I know one person who has done this, btw! A former work colleague - retired relatively early and her and her husband spend the warmer months in Mexico and a few winter months in a US mountain region (they like the snow). They did vacation for many years in Mexico so knew what they were getting into!
There is a community among travelers - both the short term “sit around and compare stories” types and the longer term, “remember when we were here” types. The latter sometimes even make their plans together. It’s one thing I love about traveling - the community. I suppose personality matters, but it does even when one lives in a regular home too. We have neighbors we talk to often and some who just want/give a wave every now and then.
H would love to retire to a live aboard catamaran. Boaters have a community too.
Having health insurance of some sort that travels with you is important. Fortunately lots of places have decent health care. It’s not just limited to the US (hence, medical tourism).
Covid has been the biggest challenge for the nomadic TBH.
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I’ve gotten a kick out of stories of seniors who opt to do back-to-back cruises, cheaper and more luxurious than assisted living. I did wonder if the couple celebrating 1800th day at sea on our Princess Cruise (article in daily news sheet) was doing that.
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Cruises cost less than assisted living in the US in part because cruise ships typically hire from middle income countries at lower cost than assisted living facilities in the US. Both cruise ships and assisted living facilities in the US were not great places to be during COVID-19.
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You have just described, nearly to a “T”, my retirement fantasy. I won’t be able to retire until 65, though, unless something changes with the state of health care. But, other than that, this is what I want to do.
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MaineLonghorn, how unfortunate that the fare is so high! Thai fares are reasonable right now, so some are coming here for vaccines. However those I knew as grad students here no longer have their visas and the embassy is closed, so no new ones. There has been some agitation in the American expat community requesting vaccinations for expats, who are quite stuck in many places, unable to get vaccines easily and safely travel home for vaccinations. The cynic in me wants to ask, isn’t it easier and kinder to provide vaccines rather than dealing with deaths abroad?
Friends have had an enviable lifestyle in early retirement. They still own their 2 flat house here in our university town, and rent out one flat for the academic year only. In summer they return for health care and to maintain contacts in the community. The other flat is rented all year to someone who does the snow shoveling and lawn mowing. During Covid they were stuck in Mexico for a time, and did spent all last winter here for the first time in ages. As the years go by they are less interested in long flights to SE Asia where they wintered in Vietnam and parts of Laos and Thailand. So Mexico and S America have been more recent destinations.
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@Creekland - so interesting about the ‘travel communities.’ It makes sense now that you’ve explained it. That would be really fun, meeting up with like-minded folks who are exploring the world!
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One additional thing to think about is, if you desire to purchase real estate in another country as part of your retirement planning, whether there are limitations on purchase/ownership by non-citizens.
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… and also researching the tax laws before you go to determine, for instance, if you’d be better off spending 6+ months in the US and less than 6 months in the other country. Tax laws sometimes take effect at different times based on number of years of residency in the other country.
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To me the tax laws are something that definitely needs to be considered. I have dual citizenship (US/Canada) and the option of retiring in Canada has certainly occurred to us. However, the requirement to file US taxes when living in Canada is quite intimidating. I am not concerned about the amount of tax owed. I am concerned about the complexity of trying to comply with the law.
One daughter who currently lives in Canada has pointed out that the complexity of US tax laws for US citizens living abroad is bad enough that she will eventually need to decide between moving back to the US or renouncing her US citizenship. I have been hoping that graduate school will give her a reason to go with the “move back” solution. She has never needed to write a check to the IRS, but has noticed that her US taxes are multiple times more complicated to file compared to her Canadian tax return.
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Yeah, my son didn’t earn much while he was overseas but filing taxes was a pain. He had to hire our expensive CPA to fill out the forms. I thought maybe I could do it for him the second year, but it looked too hard. 
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We have friends that are planning on moving to the island of Bonaire. Apparently health care is provided to all legal residents. They are mainly going for the snorkling opportunities.
