The 15 Cheapest Countries To Live Or Retire

What's happening guys, it's Shane here and in today's video I'm going to be going over the 15 cheapest countries to live or retire. Now one thing that I see over and over again, not only in the comments section on this channel but also articles that I see popping up everywhere, is that it's very difficult to retire, especially if you live in the United States of America. A lot of people talk about how by the time we get to retirement age, people in my age range, Social Security is not going to be there and it's going to be almost impossible for us to retire. Now I'm not going to go over all of that in this video, I'll probably talk about that in a different video on the channel, but there definitely is a lot of truth to this. But with that being said, I'm not a huge fan of doomerism, people just kind of like being doomers and giving up and just not trying at all because they think it's too hard. So in this video I'm going to hopefully inject a little bit of hope into people and show you that even if you can't retire here in the United States of America, there are a lot of options out there. And if you can make just a few hundred thousand dollars here in the United States, you could in some cases retire in some of these countries. That's right, you can live like a king in some of these countries with just a few hundred thousand dollars of retirement. And I'm going to show you exactly why that is in this video, I'm even going to go in and break down the numbers for you. Now I know not every country is going to fit every single person, different people have different needs, they have things that they really want, some people don't care all that much about city life, whereas other people, you know, definitely want to live in the city for instance. So I'm going to give you a ton of different examples, 15 different countries to be exact, to show you that no matter who you are, there's going to be something out there for you. All right, so first one on the list is going to be Colombia, and specifically we're going to be talking about Medellin. Now I'm going to be using prices from Medellin, which is one of the bigger cities in Colombia. It would obviously be even cheaper than this if you lived in like maybe a small city there, or it'd be even cheaper than that if you kind of like lived out in the country or something like that. But I think most people probably want to live close to a city that has hospitals and stuff like that if you're getting close to retirement. So it could get even cheaper than this, but I'm going to be using this example just to show you that it's possible no matter what. So if you look at this website, numbeo.com, fantastic resource, you're going to see that you would need about $1,600 a month to live the same kind of lifestyle in Medellin, Colombia, that you would need $6,400 a month to live in Seattle, Washington. So consumer prices in Medellin are 66.2% lower than Seattle. Rent prices are a ridiculous 86% lower than Seattle. Restaurant prices, aka food prices, are 72% lower. Grocery prices are 69% lower. And so for instance, if you scroll down and you look at the rent per month here, in Seattle, Washington, a one bedroom apartment in city center will probably run you around $2,000, whereas in Medellin, it's going to be $259. So it's literally like eight times more expensive, maybe nine times more expensive to live in Seattle, Washington. And when it comes to rent, right. So just doing a real quick calculation here, you know, you'd need about $1,617 a month in order to live a $6,400 lifestyle. Now $6,400 lifestyle is pretty good. That's $6,400 times 12. That means you're spending $76,800 a year. So I definitely don't spend $76,800 a year, not even close. And I feel like I live a very nice lifestyle. I live north of Seattle, Washington, so I don't live in Seattle. But even if I lived in Seattle, I would not be spending that much money. No way. But let's just say, you know, you want to be a big baller. You want to spend a lot of money and you're living this type of lifestyle. It would cost you about $1,600 per month in Medellin. So doing some real quick math here, I'm going to be rounding things off just to make it simple. But $1,600 times 12 months, it's going to be $19,200 per year. And then let's say you made 7% per year because you put your money into a low cost index fund, like one of the things I recommend on this channel. So you make about 7% on your money per year. So you divide $19,200 by 0.07 and you get $274,285. You would make enough to sustain yourself with this kind of lifestyle. Now, I know some people are going to freak out about this because of inflation and blah, blah, blah, blah. OK. A lot of people like to use the 4% rule, for instance. So let's go ahead and use the 4% rule in this case. And a lot of people use the 4% rule because of inflation and also because the markets go up and down. So when the market goes down, you're going to be spending more money and you're going to be eating into your principal. So in that case, you know, worst case scenario, $480,000. So if you're able to save up $480,000, you can basically retire and live a very nice lifestyle in Medellin, Colombia. Now, pretty much all of the countries on this list are going to be very similar to that. I'm not going to go over the numbers again, but you're going to see a lot of them are very similar. Some of them, the rent's going to be cheaper. Some of them, it's going to be slightly more expensive, but then the food's