We were thinking of moving maybe internationally in a few years. Then this weekend our D, who is fully an adult and lives 4 hours away, was sick in the ER. It broke my heart that I couldn’t be there with her. (She’s fine, btw.) Now I’m rethinking how far away I want to be.
@Chedva That idea gives me pause, too. Plus – if there should be grandchildren – I would really like to be able to be a part of their lives. Living overseas would make that difficult. (Glad your daughter is OK.)
@doschicos, We are so close and the Nov. midterms may give us that push.
@creekland, I obviously haven’t considered everything about moving abroad. I hadn’t thought about applying for citizenship. What would be the advantages to doing that? How would that affect collecting retirement from here?
@katliamom, renting a place in Mexico for a few months at a time is our plan. However, our neighbors just bought a beach house there (for almost $1.5M) and I am curious to know what prompted them to buy. We’ll be visiting them in a few months on a “research trip”.
@pickledginger, house swapping or airbnb is a great option! We live on a nice golf course and I’ve met vacationing Canadians who’ve stopped by my back fence to chat. Usually between Jan and Mar.
@droppedit, we enjoy living like locals when we travel. Our last vacation was a quick trip to a Mexican resort. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as when we rented an apartment.
@martharap, we haven’t considered the logistics yet but it seems that it will be a larger part of our decision. Time to set up that spreadsheet! It’ll be much like a college search, lol.
Our kids will probably be on the west coast so that will be something to consider. But they are also travelers so them coming to see us, too.
Our kids are contemplating joining us eventually if we scout out a nice area. If nothing else, I know we’ll all visit each other often. Our move won’t be full time to begin with anyway. We plan to start with winter away.
Where our kids end up would figure into our decision but at the moment it is “fluid.” Our D (28) will be spending a second year in Spain (after a year in Chile) with the option of adding more years if she “hasn’t seen everything she wants to see” in Europe by that time! She’s already eyeing Asia…
Our S (30) is living in Sydney and waiting for a decision on a visa, which could take at least another year. He has already been there for almost a year. He plans to stay for at least 5 years if he gets the visa.
So we have no idea where either of them will end up.
Several years ago a colleague retired and purchased a house in Thailand, near a ‘medical tourism ‘ destination. His sister is a cancer survivor and requires expensive scans every 6 months that in Thailand cost a fraction of what they cost in the US. They also share an inherited vacation home in the US, so every 6 months they switch residences. For now the arrangement is working for them.
We would love to spend summers in Germany or Switzerland after retirement but can’t imagine life without a big dog. Most of Europe is very dog friendly but the flights would be difficult.
“We were thinking of moving maybe internationally in a few years. Then this weekend our D, who is fully an adult and lives 4 hours away, was sick in the ER. It broke my heart that I couldn’t be there with her. (She’s fine, btw.) Now I’m rethinking how far away I want to be.”
If we moved, we’d probably work on talking the young adult kids to moving as well. My guess is we’d try out a few places first for several months each so it would take awhile but, at least now, none of my kids are tied to anything major. One has a serious significant other but that person could come, too. 
We’ve toyed with the idea for a few years. Interestingly enough, it’s my father who is in his 80s who is encouraging us lately even though he was initially against the idea a few years back. He doesn’t like the direction he is seeing right now.
My brother and his wife recently retired and bought a home in Croatia (Dalmatian coast). He is eligible for Croatian citizenship because our parents immigrated to the US from Croatia—which was part of Yugoslavia when they left. Becoming a citizen there isn’t an easy process (tons of paperwork). I am interested in seeing whether it works for them. My SIL does not know Croatian. I am not sure she will be happy there.
What would you guys do as you age and become frail? It would be really hard for the kids if you are hospitalized or in a nursing home in a culture that is substantially different. My niece was hospitalized in Italy once and it was real wake up call on the differences in care, pain relief, being overwhelmed because the doctor only spoke rudimentary English and the nurses none.
Would you expect to bounce back to the US?
I would also caution about purchasing in a country where you don’t understand the political climate. A lot of Americans and Europeans had been purchasing in Nicaragua in the past 10 years. Now there is a bloody suppression of dissent and perhaps a simmering civil war.
I would like to have extended stays abroad while retaining a condo or such in our home town. However I would be doing a rental rather than a move.
@“Snowball City” I have no plans to ever need a nursing home. If I needed one, the alternative (of death) is preferred.
