[where's_the_Outrage?]

Being an Expat I can agree with several things such as the less government and back to an earlier time. I often say living in Thailand is like being back in the US from the 50's/60's.

However, it is not all sunshine either. Nothing major I have experienced, more irritations or doing without. One such irritation is getting food you really like, such as dill pickles, beef, jalepenos, velvetta, etc.

One prime expample of less Government here is that my wife opened an internet shop from her home. She did that by buying computers and opening her doors. Then while operating she spent the next 6 months working with the Government to get the business license and comply with the minimal codes.

[BipolarBob]

Thailand?

[2ndDivisionVet]

This Is How You Could Live in the Philippines on $1,000 a Month
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/111115/how-you-could-live-philippines-1000-month.asp

[PGR88]

So when the bankrupt US government confiscates your 401K, you’ll be happier you are forced to lead a simpler life

[Mrs. Don-o]

Elsewhere bump

[Responsibility2nd]

A thousand bucks a month will go a long, long way in many countries.

Food, shelter, basic medical care, even housekeepers and drivers as needed.

[warsaw44]

Stupid question time: does Amazon deliver to Thailand? I just searched ‘ Dill Pickles ‘ on Amazon and there they are.

Do you have a blog or can you recommend a site for ex-pats retiring in Thailand?

I read an interesting article from the Charlotte Observer that
stated the SS administration is sending 380,000 retiree checks
out of the country every year as of 2014. That number has increased 50% from a decade ago.

Looks like this is the route I will be headed for any number of reasons. But what a sea change in this country when so many people can not afford to retire in the their own country.

It’s a damned shame.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’d cross off the list anyplace without the rule of law.

[rrrod]

I live part time in Colombia...love it.

[miss marmelstein]

Thailand and the Philipines do not intrigue me unless I go there simply as a vacationer. I think a lot of the love of these kinds of places is based on men who get involved with foreign females (the kind of guys who don’t like American chicks).

If I want to live in a earlier age, I could move to interior Maine where people still don’t use electricity, form their own militias, and mind their own business. I’m not ready for that either. No place is perfect and I’m sticking with the USA.

[gdani]

I’ll be an ex-pat at some point but my main motivation is weather with USA cost-of-living being a second consideration.

[aquila48]

There was a site a while back that recommended moving to the wine country of Argentina - like Napa and Sonoma.

Yes they said the argentina government is corrupt and inept, but precisely because of that it's easy to remain under the radar. don't bother them and they won't bother you.

[t4texas]

Ping

[BullDog108]

I live part-time in the Mayan Riviera. LOVE IT. And one way tickets from Cancun to my summer home near Spokane is $200...

[jmaroneps37]

Be an EXPAT no thanks America is and will remain the place to be; and the best part is that those who disagree are free to leave at any time.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Sounds all peachy and stuff but...places like those mentioned have no 2nd amendment and simply owning a firearm is fraught with obstacles galore.

[ThanhPhero]

Việt Nam is Communist country, or rather the official organization is Communist. For people on the street there is more of what I call walking-around freedom than exists in the USA. We talk of the corruption that is ubiquitous in the small countries but we have it in America much worse but here it is called Code and Regulation. In Cam Đức a man can build a house on his piece of land without having to spend the price of a house getting government permits. There is no Building Code. if the typhoon blows your house down well, you should have built it better. In the course of building your house you will find it incumbent to cross a few palms with a few dồng and may spend one percent of the cost of building your house on petty bribes. That's much smaller portin of a much smaller cost because you only build what you want. The government does not require that you pay off a host of merchants for things you don't want and a host of government agents and offices for permissions.
- We have officially enacted and enforce bribery. We have to pay off government offices $30,000 before we can put a shovel in the ground. We pay inspection fees during the process of building the house. We have to spend more money for the sole purpose of satisfying the Code.
One is rather less likely to have to deal with a government office or official generally as one goes about in Việt Nam.

[OrangeHoof]

One of my liberal friends moved to Panama and only comes to the U.S. to use his season tickets to sporting events which he can afford by not living in the U.S.

[dangerdoc]

At some point, I will need access to a good cath lab.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Mexico will be a very nice place to retire once all of the Mexicans are in California.

[Mozilla]

I get that the money goes further but some of the countries Americans move to are unsafe like Ecuador, Phillipinees and Mexico.