How much money do most of us flush on rent, cars, overpriced houses, and other things. If you add it up over 10-15 years the opportunity cost of living in the US is over $1M for most people.

All that so that we can eat a horrible western diet, watch cable news, and work for prestigious firms in hopes of retiring at 70.

And you get the opportunity of living in the U.S. I certainly think this is worth >$1M over a lifetime.

I like living in the U.S. I like having a car, and the associated freedom to take a day trip anywhere in the Bay Area. I like living in a suburban neighborhood where's there's trees and greenery, and yet stores, restaurants, and other conveniences are all nearby. I like being able to work on exactly the same stuff I do for fun and yet get paid for it. I like that I'm surrounded by some of the best & brightest immigrants from around the world in my job. I like my "horrible western diet", which basically consists of being able to eat whatever variety of food I feel like. I can have Mexican for lunch, fresh fish for dinner, Belgian waffles for breakfast the next day, Indian food for lunch, and Chinese for dinner. Is there any other country where you'll get similar variety?

Whenever I've visited other countries (notably China, but also Germany/Austria/New Zealand), I've always felt that they were nice places to travel, but I certainly would not want to live there. Well, except New Zealand. I could imagine retiring there, but I'd hate to waste my 20s and 30s there.

Happiness is knowing what you want, going for it, and having the courage to say "Nope, I don't think so" when people tell you you ought to want something else.

Personally, I think everyone should live in a different country for at least one (1) year. You'll gain a lot of perspective on your own country in the process. Just like learning another language teaches you more about your native tongue, so living in another country teach you about your own culture. Combine the two (new language, new country) for a serious eye opening.

For example, the Thai language has no words for "yes" or "no". There are no yes/no questions in Thai.

Only after being removed from pervasive US media do you recognize how much hollywood movie content is US centric and self-referential.

Honestly, if you love living in the US, go live somewhere else in the world for one year. You'll either love the US more, or you'll decide that you enjoy living somewhere else more than you anticipated. Either way, you'll have gained invaluable life experience.

http://www.thaifocus.com/phrases.htm also lists Thai words for "yes" and "no", and inter alia mentions a couple of yes/no questions in Thai.

http://www.peacecorp.gov/wws/multimedia/language/transcripts... seems to indicate that Thai even has a special word whose presence in a sentence indicates a yes/no question.

http://thailanguagehut.com/blog/blog/thai-question-words-so-... has many, many examples of yes/no questions in Thai, and shows how to answer them.

What is the basis for your claim that "there are no yes/no questions in Thai"?

(It does seem that binary questions aren't treated the same way in Thai as they are in English -- the conventions for how you say yes and no are different in different cases -- but it doesn't look at all as if there are "no yes/no questions". For that matter, even in English there are some binary questions to which "yes" and "no" would be peculiar answers. For instance, questions that implicitly make an offer ("Would you like one of these?") usually have to be answered more politely.)

There are other question indicator words, but the one you're referring to is for "correct or not" type questions, e.g.

Q: This road, right? สอยนี้ใช่ไหม A: Right. ใช่ A: Not right. ไม่ใช่

Alternatively, for a lot of statements you can just respond with the polite ending words, ครับ for men and ค่ะ for women.

The question, "would you like one of these?" in Thai would be, "เอาไหม่"... literally, "want?". The correct response is then either: ไม่เอาครับ or, เอาครับ ... that is the polite form for "do not want", or "want". There is no other way to respond to that question (except without the polite ending).

It's interesting that English has a category (call it "standard binary questions, answerable with yes or no") that doesn't correspond exactly to anything in Thai. But from what you've said it seems entirely wrong to describe that situation by saying that Thai has no yes/no questions.

For example the word "chai" that they give for "yes" is more close to "true" when you agree with what has been said.

"Chai" is just a particular answer that can be given to a particular question. You can't use it as a "yes" answer to all question.

Pretty harsh to say New Zealanders are wasting their 20s and 30s by staying there.

He didn't say that! He said he wouldn't want to waste his 20s and 30s there. Different people want to do different things with their lives. NZ doesn't suit his chosen 20-to-39 lifestyle.

Obviously the national laws and economy do play a role, but it's a smaller role then the local economy/politics. Consider rural Kansas, vs. the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is great but you apparently missed out on the great places in Germany/Austria when you visited them.

And it's easy to miss out on the great places, they are few and far between, and they are spread out all over the world.

I've considered eastern europe, argentina, spain (cheapest european country supposedly) and singapore.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/giant-spider-kills-...

[edit: see below post, this is australia. My bad. I googled "new zealand giant spider" and got that link. Regardless, NZ has the same spiders.]

I live and work here and frankly its no better or worse than many other places I've lived or worked.

