Raddr's Early Retirement and Financial Strategy Board

[kramer]

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli, world traveling early retirees who live on a low budget (~24K/year), have now published a how-to-guide to early retirement and perpetual traveler lifestyle. It is in the form of a CD.

http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/orderpage.htm


I ordered it today and will let you know what I think about it after I have received and read it. Has anyone else already read it? I really have a lot of respect for them -- their web site is great and I have enjoyed following their retirement adventures. I believe they have been retired about 14 years.

Story behind creating the book:

http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/the_birthing.htm

General web site:

http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com

Kramer, just back from a South America adventure, so I may have missed previous posts about this

[ataloss]

sounds interesting let us know what you think
I have been interested in learning more about their approach

theri review of bali was eye opening
_________________
Ataloss


Have Fun

[Oliver]

Hi Kramer,

I will also be interested in your impressions of the book. By the way, where in South America were you?

Oliver

[kramer]

Hi Oliver,

I visited Brazil (Rio) and Ecuador.

When I get a chance, I might write up some reviews from the ER and travel perspective

Kramer

[kramer]

Just reporting back that I enjoyed the book/CD.

Think of it as filling in all the gaps from their original web site, and much more. They discuss the travails of business ownership and their reasons for ER, talk about different ER housing/health care possibilities, etc. They go into a lot of detail on the PT lifestyle, what they do when they first come to a new city, what they do for airfare, etc.

And everything is interspersed with amazing photography.

Since most folks on this elite board are in the 99th percentile of ER knowledge, there is probably not a lot of new ER information here (although for the general public there would be). We have all heard about simplifying your life, LBYM, investing basics, health care possibilities, etc. But what I found useful is the little details like activities they have undertaken in ER, how they fill their ER time in a given city, hobbies, etc.

For instance, it showed how having a great skill, cooking, has really helped them make new friends. After reading this, this is something I would like to do. And it really made me (I am single) realize that having someone to share retirement with (husband/wife) is really a blessing. Also, my own photography needs professional help compared to their photography, but I already knew that

When I make my ER list of things to do (something they recommend), I will surely refer back to this book to remind myself of the excellent example of the Kaderli's.

Kramer

[peteyperson]

What I'm curious about is their ability to live off $24k a year for two.

I wonder how long they spend travelling within the US and living on RV sites, and how many months are spent abroad. On the financial side, I'm most interested on what they find foreign travel costs. I know they keep detailed budgets for each place they've visited. I think they posted before that they spent something in the region of $50 a day. Bit sketchy on the details though.

On can use Paris as a useful example of an expensive city in a developed nation. Whilst one can easily spend $100+ per night on accommodation, there are perfectly decent 2* hotels available for €45 night, and cheaper if one were selecting either a single room or sharing a bathroom.

In many ways I think food is a key cost. When staying in a €45 a night Greek Island studio room/apartment, one can do self-catering and limit how much one pays for restaurant meals. In other places where you are using hotels, that is usually not possible. I think this can change budgets considerably. In SE Asia this works out okay as the quality of food in hawker stalls and cheap restaurants is good. Elsewhere I think it depends. In Greece one can get a cheap gyro kebab for €2-3 or so. Breakfast & lunch can be self-catered easily without kitchen facilities, so easy enough.

Petey

[kramer]

Hi Petey,

I don't think they ever say in the book that they are currently consuming at $24K/year right now, just that that is the average for retirees and it is possible. I do think they mentioned on the ER board once that $24K was their average budget since retiring (don't quote me). They did mention in the book that their goal was $20K back in 1990 which would be $30K adjusted for inflation in 2005. I get the sense things turned out cheaper over the years and they have gotten better at spending less, relatively speaking.

The Kaderli's retired early 90s, and except for going 30% cash from Jan. 2000 to Oct. 2002, are 100% S&P 500 index funds. So obviously they have done very well investing-wise and wouldn't need to adhere to a very low budget anymore.

They do have an inexpensive home-base in the US in a resort community in Arizona. I don't know the details, whether it is a park model or what, but it is turnkey and takes care of itself when they leave. I also think they have catastrophic US health insurance. I'm thinking of something like this, both park model type home base and catastrophic US health insurance mixed with plenty of inexpensive travel, as well.

Kramer

[bigboy8888]

Hi Petey & Kramer
About the $24K number : here's the number for the horse's mouth as they say:

http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=1179.msg17461#msg17461


Billy and I "allow" ourselves $2,000 a month for
expenses - sometimes we are over, sometimes we are under. This includes all airfare, health insurance, rents, car repairs and so on. One thing we learned was that over time, this averages out. We are going on 14 years of data, (4965 days) and over that span, our expenses are $56.14 per day.

......
When in foreign countries we do apartments instead of hotels whenever possible, pay monthly rents instead of weekly, and weekly instead of daily - you get the idea. We are not tourists, we become locals.

Akaisha

[Author]

Thanks for your comments on our book. We still maintain the $24 k (average) goal to spend per year, and have no problems doing this. We have no deprivation in this lifestyle. Certainly, managing our cost per day figure helps, as well as knowing how to cook to get fabulous food at a super price. We find our place in the States to be one of our "cheaper" locations, so we do not run to foreign countries to keep our average down. It just so happens that we enjoy world travel.

Keeping things under one's own control instead of being at the mercy of things we cannot control also helps. We have always looked for choices.
Thanks again.
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement
_________________
Self-sufficiency builds confidence.
www.RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

[raddr]

Hi Akaisha,

Welcome to the forum. I've visited your website and was quite impressed with what I saw. I hope you will participate here in the future.
_________________
"I brew therefore I am."
-raddr

[Author]

Hi Raddr,

Thank you for the welcome. We are happy to have found your site, and have it book marked. I hope to join in on discussions as well. Thank you for your kind words RE: our website. How did you find us?

We will be leaving for Asia again soon, so our replies will be coming from a half a day difference in time... but hey, what the heck.

Akaisha
_________________
Self-sufficiency builds confidence.
www.RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

[raddr]

[KenM]

[Author]

KenM wrote:

[kramer]

I agree that living in the US, if you are located close to a wal-mart and more than 50 miles from a coast, can be a very cheap place to live for your money.

A wild card here, though, is health care. If you are in bad health, or locked into bad insurance, things can get very expensive. Almost everything else is a great value. The retail distribution chain is simply unmatched. From 1993 to 2003 real prices on manufactured goods in the US dropped by 40%, due mostly to free trade. And taxes for retirees are low, too, and medicare kicks in at 65.

Of course, taxes are not as low as ZERO that Wanderer pays in the UAE or that Ben pays as an ex-pat in Thailand. But I do like the trade offs here.

Despite all that, I am still open to living in other countries for awhile.

Kramer