cheaper. But yeah, I just wanted to demonstrate that it's absolutely possible for just about anybody to retire if you're smart with your money. Might not be as easy to do it here in the United States, but it's always nice to know in the back of your head that you have that option. So the next one on the list is going to be the country of Georgia, not the state, the country. And specifically, we're going to be talking about the city Tbilisi. And sorry, I'm probably going to mispronounce a couple of the names on this list. So let me know down in the comments. I know you're going to anyway. So let me know down in the comments if I accidentally mispronounce it. So in Tbilisi, a single person, estimated monthly costs are going to be about $406. A family of four, estimated monthly costs are going to be about $1,400. But those are both without using rent. And then rent on average is going to be 89% lower than in New York. And then a one bedroom apartment in city center would be around $300 a month. Tbilisi has a very laid back culture. The food is really good, lots of different variety. This would be a great place to retire. Next on the list is going to be Ukraine. And specifically, we're going to be talking about Lviv. So in Lviv, a meal at an inexpensive restaurant would be about $4.41 compared to $16.50 in Seattle. A meal for two person at a mid-range restaurant that has three courses would be about $80 in Seattle and $22 in Lviv. I actually have a friend who lives in Lviv right now. That's one of the reasons why I picked the city. He's absolutely loving it. He sends me pictures and stuff all the time. I've mentioned him before on this channel. It's Sam. He's a photographer, awesome guy. And yeah, he's absolutely loving it. And it looks like I'm not really sure 100% what they mean by this, but, you know, a one hour taxi would be $30 in Seattle. I think it'd probably be more than that, actually. And then $2.20 in Lviv. Taxi normal tariff, $5 in Seattle, $1.69 in Lviv. So transportation is very cheap. An apartment in Seattle, Washington, $2,100, Lviv, $368 for a one bedroom apartment in city center. Next on the list is going to be Malaysia and specifically Kuala Lumpur, right? So this one's a little more expensive. You'd need around $2,200 to maintain the same lifestyle as $6,400 in Seattle. This is a truly modernized city. Like if you look at the pictures of Kuala Lumpur, it's amazing as some of the best health care in the world. You have all of those luxury affinities that you would have in a city like Seattle or New York that has every different type of restaurant that you'd want to go to. Oh, you want to go get Mexican food? You can go there. Oh, you want to go get Vietnamese food? Some pho? You can go there. So a little bit more expensive than some of the other ones on the list, but it has a lot of upside as well. Next one on the list is going to be Turkey and specifically Antalya. Now if you're into traveling, you follow a lot of travel channels on YouTube, a lot of people who are in that world say that Turkey and specifically Antalya is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's also very, very cheap as well. So for instance, a meal at an inexpensive restaurant would be $16.50 in Seattle, $3.52 in Antalya. A meal for two people, basically like a date-type meal, $80 in Seattle, $17.59 in Antalya. A taxi with normal tariff, $5 in Seattle, $0.76 in Antalya. Taxi one hour, $30 in Seattle, $2.11 in Antalya. So transportation is very cheap as well. Rent is about $2,000 in Seattle, $190 in Antalya. So yeah, fantastic numbers there, would be a great option for the right type of person. Next one on the list is going to be the Philippines and specifically Cebu. Now by the way, I wanted to mention just because I'm mentioning this one city in the Philippines doesn't mean that some of the other ones aren't just as good, and same goes with a lot of these different countries. I'm just picking this specific city as an example. But yeah, following a lot of these travel channels on YouTube, you notice over and over again that pretty much all of them say that Philippines is either their number one favorite country or it's like easily top three. People absolutely love visiting the Philippines, people are very friendly there, the beaches are beautiful, they've got just beautiful landscapes, and then the prices are very low here as well. Consumer prices, let's see, meal at an inexpensive restaurant, $3.57 versus $16.50 for two people, $21 versus $80. Rent there is going to be very nice, about $481 in Cebu versus $2,100 in Seattle. And then overall you'd need about $2,300 to live a comparable lifestyle of $6,400 in Seattle. Next one on the list is going to be Thailand, and specifically we're going to be talking about Chiang Mai. Super beautiful place, a lot of people in the kind of like entrepreneur community, like the digital nomad community, like to live in Chiang Mai. It's a very beautiful, a lot of nature, a lot to do outside, fantastic food, everybody loves Thai food, including myself, absolutely love Thai food. And then also on top of that, it does have kind of a laid back lifestyle, really good internet where you can get stuff done. And you would need about $2,300 a month to live a comparable lifestyle of $6,400 a month in Seattle, Washington. Next one on the list is going to be Vietnam and specifically Hanoi. Another great option, beautiful landscape, lots to do there, very cheap, very good food. You'd need about $2,046 to live a $6,400 lifestyle in Hanoi compared to