[illumin8]

It sounds like a lot of fun, but how do you save for your retirement? If you spent 10 years doing this, wouldn't you be too far behind to catch up and end up living a poor lifestyle when you should be traveling and enjoying your later years?

[econgeeker]

We're not living like tourists, we're working, a normal life. It is essentially the same as if we'd remained in the USA and done a startup. Yes, it is true, we do take longer and more frequent "vacations" than others (but that's in part possible because we live like raman lovers the rest of the time.) I think that's just part of a good work-life balance. The thing is, if we were in the states it would still be good to take such breaks, but it is much harder.

Whenever you decide to start a company with your partner, you're making a big commitment. You're taking risk of future reward in exchange for giving up immediate high salary (but horribly no-fun corporate jobs.) Previously we'd done the corporate jobs and the startup thing, and it was time for us to do our own startup.

For anyone out there considering doing what we're doing, the budget is what matters. If you can do this for the same cost of living, or less, than living in the USA, then why not do it?

What I didn't talk about is how much income we're currently making. And I didn't mention whether we were profitable or not, or whether we've passed the income we would have been making if we'd stayed in our corporate jobs. I don't want to go into that, because it isn't really useful for anyone considering this, as you have to make your own determination, but I feel safe in saying that I expect to live more comfortably in "retirement" than I would have if I hadn't done this startup.

Finally, I'm not sure what retirement is, really. I took a long break before, and travelled, and within a week of being on the road I was exploring ideas for starting a company. I had set aside 6 months for myself, didn't have to do anything (and when I came back, I got a job quickly, with the interviewers seeing my "employment gap" as something to be jealous of.) I don't expect I will ever stop working.

But, in my "later years" I do plan to travel more luxuriously.

[Joeri]

I always hear people talk about all the things they'll do after they retire, but somehow I never see them actually do it. Sometimes you just need to do things instead of putting them off to some uncertain future.

[econgeeker]

I never wanted to retire at 60, I wanted to retire young. I picked a date in the 1990s by which I wanted to travel full time.

We missed the date by a year-- exactly the year it took us to get ready for this.

Takes a lot of time to get rid of a couple decades of accumulated junk. That's one of the bigger inhibitions. We didn't put anything but a couple small boxes in storage with friends, we got rid of everything.

Sort of our "burning the ships" moment, but also, the thing is, it was mostly unnecessary.

Like in fight club - we thought we had the sofa thing covered. Forget that. There will be more sofas in the future.

[leyfa]

He mentioned that they don't spend any more money than they would have in the US. It shouldn't make a difference for the retirement plans then, I assume.