - an' had uh personal fortune o' US$20 billion just 'bfoe he died earlier dis here year, just had nahh way o' enjoying uh first world lifestyle, right?

What 'chew thinkin' man?

Consider Mukesh Ambani, who has uh personal fortune o' US$50 billion an' lives in India. Do you suppose dat, given da purchasing power o' US$1 in India, he sits in uh hovel content wif uh deeply spiritual Third World lifestyle? Don't make me shank ya!

Or Aliko Dangote, who iz one o' three US$ billionaires in Nigeria, an' has uh fortune o' US$14 billion? Lives uh Third World lifestyle or uh First World one?

What 'chew thinkin man?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by geoleo

...Forget about Canada- a shack in Toronto or Vancouver costs over a zillion.

True, but there’s a lot of other places one can live in Canada where housing doesn’t cost “a zillion”. Small town anywhere that is more than 100 km from a large centre, and is not a touristy area, is going to be fairly cheap. Go north or east and prices can be very affordable.

[hpeer]

Mike,

Of course you are correct. We bought our perfectly fine little cabin for $35,000 US in Newfoundland. Now we’ve put some money into it but didn’t have to.

Maybe the best place to find someplace cheap is in your own head. It’s a mindset more than anything else. Not that one can live cheap anywhere, but one needs to have the correct mindset, then the inexpensive solutions become available.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Mike,

Of course you are correct. We bought our perfectly fine little cabin for $35,000 US in Newfoundland. Now we’ve put some money into it but didn’t have to.

Maybe the best place to find someplace cheap is in your own head. It’s a mindset more than anything else. Not that one can live cheap anywhere, but one needs to have the correct mindset, then the inexpensive solutions become available.

Aren’t you describing a coping mechanism for living in poverty?

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

True, but there’s a lot of other places one can live in Canada where housing doesn’t cost “a zillion”. Small town anywhere that is more than 100 km from a large centre, and is not a touristy area, is going to be fairly cheap. Go north or east and prices can be very affordable.

That affordability radius is approaching 300 km around Toronto, especially if you want to be a walk, bike ride or a short drive to navigable water. Just sayin'.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Aren’t you describing a coping mechanism for living in poverty?

That's also possible, but this is CF, and consider the thread title.

I would say that the takeaway is that if you can focus on the most important thing (eg close to, or aboard your boat) and ignore the rest, you have many more options. Eg - some, but not many here would happily move to a trailer park or a sketchier part of town. But with the right attitude and lack of pretensions, many of those shunned options can be quite livable.