The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year

Chapter 3What’s Your Deal Breaker?

TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE you shut the door on your current life and embrace a new, very different culture and language takes a little doing. You need to weigh the pros and cons and make some wise decisions about where you’ll go and what you’ll do once you get there. For some people, this is a piece of cake. For others, it can be a nerve-racking experience.

There are so many decisions to be made that it’s easy to go into information overload. It’s kind of the way we feel when we go into a restaurant with a five-page menu. Too many choices.

So what can you do to narrow down those choices and identify the best place for you? It’s pretty simple: Profile yourself ruthlessly.

This sounds easier than it is, of course. We know more than a few people who moved to the beach, for instance, only to find out that they’re not beach people. It’s a great place to go on vacation, but living there is something else. If you’re not keen on heat, humidity, pesky insects, and sand in every crevice, it may not be for you.

Likewise, if you can’t live without the sounds of the waves lulling you to sleep at night, a mountain town may not be your cup of tea. And city people may not do well at all in a small village that lacks the cultural opportunities they’re accustomed to.

The more effort you put into knowing exactly what it is you need to make yourself comfortable, the more successful you will be.

CONSIDER THESE EIGHT FACTORS

Here, then, and in no particular order, ...