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Where are these cheap places to live? Inquiring minds want to know.
Mostly Latin America and Southeast Asia. $10 a day is $300 a month. It would be easy to find a safe and comfortable place to sleep for $100 a month, in some cases, even a clean hotel, and you can eat well for $3 a day if you're not overly picky. That's $200, which leaves you $100 a month for incidental expenses, or to upgrade your digs. You could even do it in Mexico, where I pay $200 a month for a clean, safe little furnished house with a garden, modern plumbing, lights, and modern cooking facilities, could sleep four, available year round, a ten-minute walk from the beach.
I've heard good things about living cheaply in Panama and Costa Rica- safe and politically stable countries that also offer access to high quality health care for reasonable costs, and you'll probably have enough wiggle room in the monthly budget for the occasional imported goods or foods.
Being rich isn't about having things. It isn't about living in a 12,000 sf house, driving a Porsche, or collecting art. Being rich is about having freedom and opportunity.
If you want to travel, you have the means.
If you want to devote time to getting a graduate degree, you have the means.
If you want to spend time writing a novel or learning to paint, you have the means.
If you want your children to get the best possible education and fully realize their potential, you have the means.
If you want to devote all your time to charitable causes, you have the means.
If you simply want to wake up on a Monday morning, drink coffee, and read a book, you have the means.
In short, you can do what you want to do without the limitations of your bank account or the demands of an employer. Who the heck wouldn't want that?
Where are these cheap places to live? Inquiring minds want to know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
Mostly Latin America and Southeast Asia. $10 a day is $300 a month. It would be easy to find a safe and comfortable place to sleep for $100 a month, in some cases, even a clean hotel, and you can eat well for $3 a day if you're not overly picky. That's $200, which leaves you $100 a month for incidental expenses, or to upgrade your digs. You could even do it in Mexico, where I pay $200 a month for a clean, safe little furnished house with a garden, modern plumbing, lights, and modern cooking facilities, could sleep four, available year round, a ten-minute walk from the beach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slackjaw
Yeah SE Asia is doable really really cheap, especially if you don't mind having a fan instead of AC and can eat like the locals.
Central America has plenty of cheap long term rentals too, like:
Small 2 Brm 1 Bath House , 175 a Month... (http://panama.en.craigslist.org/apa/1940189732.html - broken link)
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmouse
I've heard good things about living cheaply in Panama and Costa Rica- safe and politically stable countries that also offer access to high quality health care for reasonable costs, and you'll probably have enough wiggle room in the monthly budget for the occasional imported goods or foods.
What reasons would cause you to want to be "rich"?
NOTE: Don't put down that you just want more stuff or more money to buy more stuff. Those are not valid reasons to want to be "rich".
That said what would motivate you to desire to be "rich"??
Basically so I can wake up anytime I want and don't have to answer to "the man" anymore. Also I would love to travel the world and just kinda drift around and never have to worry about being back to work. Having that sense of financial freedom would be nice.
Motivations to be rich? Well you have to have a good business mind or come from a rich family, or hit the lotto.
I have no business mind. No rich family. Lotto is fun but realistically I know I'll never hit the big one.
Oh, and I could finally afford to live in CA. lol.
What reasons would cause you to want to be "rich"?
NOTE: Don't put down that you just want more stuff or more money to buy more stuff. Those are not valid reasons to want to be "rich".
That said what would motivate you to desire to be "rich"??
Living at a certain level of material comfort (I'm not talking luxury, just reasonable comfort--for me, that's a studio apartment & reliable economy car). And also having the freedom to do what I want with my time. Working because you want to is a whole lot better than working because you have to.
Basically so I can wake up anytime I want and don't have to answer to "the man" anymore. Also I would love to travel the world and just kinda drift around and never have to worry about being back to work. Having that sense of financial freedom would be nice.
Motivations to be rich? Well you have to have a good business mind or come from a rich family, or hit the lotto.
I have no business mind. No rich family. Lotto is fun but realistically I know I'll never hit the big one.
Oh, and I could finally afford to live in CA. lol.
I'm not sure you have to have a good business mind to be rich. You can hit the lower end of rich by earning a middle class income and keeping your expenses low and saving/investing. Realistically, that would require a savings rate of at least 15%, so you'll need to live at a level below where you're "supposed to" for your income level. If your income is in the middle range or higher, it's possible to save at least this much and still live a decent lifestyle while doing it. It helps a lot if you start saving and investing when you're young...which, unfortunately, most people don't do.
E.G. A 25 year old who makes 40k per year and starts saving $500 a month (and never increases the amount) in a low cost balanced fund like Vanguard Wellington (VWELX) would have:
355K after 20 years
606K after 25 years
& Just over $1M after 30 years....at age 55. $1M is not luxury but it sure as h*ll isn't bad, either.
This assumes the rate of return of 9.42% for this fund of the last 20 years continues. The last 20 years was a below average period for investment returns.
If you got really lucky and stuck with a balanced fund like T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation (PRWCX), you'd be even better off. Rate of return for that fund over the last 20 years was 10.47%
407K after 20 years
725K after 25 years
1.26M after 30 years
Not bad at all.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 09-08-2010 at 11:15 PM..
NOTE: Don't put down that you just want more stuff or more money to buy more stuff. Those are not valid reasons to want to be "rich".
Says who?
Most people who are rich decided to get rich precisely so that they could have more stuff. It's called "capitalism".
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