Author: Kent

How to Move Out of the U.S., Post-Crisis

Are you on the hunt for a relaxing stress-free location to move to once the crisis has abated? There are a lot of factors to consider before making such a move. Making a decision on where to more, how to move and how to ensure you have enough money for such a move.

The good news is that in most places in the world it is far cheaper to live than in the U.S. these days. Where we live in Nicaragua, we know couples living here that only have a small social security income.

In the video below, Jason Holland gives you a good overview of some of the issues you must consider very carefully.

Continue to follow our blog as we start to update you on what it takes to move overseas. We are starting a series of posts on funding your overseas adventure, very soon.

Refelcting on Three Years of Early Retirement

At the age of 59, I have just crossed the three full years of retirement. Reflecting on these eventful years, the adjustments we have passed through have been sweeping.

We have been through a lot of changes personally and on a broader level with our families back home. Personal challenges have caused us to grow on an individual level as well as strengthening our relationship as a couple.

As we left behind our jobs, we found the freedom not to have our chosen careers define who we were. We learned new ways to relate to the world around us and the value of self-discovery. We now have more close friends than we ever had at any point in our life.

Sometimes it was exhilarating, other times befuddling. However, not once over the three satisfying years, have we regretted taking the leap. In some respects, retirement has proven to be richer and more fulfilling than the life we led while holding down prestigious careers!

Who would have known?

How will you know if you are ready for retirement? Are there some proven guidelines you can trust for the answers? Is it only a matter of money or merely a matter of faith?

Nadine Hays Pisani’s book, Happier Than A Billionaire: Quitting My Job, Moving to Costa Rica, and Living the Zero Hour Work Week was a significant influence on our decision to sell everything, pack up and move to Costa Rica. Now we are in the middle of one of our own Happier Than A Billionaire moment. We will report on it in a few days.

We are not an IT Director and a Pastry Chef. We are Kent and Stacey enjoying an unconventional life in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Don’t Let Fear Steal the Life You Could Have


I have heard it repeatedly, “How could you leave the safety of the United States for retirement?” My answer is usually, “how could we not?”

Living in another country is a save-your-retirement move that few people consider. Staying would have meant severe belt-tightening. After some research, we moved to Tronadora, Costa Rica and haven’t looked back. Since then we have moved to San Juan del Sur.

We had what some may call a unique situation with both of us suffering from chronic illnesses. Stacey had already stopped working due to disability and I was hanging onto my job by a thread. We knew we needed to do something.

After a lot of research, we realized we could easily afford living outside the US and never afford to live in the US. We spent a year getting ready to move, selling off all the useless things we had acquired. Rethinking what was truly important to us.

Although Costa Rica proved to be far too expensive for our budget, we found we can live very well here in Nicaragua and even put money into savings for travel and special treats.

One thing we did not do, that we tell everyone to do is that after researching as much as you can, go visit. If you travel the right way, a month in a third world country can cost less than just a couple of nights in a hotel.

The right way is to not stay in a hotel. Use Airbnb to book a stay. Most places overseas you can get a hefty discount for a one month stay. Even without a discount, most places will have significantly lower prices than a hotel in the US.

When we made our first visit to Nicaragua for 7 days, we chose to book a private room in a Nicaraguan house. Breakfast was provided and the advice and suggestions we received were invaluable in making our stay enjoyable. That family has become our best friends here in Nicaragua and we see them often.

Our room was $20 a night and included a huge Nicaraguan breakfast that we found delicious. That same Airbnb discounts 30% for a one month stay, it is not unheard of to find a 50% discount for a month.

A month will give you a better feeling about your intended new home country than a quick one-week visit. We have met a number of people who came here on vacation, went home and started packing and returned to live here.

We have a friend that lives here on a small social security check every month. There is a full kitchen available to him, but he chooses not to use it. Instead, he eats every meal out simply because it is so cheap. He rarely eats at restaurants along the beach, because they are the most expensive. He often chooses to go to small Nicaraguan eateries where a very filling dinner can be purchased of under $5 and breakfast usually breakfast is $2.50.

Keep in mind that San Juan del Sur is the most expensive place in Nicaragua. This town is a tourist destination, and the prices reflect that. There are much less expensive places all over the country.

Moving abroad may be the ultimate in using your brain in new ways. We’ve always been resourceful but when you put those skills to the test it’s amazing what you can achieve.

The most surprising thing about our move was how quickly we found ourselves thriving once we decided to fit in. We embraced the change and feel like it was a great decision.