I live here (Thailand) and do contract work at near western rates. That means I can live for months off the revenue from a single project.

To be fair though, the cost of living in Thailand is higher than the article makes out. Rent is quite high (if you want to live in a good location), and having western food all the time gets expensive. Expect to spend about 30k THB per month on ChefXP and FoodByPhone.

As for a variety of foods, Bangkok is hard to beat. Except for the lack of decent mexican food (Sunrise Taco should be burned down), we have pretty much anything you could want to eat... and it can be delivered to your door w/in 45minutes for less than you'd pay in the US.

Bangkok is a 24hr city. You can get good food any time day or night. There are always things to do no matter what the hour... ผมรักกรูงเทพฯมากๆเลย

I've lived on 4 continents (Africa, N. America, Europe, Asia), and I seriously believe that Thailand is the best country for living.

Living in BKK is another story, you can buy a decent house in a decent neighborhood for about 4 mil baht, which is cheap in my book. I have, due to the nature of my work, lived in nearby Salaya and commuted to shooting location and BKK with designated driver, prices of living there (only a 30 minute drive from BKK) are significantly lower than in BKK.

Also although the cost of living CAN be low, if you wanted to live cheaply and save money, you'd have to live like a middle class Thai person. That means no Starbucks (who the heck pays 80 Baht for coffee when you can get REAL thai iced coffee for 5 on the street). Even what we know as fast foods are somewhat middle/upper middle class.

The foreigners I know living in Thailand seem to live a pretty upper class lifestyle here in Thailand because their dollar goes a long way so I'm not sure how much they are saving. Then again, they're not hackers.

Even normal things that middle class westerners are used to could be considered luxury for the middle class Thai. Cable for example is pretty expensive compared to the cost of food and living and so is internet. Travel in the city can be dirt cheap if you stick to public transporation.

So again, you can stretch the dollar if you are willing to be fruga. Then again you can do the same if you choose to live in the states.

Check out this article titled 'An Experiment on Cheap Living from 1872' http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/05/23/an-experiment-i...

http://www.ajarn.com/Banter/30kamonth.htm

Also, prescription medications are fairly cheap and you generally don't need a prescription. I got my allergy medication for $20, which is normally about $60 here if you don't have insurance.

I have also seen, firsthand, the spectre of death by infection being used as a kind of fortuitous (for healthcare companies) euthanasia (read: cost-cutting method) on infirm and elderly ethnic minorities. My girlfriend's father was pushed into hospice care, even though he was not ready to give up. (He'd been metastatic for 11 years.) The hospice nurses had sloppy anti-infection practices. (My girlfriend's an epidemiologist, so she knows what these are professionally.) There was a week's delay from the first symptoms of infection to getting a prescription for antibiotics filled, and by the time the script was filled, he was barely able to stay conscious to take one dose of the pills. Then there was a refusal to give him intravenous antibiotics, because it was against their procedures, so would need a doctor's permission. By that time, it was Friday evening, and the nurse told us we would've had to wait until Monday to get that permission. In the several days it takes us to figure all this out, the nurse is telling us, "He's actively dying," as if it was the cancer!

The whole thing feels like the time I found a cat with sepsis in its head, took it to the vet, then let them talk me into having them euthanize it. It knew something was up. Started yowling when we made the decision. The saccharine talk from the caregivers was the same -- purporting to be in the patient's best interest when it was really about money.

Then, there's the matter of my grandma, who was an Alzheimer's patient at the end of her life. She also died of an infection. As a youth, she was a waif, a socialite beauty of pre WWII Seoul, and even in her 70s, she was still waifish. She died fat, overfed by redneck nursing home nurses who didn't bother to prevent her bedsores. At first, my family tried to care for her in the home, but she needed to be supervised all the time. She kept on putting water on to boil, then wandering off. My dad's a doctor, a local healthcare insider, and for awhile she got better care because of his attention. He'd visit her every day and make corrections to her care constantly. But you can't keep that up. A week of inattention, and he gets a call that she's dying of an infection with the suggestion that, "it's just better to let her go." I only find out about this years later, when I am desperately calling my dad for advice about my girlfriend's dad and his infection.

I grew up in a small town, and my parents once mentioned there were people muttering about my grandmother getting benefits, because she was a foreigner, despite the fact that my dad was living locally and paying taxes in a high bracket for over 30 years.

More anecdotes, but not infection related:

Another friend of mine, born in England, just over 60, a vigorous woman who volunteered with a local fire department and ran an arts organization full time -- she had to pony up over $10,000 to get attention for a treatable ailment that was going to leave her blind. Apparently it wasn't covered. She'd just gotten her US citizenship two years ago, a day we celebrated, but the whole experience with US healthcare upset her, and for awhile she was talking about leaving and moving back to England.

