We Retired Early at 60 and Are Living Off Financial savings to Journey the World

This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with married couple Sandra and Jeff Mayernik, 62-year-old retired realtors who left the US in 2023 to journey overseas. The couple, who run the weblog The Mobile Retiree, are presently in Pogradec, Albania. This dialog has been edited for size and readability.

Jeff: A few years after shifting to central Oregon, we turned empty nesters. We had a spot exterior Bend and lived on 5 acres. We had a few horses, a tractor, some challenge vehicles, and numerous storage buildings.

Sandra: Our property included two dwellings. A 1,000-square-foot double-wide manufactured residence that got here with the property. The second was a 1,700-square-foot custom-built, three-bedroom, two-bath home. It was beautiful.

Jeff: Life was good in Oregon, however the political local weather within the US was turning into uncomfortable for us, and the price of dwelling simply stored rising.

Our property taxes went up, together with automobile and home-owner’s insurance coverage. At first, it was simply a few % a yr, and earlier than you already know it, all of it added up. Meanwhile, our wages weren’t growing on the similar price.

While the price of dwelling was in all probability a secondary concern. Our age and well being have been larger elements in wanting a change of surroundings. I’d had a few coronary heart assaults and now have an ICD — an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator.

Eventually, we reached some extent the place we thought, “You know what? We don’t need the stress anymore.” We knew we would not be wealthy on the highway, however we additionally would not be poor.

So we mentioned, “Let’s just go see the world.”

We bought all the things we owned

Jeff: Prior to retirement, my spouse and I have been each Realtors. Before that, I spent a few a long time in fee gross sales positions, together with a number of years as a salesman in retail automotive.

When we began planning our transfer overseas, we did the mathematics, skinned it up, and found out that we might journey the world full-time for round $40,000 a yr.

Sandra: To financially put together for the transfer, we bought all the things we owned — our home, our vehicles, all the things. Until we begin receiving our Social Security advantages, we’re dwelling off our financial savings and the proceeds from the sale of our home, which we’re investing.

Sandra: We left the States in November 2023. We knew we could not set up residency anyplace with out an revenue, however with vacationer visas, you may keep 30 to 90 days in a couple of hundred totally different international locations.

We’ve been to Panama, Costa Rica, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. And now we’re in Albania, the place we are able to keep for a full yr on a US visa. We spent two months in Durres, Albania. We’re presently in Pogradec, and we’re heading to Saranda subsequent.

There’s one thing for everybody in Albania

Jeff: Albania is a compact nation with each form of geography. If you need mountains, there are mountains. If you need the coast, there’s the coast. And it has a Mediterranean local weather alongside the shoreline.

It’s humorous, we have visited so many international locations, and there are some locations the place we simply do not feel snug straight away. In Albania, inside simply a few days of wandering round, we felt like we belonged right here.

Sandra: It felt like a intestine intuition that this place was good for us. The tradition right here is all about caring for one another.

Jeff: We have been speaking to a tourism official right here in Pogradec the opposite day, and he mentioned Albania is named “the house of God and the house of guests.”

Sandra: They actually do care for their friends. For occasion, once we first moved into our present house, the day after we arrived, there have been a few issues that wanted to be fastened. Of course, the handyman got here, but in addition the owner’s aunt or cousin, they usually introduced over lunch for us.

There are professionals and cons to dwelling right here

Sandra: Right now, we’re dwelling in a three-bedroom, two-bath house in Pogradec.

It has a full kitchen, a washer, and three balconies overlooking Lake Ohrid. We’re on a short-term rental, and our month-to-month fee, together with utilities and high-speed web, averages about $1,100 a month, so it is an enormous house for the worth. If we have been to do a yr lease, the lease could be even cheaper.

Whenever we transfer someplace new, we spend the primary week getting our bearings — discovering the grocery shops, pharmacies, parks, and low retailers.

Jeff: Living overseas means adjusting to a brand new foreign money and a brand new language, so even easy errands take a bit extra effort. Back within the US, I might stroll right into a Kroger, learn each label, and immediately know what I used to be paying. Here, I as soon as grabbed what seemed like a package deal of ham — however it positively wasn’t.

Sandra: Grocery procuring is extra of a course of — the butcher for meat, the farmer’s stand for greens, the shop for packaged items, and the bakery for bread.

Since we stroll in every single place and do not have a automobile, we will not do one large month-to-month grocery run like we used to. Instead, we store each couple of days, trying to find components or substitutes to make our favourite meals. All of that, day after day, wears on you just a little.

Quality of life is extra necessary to us than earning money

Sandra: I miss a couple of issues concerning the States, like going kayak fishing with my sisters and spending time with household — that is about it.

Jeff: I do get cravings for sure issues. Every at times, you simply need some brown gravy, mashed potatoes, and Skippy Super Chunk peanut butter.

Sandra: We have two months scheduled in Saranda. We’re unsure what we’ll do after, however we do not plan on going again to the US.

There are a number of issues we do not miss about dwelling there, like being car-centric. I used to be at all times the motive force again within the States, and now I haven’t got to consider it — no oil adjustments, flat tires, or upkeep. I do not miss the psychological load of getting a automobile in any respect.

Our high quality of life has positively improved overseas. Before we left, I used to be a workaholic. In truth, once we determined to go away, I organized with my principal dealer to maintain me on, working in an administrative capability, as a result of I actually liked my job. But after about six to 9 months on the highway, I spotted I did not wish to try this anymore, and the stress simply evaporated.

Now, I spend my days strolling alongside the promenade alongside Lake Ohrid, studying a ebook, or simply stress-free.

Jeff: I’d say it is a a lot lower-stress retirement. Healthcare is much more reasonably priced; my drugs often value lower than my copay again within the States. And once we do determine to exit and do issues, it is lots inexpensive.

Although no monetary advisor of their proper thoughts would have suggested us to do it, I feel we have been on the proper stage of life for an early retirement. Our high quality of life is far more necessary to us than making more cash.