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As an exercise I wanted to make sure that my retirement budget of $20,000 could include my current spending and items I need to add in retirement, which I’ll detail below. I’m happy to report that it’s looking really good! Let’s see what’s inside:
NEW ITEMS
- World Nomads: A major issue facing US early retirees is healthcare. We have some of the most expensive care in the world and it’s not because we get better outcomes unfortunately. I’ve looked into several options for myself and due to my intended vagabond lifestyle typical plans would not cover me unless I’m in one spot in the US, which would be a rare event. So I took a tip from one of my two favorite bloggers: Millennial Revolution and GoCurryCracker and looked into World Nomads. It turns out that they will cover you ANYWHERE in the world for catastrophic occurrences INCLUDING the US if you’re 100 miles from your home. And it’s not that much more expensive than my current coverage. Perfect 🙂 . So horrible injuries are covered worldwide and if something longterm or not immediately serious comes up I’ll use the power of Medical Tourism to take care of it. Healthcare really is insanely affordable elsewhere in the world – even as close as Mexico. If you’re wondering why the “100 miles from my home” part doesn’t worry me it’s because of Traveling Mailbox, which I’ll discuss in a second.
- UPDATE: While completing this article I spoke with a rep from World Nomads and discovered how their continent tiered pricing works. As a result my actual cost will be $1,576/year, not $2,035 like I originally thought! So I just saved $457/year by asking a question – it never hurts to ask! I’ve updated the above accordingly.
- Traveling Mailbox: GoCurryCracker tipped me off to this company because commenters were wondering how he still received US credit card sign ups while living abroad. It turns out that our nomadic world has allowed a lot of services to pop up that help the perpetual traveler and this is one of them. They act as a center for your mail and you can choose what your address is (which is also great for tax purposes…) so I will stay a resident of Washington for as long as I can (10 years until I have to renew my license?) to take advantage of the lack of income tax (though I doubt I’ll make an income…) and keeping my address at least 100 miles from me. This service scans every item of mail you receive and then you tell them what to do with it: open it or forward it to you. This can also be helpful for things such as voting ballots (we vote via the mail in WA).
INCREASED ITEMS
- Groceries: I’m adding a slight increase here to account for any unfortunate waste from moving around often
- Alcohol: I’ve increased this a bit assuming I’ll be trying local beverages out more instead of at home (since I don’t know how to make local delicacies…yet!)
- Eating Out: I assume I’ll eat out more while traveling to try new cuisines
- Rent: As I mention below rent will now include Internet, Electric and W/S/G so it’s been increased accordingly
- Phone: I’ll be getting Google Fi so I can have data around the world and I accounted for a new phone for it, but as of right now they would allow my current phone to transfer over! Let’s hope it lasts.
- Transit: I assume I’ll move around a city more
- Entertainment: I assume I’ll be going to more museums and movies and attractions with my newfound free time
- Medical: Just in case 😉
- Vision: Just in case – I need to see and can buy glasses for that price online
- Laundry: Assuming more laundry since I’ll have a LOT less clothes
DECREASED ITEMS
- Internet/Electric/W/S/G: All of these items are included in AirBnB rentals. I’ve transferred the amounts to Rent
- Household Goods: I won’t have a house so there we go!
- Dental: Medical tourism 😉
- Vacation Spending: This is in my regular spending now since my whole life is a vacation!
- Friends Visiting: This is also included regular spending now. It originally was meant to help me see how much of my spending is done for other people. It’s a pretty small amount 🙂
- Giving: I’m planning to give more of my time and less of my money
- Electronics: I’ll have time to comparison shop and find what’s right for me without the rush of needing a computer for work or job hunting
- Current Health Insurance: This will be replaced with World Nomads!
So that’s it! Let’s see if it’s at all accurate.