Yet another friend of mine, a young woman of 25, fell from an atrium balcony. She came from a poor family, but she was basically a saint minus 3 miracles. Her family kept her on a respirator for a week, then let the doctors talk them into pulling the plug. Her loss still haunts me. The whole church was full of people from all walks of life she'd touched. The diversity of people she knew was amazing, and no one was there out of mere politeness. There were also 6 monks there who she sometimes worked with, also in tears. I thought the priest was going to deliver a dry, canned eulogy, but he even got choked up. I suspect if the US didn't have crappy healthcare, that wonderful woman would be in a wheelchair but still with us.

At one point in time, the HMO pioneer Group Health was a startup of a sort.

One never hears about someone going bankrupt from paying for medical care in Japan. They have a lot of regulations on what you can charge for health care.

1. You are currently barred by the state from doing this.

2. Your negotiating power as an individual is greater than that of the private insurance companies who are already doing this?

You can complain all you like about the cost of healthcare, but I think it's economics not legislation that is preventing you from getting a better rate.

Some states (e.g. NY) ban catastrophic-only health insurance.

All states ban me from self-medicating (which is actually not very hard to do for simple illnesses). I'm also barred from buying lab tests without first paying a doctor for permission.

Women are required to pay a doctor for permission to buy birth control.

I'm banned from visiting someone with less training than a doctor to receive treatment for simple ailments.

Of course, I'll be the first to admit that Baumol's cost disease plays an important role too, as well as higher costs for newer treatments.

If you have an Iranian girlfriend, all you need is for her to smuggle you bootleg medicine when she visits her family. That's what I did.

(Yes, Iran has more medical freedom than the us.)

umm if economics are preventing me from getting a better deal why isn't healthcare equally expensive in other countries?

the government regulates who can get a medical license, an artificially low supply of doctors is generated.

the government regulates who can provide insurance and guidelines for what sorts of coverages are acceptable preventing competition.

the government regulates doctor's malpractice insurance, preventing me from entering into contracts where I waive my right to sue.

read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Competition-Second-Holding-Hea...

But yes Bumrungrad is impressive and service is good...

But yeah, it is ridiculously cheap; just had a blood and regular check up last week for 300 baht (~$9, ~€6)

10,000 furnished apartment. ~5,000 food ~2,500 visa ~1,300 internet ~1,200 electricity

Total: 20,000 / 47.5 = $421

I'm probably forgetting some things. There are misc expenses which would bring me up to the $500.

That's not to say I actually live here for that though. Those are my actual expenses and I can get by with just those but I choose to have a little more fun. Beer is really cheap here but it adds up if you go out a lot. A 1/4 lb McD's meal is 135 pesos, so your expenses go up if you eat out a lot.

You can nearly cut that rent fee in half if you go for an unfurnished apartment but you have to pay more initially to put in your own furnishing.

You won't be traveling on a budget that low but you have to leave the country once every 16 months (I think) for a visa run if you are on a tourist visa.

Another big one is taxes. So if you are running your own business then you have to make $500 / month after taxes.

I would say that $750 is a pretty decent figure for a single person not living high on the hog. As the article mentions, for $4,000 / month you can live like a king.

Anything I'm forgetting?

ETA: This is for Dumaguete in the Philippines. Cebu is more expensive and Manila is more expensive than Cebu.

ETA2: I didn't add local travel expenses because if you stay in Dumaguete for a decent amount of time you might as well buy a motorcycle for around PHP 40,000. Gas is cheap because you don't use much. Dumaguete has banned taxis so your only option is a trike which typically costs a total of PHP 60 to go downtown and back.

I have a different experience: I am from Finland. Tourist visa when entering the Philippines is valid for only 3 weeks, after which it can be extended for 1 month, and after that for 2 months. The 2 month extension costs 4700 PHP.

Might be different for other nationalities but Finns usually get quite good deals on visas.

rent: 90 euro, car: 65 euro, food/drinks: 300 euro, visa: 10 euro, health insurance: 15 euro, other: 50 euro

Me and my girlfriend life a very comfortable lifestyle and we really don't cut back that much; eating out here is cheap (as long as you stay away from tourist spots) and we take regular short trips around Thailand and other parts of south east asia.

Getting a work permit is a bit tricky since I am not employed by a Thai company (requirement). The only other option is to setup my own company here which right away brings loads of administrative headaches with it (been down that road and got out rather quick).

So, from my point of view, I am just planning how to leave my country. But move to another third world country?? No way man... I would prefer to live in a expensive first world country and work as developer/codemonkey/entrepreneur/whatever.

So, if you choose to "retire" to a cheap third world country, check its political situation and background. Now, if you just don't care to be rescued by UN blue helmets when shit hits the fan, just be my guest...