Do Not Misrepresent Yourself

Macaw in lightA homeowner recently contacted us for a last-minute house sit near where we are currently. They were trying to find a house sitter at the last minute because, when the house sitter they had arranged to house sit turned out not to be the person they represented themselves to be.

As it turns out the person did not have experience with animals. They thought that they could dump some food into the food dish, put a little water out and go to the beach for the day. The dogs did not like the house sitter and the house sitter did not like the dogs. The result? A canceled house sit with the house sitter and the home owners losing out.

The popularity of house sitting has increased, it has become more visible and a whole lot of new people are clamoring to get a house sit. There are many people who view it has the way to get to their party spot.

It seems almost every week we see people posting to various groups and forums wanting to know how much cash they can make house sitting while they party in some fantastic place. These people have put zero research into what house sitting is. The truth is you will not make a dime house sitting. You have a job to do and in exchange for taking proper care of the property and animals, you receive a place to stay.

There are house sits that do not involve caring for animals, all over the world, although it is a small subset of all house sits. People need to have their house occupied while they are away for a multitude of reasons. If you are not an animal lover, I do not suggest that you look at those house sits requiring care of animals. I certainly condemn those who misrepresent themselves in any way to land a house sit.

You have a duty to the home owners and your charges to provide the best care you possibly can to the property and their beloved animals. Animals can be very picky and selective. If you change their routine while the owner is away, more than likely the owner is going to pick up on it when they return.

You seriously risk a negative review if you are unable to comply with the instructions of the home owner. A negative review can end your house sitting gigs for good.

If you always maintain the attitude that you need to care for the home owner’s property and animals better than they expected and, to the best of your abilities, then you will go a long way with house sitting. Home owners will be happy to give you positive reviews, ask you to do repeat sits and recommend you to their friends and family. The bonus is you will see some of the most amazing places on earth in the process.

How Affordable Is Lake Atitlan?

Lake Atitlan is an amazing place in Guatamala. Although the cost of living is near the top of the list as to why it is so attractive to ex-pats, the life you can have while there is what makes it so popular.

Rent of less than $250 a month. Hiring a maid for $10 day. Cost of most groceries around $70 a month. Not to mention the low cost of eating out in restaurants.

In this video Andy Lee Graham of HoboTraveler Shows an apartment an Ex-pat from the US lives in for under $250:

How Little Do I Need to Retire

Costa Rican ColonesThe question most everyone asks is “How much do I need to retire as an Expat?”. However I contend that you should ask yourself “How little do I need to retire as an Expat?”. The change in perspective makes a great difference in how you will approach the situation. Some people will not even get the difference in this perspective.

In the american society we are always pushed for more, more, more. The common refrain from retirement “experts” and friends and family that think they know the facts is that we must have a couple of million dollars saved up to retire. You will keep hearing how if you do not have 3 million saved up you will never be able to pay all your retirement needs.

Using these numbers most all people would never be able to retire. As soon as you get that magic number saved up that they said you are going to need, the number will go up again. Using the conventional wisdom, many people have determined that they will need to work to 70 years old or beyond.

However what are your retirement needs? I would bet that if I asked most people what their retirement needs are, I would get a list with things on it like BMW M5, going out to dinner most nights and a 4,000 square foot house. None of those are needs, they are all wants.

Think about all the celebrities that are dead broke, despite making millions of dollars each year. Is this because they suddenly had a bunch of new needs that drained their money, or more likely their list of wants grew as fast as their income? Have you ever gotten a raise or promotion and thought how the extra money will be great, only to find in 6 months you are back to having nothing extra at the end of the month?

Now consider that their are people living on incomes as little as $10,000 a year up to $1 Million a year and more. The average US income is about $50,000 a year. This means that early retirement is just a matter of determining where on the income line you wish to be, what your real needs are and finding a way to meet them.

This is where many Expat destinations come in with the reduced cost of living. However, keep in mind that all the numbers you see thrown around on the Expat sites do not apply to you. For North Americans moving to another country the cost of living is going to vary from person to person based on their own needs and wants, just where you move to in any given country, how you shop, etc.

I have seen people that complain about the cost of food being 2 to 3 times more in Panama or Costa Rica. The followup questions usually reveal that they will only purchase import food stuff and go out to only the Upscale Gringo restaurants.

At the same time you can find plenty of people that are able to save considerable amounts of money on food because they eat like the locals do and avoid import items. In most Central American Countries the average wage is $8,000 to $10,000 a year for the locals. I am betting none of them go buy the food items imported from north america at Auto Mercado.

