[vouaobrasil]

Is that really true? I saw some one-bedroom apartments there for $3500 -- expensive but even with that, 300K is a decent amoount. According to an online tax calculator, the take home pay is 185,000 or 15.4K per month.

Even if you spend a bit and spend another 3K per month on stuff like food, bills, and some spending money, that's still almost 9K that you can save per month. Sounds VERY lavish to me. So lavish that in 15 years of work you could save up 1.6 million, buy a cheap house somewhere (or already have one from buying it while working there) for $500K and have 1.1 million to live frugally on and just work on side projects for a little extra cash.

[auntienomen]

The strange thing about this retirement plan is that it assumes you will spend 15 years living somewhere, and then one day just walk away from all the social ties you've made during that period, during the prime of your life. I suppose there are people who could probably do this, but for most folks, this is not going to be a joyful path.

[vouaobrasil]

Well, the point was not the plan, but the ludicrous amount of money you still get and could still use to live there if you wish.