Six percent annually.

That said, it is a fantasy, unless you intend on your retirement getting cut short by death prior to you exhausting your money. The standard recommendation for someone who is much older (i.e. can rely on death to moot insolvency with greater probability) is that the safe withdraw rate is 4%.

With a withdraw rate of 4% and a standard mix of stocks and bonds you can be fairly confident that, assuming the future looks something like the past, you will not run out of money within your lifetime. (Most people will in fact see their money "go infinite", i.e. their portfolio expands faster than their withdraw rate and when they eventually pass away their heirs and government get to toast their name quite a bit. However, the prudent investor doesn't plan on being "most people", they plan on being the unlucky sod who bought at the top and sold at the bottom.)

Some of the applications sound a lot more like a careers break, vacation, or a few years off to volunteer.

Naturally, you'd need to consider how much you need, what are acceptable risk & such depending on your application.

His high low estimates for how much you need also vary almost 7/1.

I think it is most prudent for non-investing professionals who want to live this life to buy two annuities, one denominated in the currency of their home country and the other denominated in the currency of their new country.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tlt

...that's as safe you'll get.

Insured munis at 5

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=pza

Emerging at 6

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=emb

Junk at 13

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=jnk

Mix and match.

For 3% inflation, you need 7% nominal returns to make 4%. You're already into pretty risky territory there.

Also a 60 - 40 stock/bond is actually safer than a pure bond portfolio because of inflationary risks and has a higher expected return over 10+ years. The only real trick is to avoid single investments, be they a stock or an industry.

That's currently a slight stretch given interest rates in most OECD nations, but definitely achievable without effort over a longer term (eg, 6% pa for 10 years).

Heck, I live on around 3,000 a month (after fairly aggressive savings by American standards) in a middle sized city and it's very comfortable. I could live comfortably on 2,000 a month if I wasn't working! (That's for one, mind you.)

130k will buy you a lot of luxury in Thailand. You can get a very good condo for 30k per month. You can each out for every meal of every day for about 1.5k per diem, so 45k for food. That still leaves 55k for spending on going out, buying clothes, utilities, gadgets, etc. etc. That is more than "comfortable".

Even 70k per month is more than enough for a very comfortable lifestyle. Local food costs < 100 THB per meal, so you could eat for less than 300 THB per day. A reasonable condo is only 20k if you're willing to live away from the tourist areas.

jim.farang gmail.com

6% and "safe" these days does not sound doable.

If you've never spent 3+ weeks in a country that's very different economically/socially than your own, I'd recommend it. You might like it, might not. I've had mixed experiences with different countries. I quite enjoyed China and Malaysia, Eastern Europe not so much.

But we all have different tastes - there's a meme in the USA that it's the "greatest country in the world" - I reject the notion that there is a greatest country in the world. Just different places for different people at different times in their lives.

There's the same meme in India, and perhaps in other countries too. It is a bit silly to think like that, especially when most people haven't really travelled to many countries. I used to think the same but once I started travelling my views changed. Definitely worth a try.

I had a gym membership for a month with infinite personal training before 6PM ($12.50/month, high end gym), got a Thai-style massage probably 3 times a week ($7.50/hour, came with silver needle tea and large plate of fresh fruit), traveled a bit in Sichuan (short bus ride - 22 cents, longer one - under $10), saw pandas ($20 for a daytrip, everything included), shot a repeating crossbow ($1 or so), and bought an entire year's worth of clothing and a beautiful red leather suitcase (suitcase was most expensive thing I bought, $100 USD). I bought tons of gifts for family and friends, a set kangxi knives (swords), some crafts, and such. Total cost for all of that was under $100.

Total cost? Maybe $700? That includes all the shopping and luxuries, doesn't include air and lodging. I leave out air because I had a multi-stop ticket, but I think airfare was $1300 or so from Boston. Lodging in China is as cheap or expensive as you want. $40/night provides spectacular, though I had free lodging in a few places.

I ran the math a bunch, and told everyone who'll listen: If you're going to spend $2000 or more on clothing in the next 2 years (common for people who buy suits, for instance), it'd be cheaper to take a two week vacation to China or South America and get top quality and sometimes beautifully hand-made things than it would be to buy them in the USA. I only had one guy ever try my idea and report back, and he told me of getting shirts that'd retail at $100+ in the USA for $15 max, perfectly tailored jeans from scratch for $20, and top top notch suits for under $100. I think he overpaid - I got 3-4 pairs of shoes in China, nice leather shoes, $5 was the most I paid. USD has taken a bit of a hit since then, but I reckon it's still dirt cheap. I was in Chengdu mostly, great place with great people. Take antacids if you're going to eat the food though!