If you are expecting to move to Central America and live exactly like you have in the US, only at ¼ the cost, forget it. This is not America Lite.

Most of us have never really engaged in the exercise of creating a list of needs and wants. There are those of us, who choose to live on much less in return for the time that would otherwise be spent on accumulating money to pay for those wants. We spend our life-energy doing things that are more meaningful to us personally than spending money. We want more time and we are willing to spend less in order to work less. Consequently, we need less in retirement savings, actually quite a bit less. And thus we can accumulate it faster.

How To Save Big Money by House Sitting

Savings AccountEverything that you have been lead to believe about saving money to retire and live well is a myth. The old paradigm is dead and gone. Retirement advisors tell you to buy the biggest house you can buy, invest everything you can, set a budget to live on the least possible expenses. All this so that when you are old and burnt up from working yourself to death, you can sit in a rocking chair and relax.

True wealth is no longer the dream of a couple of million in the bank. True wealth comes from the experiences you enjoy through your life.

We are living a life of being without a home, traveling the world and staying in very nice houses that belong to others.

Right now we are living in a 2 bedroom house on a lake in Costa Rica. There is no way possible we could have afforded to live in a house like this with a similar location in the US. In Bellevue Washington a 2 Bedroom lakeview condo would run at least $3,000 a month. Our current accommodations cost us nothing but some of our time.

We take loving care of the pets and watch over the property when the homeowners are away. Since both of us have always been animal people, it is not work at all, but rather a very enjoyable way to live. We are full time house sitters.

Today we ran across an article at Business Insider that shows how one couple saves over $100K a year by house sitting. Although this is not direct income, it shows there is a fantastic alternative to the treadmill of living life in the US.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-we-save-over-100000-a-year-house-sitting-around-the-world-2016-1

Lost In Translation

Colored Felt ClothOur house has very lovely tile floors throughout that keep the floors cool during the day. However the wood chairs have a tendency to make a lot of noise when moved. Stacey mentioned that we should look for some felt for the chair legs the next time we go shopping. I said, “yeah any idea where we would begin to look?”

The next day we went on a shopping trip into Tilaran and we happened across a fabric store while just exploring! Perfect! Now, fabric stores in Central America are much different than in the US. Think of something that is half the size of your average 7-11 and has most everything behind the counters.

Have I mentioned that our Spanish is pretty bad? We are starting to remember the Spanish we learned as Teens, but it is slow. So of course the fabric store that we think has what we need, has not a single person that speaks English.

So we ask for “felt” and get strange looks back. I whip out my phone and fire up Google Translate that tells me the word is “sintió”. That gets me more blank stares. Then I show them what Google Translate has written and all 5 people in the store read it resulting in more strange looks.

Google Translate will also speak words and phrases, so I hit the button and get more looks and shrugs. At this point we are ready to give up and leave knowing we just have to keep looking for a place that has an English speaker.

Then a light bulb comes on. Felt has a very unique look to it, so I do a google image search for felt. The shop owners eyes light up, she reaches right below where she is standing and pulls out…A piece of felt! She says “Feltió”!

We have had a couple of these where even though we have Google Translate set to Costa Rican dialect, it makes a wild translation that no one understands.

so WTF Google? I guess Google Translate does not do Spanglish!

How To Cut Your Spending So You Can Retire Early

Cutting your spending is one reason to move oversees for retirement. However you want to cut your spending ahead of time to maximize the amount of money you can take with you when you walk out the door on your new adventure.

This article and video from Money has some very good hints on how to cut your spending as painlessly as possible. Much of what we did ahead of time follows this exact pattern. In our case we started with ditching satellite TV. Even though we thought we would miss it greatly, it turned out we enjoyed the alternatives.

How to Cut Your Spending So You Can Retire Early

Top 10 Reasons To “Sit” through Retirement

House sitting is how we are going to stretch out our retire money as far as we can. Although we have just started on our retirement and house sitting adventures we are already seeing a huge reduction in expenses.

We stumbled onto house sitting while doing research for early retirement, and the more we looked into it, the more we realized it was the one key that would make our dream come true sooner than later.

We look at this as a source of income. Although we do not make money from house sits, we certainly are not spending a lot of money on rent. In return we offer the home owners a professional service and always strive to be the best they have ever had.

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli over at the Retire Early Lifestyle blog put together a great list of the  ‘Top 10 Reasons To “Sit” through Retirement‘ and I recommend it to anyone considering house sitting.