Otherwise, we’ve never had any problem fitting in where we’ve traveled and plan to select an English speaking base to avoid language problems.
As mentioned before, my kids are also interested in moving if we end up liking our destination. Multiple ancestors moved here and successfully set up camp. I think we can do similarly.
Since we’ll be part time to begin, we can change our minds if desired once we see how it goes in reality vs theory.
@Ynotgo: Winter in Vancouver is mild.
Have friends who love New Zealand.
@Publisher: Winter in Santa Barbara is milder. (Also the hours of daylight in winter would be an issue.)
“What would you guys do as you age and become frail? It would be really hard for the kids if you are hospitalized or in a nursing home in a culture that is substantially different. My niece was hospitalized in Italy once and it was real wake up call on the differences in care, pain relief, being overwhelmed because the doctor only spoke rudimentary English and the nurses none.”
Not just language barriers. I don’t think people realize the great care we get in the US vs elsewhere no matter how much we think it needs improvement. It’s not necessarily just the level of the medical care but the actual material resources available.
A friend of mine was on a trip in Italy a few years ago and broke her ankle.
First piece of advice? Go to a private hospital ASAP. It’s the only way to get decent care.
The surgeon who operated on her ankle did a great job–he was excellent but the pins he put in her ankle were very old and the entire operation had to be redone when she returned to the states because of substandard materials.
When we were in Greece our tour guide was upset about health care and the need for his wife to work. At first our group was unsympathetic (you got free health care? so you need an extra job? yeah, tell me about it…)
With further discussion we realized that family is expected to take care of the family in the hospital. Nursing was a family obligation not the small nursing staff. When someone was in the hospital it was a full time job to take care of them or they wouldn’t get any real care at all.
If you have the money / insurance and know how to work the system… unfamiliarity with the medical system elsewhere can be a problem, but many US citizens and residents have trouble working the medical system in the US and end up with substandard care at high cost.
The high cost in the US is one reason why there is medical tourism.
@Creekland Well, good luck to you. Make sure your family knows you would rather die than have a knee replacement or double bypass and if you are hit by a drunk driver to leave you by the side of the road for 48 hours until you pass.
My superpower is my ability to find catastrophes.
“Would you expect to bounce back to the US?.. I would also caution about purchasing in a country where you don’t understand the political climate.”
@“Snowball City” – these are valid points. If I had a very serious issue, I’d prefer to be treated in the US, so the ability to “bounce back” here would be important to me. And I agree about the political climate. While some expat-friendly countries are very stable (Costa Rica, for example) others may be more of a risk (Mexico) and even the EU is going through its challenges which may well affect the quality of life for expats there.
I don’t think that anyone has mentioned that US expats have to file federal tax paperwork, even if they live 100% of the time outside of the US. As long as you are a citizen, you have to file. This is a huge turnoff for us. Even when you get foreign tax credit and don’t effectively pay US federal income tax, it’s a pain in the rear to file in two countries. Btw, most (almost all?) other countries don’t require this of their expats.
I read this book a few years ago
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Sweet-Anywhere-House-Created/dp/1402291531/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531937892&sr=8-1&keywords=Tim+and+Lynne++Martin
The authors sold their house and spent years living in VRBO rentals all over the world. Helped by the fact that they are both writers/bloggers so weren’t totally retired. They more recently built a home in CA that they live in part time and rent out when they are traveling. I find this whole idea quite appealing.
@“Snowball City” My family is well aware of my views, and even shares them. We started discussing it in depth with my brain tumor a few years back and continue it now with middle son in med school.
I get a chuckle with the myth that the US medical system is all good… especially after watching a Today Show segment this morning regarding gender inequality with medical care and how rampant it is. Both my mom and I have experienced this ourselves. Her Stage IV cancer was all stress… It might have been nice to catch it earlier since she had been seeing doctors, in the US, but it didn’t happen. I have issues that are supposedly stress too… except they aren’t, but if one can’t convince doctors of this until Stage IV (or equivalent), what good is it to be in a great system? Absolutely none.
One takes their chances anywhere. The best odds are with drawing the lucky straw to have nothing wrong.
But we’re all mortal and I’m okay with that. Sooner or later we’ll all meet the same fate. If it comes a little earlier than it could have, so be it. Old age without the ability to be active has no appeal to me.
YMMV
It seems like the book generated quite a few negative reviews from folks who were hoping for a “how to” book, while the book says it is a memoir. H has said he really likes his “stuff,” so I guess this wouldn’t work well for us.