The Rewards of Life As An Expat In Retirement

Whether you are escaping the rat race or looking to make your dollars stretch further the rewards of life as an expat can be enormous.

Some of us have always lived in the same town, and others have had many places they have called home. My parents owned many small businesses from when I was young. It just seemed that every couple of years we sold up and moved on to other opportunities. I have lived in over 60 different places and I think my kids are following in my footsteps. My son and daughter left home many years ago and both live interstate. 

I have a completely different outlook on what is referred to as home. Where I live at the moment is my home. I marvel at people that tell me they are an integral part of their children’s and grandchildren’s lives. They are busy with the after school runs or watching the grandchildren compete in their weekly sporting competition. They have no comprehension of my gypsy life. Thank goodness for modern technology. I am able to keep in touch with the family via mobile phone and skype. Where do you live when you have the wanderlust in you?

Uprooting yourself either by choice or out of necessity can be exciting. I believe that we need to put ourselves first.  However sometimes in retirement life in the lead up may not have been too kind. Take the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that impacted on the world back in 2007. For those that had all of their nest egg invested in Real Estate, the resulting turmoil may have wiped them out financially like my guest, Jeff Wilken. But life has some lessons and as Jeff says, “you don’t drown by falling in the pool, you drown by staying there. If something bad happens you really need to get out of that pool and get on with life.”

At retirement age it can be hard to start again financially. If you can’t control your income then you can control your expenses by finding places to live more cheaply. There are such places overseas that will make your money last longer. Jeff Wilken has had to reinvent himself a few times.  He combined that with his wanderlust and now runs Wilken Wisdom Retire Overseas. 

Have a listen to episode 42 and hear Jeff Wilken talk on the ups and downs of life and life as an expat.

Until next time.

Ann