Seattle, Washington. All right, so a lot of countries in Southeast Asia on this list. Next one is going to be Indonesia, and specifically we're going to be talking about Jakarta. Little bit more expensive, about $2,400 to live a $6,400 lifestyle. But also Jakarta is a big city, like it's almost like the New York of Indonesia, right? So this is probably one of the more expensive places in Indonesia. So for instance, you're going to have access to really good healthcare there. Next one on the list is going to be Ecuador and specifically Cuenca. Now I actually have a friend who is currently living in Cuenca, Ecuador. He's been living there on and off for the last 10 years or so. He actually taught at KU, he's a professor of architecture there, and then he decided to move to Ecuador just because he loved it there so much and he teaches part-time architecture there as well as well as English. So shout out to John if you're watching this video, awesome guy as well. I'm going to go down and visit him pretty soon. But yeah, very cheap to live a $6,400 lifestyle in Seattle. It only cost about $1,970 per month. A lot of stuff that you can do out in nature, lots of hikes up into the mountains or into the jungle. Another option that's going to be in Eastern Europe is going to be Poland and specifically we're going to be talking about Lublin. So in Lublin, you'd need about $2,276 to live the same kind of lifestyle that you would in Seattle on $6,400. Very cool architecture. Also, I'd say something about Poland that's underrated is it's in an area where you could very easily visit all kinds of other different places in both Eastern and Western Europe. And Western Europe specifically is very expensive as most people who've done any traveling know. And so if you live in Poland, you can kind of have that as a home base for you to visit other places in Europe and not have to spend as much money. So really solid option there again, depending on the type of lifestyle you want to live and what you want to do. Next one on the list is a very underrated one that a lot of people don't talk about and that is going to be Serbia and specifically we're going to be talking about Nice. So in order to live that $6,400 Seattle lifestyle, you'd only need about $1,741. For a one bedroom city center apartment in Seattle, it would be $2,100 a month. In Nice, it would be $240. So yeah, fantastic value there. I think Serbia is very underrated. They have a lot to offer. Next on the list is going to be Mexico and specifically we're going to pick Mexico City. Now this is going to be one of the more expensive ones on the list. I included this one just because an old boss of mine would always talk about how when he retires he plans on moving down to Mexico because the cost of health care down there is so much lower. You can basically hire people to take care of you when you're old for, you know, pennies on the dollar. But yeah, in order to live a $6,400 Seattle lifestyle, you'd only need about $2,450. So one of the more expensive ones on the list, but still not all that bad. Mexico City is another one where if you look at like travel channels on YouTube or you have a lot of friends that travel, they just rave about it. They absolutely love Mexico City. They love the culture. They love the food. The people are also very friendly and welcoming to foreigners. Next one on the list is going to be Russia and specifically we're going to be talking about St. Petersburg, a city with a ton of history, amazing architecture. You need about $2,200 a month to live that $6,400 Seattle, Washington lifestyle. An apartment in city center St. Petersburg would be about $530 a month versus $2,100 for Seattle, Washington. Last one on the list, we're going to have Brazil and specifically Rio de Janeiro. This is the city with the famous statue of Jesus holding his arms out. Very beautiful place. Brazil has a lot to offer in terms of culture, lifestyle, food. The people are super friendly, etc. And in order to live that $6,400 a month lifestyle, you'd need about $2,152 per month. So yeah, I hope this video gave you guys a few ideas. I think the main reason I made this video is because I do see a lot of doomerism on this channel, sometimes in the comments section and just in general when I read articles out there or when I watch videos. And I think that it's great to be critical of things and be aware of what's going on. I mean, it is kind of getting ridiculous how expensive it is to retire, like the cost of health care, etc. here in the United States. But at the same time, guys, don't give up. Don't become a doomer. That's not the best way to deal with problems. There are a lot of other options out there for you. And with just a few hundred thousand dollars, you can retire in some of these countries. So I wanted to make this video just to give you guys some hope. I didn't want you guys to think of retirement as just like this insurmountable mountain that you're never going to be able to get to, or you have to work your entire life super, super hard, like 80 hours a week just to be able to retire when you're 65. I know things are getting harder. It's not as easy as it was for our parents or our grandparents. But in my opinion, it's still definitely doable. Check out my other videos right here. If you haven't done it already, go ahead, hit that like button, hit the subscribe button, ring the notification bell and comment down below. Any thoughts, comments, criticisms, etc. that you have on the video. And I will see you in the next one.