re: My Parents Retired at the Age I Will Turn Next Year...

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That was the golden age of state pensions.

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Indeed it was. I had a nerdy coworker who argued that "retirement" in itself and the pensions, etc. were all a fluke of social engineering.

What did he mean by that? Well, for millenia people did not retire. You basically worked until you either died or lost your ability (eyesight), and then were wholly dependent on your children until you died...which wasn't much longer. As our world became richer, people were actually able to retire for the first time in humanity.

So, the fact that people could retire in this brief window of the late 20th & early 21st centuries is, in his mind, a fluke that would self-correct in the decades to come. I'm starting to think he may be right.

And the various governments (state, local, federal) giving out all these sweet pensions will eventually be unsustainable (the taxes will overwhelm the population) as they were on the private sector (pensions largely phased out in the 80s/90s) , and everyone will roll into a 401K which is clearly less lucrative than a pension.

I obviously have a grim outlook of my own retirement outlook. Oh well.

This is the exact reason why these programs are completely bankrupt

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Seriously, it's wild to think that my parents retired from their first careers with forever healthcare and an 80% pension at 43 and 44 years old. Dad retired in 98. Mom retired in 2000. Both taught public school in Alabama starting at 20 and 21.

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The financially astute Louisiana government hand will retire from one gov entity and hire on with another and start banking that second state retirement!!!!

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Boomers fricked over everyone after.

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and this defeatist attitude is what will hold the younger generations back, not the lack of opportunities

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Boomers fricked over everyone after.

They cared nothing about what they left for the rest of us or how much they borrowed from the future to fund their excess.

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So, your position is that a group of people that worked a job for 25 years (an underpaid position at that) for the promise of being taken care of at a certain level for the remainder of their lives should have just foregone that payout out of altruism?

That was the deal offered. They took the deal. They fulfilled their end.

You can argue that the institutions made a bad deal, but you can't blame people for taking that deal.

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I've lived in those countries.

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I see that you didn’t bother to answer my question on the first page about exactly which (of the dozens of countries Americans retire to) that you have personally lived in… that’s fine.. and fwiw i dont disagree with you that there are trade offs wherever you go.. Life is pretty much one giant trade off based on what’s important to you, that is what life is .

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I see that you didn’t bother to answer my question on the first page about exactly which (of the dozens of countries Americans retire to) that you have personally lived in… that’s fine.. and fwiw i dont disagree with you that there are trade offs wherever you go.. Life is pretty much one giant trade off based on what’s important to you, that is what life is .

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I have lived in Nicaragua managed a hotel there in Leon and then later was part owner in a bar in Grenada, Costa Rica and Guatemala -- primarily Nicaragua. I have spent time in El Salvador. I was intending to move over to either Thailand (Chiang Mai), Portugal (former business partner has a hostel/bar in Lisbon) or the Phillipines, but I came home for my brother's wedding and stuck around. Phillipines and Portugal are still in play as a place to eventually live or at least take a nice 6 month vacation. I've also considered Greece as an option some time in the future.

I wasn't really saying that people shouldn't retire where the dollar goes further. Honestly, there's nothing quite like making American dollars and spending in a developing country, but most Americans have a difficult time adjusting to living in those places.

It's not like there's a big event like a revolution. It's just the day to day new annoyances that eventually wear you down.
Going to the grocery store and they just don't have soap that week.

Trying to get your internet hooked up and having to pay someone to sit on your porch because they have a three day window they might be by and if you're not there, they just leave.

Having two phones because you can only call Claro phones with a Claro or Movistar with a Movistar (I did eventually get a phone with two sim cards.)

Americans are fortunate enough to view what the rest of the world views as luxuries as simply commonplace. Hell, even Europeans are amazed when they walk into a Target in the states for the first time.

I'm just advising that for those that are considering retiring to a developing country, you're going to give up quite a lot...and if you aren't a very chill person, it will drive you a little crazy.

I'm trying to make and save as much money as I can. If I work a day over 60 years old I will be pissed. In today's day in age though, I should probably expect it.

Real men never retire.