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When I retire I have the option of living any where I want, including Florida where there is very favorable tax situation. But what would I be giving up? My friend in NYC, my kids and my grandchildren. I have lived abroad for few years and I kissed the ground the minute I landed at one of those NYC airports. I missed my freedom of be able to go anywhere I wanted to go whenever I wanted. When I lived south of the border, I had a driver and bodyguard wherever I went. It sounded glamours, but it was a pain. It was hard to make friends with the locals and the expats moved around a lot.
I do understand that due to financial situations, some people may not have options. As we get older, it is not as easy to form new friendships and have sense of community. My brother and sister have asked my mom to move to where they loved (CA and NC), but my mom have refused because all her friends are where she is now. She said, “who would I play Mahjong with?”
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FWIW, this is possible in many, many places. Most places we travel are statistically safer than NYC or Philly.
But I’ve no desire to diss the US. I love pretty much the whole planet we live on, just wishing a few dictators or dictator wannbies here and there would vanish so we could explore it all.
Our ideal retirement would have us here on our farm in PA from mid March to end of May, up in Maritime Canada from June to the beginning of leaves turning in the fall, following the colorful leaves from New England back here to PA and staying through Jan 5th or so (end of Christmas rush), and somewhere in the Caribbean or just pure traveling somewhere “south” (Caribbeanish or Southern Hemisphere) from Jan 5th to mid March.
Fortunately, friendships and community exists pretty much everywhere we’ve ever been even if we were only there for two weeks. To us, it’s fun meeting new people. In today’s world the internet lets us stay connected if we want to too.
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I assume the reason people would want to live outside of US is for economic reason. Canada, Caribbean, Europe, many parts of Asia would not be cheaper than the States. To live well in South America would be just as expensive as the States.
One thing I would I also like to add is as we get older medical care is going to become increasingly more important. I would want to be at a place where I could have access to the best medical care. When my father had cancer, instead of being treated in NJ I had him come to NYC. The doctor in NJ said he only had few cases as my father, whereas the specialist I found in NYC said it was very common in his practice.
If you were to get sick or need help, would you expect your kids to fly to where you are? What would be your support system?
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For some maybe it is, though not at all for us. For many it’s weather and or a more laid back lifestyle than the US has. “Island time” and similar. The US is very harried in many places. Not everyone enjoys that, though some thrive on it, of course.
Different strokes for different folks.
Our kids might follow us and one son + W are probably going to beat us moving out of the states (into a territory). For them they prefer the lifestyle and weather where they are expecting to go.
Otherwise, we’ll cross bridges when we come to them. No sense stopping living early due to “what ifs.”
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However, “best medical care” may be in different locations depending on the medical condition. Unless you can predict what medical condition you may need the “best medical care” for, you may be guessing, since the locations for the “best medical care” may differ for each possible medical condition (both domestically and internationally).
Of course, you also have to make sure that you can afford the medical care (“best” or otherwise).
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That’s the exact point, you don’t know what medical condition you may have in the future, but if you are close by a good hospital then you know you are covered for most medical conditions.
To put it in prospective, the cost of air lifting (air ambulance) to bring someone back from Mexico back to the States was 20K.
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Any idea what the cost of insurance that covers cost of being airlifted for medical expenses? I know it’s an option for shorter trips, but no idea if it works for expats.
Medical care is certainly an issue. We were in Switzerland when my husband had a stroke. It was a freak situation involving a blood clot, and it was a shock, since he is extremely healthy. You would think a major hospital in a major city in Switzerland would have great medical care, wouldn’t you?
Nope. “We think you possibly had a stroke, but it’s a weekend, so there’s nobody here working now who can confirm that. Come back tomorrow.” Next day, “Yes, we think you had a stroke, but it’s a religious holiday, so there’s nobody here who can give you an MRI to confirm that. Come back on Monday”. We gave up on the Swiss medical system, flew back to the states, and upon entry to the emergency room, they immediately gave my husband an MRI and hospitalized him. Even on the weekend.
I was really shocked by the poor conditions in the Swiss hospital. Helpful, kind people, but they just didn’t have the facilities, staff, or the money. Biggest hospital in Lucerne. As you get older, having top medical care is critical. Not just cheap medical care, but access to the experts and the facilities.
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