On the financial side, the accepted wisdom is that you can withdraw at most 4% of your net assets per year if you wish to remain solvent indefinitely. So if you are living on $40K per year you ought to have assets of $2M. Otherwise having some outside source of income, like part-time or consulting jobs, is likely a necessity.
As for insurance, I pay for a "catastrophic" medical plan that has a $11K yearly deductible. I'm paying about $370/month, but that's for a family of 4. We are all healthy, and I could afford to pay the first $11K if we had a serious health issue. For a single person your age such a policy would be quite a bit cheaper (I'm 58). An advantage of such a policy is that I can deposit an amount equal to my deductible into a Healcare Savings Account, and that amount is tax-deductible for income tax purposes. I pay the insurance and any other medical expenses from the account (comes with a debit card). You also get the normal group rates when you do go to the doctor or pharmacy.
I have used World Nomad insurance for trekking in Nepal for evacuation insurance, but otherwise I do without when travelling.
I've been retired for 2.5 years now, and no one is pushing jobs on me ;-)
I'd add something to the above as to the retirement residency options. I've recently visited both Nicaragua and Argentina, and both countries have extremely attractive plans for retirees. The cost of living in either would be significantly less than in the US. The same is true for Costa Rica, Panama, and other countries, although I have no first-hand info on these.
I've also been in Thailand a couple of times in the past two years. While this used to be an attractive option, the current political situation with regard to retirement visas and requirements is much lass seductive. OTOH Maylasia is making an effort to attract retirees, and has had good press in this regard.
Of course, living in a foreign country longterm has many factors to consider. If you find a place you like, and which is inexpensive, your retirement income can go a lot further.
Like most things in life time will tell if you made the right choice or not.
About healthensurance in the USA I can't say anything, but whatever you do just take a good ensurance or you might wish you were dead if something bad happens.
Ensurancepolicies are really changing in Europe. Each time you get less ensured for more money as the companies have lots of elderly people to cover and that's expensive. probably this goes for the USA as well.
Some people at older age get to spend less because they already have evrything and consuming for the sake of it doesn't appeal to them anymore, but some other people get older and weak and therefore need extra care and make extra costs. At 40 you don't know for sure what your health will be like at 60 or 70. So make sure you have some kind of retirement money and ensurance when you are old.
I just have arranged some kind of sabbatical for 6 mnth and am already abroad. don't burn all the bridges at once if you don't have to. In europe, people with a job can easily find a new job comparing with jobless people, but I guess that if you have connections you always are a step ahead of others, because your network can just help you get something in wathever way. What works for some doesn't work for everyone.
But you don't have a network if you lead a nomad kind of life and don't keep/build up contacts.
In europe at the age of 48 you are old to start looking for a job, unless you have lots of managing experience at high level which gives you advantage in relation to younger people.
I am happy to have my own home which gives me just a great backup and a place to live I would not be able to afford if I would want to buy it now. There might came a time that you want to settle somewhere and a trailer park might not be the nicest option.
80 USA dollars a day is just very little money to live from in my opinion and it will even became less in the long run. Worse of all it will obligate you to live in a poor country or in remote areas in better countries in order to have a decent life. Is that something you feel happy about after some years? Because then you just don't have any freedom anymore. You have no choice.
And maybe for you it's the same as for me:freedom is more a state of mind than anything else, it's just about being happy with the status quo even if you go to work every day.
good luck whatever you do
V A C A T I O N , R E L O C A T I O N, travel writer, photographer, ecology militant almost anything except retired. You have only lived about half of your life. Do get full health insurance. This is just too absurd for me to make further comments. Live a little and find an exciting new career.
I doubt that someone who has the skills to a) large a high income and b) not spend it all is really going to need someone else to employ them if push comes to shove. There are heaps and heaps of self-employment, small business opportunites out there for people with the capital buy themselves in. The comments re youth in the US are odd - I was quite shocked when I first went to the US in the late 80's to see over 40's workin in fast food chains and air hostesses
It amazes me how some people can only see from their limited viewpoint. But then I guess that comes from my having a different viewpoint and I suppose you could say I only see from my viewpoint. The thing is, it is my viewpoint the OP is looking for.
First, la vache, when you say no one is pushing jobs on you, perhaps that has to do with two things. You retired in your mid-50s, not early 40s. People perceive that differently. Surely you can understand that. Someone retiring in their 50s is considered lucky but normal. Someone retiring in their early 40s is perceived as more than lucky.
The second thing is personality for lack of a better word. Some people just seem to be the kind of people that other people believe knows something.
Second, anamore, someone who has $31k per year net today can maintain that same amount in buying power with a little intelligence. Nor is it very little money. A couple can live in Canada or America quite easily on $20k a year if they own their home. So there is no need to live in poor countries or remote areas. As for being too old to find work, that might be true of the average person, but someone who has managed to retire in their early 40s is hardly your average person. Midlifetravel has that part of the equation right.
Like many questions that get asked here, the only people who can really answer them are those who are in the position the question is referring to. In other words, unless you retired in your early 40s, you don't know what you are talking about. I did and have been retired now for 18 years. My income per year in buying power is about the same as it was the day I retired. I've never had to work although I have done some things that earned some money. Supplementing income through choice is fine and yes contrary to what some of you may think, at 61 I am still getting offered jobs which I politely decline. As I said earlier, it is how you are perceived that makes that happen.
On another thread some time ago, a long time poster here put it like this. When you try to tell people they can do what you did, you forget one thing. It is like Brad Pitt saying to his old high school buddies, who work in the local home town business, let's go out to the bar and pick up 2 women each for the night. For Brad it's easy, for them it's highly unlikely.
The chances are that the OP will drift for a few years and then fall into something. That's most likely but if he doesn't, he is probably smart enough to figure out how to continue enjoying retired life if he wants to. My 18 years and still going strong is proof that it is possible. But then picking up 2 women for the night is also a piece of cake for some people.
Aquahiker, my advice to you is in post #2. I'll add only this, there are 2 rules to enjoying life. Rule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff. Rule #2: It's all small stuff. Just make sure you have inflation and insurance covered and you can never work again if that's what you want. As for living on the income you have, you have enough to live well almost anywhere you want. It's surprising how you learn to tell the difference between what you NEED and what you WANT. I want a Ferrari but I'm not prepared to give up a chunk of my life to get one, so I make do with something less. Funny how that doesn't really bother me. It's small stuff.
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