The above was the message on the subject line of an e-mail I received today. I’ve seen that promise many times before. The e-mail itself starts out, “Six months from now, you could have your own beachfront bungalow… even a housekeeper and gardener… and plenty leftover for dining out, theater, travel…In the right places overseas, you can live not just comfortably – but well – for as little as $30 a day. No kidding.”
Do not believe this Look, $30 a day is $10,950 a year. The lowest-cost places I know of are in rural Mexico and in rural Ecuador. By “rural” I mean living like natives, with few if any expats in sight. I know some married couples in both those countries who do live on that amount per year but they are volunteer missionaries experienced in self-sacrifice. Not one of them would dream of referring to their standard of living as “paradise.”
For the average couple who wish to live in a city with expat communities, $60 a day is a more realistic goal, and $90 a day is my recommendation.
Permanent residency will be required First, forget about privacy. Second, you’d better be able to prove you have at least a certain guaranteed income each month. Third, you may have to invest in a business or —as in Ecuador — deposit at least US$25,000 in an Ecuadorian bank and leave it there as long as you are a resident. And fourth, you will not be allowed to take a job in your new country, with the possible exception of teaching English. (A friend of ours in Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico earns $5 an hour teaching English.)
However … I am not saying you shouldn’t move to a foreign land—far from it! It’s a great experience —especially for couples with small children—but you must be willing to endure the culture shock, and not expect to live in paradise “on $30 a day.”
Labels: expats in Ecuador, expats in Mexico, get outta Dodge, moving overseas, retire on $30 a day
Privacy blog post by JJ Luna at 7:34 PM
